We all had a reasonable night's sleep in the very comfortable beds, although we were up at various times to use the loo. This was accessed through Sophie's room, so we woke her up each time...
Breakfast was provided in the hotel at about 12 euros, and a form detailing our choices had to be filled in the evening before and left downstairs. We wanted to get away early, as we had a long drive ahead of us, so we'd decided to have something on the road. When we came downstairs the dining room was open and a young girl was standing waiting. We were under the impression that payment for the room had already been taken via Booking.com, but later on, as we drove along the autoroute, we had a message from Bathilde to say we had needed to pay the young girl! She was OK about it and would send us a link (which we never received).
Once I had managed to get out of the gates, we stopped and entered the address of the villa into Trish. She managed to get us out of Auxerre's maze of narrow streets very well and onto the Autoroute du Soleil without any problems at all.
We experienced heavy fog on the first part of the journey, and the roads were empty. The birds were perched on the fences again and every now and again huge windmills would loom out of the fog. The countryside (still Burgundy) was heavily wooded and rural.
We stopped at an aire and bought pains au chocolat and coffee. Sophie managed to upset a woman cleaning the floor by dropping crumbs all over it and received a death stare... the French do love us!
After the break, we carried on and for the next hour, the journey was unexciting. Then, we entered a beautiful hilly area and spotted a gorgeous chateau perched on high, overlooking the autoroute. At last, something interesting to see!
Our road wound up and up, and a French car that had previously overtaken me slowed down. I was doing the speed limit of 130km an hour, so overtook him. What I hadn't realised, though, was that because of the hill, the limit had dropped to 110km an hour and I saw a flash... I think I had been done for speeding. However, as we're no longer in the EU, will the rules apply? It's annoying to think that for the whole journey I obeyed the rules of the road, and we regularly saw many cars (small French ones especially) going hell for leather on the autoroute, with some of them dangerously close to the car in front.
We came to Beaune and the sun appeared. Keith and I had been to Beaune before, many years ago, and had enjoyed a day in the beautiful wine area. Beaune looked very industrialised, with one huge
wine-making company right next to the motorway. The traffic was a lot heavier now and it stayed this way for the rest of the journey. My empty road of this morning was a distant memory.
We made a few stops for petrol and the rain started again. At one aire, we used the facilities and Mike messaged us to say he was planning to go to Berlin in December, and asked Sophie lots of questions, so that was a bit of a distraction for her. It must have been very boring cooped up in the back of the car!
Very soon we were on the outskirts of Lyon and the weather worsened. I was worried that we would leave the autoroute and somehow get into the centre of Lyon. We hadn't got a Crit'Air sticker (like our low emission zone), so I was quite nervous driving, and the traffic was horrendous. Why I thought today would be quiet on the road I'll never know!
We followed Trish's instructions, and at one point we did leave the motorway, but we managed to get back onto it quickly. We went through a very long tunnel and followed signs for Marseille and the weather improved a bit, thank goodness.
Once past the worry of Lyon, we looked for somewhere for lunch and joined throngs of people of all nationalities at an aire south of the city. It was now warm and sunny, so we bought sandwiches and water and sat outside. The place was packed with people from all over Europe - Germans, Italians, Dutch, Finnish, and a lot of Belgians towing caravans. We saw one British car, but we were definitely in the minority.
As we got further south, the weather was beautiful and the countryside changed, becoming more Mediterranean. The traffic was a bit lighter, and we turned towards Perpignan and saw the first signs for Barcelona.
In the distance, we could see the sea and the temperature climbed to 25c. This was better! The trees changed to Cypresses and more Mediterranean-looking species, and we stopped for an ice cream to have a break.
The ice cream improved our mood and we sped towards the border, with the traffic very light. On both sides of the road, we saw mountains and as we approached Spain, the road climbed higher and higher. We had imagined a border patrol and we had wondered whether they would check our covid passes? However, there was no stop at all, and we sailed through, before making the steep descent into Spain.
We carried on the motorway for a short while and then turned off to L'Escala. This was a single-carriageway, running through flat farmland. It took us about an hour to get to the town and after one little slip, we made it to the villa.
Marion, the owner, met us and showed us where everything was, but we were all a bit tired and hardly took any of it in! There were three bedrooms downstairs, and two upstairs, with two bathrooms and a separate loo. We had a kitchen, utility room, large living room/ diner, outside areas with dining tables and a gorgeous pool. There was ample space for the car, and we were so relieved the journey was over!
Once Marion had gone, we unpacked and put everything away. Sophie showered and Keith and I walked down to the nearby Spar, but it was closed. We came back and I had a look at restaurants close by for dinner picking out Mos L'Escala as a possible candidate.
It wasn't a long walk as we were very close to the seafront and a whole array of bars and restaurants. We walked right and found a marina with boats, which looked very pretty.
The sun was setting, turning the whole sky peachy pink. It was stunning. We found Mos L'Escala, as well as several other eateries for future meals. We were able to sit outside but with windbreaks and patio heaters. I was in a tee shirt, but a lot of people were bundled up with coats and scarves! It wasn't that cold!
The restaurant served tapas and we enjoyed fried cod with black aioli, chicken wings and bruschetta, followed by the Iberian "Secret" - medallions of pork cooked with Brie, potatoes and peppers. Sophie and I drank a Cava Sangria (flavoured with cinnamon) while Keith stuck to beer. For dessert, we enjoyed flambeed strawberries and apple pie. The bill was 115 euros.
It was a short walk back to the villa and although we had every intention of staying up a while, it was time for bed! It had been a long day!
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