April 29 - The issue comes down to the money really. We had a sort of budget for this trip. Our holiday fund means we can do a couple of grand each year. Our winterising plans add some £1000 to this. So we knew we could handle the £50 of fuel per transfer each week and the round about £80-100 a week for sites. But we really only expected a couple of hundred for incidentals like the car. Breakdown itself was covered by insurance. Even the robbery should be but we doubt we will get enough.
But major surgery en route is down to us. So just now we are facing a budget deficit of between £2,000 and maybe £4,000. Not something we can really handle. So go home is the solution.
We can save about £700 by not going to Spain and Portugal and by cutting the trip from 15 weeks to about 10. So we are planning a mountain free route out of the Massif Central. That means going west via Rodez and then south west to Albi. From there we follow the lower Tarn to Agen and then to its conjunction with the Garonne. Then stay with that river to Bordeaux from where France stretches flatter and smoother north. Up the N10 will save tolls and we can head to a ferry crossing about late May having had a fairly enjoyable trip – if all goes OK of course. Sadly of course this is mostly country we know very well which is exactly what our original route avoided!
We have been touring the area and re-visiting a few sites. Severac le Chateau was a place we wanted to see and we have certainly done that now. The castle is a impressive ruin of 800 years of privilege. The delightful medieval village is the exact opposite and absolutely lovely. We have seen the Millau viaduct from on and under and it is best seen from sideways. We have re-run bits of the Tarn and Dourbie and the Dourdou and also seen lots of new bits. The area has not changed too much in 18 years al;though there are differences. A bit more commercialisation, more bijou enterprises and houses and Moustejoul seems to have been gentrified – as expected. Millau is bigger, brasher and still rather super. The real roads are still amazing and the A75 autoroute and the viaduct add much – especially the chance to move about a bit more quickly!
So it has been a great couple of weeks all bar the stress. We shall pack up on Sunday and head off to Albi on Monday. If the car behaves OK and I can avoid using maximum turbo boost it will be a breeze, The only stress will be in me pussy footing a car I no longer trust and with 900 kilometres to go even to the ferry terminal. Heigh ho and off we go.
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