Diet required

Flattie on the motorway

This is how it happened. We were belting along a 4 lane motorway on the way to Bordeaux when our back (driver's side as Gretel was quick to point out) blew. We pulled over onto a very skinny shoulder, got out - it was raining, 2 degrees and blowing. A procession of trucks were whizzing past at 110km/hr. It was a bit scary. Luckily we had orange vests and a warning triangle.

Fixing the problem was made more difficult by the Germans not including a spare wheel, instead they included a can of gooey stuff that is meant to seal the hole. We jacked the van up and connected the can to the wheel, turned on the pump, but to no avail. The gooey stuff did not seal our rather large hole. Bordeaux was still 60km away - too far for Gretel to push. Calling for a tow was our only option.

All is sorted now so the journey resumes. This afternoon (Wednesday) we will cross over into Spain. Spent last night on an aire looking out over the Bay of Biscay - a decent surf running, with the snow clad Pyrenees also in view. Our plan is to cross the top of Spain heading west.