Joined
·
613 Posts
Being on holiday "urgent thought" doesn't fit well, but having thought it over for a few seconds the answer is:
Yes please Jim, and I am sure any sets of your dusty cars would do fine.
Meanwhile on the foreign blog front the Jazz has now been turned North as we start our final three days of travel towards the port of Santander. Despite being given a couple of days off in Begar, Northern Spain the wheels have rarely stopped turning.
After our stay at our friends in Southern Spain, we headed for the Spanish border and we had our first hold up of the drive. Just an hour from the border a large car transporter lorry and trailer had swerved across the opposite carriageway and ended on its side close to the road. Single lane working delayed us 15 minutes while a crane started to lift the car cargo off one at a time onto waiting lorries, they looked a bit sad, I hope the driver was OK as everything was turned on its left side (drivers side).
We had decided on the coast road border crossing as it looked more interesting, the road that is! And so it proved to be as we climbed around 1,000 feet and descended a couple of times until at the top of a climb we saw an old concrete shed in the middle of the road, it was covered in all kinds of graffiti. As we wondered what it was we rounded a corner and a sign said "Welcome to Spain", I was gutted - Where was the wall?
The road continued as it had in France, with fantastic and sometimes hairy views and corners. Heights are not my best point and I noticed that the Spanish road was lined with steel barriers which seemed to be precariously hanging onto the sometimes sheer sides, the French had been using 1 metre high thick concrete walls which did impede one's view a bit. Which was safest? I can't say, and I was disinclined to do any tests myself.
In general Spanish roads are not quite so good as the French, mainly because they get more use. The signs are much better with a numbering system that make some sense (at least on national routes). But, like French signs they assume you have a good working knowledge of where every large town is in relation to all the others, even if they are hundreds of miles apart. Both countries are busily upgrading existing roads or building new, often to run alongside each other. Even the roads they replace put most of ours to shame.
Sent from Tarazona, Northern Spain
Yes please Jim, and I am sure any sets of your dusty cars would do fine.
Meanwhile on the foreign blog front the Jazz has now been turned North as we start our final three days of travel towards the port of Santander. Despite being given a couple of days off in Begar, Northern Spain the wheels have rarely stopped turning.
After our stay at our friends in Southern Spain, we headed for the Spanish border and we had our first hold up of the drive. Just an hour from the border a large car transporter lorry and trailer had swerved across the opposite carriageway and ended on its side close to the road. Single lane working delayed us 15 minutes while a crane started to lift the car cargo off one at a time onto waiting lorries, they looked a bit sad, I hope the driver was OK as everything was turned on its left side (drivers side).
We had decided on the coast road border crossing as it looked more interesting, the road that is! And so it proved to be as we climbed around 1,000 feet and descended a couple of times until at the top of a climb we saw an old concrete shed in the middle of the road, it was covered in all kinds of graffiti. As we wondered what it was we rounded a corner and a sign said "Welcome to Spain", I was gutted - Where was the wall?
The road continued as it had in France, with fantastic and sometimes hairy views and corners. Heights are not my best point and I noticed that the Spanish road was lined with steel barriers which seemed to be precariously hanging onto the sometimes sheer sides, the French had been using 1 metre high thick concrete walls which did impede one's view a bit. Which was safest? I can't say, and I was disinclined to do any tests myself.
In general Spanish roads are not quite so good as the French, mainly because they get more use. The signs are much better with a numbering system that make some sense (at least on national routes). But, like French signs they assume you have a good working knowledge of where every large town is in relation to all the others, even if they are hundreds of miles apart. Both countries are busily upgrading existing roads or building new, often to run alongside each other. Even the roads they replace put most of ours to shame.
Sent from Tarazona, Northern Spain
