The weather worried me now more & more, on CCN & BBC news they showed the snow storms in Normandy added to the prediction of snow flurries in Northern Spain. So I finally decided to go home one day earlier & make further decisions as I literally “rolled” along.
To add to the worries, I had hit a couple very deep potholes in the in the rain, in the dark in mountains “grounding my car. It did sound very “rattley” underneath. Eventually I decided to lie on the floor & have look. Yea I had ripped my heat guard around my exhaust so with bit of manipulation I reckoned, and with no my pothole catastrophe’s I might limp back to my superb mechanic in England. But I needed to take care. I was insured but don’t want to be fetching them out.
So at 10.30am on Tuesday morning, my return to England commenced, leisurely meandering through the mountains & unbelievably the sun put in an appearance, What a difference the mountains make in the light & even better the sun. The sun didn’t stay for long though with the rain returning after about an hour, but staying just long enough to see me out of the mountains.
Granada, came & went & onto to Jaen, no problems so far. Then up to Madrid & there were no difficulties at all. About the only highlight was a white low slung Mercedes sports car arrowing on to the motorway. It had very distinctive black edgings around the windows which were smoked glass. By sheer luck a couple of miles further down as he was queuing to leave I saw that it was Ronaldo.
I’d been driving for almost 7 hours now, about 450 miles, (725 Km’s) so decided to stop just north of Burgos & booked into a super clean & quiet motel & just for €44 with wifi & all the mod cons & with breakfast included I was happy. But I woke the next morning to snow covering the car & worse frozen solid on it. After breakfast at 8.00am I plodded on wondering what lay in store.
What a difference a night’s sleep in a comfortable bed makes, I was at the border in no time making certain my fuel tank was brimming before moving into France where I was now aware of the higher price difference. Indeed it was a difference of 12c per litre in but a short distance between Spain & France. I was however travelling about 650 miles (1000 Km’s) per tank of fuel.
Having decided to travel as far as I could on this day to obviate any inclement or failing weather I was amazed that, except for the bitter cold & smatterings of snow, the weather wasn’t a concern – yet. My car also was travelling well, although the rattles were still their, they were not getting any worse.
It was 8.00pm when I decided to stop, but I could not find a hotel or even a B & B, I definitely didn’t want to have to resort to sleeping in the car. I was getting very worried now.
At last, at 9.00pm I saw a hotel, I say hotel, but what a fleapit! As the one last was ideal for €44 this was really crappy for €72 they had me by the proverbials! I felt it was a rip off, but I had no choice. I was up early although the shower & amenities were also awful, although they did a decent continental breakfast & was then on my way by 7.30. I just wanted to be out of there, won’t leave it too late to look again, another valuable lesson learned. Still I only had about 150 miles (225 Km’s) to do although this was reputedly the area worst hit by the snow.
It was amazing driving through Normandy as it is basically a very flat land. There had indeed been a couple of feet of snow (about 25 cm’s) but the roads were totally clear. Looking across the land there was acres of just pure virgin white, it was indeed a spectacle.
Arriving in Le Havre at lunch I had a walk around the town having a smashing lunch in a very French cafe/restaurant & also enjoying sitting & watching the inhabitants come & go. The ferry started off late arrived even later & I was home in an uneventful journey through England to arrive back home by 4.00am.
Later that morning my mechanic “mended my car in 20 minutes & all was well