Where was Bertie? He spent the night at a Camping Car Park Aire in the village of Castets, at a cost of €13.72, including electricity and wifi.
Weather: Overcast on departure, lots of fog through the middle of Spain, eventually reaching sunshine and, surprisingly, 23 degrees towards the end of the day.
Leaving the campsite at just before 0830, I convinced Mick to use the road he'd rejected on the way in. I'd been along the length of that road on foot and thought Bertie could manage it - which he did, although he could have done without the truck coming the other way on a road barely big enough for one of us!
The morning involved cloud, sunshine then a couple of hours of fog which stayed with us (or us with it) until we stopped in Tudela for fuel (132.9/litre at a full service station) and supplies. When I say 'supplies' I mainly mean wine and alcohol-free beer, although naturally, a whole host of other things fell into the trolley too. In the interests of efficiency, Mick prepared lunch whilst I shopped.
Finally the sun came out and we could enjoy our surroundings as we drove through some magnificently mountainous areas beyond Pamplona and into the Basque country.
The intention was to simply reverse our outbound itinerary, staying at Capbreton tonight. However, the road into the town is still closed, necessitating a detour on some slow roads. So, I had a little look for another Aire nearby, and came up with one immediately adjacent to the motorway 40km further north. The journey time was the same, so it was a no-brainer.
I've long resisted joining the Camping Car Park scheme (more and more Aires in France have started coming under the Camping Car Park banner), but this was the shove needed to bite the bullet. It didn't take many minutes at the machine at the entrance to set up an account, obtain a CCP card, and pre-load it with enough funds to pay for our one-night stay.
With that all done, Bertie was all settled onto a pitch and plugged into the mains by 1645, and by 1700 I was changed into running gear and on my way out the door. Conveniently, the Aire isn't just right next to the motorway, but a Voie Verte also runs straight past it, so promising Mick I would be back within the hour, I tootled off into the forest. I didn't quite judge my turn around point right (as is often the case with me and Voie Verte type tracks, I was convinced the outward leg was all downhill, so I turned a couple of minutes early to allow for a slower return leg, only then to find it was all downhill on the way back), but I did judge right the extra little repeat I needed to add in, and I stepped back through Bertie's door at 17:59:20.
Before we drove into the fog. Must visit this striking town some time.
Friday
Where was Bertie? At a free Aire in Bonneval. We'd been there before, but Bertie hadn't.
Weather: Sunny and warm until late afternoon when it started clouding over. Rain by bedtime.
I woke up at 5am, but managed to lie quietly until the alarm went off at 7, whereupon I leapt out of bed, chopped an onion and some garlic and put the stove on. I'd just started frying some chicken when Mick finally asked what I was doing. "Cooking tea", I said.
Organisation is key on these long driving days. We set out each morning with two flasks of hot water, so we can make drinks throughout the day without having to wait for the kettle to boil, then for the stove to cool down (so we can lower its glass cover before travelling again). I also try to have some snacks to hand, and it's a bonus if tea is already prepared, or semi-prepared when we arrive at our destination. Stops during the day can then be kept to one or two micro-pauses to swap drivers, a fuel stop and half an hour for a lunch break (we managed to combine the three of those today, stopping at a SuperU in Vivonne, about a 200m detour from the motorway, for cheap fuel before availing ourselves of the car park for a lunch break, and swapping to Mick driving before we went on). It was nearly an unsuccessful stop for fuel when both of us had our preferred spending cards declined - a little concerning until the third card worked, and we subsequently realised that neither of us had enough funds in our 'foreign spending' accounts (this petrol station wanted a hold of €150 before we could fill up; most only want €100 or €120, both of which would have been fine).
The initial intention had been to end the day in Villedômer, but having driven further yesterday I figured we may as well push on further today. Marboué was our chosen destination, but when we got there Google Maps tried to instruct us to make an illegal turn, and the TomTom gave us an instruction that didn't make sense. I knew that Bonneval wasn't much further up the road, so the snap decision was made to go there instead. I remembered having stayed at Bonneval before, but I was surprised to find that it was 9 years ago.
With Bertie settled into a spot, I took myself off for a brisk march around the streets (nowt to write home about), whilst Mick went on a mission to find a patisserie. His mission was not a success. Who has ever heard of a French town without a patisserie?!
There is, of course, such an establishment. We found it the following morning as we left town.
By the time the rain started, we were all tucked up for the night.
The attractive feature of Bonneval
No comments:
Post a Comment