France

29 April – Cassis FRANCE

Probably the only day of the entire trip that we will see 3 countries! Started off in Spain, crossed through Andorra and ended up in France.

The car was fine this morning – everything in its place and untouched. After a quick breakfast of tostada and coffee, not at the Parador, we left for Andorra 10km to the North. We got a pretty good map and then headed along what looked to us like a scenic route. Good choice, almost no other cars and some lovely views. There is even still some good skiing around! Crossing into France was painless but the customs guy was clearly suspicious. Andorra is a tax-free haven so people spend like crazy. His boss reassured him that jerry cans were not generally used for smuggling alcohol but he did not seem convinced. Things are cheap however, we only bought petrol which was 20% cheaper than Spain, a pretty significant saving.

Next was France – we did some lovely scenic driving until the highway at Carcasonne. We saw some ruined castles, beautiful rolling hills and forest, which I particularly liked. Autumn is great with its reds and yellows but the different shades of green offered by Spring, while more subtle, make a lovely picture.

Getting here was interesting. We obviously found Marseilles with no problems but the campsite which is in Marseilles Plage is not as I assumed on the beach of Marseilles but rather in a suburb of Montpelier. Damn! After searching for over an hour we stopped off and asked for help only to be told that Marseilles has no camping at all . That explains why we are camping in a town called Cassis about 25km SE of Marseilles. Tomorrow’s job is to see how easily (or not) we get to the port from here.

30 April – Cassis

Yup, still here, which means that today was a pretty quiet day. We, or rather I, did some washing of clothes and then we went shopping. The aim was to buy food for the next couple of days and also to find a replacement camping table. Well, 400FFr and about 3hrs later, we had the table. Expensive country!

The next step was to find out where we need to go tomorrow. Well, finding the port is easy but the car entrance is another matter. This place is not exactly signposted for dumb tourists like Dover or Calais. Anyway, after an hour’s driving around we eventually found it.

Other than that, a pretty quiet day – siesta, wander around the town of Cassis, send off postcards etc. I hope tomorrow goes well. It is our first big test and Scott is already taking some strain. I’m not sure why but he is far more nervous than me, odd considering my normal personality and a little worrying. Even little things are upsetting him. For example, he was struggling to get the petrol cap open and pushed so hard that he broke the key off. Fortunately we can still screw it open but reactions like that aren’t usual for him. Maybe once the real trip starts he’ll start living for the moment and not looking at the journey in one glance, seeing all 4 months and 23 000 kms stretching ahead – it looks a little daunting then. I see Tunisia and Libya but very little else. Egypt will happen and become real while in Libya but not before. And Sudan ….