The Big Trip - a long drive on a stupidly hot day

We had planned on leaving Spain at 9am but decided instead to load and hitch up the trailer and then have a big, relaxed breakfast in the site restaurant. A good move as none os were stressed when we finally set off at 10:30. At home I always seem to be in a rush to do everything but 8 days in Spain has calmed me down and I was happy that we literally had al day to get to the next site. 

The thought of driving through Spain and France for 6 hours was initially quite daunting but it turned out to be an absolute pleasure. Drivers in Spain and France are courteous and obey the rules with no middle lane morons, nobody tearing past at the speed of sound and nobody tailgating. The scenery was breathtaking too with the Pyrenees in clear site for most of the trip. The best thing though is that in France you can tow your trailer at the national speed limit so we were up at 80mph on empty motorways as soon as we reached the border.

We arrived at the site in just over 6 hours but were a bit confused over what language we were supposed to be speaking. I spoke to the site owner in French, she answered in English and then I replied to her in Spanish. Once we add Italian and German into the mix over the next few weeks we could be in real trouble!

I normally love pitching my tent but for the first time ever I hated it. We'd chosen the hottest day to travel and by the time we reached the site it was 40 degrees. Too hot to function or even to speak to each other bt we still had to get the thing pitched. It was literally a case of hammer in a couple of pegs, drink a litre of water and rest in the shade from the car. Over and over again. We've pitched under a huge sycamore though so with any luck it will be a bit cooler in the tent in the mornings, although we were very tempted to abandon the pitching and just sleep on the grass!

I couldn't really complain though - the pitch and site are beautiful and the view of the mountains is fantastic.

Once pitched we had a walk up to the town, Luz Saint Sauveur, less than a mile from the site. Luz is a ski resort so it seemed very weird walking past all the ski shops when it was so hot and even more weird that some of them were open and selling Winter clothing. It's a beautiful little town though and it feels like a great place to be based. We were very lucky to (accidentally) choose a bar/restaurant where the owners are English - the first English voices we've heard in days and so nice not to have to practice our French after a long and tiring day!