They think it’s all over, it nearly is now

So here we are in Saint-Valerie-en-Caux on the French / Normandy coast with about 24 hours to go of our adventure.  Where did the last ten weeks go?  

Honestly - we have tried to bring the weather back from Andalucia 

The last week has been a significant driving affair, a real whistle stop tour up through the centre of Spain and then the west coast of France.  Over two thousand miles I think and a variety of different overnight stops - some better than others!  

We stopped for a day visit in San Sebastián and the weather was really lovely with full sun and blue sky to make this little resort seem like a great place to return some day.  The sea was really inviting and we stood transfixed for half an hour watching foot volleyball being played 2 v 2 on the beach.  Over lunch we tried the local ‘pintxo’ variation on tapas - they were lovely and it was very easy to join in.  Once in France we also passed a few spots where we holiday’d with the kids in the past and of course the weather has changed fairly dramatically.  In fact we noticed when we went to a supermarket in the suburbs of Madrid that we were the only ones wearing shorts and t-shirts!!  Fortunately we’d saved a few clothes for this expectation on the way home.

We stood at bars ordered drinks and pintxos shoulder to shoulder with the locals - a great experience 

It’s been interesting how much more efficiently we’ve travelled north, both in terms of travel time and also amount of diesel we’ve needed.  And although the Spanish leg was quickest, as almost exclusively on a dual carriageway, I’ve really enjoyed driving in France again, perhaps because it’s a bit more interesting driving through villages and towns and also I do love the avenues of trees that are especially a feature on roads in the west of the country.

I love a good sports pic and so couldn’t help take a snap of this tiny athletics track in a village we stayed in just north of Bordeaux - maybe Olympic / Paralympics will be here in summer!!?

Adventures continued as anyone who has travelled abroad with their pet since Brexit will know.  Essentially Roxy had to see a vet and have anti worming tablet administered no more than 5 days and no less than 24 hours before we cross the channel.  Given we were travelling in this time it’s no mean feat to (a) guess where we’ll be on different days (b) find vets in those areas (c) communicate in advance in appropriate language to make a booking.  And that’s without considering Roxy - I say this because we thought we’d cracked it and got a vet appointment booked in a little town just north of Bordeaux on Tuesday morning.  All worked like clockwork until Roxy was presented with the tablet which she sniffed and licked but then basically ignored for 45 mins!!  Thank god the vet took pity on us - we did try various treats and meat to encourage her (Roxy not the vet) but she wasn’t having any of it - only charging us for the wasted tablets and not her.  So back to a map of French vets and Google translate and amazingly we managed to find a vet near Le Mans who could see Roxy the next day.  This was amazing in itself because that was 1st May which is a public holiday in France and literally nothing else was open.  And there’s more (a) he was cool about seeing Roxy eat the tablet - let let us take some of it away to feed her later and (b) he agreed to give Roxy a French passport so that in future she can travel to Europe without having a British animal health certificate.  This will be really helpful as they cost nearly £200 and you have to have one every time your pet travels abroad.  So a great result in the end and Roxy is now learning to bark in French “allez les blues”.

time.

A very proud Roxy with her new ‘French’ passport

We’ve also started reflecting back on the last ten weeks.  We’ve said to each other so much how lucky we are and have been not just to be able to do this but also generally what good luck we’ve had in our experiences with other people and places we’ve visited.  It’s reinforced our view that the world is largely a great place with lots of very kind, thoughtful and interesting people.  We’ve particularly loved inland Spain - it’s been such an education for us visiting some incredible and vibrant cities whilst also experiencing the natural landscapes especially of the southern parts of the country.  And there’s so much that we haven’t done or seen, so definitely I’m sure we will be back.

Whilst we’re still enjoying the time we have left and planning a last night out in the lovely little seaside town we’re in now we are also beginning to look forward to returning home.  We do love England too.  We’re also planning an evening soon to share our travelling experiences - let us know if you’d be interested in coming along.

This blog was written by Chris