Thursday 5 January 2017

Veigne to St Savin - 177 miles

The gas ran out just before we got up! It was also a particularly frosty morning with a brilliant blue clear sky so quickly get dressed to take Jamie out and change the bottles over. Again no rush so a leisurely breakfast, pack up and empty the waste tanks – we're okay for water for now.

So back onto the road. We're now taking the N10, a Route Nationale that is almost a motorway and generally avoids many of the smaller villages and towns. Trucks are also permitted, despite there being a proper autoroute not far away, but they have to observe a slower speed limit. Strictly speaking so should we, but we look as if we're under 3.5t and anyway we don't go above 90 kph, so quite a lot of overtaking today. Past Chatellerault and Poitiers then Angouleme before heading for Bordeaux which was kind of our target for today.

Just south of Poitiers Jamie announced he needed the toilet and as there was a service area coming up we took it as an opportunity for our lunch break, then refuelled as the price was on a par with the supermarkets we normally use. Whilst there another Brit pulled in, in a van about half our size, and proceeded to unload and walk three of the biggest dogs you've ever seen! Where do they all sleep?

An hour's break then back onto the road in more bright sunshine, now needing the sunglasses and noticing we were getting into wine country with the vines already being prepared. Approaching 4.00 p.m. we realised that we would hit Bordeaux at rush hour and there were not many aires after, so made a short stop to consult the maps and discovered a small group of aires just a little way off the N10. Programming the nearest into TomTom, we found a nice little spot in a Tourist Office carpark and just across the road from a supermarket. We also found the service point was open so decided to overnight here at St Savin. A little bit of jiggling about as the spaces really weren't long enough for us, but we managed and ended up on our own. After a quick cuppa we walked across to the supermarket to get something nice for tea – and as usual spent 5 times as much as we had intended on “essentials”! Then another quiet evening, reviewing our route for tomorrow and updating the log and blog.

It seems that the tablets are Jamie's problem because he's started having “accidents” again – we'll just have to watch him for now and try and catch him before it happens. Fortunately he used the washable mat by the door, but there's a doggy pad down now.