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| St Savin to Oloron St Marie - 175 miles |
The road next to the
parking got a bit busy so no lie-in today which once again started
bright and sunny although very cold and frosty. No matter we were
warm enough. Another regular start and as the water was still on did
a proper service before heading out about 10.35. A short detour
initially when we managed to set off along the right road but in the
wrong direction. Soon sorted however although we did find some quite
narrow roads in the town........
Despite not being in a
rush, much of our driving today has been on major roads as well as a
bit of toll autoroute (A63)after Bordeaux; this latter only became a
toll road about 18 months ago and our maps are not very up-to-date so
it got planned in. It is avoidable but by the time we realised it was
too late so we just stuck with it. Only €5.30 and we did quite a
few miles on it but we'll remember for the future. We took advantage
of a sign saying the Avia fuel station on a service area had GPL (LPG
in UK), but they would not let us refill our tanks “it is illegal
in France”. No it's not but we are aware that some places won't let
you refill for cooking etc, due to accidents in the past trying to
fill gas bottles directly rather than through a proper filler. We'll
find some later.
Eventually turned off a
very busy motorway towards Dax – we're going to try a different
route through the Pyrenees by using the Somport Tunnel (provided it
is open but checking yesterday it seems to be okay). Stopped off for
lunch at a LeClerc hypermarket with the inevitable bit more shopping.
Then somehow we got off our planned route, although we seemed to be
heading in the right direction, probably while we were discussing a
suitable stopover for tonight. TomTom was called into action but we
were'nt really much out of our way, just a slightly shorter route.
Made our way into the
town of Oloron St Marie, which is the jumping off point for the
Somport Tunnel, looking for the aire. The book said the entrance
could be a bit tight for larger vans; they can say that again,
although using the full width of the road to turn made it okay. There
were a couple of vans already parked up so we chose a corner,
discovering that the electric was on with no apparent charge! Later
we realised we were piggy-backing on someone else's electricity –
they must have taken umbrage 'cos I found our plug half out. Oops,
sorry, I'll just pack it all away and use gas......
Still having wee-wee
problems with Jamie; whilst travelling he seems to be okay although
we stop every couple of hours. However since we've been parked up
he's asked to go out every half an hour and is also drinking a lot of
water – it must be those tablets but we are going to reduce them
now as the rash seems to have mostly cleared up, just as the vet said
it would. Wished she'd mentioned the side effects though!
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