Escape to the sun (nearly)...

Quick breakfast stop

So after about a month of frantic packing and work-finishing, followed by two lovely family Christmases, we've finally left the country. Last week was spent putting the final finishing touches to the van, including sewing cut up sleeping bags together to make a more packable duvet, and making some fancy tie-backs to keep our curtains under control.  We managed to squeeze in some time to drop in on some friends too.



On the evening of New Years Day we slept in the van in the driving wind and rain outside Andy's parents' flat. The van stayed very cosy though, giving me confidence that our insulation will be able to cope with whatever winter nights in Spain can throw at us.

Cosy...

We started the drive down to Folkestone at 5 am - Andy very kindly took on this leg of driving so all I had to do was drag myself the two metres from bed to the passenger seat before falling asleep again. After an uneventful Eurotunnel crossing, and fuelled by double espresso, I drove from Calais to Orléans in one push. Northern France was bathed in glorious sunshine, which was a lovely change from the weather in the UK the past few weeks. This is me (and Aleksandr) basking in the warmth:

We stopped for the night above the Gorge du Tarn, near a village called Le Massegros. We'd hoped to get a little climbing in this morning, but unfortunately the weather closed in overnight and we woke up to this:

Gorge de la Jonte in the mist

Gorge du Tarn in the mist

Apparently, the south of France isn't south enough to find the sun at this time of year, so we'll keep going. To Spain!