5 January 2025 Poitiers to Aire sur l'Adour

Rain still overnight but it had brought with it a sharp increase in temperature which was most welcome. We seem to have gone off our usual Full English Breakfast on Sundays but bacon and egg sarnies are an acceptable replacement - and don't take as much clearing up after too. But we forgot the HP sauce...........

Despite our intentions to try for an early start it was still 10.40 by the time we got away but at least no servicing to do and we found our way back onto the N10 with a resolve to push on with minimum disruptions today. After an hour the sky cleared and it became a pleasant Sunday morning drive, just keeping an eye out for the speed cameras. France has revamped its speed limit policy and the N10 is 90kph but 80kph for vehicles over 3500kg, the idea being to persuade trucks to use the autoroutes, which are mostly toll of course. Motorhomes in France are never heavier than 3500kg of course.... But we still took the foot off the gas passing them in case they're linked into the UK database.

Past Angouleme and we stopped just short of Bordeaux for lunch before tackling the ring road and joining the A63 towards Bayonne then Spain with a sort of objective of San Sebastian although it looked a push. However whilst ruminating on possible destinations for this evening it occurred to us that the Somport Tunnel, through the Pyrenees, had very recently re-opened and as the weather forecast was fine we thought we may save some time by going that way. So just before the peage we turned of to Mont de Marson, programming TomTom for the aire at Oleron St Marie which is the start of the pass up to the Somport Tunnel. However it soon became apparent that even that was a bit too far so Bren spent a little while sorting out possible places within reasonable reach and we decided on the small town of Aire sur l'Adour and it's free, large and pleasant enough looking, erm, aire. We followed our site book directions but must have missed one so enlisted TomToms help who took us up an almost impossibly narrow lane but did in fact find it for us. Basically a riverside carpark with a service point at the entrance, it was typical of many in France where the local community turn over a piece of otherwise unwanted ground to motorhome use. We could do with some of that in the UK but, of course, land is so expensive it takes a very liberal local council to do the same, not forgetting objections from the local community and other campsite operators.

But, getting off the high horse, the place was more than acceptable to us with only 2 other vans parked up. So screens on, kettle on and drag Jamie round the carpark. We're quite pleased at progress today but more importantly feel like we're getting back into the swing of things and beginning to relax.