A rather manic day. We’ve been having a new bathroom fitted and
it over ran by a number of days! I
thought they were finishing at the beginning of the week but then I was
informed it would be Thursday and then Friday and they finally left at 6pm
today (Saturday). However, I am thrilled
with the result – I will post some photos later in this post as I want to put
something really nice as the first photo.
Anyway, we got packed up and, as
usual, Richard managed to get everything in the car. I thought I wasn’t taking as much as usual
but all I can think is that the things I have left out are very small!!
We left home at 9pm and were at
the ferry terminal by 9.30pm. The usual
wait then we were on the ferry and slipping and sliding all over the deck – on
foot not the car thank goodness.
Straight to our cabin which was uncomfortably hot, Richard tried to
change the blower, but nothing changed.
Richard was asleep before we set sail and I wasn’t far behind him.
Sunday 19th January
A very hot night which wasn’t
helped by Muffin choosing my bed to sleep on and then proceeding to take over
the bottom 2 feet of it! I kept waking
up and finding my feet hanging out! The ferry is the only place where he is
allowed to sleep on our bed and when we got to the cabin last night he leapt up
onto the bed as if to say I’m allowed tonight!
We were awake about an hour
before docking, had a cup of tea and a porridge pot each before packing up and
going to the car.
As we drove out of Le Havre
everywhere was white with frost – such a pretty sight. One of the things that amazed me were the
number of trees which were full of mistletoe - I have never noticed it before
so it must just be a good year for it.
We have toll tags for France and
Spain which makes travelling on the peage so much easier. As we approached the first toll station we
waited for the green light and the barrier to lift but nothing, so I had to
pay!!!! I then looked on the internet
for a fix but nothing except from the UK supplier who doesn’t work at
weekends. I pushed and pulled the tag
and at the next toll station it worked!
Maybe it was just cold and needed a jump start!
We stopped for a coffee which I
had made on the ferry, but it was only lukewarm, obviously hot liquid in
insulated cups only has a limited shelf life.
Our next stop was for lunch. I had bought rolls and sandwich fillers which
worked really well though it was jolly cold standing at the back of the car
making them up. If we didn’t have
Muffin, we would have eaten them in the car but he needed to stretch his little
legs.
I took over the driving after
lunch as I had had a nice sleep in the morning however Richard stayed awake –
not sure if he was worried about my driving!
The roads have been so quiet
today. There are no lorries on the road
on Sundays and it makes SUCH a difference.
It was fluke last year that we drove through France on a Sunday, but I
chose it this year for that very reason.
We had a lovely sunny drive down
through France though the temperature outside varied from 0 to 9 degrees.
We arrived at our hotel just
south of Bordeaux about 4pm where we stayed last year. After a cuppa and a rest, we walked under the
motorway to the Aire on the northbound carriageway to a dog friendly restaurant
where we got a 15% discount as we were staying in the hotel.
Back in our room we watched Call
the Midwife but not the Christine Keeler programme as we were both so tired –
it was 10pm CET.
Monday 20th January
A good night’s sleep on a very
comfy bed. We had the hotel breakfast,
there wasn’t much choice but we both chose 2 croissants, orange juice and
coffee, I’m not sure it was worth €7.
Last year we took porridge pots, but we thought we would try the hotel
breakfasts this year. Carrying porridge
pots for both journeys works out as 12 and they take up space in the car!
We were on the road at 9am, our
planned time but it was a coincidence really as we weren’t clock watching.
If you look at a map it doesn’t
seem far to the Spanish border but in fact it is 125 miles. The lorries were out in force, but they
really aren’t a problem. We stopped just
before the border for a coffee and a leg stretch for Muffin. The aires on the French roads come very
frequently but we have noticed that it isn’t the same on the Spanish
roads. In the past we have had to go off
the main road and find a gateway to stop in!
We crossed over the border where
there is just a very uninteresting sign which just says Espana – I wanted some
sort of recognition as next time I cross a border I won’t be an European
citizen ☹️ We now bear
a sticker which says “Don’t blame me I voted to remain”!
It was a quick change of toll tag
and then up onto a plain which I am sure has a name, but I can’t find it. There are lots and lots of wind farms with
quite a lot on top of mountains, solar farms are beginning to come in now
too.
We could see snow on the mountain
tops, it looked so pretty.
The Spanish toll tag works so
much better than the French one. In
France you have to get right up to the barrier and then wait for the barrier to
go up but in Spain the barrier lifts as you approach. I brilliant system.
It was a lovely sunny day but suddenly
the sky turned black and we encountered snow!
The lorries were all directed off the autopista, but cars were allowed
to continue then like magic, about 10 miles down the road, the lorries all
appeared again and we ended up in a convoy!
We were at about 3500 feet and driving at 15mph with an outside
temperature of -3º. Gradually the snow
turned to rain.
We went from this
Our dinner was Russian and very
nice indeed. Our starter was, what
looked rather like a roll, with meat and onions in it. It wasn’t a roll as we know it but more a
sweet dough – it was excellent though filling.
There was a lovely mixed salad for each of us and also a wonderful
Russian salad, nothing like the ones we see in our supermarkets. The main course was a dish of meat, potatoes
and vegetables. I know that sounds very
boring, but it was really tasty and all we needed after the starter. This was accompanied by a Spanish Sauvignon
Blanc which was so like a New Zealand wine – I will be scouring the
supermarkets for it! (They only charged
us €10 for the wine). There was no
pudding but we both felt that we couldn’t have done one justice anyway! Mama does all the cooking and was very
nervous that we might not like it.
Tuesday 21st January
We both slept really well, the
bed was very comfy. I think it was a
memory foam mattress as it felt very hard to start with but then it seems to
mould itself around me and was lovely.
Before we got up, I checked the
weather forecast and it didn’t look good.
I found a Facebook page called Murcia Weather Watch and put a post on it
about the road conditions around Valencia and Murcia. The replies were all pretty much the same –
DON’T DRIVE! We went for breakfast, a
lovely spread but far too much for us.
We asked Alla if she knew about the road conditions and she said not
really but they weren’t going to go back to Valencia because of the
weather. That was all we needed and
asked if we could stay another night! It
appeared that Storm Gloria did a lot of damage around the Valencia and Murcia
areas.
There was very little for us to
do, it would have been nice to see around the area and take Muffin for a walk
round the lake, but we were NOT going to venture out! Alla managed to connect the TV in our room to
the internet and we found Netflix, signed in and watched the last three episode
of The Crown and some random American programme on cold cases.
Before it got dark, I went out to
the car and the sky was yellow – the soil is very sandy so whether or not the
gale had whipped the sand into the sky I don’t know.
Dinner was another Russian
meal. To start there was a very tasty
meat and rice dish which was followed by a clear broth with meat filled
dumplings and mushrooms. The salad on
the table was a tuna one and sadly I don’t like tuna so had to give it a miss
though it looked lovely. We were offered
dessert which turned out to be a deconstructed cheesecake and was
excellent.
At each meal we were served tea
in this beautiful tea pot.
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