Our journey north and into the cold.....

Lac de Moulinet, Le Buisson. Beautiful but very cold at night

Today is the last day of our ten week tour of France and Spain, we have been blessed with lovely weather for our return trip, leaving behind the last of the summer sunshine of the Spanish Costa and travelling north into the chilly autumn of France with glorious sunshine and fabulous autumn colours.

We rise out of the clouds as we head up the mountainside on the train

As we drove north we took a different route to the usual route up the east coast of Spain to Perpignan, choosing to cross the Pyrenees stopping overnight at Monistrol - where we were able to park in the massive coach car park for the night then in the morning we took the train up the mountain to the Monastery of Montserrat built two hundred years ago perched on a ledge in the mountains. We thought we might be unlucky as we waited for our train as it was a bit foggy - not much point going up to look at the view when all you can see is clouds!

But as the train rose steeply up the hillside we emerged above the mist giving us fabulous views for miles. We shared our train with a group a Japanese tourists (mainly ladies) on a day trip from Barcelona, we were pleasantly amused by their giggling and taking incessant selfies despite the fact they were all retirement age!
We hope to return to Montserrat one day to spend a bit more time exploring the monastery and walking the lovely mountain paths that have been created in the vicinity and perhaps take the funicular train even further up the mountain.

Beautiful views from Monserrat as the clouds creep over the mountains

Marie at St Andre De L'Eure - one of our stopovers on our journey home

Our journey north continues and we headed up through France, taking our time on the tollfree Green routes rather than roaring up on the motorways, almost running over a wild boar which ran into our path whilst travelling through the forests of the Loire.
Finally we reach our last stop before travelling through the Eurotunnel, arriving at the Aire at Saint Saire (near Neufchâtel) with time to head out for a ride on our bikes along the adjacent cycle path which forms part of the route from London to Paris. We like to wring the last bit out of our holiday-pedalling along, the temperature much cooler than we are used to but still a bit of warmth in the low sun, crunching through the autumn leaves.
The following morning we were up and away, through the tunnel and home just after lunch!

Our last stop at Saint Saire - Keith is waiting on the cycle track to head off for our last ride of the trip

 (This post was written on 30th October - posted on 5th November)