The long journey back from London to Monte Pego started on wednesday as we headed towards our first destination of Clermont-Ferrand.
I chose C-F on the grounds that, at 6-7 hours drive from the Eurotunnel terminal, it is as far as we could reasonably expect to get in a day. Just over halfway through France, it was described by a Parisian couple that we had dinner with in Ecuador as "oo-full" (awful). They recommended a nearby chateau instead whose rooms start at €600, so we thought we would risk C-F for one night. And we were pleasantly surprised to find a big town square with bars and brasseries and an old town with plenty of restaurants. It even has trams. Red ones too. You can't ask for more.
The day's drive was enlivened only by Maria, the spanish sat-nav voice, directing us onto the Paris ring-road, the dreaded peripherique, which didn't impress Suzanne who was driving at the time. After some terse words between Su and Maria we got out of Paris. I tried to stay out of it and sat quietly in the passenger seat next to Al, the 3 inch high woollen llama that we acquired on Lake Titicaca and who is the official mascot for this trip. He didn't want to get involved in the row either. He has seen a lot in his three weeks with us - six different countries in less than three weeks.
On day 2 the impressive scenery to the south of C-F kept us interested in the morning. There were ranges of extinct volcanoes (a lot more visible than the much-vaunted ones we couldn't see in Ecuador for cloud) and great views from 1000m high as the motorway weaves its way towards the Med, which we finally glimpsed around lunchtime between Beziers and Perpignan after crossing the impressive Millau viaduct.
Soon the snow-covered Pyrenees loomed on the horizon and we crossed the border at La Jonquera back into Spain, the country we left more than a month before. Glad to be back!
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