Blog 1.17: Days Ten, Eleven, and Twelve

From Carcassonne, through Andorra and into Spain. 1st, 2nd, 3rd October 2022

Sorry it's a Three Dayer. I've been a bit busy driving, to tell the truth.

And what a drive it was over the Pyrennees. I'd only flown over them before. Never even seen them from ground level. So to drive the van right over them, via some staggeringly beautiful scenery, and almost touching the incipient October snow-line is a genuine privilege.

The thing is, they just go on and on.

The roads snake and squirm, gyrating their way through magnificent wooded valleys and sharply carved stone buttresses. I almost thought it would never end, but then, there's the Andorra/Spain border and the obligatory, if somewhat perfunctory, search. Well, it was more a 'are you carrying cigarettes or alcohol' and 'please open that cupboard' followed by 'OK, you can go now'.

The fact that I could have stashed literally more than half a tonne of illicit goodies in the under-bed cupboards and garage either didn't occur to the border guard, or he just couldn't be arsed.

I strongly suspect the latter.

And this bit - the bit that I've had to re-write three times now because Wix for some reason has seen fit not to save the drafts that I've been working on for the last two days, is now going to be somewhat truncated, disappointingly.

I've learned my lesson now though, and will save drafts separately before pasting into Wix and publishing immediately. Can't be losing it all again!

Anyway, to quickly summarize, as I can't be bothered to go into all that detail again now:

Yesterday, Sunday, was passed with us walking into Caracassonne again, in much better weather than we're used to, but going into the 13th Century 'Bastide' rather than the old dominant 'Cite'.

It's just as beautiful in its own way, and built on a very tight grid pattern. I can only compare it with New York, but it's so much more atmospheric than its trans-Atlantic cousin. Even the cathedral is hemmed in tightly by buildings and streets you can almost touch either side of, arms outstretched. No sweeping yards here, unlike the Yorks and Lincolns of this world.

Lunch was taken in a shady area on the edge of the very atmospheric central square, and wanderings took us to cool green areas around the centre's periphery, and the pretty Canal du Midi which laps its northern flank.

It's now firmly among my very favourite cities.

Today took us from the free Aire that we spent the night in at Tarrega to the coast near Tarragona, and on to the very flat Ebro Delta, where we find ourselves in another free aire adjacent to Sant Jaume de Enveja, surrounded by rivers and wetlands.

A bit like Lincolnshire really, but with better weather. And food.

Miles covered so far: 1222