Saturday, 29 September 2012

Across the Bay of Biscay and thence to France

On September 9 we boarded the Britanny Ferry Pont Aven and departed Plymouth heading across the Bay of Biscay heading to Santander in Northern Spain.  On our arrival at about 1.00pm the next day we headed off to a Town called Hendaye just across the border in South Western France (Near Biarritz)
 Plymouth Hoe from the deck of the Pont Aven heading across Plymouth Sound
 Drakes Island with Mount Edgecombe behind
 A Navy Ship
 Passing the breakwater
Mum on deck
 Ships waiting to enter Santander
 A small Island and a headland at Santander
 Entering the bay
 The view to the east
 In the Car Deck on the Pont Aven prior to disembarkation
 Al admiring a neighbouring car
 It was a spectacular drive from Santander along the coast to Hendaye in France with the mountains coming right down to the coast.  We stopped for lunch in a small seaside village called Islares

 Eve and I waiting for lunch
Lunch was an enormous paella
 The Bidassoa River which marks the borders between Spain and France.  Hendaye is on the right and the Spanish Town of Irun is on the left
 The next day we drove from Hendaye to Carcassone.  On the way we stopped at this small Services area, the aire de Pyrannees which had this memorial to the Tour de France erected in 1996 and also a sculpture representing the Pyrranees Mountains
 
 The gates to the Medieval City of Carcassonne.  This was also the the town in the centre of the area of France where the Cathar religion flourished in the 12th and 13th centuries
 Looking alng the town walls
 Looking up a City Street
 The entrance to the castle
 The Cathedral
 One of the famous gargoyles
 A busker in the square outside the cathedral
 Two views of the Canal du Midi at Carcossonne.  This canal featured in the book Narrow Dog to Carcassonne by Terry Darlington
 The Millau Viaduct spanning the valley of the River Tam and the town of Millau.  currently the worlds tallest bridge
AQ gorge leading away from Millau 
 The viaduct and the older bridge crossing the River Tam
The older bridge at Millau
 



No comments:

Post a Comment