Bolquere to Ripoll...

We were off to a racing start this morning, the boys left on time and according to plan. The Fawlty Towers bird was getting her knickers in a twist about Campbell’s room key which we eventually found in the pocket of his joggers which were packed in his bag in the trailer. The ‘fanny of the day award’ went to him!

On we went up into the Pyrenees. They are beautiful mountains, still with snow on the tops. I’d imagine the whole place is amazing in the snow but I wouldn’t want to be driving in it. The climbing is hard work for the car pulling a trailer and the roads are narrow. The cliffs down the side have proven my selective fear of heights is alive and well and indeed John suffers the same on the descents. A sheer vertical drop off the side of a mountain is not my preferred way to die so I spend most of my day with clenched buttocks, clinging on to the door of the car whilst anywhere but down! Poor Ary has me backseat driving most of the time but I can’t decide whether I’d be better driving or if I’d be doing a Miss Daisy impersonation. Maybe I’ll give it a go one day… just not today!

I'm sort of pleased that I'm not the only one to suffer this sort of vertigo. John descended the hill slower than the other boys, when you have that sort of drop off the side of a mountain less than six feet away from you, I can't say I blame him for his caution. I'd guess that his brake pads on his bike are shot. Ary and I hit a pot hole that neither of us saw coming and I had to double check that I hadn't actually shat myself. *shudders*

We passed through the border into Spain. I did wonder if there would be some sort of border that we’d have to flash our passports at but there was nothing but a great big sign, much like the Scotland to England border at home. No-one seems to give a shit who is passing through so collecting in the passports was a bit of a non-event. Still, it’s been handy to have them as the hotel wanted to see them when we arrived.

The lunch stop was at the top of Col de Tosas… affectionately named Col de Tossers after the climb to get there. We stopped on the way up and the echo was pretty spectacular so we spent some time shouting into thin air and taking photos of the lizards on the deserted building which was covered in graffiti. There’s a lot of graffiti going on here. None of it particularly arty. There were a load of bikers, both motor and pedals at the top. We parked up and picnicked on the grass at the side of the road. I’m glad of the twelve quid ebay table I brought with us and the two ancient folding chairs. They’ve come in very handy indeed. There’s not always a great place to stop so when we end up at the side of the road, it’s great to have a surface to make lunch on. Ary and I have fallen into the man’s work/women’s work thing quite naturally. Apart from being a terrible passenger, I’m quite enjoying the time it allows me to take photos and catch up on paperwork that saves me some late nights. It’s amazing the amount of pictures that have come out non-blurry given they’ve been taken from a moving car through a dirty window.

Our first balcony! I was ridiculously tickled by that and the wifi even stretched outside. Finally a spot to upload photos and catch up with my blips! I thought I’d have time to do my Girl Friday blog whilst on this trip… no chance, it remains empty! Maybe I’ll do it when I get home when we have wifi that actually allows more than one person on it at the same time. I think perhaps we’re all trying to upload at the same time and it sends each one into some sort of meltdown.

We went out for dinner. It was a bit like taking the kids out with four of the boys crammed in the back seat. Obviously we were too early for dinner in Spanish terms… they eat late and rise late so we went for a beer in the square before we dined at an Italian restaurant. Too much food, so much so that we took home our pizzas in boxes to have for lunch tomorrow, not before the boys sampled the limoncello… I’m not sure they’ll be smiling so much in the morning after that! It smelt lethal! We got home after a bit of a long way for a short cut back to the car… sense of direction after said limoncello = zero!