We set off bright and early on Thursday morning in beautiful sunny weather. The road was quiet and we stopped briefly for a drink and Keith treated Sophie to a Barbie doll. It soon grew very hot and we wished fervently that we had air-conditioning in the car! By the afternoon we'd reached Barcelona and Mum phoned me on my mobile to ask a question about sending emails! As we were in the middle of negotiating a tricky bit of the road I told her I'd call her back!
We left the motorway at Barcelona and headed towards the mountains that we could see in the distance. The road was almost empty and we stopped at a service station overlooking the monastery of Montserrat. This looked very impressive perched as it was high up in the mountains. We grabbed a quick sandwich and Keith drank the very last bottle of the beer he'd carried all the way to Spain! It was a fitting time to drink it, surrounded by gorgeous mountains and the imposing monastery!
I took over the driving and the road continued to wind up into the mountains, passing through several grim industrial towns. Soon we saw signs for Andorra and we drove through a long tunnel at the top of a pass. We had briefly flirted with the idea of going into the mountainous Principality but we were glad we didn't when we came to the border and we were asked a lot of questions about whether we'd been there. We guessed it was because of the Duty Free laws in Andorra but as we hadn't set foot in the tiny country we were waved over into France.
As it now getting later in the afternoon we started looking for a hotel for the night and hoped that we'd come across a clean and friendly auberge. One of the first villages we came to had a sign that looked promising so we pulled up outside the hotel and went in to see if they had anything available. The man at Reception wasn't particularly welcoming but he showed us to a clean, if spartan, room which had tremendous views over the Pyrenees.
After lugging the cases up to our room I dived into the tiny bathroom and had a bath. We were all soon clean and dressed so decided to take a walk around the beautiful village which had gorgeous houses and masses of flowers everywhere. Sophie loved exploring and found an old fountain that must have been used to wash clothes in days gone by.
Dinner that night was delicious. We had an aperitif in the small bar first while we studied the menu and Sophie played with her new Barbie dolls. There wasn't many of us eating but there was a nice atmosphere and the waiter was very friendly and helpful. By 9.30pm we were all more than ready for bed!
The next day dawned bright and sunny and after a quick breakfast (how I hate continental breakfasts!) we set off through the mountains. After just half an hour's driving we were suddenly stopped by the French police who demanded that we open the boot of the car and then started asking us questions about Andorra and whether we'd visited the country. The policeman noticed my two bottles of Martini and wanted to know where we'd bought the Lladro. All the questions made us feel guilty even though we had nothing to worry about but we were just glad we'd decided not to go to Andorra after all!
As we drove further into the mountains the weather grew worse and it began to rain. Grey dismal villages appeared out of the gloom and we were glad we'd stopped where we did. Very soon we'd left the mountains behind and were heading for Toulouse on a busy road. The weather hadn't improved at all and we all felt disappointed as we'd imagined driving through spectacular scenery.
We drove on and on, reaching the Dordogne area where we'd had a previous, disastrous holiday two years before. It had rained every day and we'd eventually decided to leave early because of the terrible weather. Things hadn't changed as it was still raining and grey!
After leaving the Dordogne we eventually reached a motorway and stopped near Limoges for a lunch of sandwiches eaten in the car. The services were spotlessly clean and had a wonderful array of gifts to buy from the local area.
We followed the motorway to Tours and then turned off to drive to the wine village of Vouvray where we were hoping to stay the night at a hotel we'd visited six years before. The road was only a single carriageway and inevitably we became stuck behind every slow vehicle on the road. I'm always nervous about overtaking on the "wrong" side of the road (in a right hand drive car you just cannot see very well!) so a slow journey ensued, made even worse by Sophie suddenly saying she needed the loo!
We reached the town of Tours at the height of the rush hour but successfully negotiated our way through and arrived in Vouvray in the early evening. Unfortunately the hotel was fully booked so we were very disappointed. We carried on towards Amboise and saw an Auberge that looked promising. The lady in charge spoke very good English and showed us to a room overlooking the road. Again, it was very bare but spotlessly clean. We wondered why the French never think to provide a television or even tea and coffee making facilities that seem to be standard in British B&Bs.
There was no restaurant in the hotel so after a quick shower we headed into Amboise to look for somewhere to eat. We arrived in the town in the middle of a storm and as it was pouring with rain and the streets were full of cars, we drove around for a while until it stopped.
Amboise was lovely. It's extremely picturesque with cobbled streets and some beautiful old buildings. There were lots of tourists wandering around the streets and after a wander we found a lovely restaurant called Le Parvis tucked away down a side street. We were the first customers to arrive so we took a table in the corner and studied the menu.
The restaurant was very popular and was soon full. The main feature is a huge grill where the chef cooks the meat dishes and we loved the ambiance of the place with the wonderful smells of woodsmoke and grilled food. Our dinner was delicious and was accompanied by a local Rose wine. Sophie ate most of her meal but she didn't seem quite as adventurous as I was at her age!
Walking back to the car we enjoyed seeing all the beautiful old buildings lit up and promised ourselves we would return.
After breakfast the next morning we drove into Vouvray to buy some wine from a favourite shop. We bought six bottles of wine, including a 1970 vintage and four from the 1980s.
Reluctantly we left and began the last leg of the journey, heading towards Paris which we negotiated via the peripherique. We stopped in Cite Europe to do some more shopping and then we made it onto the next available train. It was very busy at the terminal but we were soon on our way back to the UK and Sophie made friends with a little girl who had been camping in the Dordogne. Her family were very impressed when we told them we'd been all the way to Javea in Spain.
Arriving back in England on a dull Saturday afternoon we were home quickly and back to reality. Our trusty Volvo had completed almost 3000 miles and we had enjoyed the experience of taking it to Spain and back rather than flying. Would we do it again? Yes, we would!
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