A perfect drive

Tues 18^th March 2014

Last night we were early to bed and watched 2 episodes of Gavin & Stacey. De ja vue - David cleaned out the toilet cassette again! Early start 8am and drove from Vic via Manresa and Lleida on a freeway with hardly any traffic which David really enjoyed being behind the wheel again. The whole route today took us through some very rich agricultural land. The soil looked very dry but it was bright green everywhere. We passed huge areas of pink and white blossoming trees - these were peach, almonds and apple crops interspersed with olive trees and vineyards. Every square inch of land seemed to be under cultivation. We went through some really flat valley areas before heading up into the mountains again. We stopped at Flix to do a quick shop at a local supermarket and this whole area is in to renewable energies - solar panel fields, hydroelectricity and we must have seen at least 50 wind turbines. We missed our first stop, Calaceite, as we had a big lorry up our arse! So we turned off on a small road towards La Fresneda. Glad we did as even though it was very narrow and bumpy it was very picturesque and we stopped along this road for our typical Spanish lunch of local bread cheese and cured ham. We drove on to La Fresneda - a very pretty hilltop village to find the local campsite doesn’t open until 1^st April!!!! So we parked in the village and asked a local if we could stay the night and she replied “No problem”. Had a walk up through the village which had 2 churches and castle ruins. All the houses are built in the same stone and all are being restored so it was very neat and tidy. All these villages seem to have no people as we hardly see anyone! Sitting here now I am listening to the church bells - it is so peaceful (but may have to shoot the local dog as he keeps barking!) Early night tonight again and maybe 2 more episodes of Gavin & Stacey (lush).