Catalonian Sunshine

Thursday we took another of those decisions to move aiming to outrun the bad weather that was/is sweeping Europe. We left the campsite at Haro, and spent a good bit of the journey making bad jokes about not saying “hallo in Haro” ….while the snow had turned to rain and thank goodness was warm enough at that altitude not to be freezing….

The whether the weather would improve  joke version showed how much we are trying not to get stressed out. We took our tried and tested route of staying off the beaten tourist trail and headed for an Aire – information from the Lpaca.org website (deciphering /translating from Spanish!)….this seems to be a goldmine and used by the “locals”….This Aire was at Tamerite de Literia, and turned out to be beside a sports complex on the ridge of a line of hills overlooking the plains. The view was amazing and with clearing skies a vast distance….

Our only hiccup was not realising that the longtitude and more relevantly the latitude coordinates had changed from west of the Greenwich meridian to east….once we’d spotted this then it was easy to find.

Leaving in more glorious warm sunshine, we chanced upon a new motorway…leading and from virtually nowhere, not another vehicle in sight (either direction) for miles, and then it suddenly stopped. Anyone run out of money? And it had us shaking our heads wondering why it was built in the first place, and then wondering what on earth the Spanish make of English roads. That motorway could do with being transported to a sort out a few bottlenecks we could think of!

We’re now travelling along south side of the Pyrennes, roughly parrallel heading East. We had intended to go further up into Basque country – but have chickened out due to the massive snow covered mountains that are keeping us company in the distance on our lefthand side as we head along the plains….which look almost like the classic TV badlands of spagetti western fame!

Next stop Calaf, as the driver (me) didn’t feel inclined to rush onwards now the weather is back to our “winter sunshine” requirements. We were driving along what looked on the map and sat nav systems as a normal A road, but it’s been upgraded to motorway. Brand spanking new! Great to drive on…I wonder where they found the money??