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Woolly says - We waved a regretful goodbye to El’s Pratt Village. Tea last night was excellent, using the 11 Euro menu (approximately £9.90GBP) I helped Ian out with his cannelloni starter, chicken main and toffee mousse. Jo seemed to be struggling to finish her garlic prawns and perch main so it was only fair to help her as well, no chance with her toffee mousse, it was gone before I batted an eyelid. If you’re heading towards Tarragona I would definitely recommend staying at this site. We started heading into the foothills of the Pyrenees, the scenery was amazing and as every twist and turn in the road revealed another stunning view things just got better and better. Passing lush green fields separated by lines of scarlet poppies we could see the real mountains getting nearer and nearer.
It was an easy route to follow, Andorra all the way. This was one of the first places we had put on our list when we started our travel plans and was a destination that we had eagerly awaited. As we climbed higher and higher into the Pyrenees the landscape became jaw droppingly wonderful.
Woolly says
– I was pretty much stunned into silence….
Apologises that the pictures aren’t as good as we would like but none of us fancied getting out of Oliver to take them!!!!
If only that was true!
Woolly says – well nearly silent! It just got better and better. With ears popping, we increased height, ever climbing. As if from nowhere customs was upon us, Jo pulled our passports out like a magician ready to show but we were waved through and there was Andorra. The first few kilometres were taken up with petrol stations, supermarkets and houses, Auzzie Jim told us that we were only metres from the centre, REALLY!!!! Where were all the quaint houses and points of interest? Sighing slightly we pulled into a carpark and left Oliver to have a rest while we fought our way through the hordes of people. There appeared to be a market on and while Jo and I tried to look at the stalls, Ian looked around the skyline, it was pretty bleak, you could see the tops of the mountains, just, between the modern buildings. A coffee seemed a good idea and
paid 2.20 Euros for two cups (approximately £1.80 GBP) we watched the people of Andorra passing us in waves. Enough we all agreed and walked back to retrieve Oliver.
It really wasn’t what we had imagined at all, so slightly disappointed we set off again. Climbing higher and higher, we decided to treat Oliver to some 1.25 Euro a litre of fuel (approximately £1.07 GBP – we remember those days in the UK!!!!). And still we were climbing; the temperature was dropping……
Woolly says – I knew it was a good idea to put my hat on, as we hit 4 degrees I could only laugh at Jo and Ian in their shorts and T-shirts! The road got steeper and steeper as we went up and up, the snow was alongside us now. Auzzie Jim told us to turn left, we looked at the road, it was straight through the snow, NOT a chance!! We ignored him and took the right, it might cost us 6.60 Euros (approximately £5.50 GBP) to go through the tunnel but even I was starting to grow icicles on my tusks. The tunnel felt warmer and safer with no
sharp drops on Ian’s side. We would have been happy to go all the way down in it, but it was not to be, suddenly we were back outside again. We were in the clouds! We could just about see a coach in front of us but that was it, snow was piled up on one side and we didn’t like to think of what was on the other side at all.
It was bitterly cold, with no visibility and we started to descend going through hair pin bends, this wasn’t fun. Ian and Ollie gripped onto the road and stuck to the coach like glue. We hurtled down, small glimpse of sky started to appear and although it seemed to take hours it was probably only about half an hour we could finally start to see the road again.
Woolly says – I kept closing my eyes, so many things I should have done with my life, had I wished my friends goodbye properly, would I ever see them again, so many thoughts went through my mind! Finally it started to look more promising, greenery appearing, the clouds where just over heads instead
of us being inside them. Gradually we returned to the stunning views again, I was a very thankful Mammoth.
We started to pass through pretty little towns, we were truly back in France and as we crept further and further away from the mountains the rolling fields of France were there to greet us. Enough we said for the day, we found our way to Camping Carcassonne, missing the turning resulted in several tours round their one way system but we seemed to have stumbled on a real find as the town revealed the…..
Woolly says – that’s tomorrow’s story!
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