Week 23: All roads lead to... Spain!
- Feb 5, 2022
- 5 min read
Updated: Feb 7, 2022
Our stops this week:
· One night at the Motorhome Aire in Canterbury
· One night at Dreux Aire
· One night at Vivone Aire
· One night at Bernos-Beaulac Aire
· One night at Jaca Aire
· One night at Carinena Aire (near Zaragoza)
We made it!
After countless hours of research, planning, staring at maps and a little apprehension we’ve finally made it across the channel! The crossing into France was much easier than we had expected. We’ve crossed on the Eurotunnel before, and it’s always been a doddle but with the extra paperwork for covid and post-Brexit pet travel we feared that we would get something wrong and be turned away at any time.
On the way through customs, in between the English and French border posts we were told to pull into an inspection bay… my heart sank! I thought that we’d been busted trying to sneak through 10 kilos of finest kibble (for Bear) and several large pieces extra mature cheddar cheese (for Yvette) and about to be charged with some weird smuggling activity! Luckily a friendly bloke just wanted to check that the gas bottle in the campervan had been turned off before we boarded the train! Phew…
I won’t breakdown every blog post in so much detail but a few people have asked for the details of our route down through France (and it will be useful for us to have a record for next time we make this trip)… so here is it is:
Day 1
Start: Calais
Finish: Dreux
Route: via Rouen
Distance: 306km
Driving Time: About 4h
Toll Charges: £13.87
Breakfast: Nothing it was too early!
Aside from losing our bearings on the way out from the Eurotunnel and doing a few laps of L’Citi Europe supermarket in Calais (which we do every time) this was a great first day and pretty much all went to plan, aside from a small detour which took us off down a few miles of remote single track road in search of a place to stop for lunch, weirdly we ended up at a Lidl which was still under construction… Yvette managed to have a chat with a bemused French builder who told her we were a day early… the shop is opening tomorrow!
Day 2
Start: Dreux
Finish: Vivonne
Route: via Chartres and Tours
Distance: 325km
Driving Time: About 4h 45m
Toll Charges: £0
Breakfast: More Pain au chocolates and Pain Aux Swiss (like Pain au chocolate but with even more chocolate and sugar… just what we needed to start a long day of driving).
This was the hardest day on the road both in terms of time behind the wheel and the type of roads. I’m glad we decided not to use the toll roads today as we got to see more of France and some interesting places along the way but driving through lots of towns and villages definitely needs greater concentration and makes for a more tiring day on the road.
We stopped for a break at Chateau-Renault and walked into town to find a boulangerie… on the way a very loud klaxon sounded, it was so loud it stopped us in our tracks! We looked around but no one else seemed to take any notice, in fact it felt like we were the only ones that could hear it! When we got back to the van, Yvette checked google and discovered that on the first Wednesday of every month all French towns and villages test their emergency klaxons… I was starting to panic, maybe it was a signal that the Boulangerie was down to their last croissant!!
Day 3
Start: Vivonne
Finish: Bernos-Beaulac
Route: via Angouleme and Bordeaux
Distance: 278km
Driving Time: About 4h 45m
Toll Charges: £0
Breakfast: Pain au chocolates and Pain aux Raisin
Much easier roads today… we left the town of Vivonne heading south and sat nav told us to continue along the same road for 166 kilometres without any junctions or roundabouts!! Although I was a little upset later when we got flashed by a speed camera on the auto-route into Bordeaux, I wasn’t even speeding! Fingers crossed nothing will come of it. Not sure if it is true but apparently since Brexit the UK will no longer provide the details of British drivers for the French authorities to send out speeding fines! Finally, something positive from Brexit… although I’d gladly pay a speeding fine if I could get my old EU passport back!
Day 4
Start: Bernos Beaulac
Finish: Jaca in Spain!!
Route: via the Somport Tunnel
Distance: 246km
Driving Time: About 4h
Toll Charges: £0
Breakfast: Home/van-made mango and avocado smoothie (thanks for the recipe Bob!)
This was my best day on the road, the approach to the Somport Tunnel took us through the Pyrenees and along some stunning sections of road running alongside crystal-clear rivers surrounded by high mountain peaks. I’m not sure this was Yvette’s best day on the road, she spent parts of it with her eyes closed (luckily she wasn’t driving) and occasionally assuming the airplane brace position… ready for the moment we plunged off the road and down the side of the mountain… thankfully this moment never happened!
As we emerged from the tunnel, we weren’t quite sure what country we were in… we hadn’t seen anything even close to a border, not even a sign saying welcome to Spain! After a few kilometres it became clear that we had left France… not only did we realise that we could no longer understand the words on the road signs but the landscape changed from an alpine forest to a more rocky and arid landscape … oh and the sun was shining in an almost clear blue sky, we had definitely made it to Spain!
Our first night in Spain was at the Aire (or Area de Autocaravanas in Spanish) at a town called Jaca. There are about 20 spaces for motorhomes, when we arrived just over half were taken but by the following morning there were between 40 and 50 vans parked in and around the aire… we didn’t realise at the time but this is a popular stop-over for skiers and snowboarders as it is just a half hour drive to the nearest ski resorts.
The aire was really well located, next to a park with a dedicated and fenced in dog walk area and just a few minutes’ walk from the old town and citadel. Yvette and I left Bear in the van and spent the afternoon wondering around the old town and taking in the views of the surrounding mountains. Later in the evening we ventured back into town, this time with Bear, for a drink at one of the many bars… we choose the first bar we came to, mainly because Bear was super excited to be out in the evening! Bear entertained anyone that walked passed with his ever-enthusiastic greetings and seemed to be very popular with the locals… not surprising as his mum is Español… cocker spaniel to be precise!
So far we've had a great start to the European stage of this trip and are thoroughly looking forward to exploring more of Spain.
Sorry for such a long blog this week, thanks for sticking with it and making it all the way to the end... here are some more pics!
Some pics from Jaca... not sure why they keep deer in the moat around the citidel! (and yes before anyone asks, I did have a German beer in Spain... not sure why, I just fancied it!)
Views of the Basilica and old town in the beautiful city of Zaragoza.
Yvette and Bear doing some impromptu agility training
Proof that not all French architecture is beautiful
A strange lady in the woods
A strange dog in the woods
Stopping to check the route after satnav tried to send us down a gravel track
Rush hour in rural France
Some views from the road...
Fantastic so glad you guys are on the way. I will be watching closely I want to take the kids on a trip like this during a summer holiday (might need a bigger van).
So amazing! so jealous lolx. Looks like a brilliant adventure continues! I am finding out so much that I never knew, I might be tempted to do something like this one day!
Continue having fun guys, so much better than being stuck in Oxford and being at work!
Thanks for sharing! x
German beer in Spain? That’s my key takeaway this week. Glad you made it at last!