Day Fourteen

Andorra:Pal to
Spain: Playa Diaro

Friday 18th July

We awoke early and were soon packed and on the open road again ambling through the beautiful mountain scenery on route to Spain. As we hit the Spanish border all the cars were being stopped and asked to open their car boots. It suddenly occurred to me that there might be a duty free limit and I needed to think on my feet. We had 4 litres of spirits and a couple of our cases of wine remaining from Calais. I had no idea how I was going to explain away with this one. But a moment of inspiration flashed before my eyes and instead of opening the boot to Priscilla (where the cases of booze were stashed) I opened up her side sliding door revealing our bikes, camping gear, cool boxes and other paraphernalia.

The border guard asked me in Spanish if I had any liquor but instead of answering I did a classic Brit abroad routine and started speaking to him in English telling him I didn’t understand and that we were just travelling through Europe etc. Baffled by the amount of stuff packed into Priscilla and a lack of English he walked away waving me on. I slammed Priscilla’s doors shut and we hurtled off into Spain before anyone could change their mind!

The journey through Catalonia was lovely as we commented that we should visit the area on a future holiday. With the valleys opening up in front of us we left the Pyrenees and Andorra behind motoring on to the coast. We’d decided as it was Johnathon’s last full day that some sun, sea and sand ;-) would be an lovely way to end 2 weeks. I’d sourced a campsite right on the beach north of Playa D’aro in a area called Calogne on the Costa Brava not far from Girona airport. We arrived in baking hot weather managing to bag a pitch right on the edge of the beach with lovely sea views.

The campsite was set in a secluded little cove and we spent the afternoon on the beach splashing around in the sea and dying out in sun. Johnathon had planned a bottle of cava on the beach which we had bought duty free in Andorra, but he was most disappointed when on opening we discovered it was corked. I couldn’t let his last full day end like this (the Cava just wasn’t drinkable) so I managed to blag a chilled bottle from the campsite bar (they were obviously not used to people asking for a whole bottle!) and soon Johnathon had a smile on his face again.

We rounded our last night off together with a restaurant meal, typical Spanish fare but very tasty and the views of the cove and beach made for a very romantic final evening together as we reflected on the adventures we had shared.