Nothing has gone wrong........yet

The history of my travels to and from the UK have been the subject of various other posts and it is common knowledge that most of my journeys have been eventful, what with burst tyres, getting lost in various major cities, floods and kamikaze pigs. However last year my return was remarkably trouble free much to everyone's surprise (me included). Would you believe, so far this year is going almost unbelievably well?

I've been preparing like nobody's business this year, but then when I haven't been looking for a house, moving into it and unpacking, I reckon I've gained a few weeks this spring compared to just about every other year I've been in Spain. So the route has been planned and the hotels booked, the van packed (as tightly as ever) and just about everything done which ought to be done, including picking up the ashes of poor old Napoleon from the vet. Shame I forgot to take them indoors before I left, a mysterious carrier bag turned out to contain his urn when I noticed it along the way. Road trip for dead cat.

Another surprise to all of us is that I have - tada - got a satnav. Only because someone I knew was selling it and knows what's what with driving big things to and fro. The biggest disappointment was that everywhere I took note of what it said I would have managed to do on my own anyway but it will surely come into its own in unknown territory if only when trying to find Farmer Phil's festival which really ought to be called MIddle of Nowhere, as M.O.N. at Penkridge is actually not that hard to find. But I digress. For a change. I've always resisted such fripperies and gadgetry preferring my map reading skills and making informed decisions (or wild guesses) with only myself to blame, and for a Luddite like me to even consider giving it a try is a mark of the same creeping age which demands more rest stops and a bed for the night let alone an extra day to spread the journey, these days. SO I suspended critical judgment, put the map away and did as I was told, without too much stress most of the time. We will see....... 

So, off I set, sat nav and all, and I've arrived in 9.5 hours approximately allowing for a couple of snooze stops and refuelling, a minor hitch when the motorway lane in Madrid wasn't the one I should have been on even if it did match the diagram on the thingy, and its complete inability to explain properly which house was La Morada del Cid when I got to Vivar el Cid. In that time I've learnt how to use an automatic fuel pump with a note instead of a card to pay, and done a questionnaire in the back of nowhere at a petrol station, about where/why/how one was travelling. How many suitcases are you carrying, he asked, whereupon I laughed given that you could hardly get a toothbrush in the back of the van. I've spoke nothing but Spanish as well, including on the phone to the proprietor of the hotel, gas stations, cafes and bars (and the questionnaire).

I have also rebelled against the chain hotels this time, it is enough of a pain to drive so far without a characterless shoe box at night with air con which never works and breakfast which costs about 5 times what it's worth, let alone no room in the designated car park as there are actually not enough spaces if the place is full. Not to mention booking direct only to find that it booked me two triple rooms but that is another digression let alone another story. Bit pleased with myself at finding a couple of character properties for no more (or even less) that the boring Premiere Classe type room, and without further ado I am composing my trip advisor report in my head. It's delightful and full of character as indeed is the village where the one bar/restaurant sits on a crossroads with a noisy donkey in a field opposite, few people are about even at 9pm and the sun is going down over lovely old stone buildings mixed with convenient modern homes, statues, the church, flowers and bushes, a dog just lying in the grass opposite his house, and a granddad pushing a small child in a swing in the little park. I love it. The walls are thin in the rooms of the place is all. It's just what I hoped and all for 35 euros if I read it right, and fried eggs with potatoes and pimientos piquillos, two glasses of wine and a nice coffee cost less than 9 euros. I walked home to the sound of the donkey he-hawing and the church clock giving10 tinny bongs for the hour.

If I wasn't missing the cats it would all be fine. Although the fuel situation is getting worse in France I hear so who knows. But so far, so good.