So, bright and early next Saturday morning, long before the Kellogg's cockerel has normally crowed over my cereal, the intrepid trio will be setting off again on another whirlwind adventure.
We'll head down to Dover and leaving the White Cliffs behind, take the SeaFrance ferry to Calais and spend the first night about 60 miles into France as that will be more than enough travelling for one day.
Our ultimate destination will be Barcelona and with all of France to drive through to get there, we had choices galore in terms of the route. After some planning, we've decided to take the Jenson Button option over the James May option (probably lost on most of you....sorry) and head south pretty much as fast as we can.
The reasons for this are several. We want to revisit friends who own a stunning b&b in the small village of Montreal in Burgundy that we last visited in 2009. Then we want to spend a few days in Provence by using one b&b as a base for exploring the area which we're told is the French version of Italy's Tuscany so I'm excited about that description. Next, on the actually day's drive to Barcelona, we want to visit an ex IBM work colleague of mine who owns a restaurant in the famous town of Roses, south east of Perpignan but just over the border in Spain.
So to fit all that in, we need to drive between those locations without hanging around.
It's hard to miss Paris on any drive down through France but we'll be doing just that. Tempting as it would be to enter the city, whip out my traveller's guillotine, lop of Sarkozy's head and claim France for Her Majesty Queen Liz II of England and some other places, we'll drive east of the city and leave France as French.
Sorry world.
Much as I'm looking forward to touring Provence, the highlight of the trip should be Barcelona as few people ever have a bad word to say about it. Our hotel is right in the city centre, within walking distance of most of the usual tourist sights. It's also at the end of an avenue leading to Barcelona's world famous Camp Nou stadium and I feel sure a visit there will be on the cards, for me at least. They're even playing at home while we're there so seeing a game might be the cherry on that particular cake.
With only 5 days to go, we've not actually planned on anywhere after Barcelona. We'll only have 4 full days to get back to a b&b near to Calais for the return ferry on Saturday 3rd September so we may just potter about in Northern Spain for a day and then head straight back up through France again. Taking 3 days to tour Provence and 3 to explore Barcelona doesn't leave much time for anything else. We didn't want to be driving hundreds of miles each day but this itinerary makes it almost inevitable.
But that's all part of the fun I think. Brits all have Cliff Richard's Summer Holiday gene and we regard driving along scenic back roads full of beret wearing, onion strewn Johnny Foreigners on push bikes as part of the experience. Personally we'll have to make do with a Renault Clio instead of a big red double decker bus but nevertheless, I'm sure we'll be singing silly sixties summer songs and loving every minute of it.
Anyway that's the plan. We still have to book the Provence b&b so better get back to surfing for a good one.
"Bonnet de douche", as Del Boy would say !
The incurable editor who lives in my head wants me to tell you that you may just putter about in Northern Spain for a day. If you choose to potter about instead, remember that it is important to urn your keep.
ReplyDeleteBon voyage or Bueno trippo or whatever one says on such occasions.
Errr - - Bob, what's all this puttering? We don't putter here in Blighty. We potter. And we'll probably potter in Northern Spain too. Not sure whether we'll urn our keep but we plan to enjoy our pottering!
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