“What a difference a day makes, 24 little hours…”, sing along! I must repeat something I say, that is, I will never complain about the weather I just observe it. Yesterday, bright sunshine and a brisk wind, today complete overcast and some very heavy showers. The good news, it was not a sight seeing day but a 7 hour run from La Rochelle to Irun in the Basque country of Spain to start the core element of this trip. Apart from the traffic around Bordeaux it was plain sailing of the way which ensures efficiency with the car running at sensible speeds. In reality a similar drive as I would take to Scotland. The early part of the journey was through flat farmland before entering the wine country of Charente and the Cote de Blaye leading into the industrial wine country around Bordeaux. South of Bordeaux the road sweeps through the great forest of Les Landes and then crossing the River Adour, entering Bayonne from the East. It was a slow but steady run from Biarritz to cross into Spain. I could have done the whole journey about an hour quicker if I had used the few sections of ‘Peage’ but the cost did not make it worthwhile. Although a few kilometres shorter the tolls would have come to over €40 and the car would have used more charge. The latter is because it is sensible to drive at speeds suitable for the roads and therefore to approach the 130 kph speed limit on the sections of ‘Peage’. The only time it really would have helped is from Bayonne to Irun which would have saved about 25 minutes due to the continuous built up area from Bayonne along the coast. That said it was more interesting the way I came which might be visible in the photos. The headline photo is from the car in the Côte de Bourg region of France and the one below is from the Côte de Blaye, both in the Bordeaux general location.  A sense of the weather can be seen. The sun always shines on the golden arches. A habit picked up in Norway works equally well in France. A decent coffee and a clean toilet define McDonalds. As noted the traffic around Bordeaux was just overloaded. The red line on the map indicates the ‘bouchon’. Simply too many vehicles, including mine, on not enough road. One of the reasons I enjoy road trips is there might be something round the corner, like a flock of egrets in a field. This was by the river Adour and there were other flocks but this one provided a convenient place to stop. The river is wide and seemed to be flowing upstream, probably a combination of the tide and wind. By now the weather was getting to its worst as I approached the Spanish border and was confirmed at the hotel. The weather for a visit to San Sebastian tomorrow looks more suitable.

For orientation there is an outline map is here.