Simon Butcher

Yesterday Farmers and Truckers blocked up the roads in and around Brussels while protesting the rising price of fuel. Several protests elsewhere in Europe have been conducted, including those by the French and particularly the Spanish.

Fortunately the French have given up for now, and the Spanish have been told to get stuffed by their Prime Minister! Hopefully that means an easy drive down to Spain, as we should be there for Friday night.

So we left Brussels, attempting to take the most direct route towards Spain. This meant passing by Paris, renowned for being an absolute nightmare to simply pass by.

Considering the cost of road-tolls in France, we had decided to take some national roads to save some money, and join up with the A75 further along. With Paris now behind us, we wound up stopping off for some McDonalds and a break from the road in Saint Pierre lès Nemours.

The national roads are tiring when they're so full of traffic, especially when you pass through Magny-Cours, the centre of the French Grand Prix! We decided then and there it was probably a better idea to get back to a real motorway. It was around this time that we realised that the A75 is not a toll road and is practically deserted at this time of year!

After a lengthy discussion about what I call “mushroom villages” — small clusters of buildings along-side French motorways that normally include a few cheap hotels and some fast food — we stopped off in Aumont-Aubrac for a real hotel and some beers.