Sadly it was time to leave Spain – we now had 3 days to traverse France before we got the ferry back across the English Channel. After looking at the route over the top at Col de Portalet yesterday and deciding it might be too icy today, we set off to cross the Pyrenees via the Somport Tunnel. The views were the same as we saw yesterday, but sadly not with the sunshine we had.
The roads were not too busy so we made good progress through the lovely autumn countryside, that is until animals once again impeded our progress.This time it was a lot of sheep, being herded by men with dirty faces and sticks (maybe the same ones!) across the main road and down a side road. The usual handful escaped and were trotting blithely alongside all the waiting cars but once the main body had gone we didn't hang around to see what happened to them.

The tunnel is free to use, very good value for 13km long and takes all the strain out of crossing the mountains. We made good time and emerged into the misty climes of France – being on the N side of the Pyrenees makes a real difference to the weather.

















As we wound our way down, the road gradually deteriorated in terms of surface and useability – large overhanging rocks combined with deep potholes made it difficult to steer a course down the correct side of the road, and oncoming heavy goods lorries didn’t help either. We finally reached flatter ground and better roads, only to get snarled up in the traffic of Pau; the A65 &62 led us north to Bordeaux and then to our chosen site for the night at Montguyon, Camping La Motte.





It had been quite difficult to find a site that was open at this time of year and close to the autoroute , but this ACSI site ticked most of the boxes: handy, cheap, reasonable facilities and with wifi. We had a long chat with the owner, a jovial Dutchman, and by good fortune had arrived on the only night that the little "restaurant" was open. I say “restaurant” as it was a canvas structure with benches providing meals for the many workers building the new TGV link close by. Tonight was steak with red wine, so we pitched up & joined them – and very tasty it was too.