Going up

Obligatory photo as we climbed the Port de Bonaigua on the way home. As you can see, it was a lovely day at this point. I thought it would be good to include some street furniture this time :) Also, a view through a dirty car windscreen in extras.

We had set off quite a bit earlier than usual for the six-hour drive, as M and J had reported a couple of days ago that Matisse was hobbling about on three legs. She still seemed happy enough, eating and playing as usual, but it wasn't getting any better, and they managed to get an appointment at the vet for 3 pm today. They also planned to set off home at 5 pm, so our goal was at best to make it in time for the vet appointment, or at worst catch them before they left.

Being so early meant no tapas stop in Bossost. Sad! We did stop at the supermarket on the border to stock up on essentials. I'm glad to report that the price of olive oil has dropped dramatically since last year. We bought five litres of our usual brand of extra virgin for €35 -- it was 60 last year.

For lunch, we decided we'd stop for a sandwich at the services on the A64 in France where we usually stop for coffee. Soon after we crossed the border, the weather deteriorated considerably. It poured with rain, and there was a lot of heavy traffic producing clouds of spray. We were glad to get off the autoroute ... but at French lunchtime the services were so busy with people who had the same idea that I was looking in vain for a parking space and before I found one was funnelled inexorably back onto the autoroute. That meant half an hour in even worse conditions, round the busy Toulouse ring road to the services just the other side. Another attempt to find a parking space was frustrated by my being blocked by an electric car trying to reverse into a charging space. The three cars in the queue behind me took the opportunity to squeeze past and take the last three free spaces. I was furious. Luckily after another go-round I caught someone leaving a space.

In the crowded service station, nearly all the food options looked deeply unappetising, so we shared a baguette sandwich and a piece of flan and were on our way again. Next hazard: a 20 km tailback due to an accident. We had to leave the autoroute and get back on it in Carcassonne while handling phone calls from M, who was at the vet -- we obviously weren't going to make it in time for that.

We eventually made it home seven hours after setting off, and M and J arrived with Pegleg Matisse only minutes after us. The vet thought she'd probably been stung by something and gave her an anti-inflammatory jab. We had a quick catch-up with them -- they seem to have enjoyed their stay despite various hassles. The usual gossipmongers on the bench outside were sad to see them go and insisted on a group photo before they were allowed to leave. They can come again!

We thought our hunger would be assuaged by the Belgian chip van, so come seven o'clock we ordered food which Alexandre's mum said would be ready in "about ten minutes". Alexandre himself was absent; perhaps this accounts for the fact that we ended up waiting an hour and a half despite S going and enquiring twice, while I watched people who'd arrived ages after us scoffing their chips. S ended up standing at the counter while they cooked it. It did taste good when it finally arrived, but we didn't stay long after that.