Now you're talking my language(s)!

Hello there, readers! How are we all? Welcome to another instalment of the best blog in town! 😉 And thank you for supporting us and taking a continued interest in our little trip. 😊

It’s day 12 over here. I’m sure many of you are following the blog for the travel stories, but I suspect a fair few of you are wondering how Tony and I will be getting along with one another too…

We’ve had very, very little time apart and I think to say we’ve been living in each other’s pockets would be an understatement. Despite this, we’re still smiling (and thoroughly enjoyed the most awesome whistley game of guess the tune classical edition today!).

Today, we woke to very naff weather. The sun had previously kept spirits high but the naff weather made us both really rather grumpy…

Tony woke up at 5am this morning and, by 7am, he had more than ants in his pants (which has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that the services toilets were closed for cleaning until 7am).

Anf (our Tone’s new nickname – y’all know I love attributing pet names to friends and family!) woke me with no coffee and shouted “f&$&ing get up!”. What kind of jolly has this turned into?! I suppose it might be about time I woke him with coffee – but sod getting up at 5am to do that!

We started the day by going into the services we’d parked outside of last night, grabbed a machine coffee and I decided to take a moment to tinkle the ivories on the piano in the atrium before we left for Barcelona (today’s theme tune, by the way).

 

 Perhaps, at this point, Tony/Anf was already feeling rather impatient and/or frustrated, but he entertained me and my music-making for a short while. A lovely French girl also shed a tear to my beautiful tuneful voice (ahuh, “tuneful voice”)  and we sang a few other songs together. The power of music, bringing strangers together. <3 (Merci pour ce petit moment, Emilie !)

After his fill of Adele’s “Feel my Love” ala Stacey on repeat, Tony headed out to the van to put the bed away. When I’d finished Halluljah-ing and the rest with my new mate, Emilie, I made my way out into the drizzly rain. Tony had put everything away. What convenient timing, eh?! (I jest; I’m quite used to living a solitary life, am not all that used to/comfortable having somebody do things for me and, as those of you that know me well will know, it makes me feel really quite uncomfortable and indebted. There’s a tough balance to strike as Tony acts fast – and early – and so, in order to pull my weight, I need to get up early/relax less. How to address the imbalance, all the while supping up the chilled holiday vibes… More answers on postcards, please.)

 

Once we hit the road, the drizzle soon quickly turned into full-on big ass streams falling from the sky at great heights. The sound of the engine that I’ve grown so fond of was now drained out by the PITTER PATTER, SHITTER SHATTER on the windscreen as we pushed on down the road to Spain. (Oh. Excuse my French!)

We stopped in some other services for diesel and an early lunch/bite to eat.

The torrential rain, coupled with the lack of waterproof jacket, meant that Tony got really rather soaked whilst filling the van and this seemed to add to his seeming grumpiness. He, thankfully, loosened up after a bit of food, a sprinkling of Stacey sweetness and a forceful huggle from his favourite cousin once removed. 😉

 

We went past lots of vineyards this morning. It was so lovely to be back in France. I miss that country so much and have such positive memories of French ways of living (Why don’t we slow down and take more time to enjoy a simple daily trip to the butchers for meat, watching them artfully carve? Or, savour the variety of vibrant colours and different-shaped exotic treats the earth has given us at the greengrocers? How I used to relish in this daily ritual when living in Normandy. <3)

As the day went on, the rain was slowly replaced with breaks and, eventually, blue sky was on the horizon (bonus theme tune and another). We broke into Spain and the weather cleared into beautiful sunshine. The fields and fields of grapes were replaced with fields and fields of olive and orange trees. The steep, snow-shifting roofs of Finland were, at this stage, a distant memory, swapped for the flat, terracotta roofs of the Mediterranean.

We made good progress today and pushed past Barcelona, given that it was chucking down buckets, arriving in Valencia around 8pm. We agreed we’d hotel it tonight (I could really do with washing my hair!) and stumbled upon a place just as we entered the town. It turns out that it’s Valencia’s annual fiesta and many of the hotels are booked up but we managed to get one slightly out of town by the port.

We’ve done a bit of researching and have a plan of getting down to Almeria tomorrow, hopefully jumping on a boat over to Melilla on Monday morning. How I’d love to visit that place again after 10 years. And perhaps we’ll check out Ceuta too. What a trip this is!

Smiley enjoying the sun

Sending love to you all and missing you lots.

Tone and Stace