Our flight was not until 1:30pm and check out was at 12:00 so we had plenty of time to relax and enjoy our last morning . The day was yet another balmy plus 30 and the water in the bay looked very inviting. We enjoyed our last breakfast, with me getting my fill of jamon, Spanish meats and cheeses with a salad topped with seaweed, a glass of that Spanish orange juice and Vernon went for a cooked. The breakfast chef is the chirpiest I have come across, he is a slim olive skinned tall man with jet black hair and beard. His chefs uniform is black, including the hat – so to me he looks more like something out of a monastery than a kitchen. He has a booming voice – which one does not expect from a slim person and you hear the steady cheerful “ho-Kay” “two-we egg” “ow manee bay-con?” regularly throughout the breakfast sitting – usually its the English that can’t go past their eggs, whilst the Germans are content to do what I do.
Bellies full (again) we set to our packing mission and despite one little post home, our bags don’t seem to get any smaller. We may do another post for home in France as looking at the weather forecast its pretty much mid 30’s all the way till we hit the alps and then it only drops down to 22-25! After confirming the weather forecast I encouraged Vern to de stress from packing and come with me to play manatees in the private beach out front. Whilst the air was very warm already at 10am, it took a little bounce or two before we could submerge but once we did it was delicious. It only feels a bit colder because the outside temperature is so warm.
We spent a lovely half an hour floating and swimming in the glassy flat clear pale green- blue water. They have a net inbetween the bay bit and the open ocean where the breakwater finishes – don’t think its for sharks but you never know. The open water here has been pretty much flat the whole time – great for speed boats and not so great for yachts that sit motionless. Whilst we were have a ball we noticed lots of fish ranging from sprats to about 40cm long happily going about their business – some other swimmers had snorkels which would have been interesting.
At 12 we got a cab to the airport and had just enough comfortable time to get through security and to our gate. On arrival the airport entry was really quick and it did not look that large. My goodness, what a false impression as it is HUGE – it took us 10 minutes to walk to the end of ‘d’ wing. It has lots of great shops but we didn’t think we had time to explore with the gate being a good distance away. Lined up waiting to board took ages and then we saw they were delayed – by over 30 minutes. Great. I was getting worried about our connection as we had a change in Barcelona before arriving in Bordeaux. Given it was one ticket all the way through I hoped they would adjust the next flight. The actual time in the air was only 1hr for each of the legs. By the time we got airborne it was nearly 3pm.
We had about 30 minutes in Barcelona before boarding that plane and arrived in Bordeaux at around 5pm. On take off from Barcelona we went past Mont Serrat which brought back a wonderful travel memory. Customs and bag collection was quick and we found ourselves out by the bus line at 5:20pm. Our train for Sarlat departed the city station at 6:05pm. I had a look at the ticket machine information and saw with horror that the bus trip took 60 minutes to town. Clearly that was not going to work. We bolted for a taxi and fortunately there was not a long que and only a few minutes lost there. We asked the driver how long to the city, he said good run 20 minutes but I cannot guarantee it – we understood as our hopes were steadily unraveling with it being Friday night rush hour!
The next 45 minutes sitting in a tepid taxi (weak air con) with a less than fresh smelling driver dong his best to take back streets, ringing colleagues for traffic updates, and running several red lights placed me in a growing stressed state. I wanted to swear and stab Vuehling – why could they not fly a bit faster and make up the time? It was hot, I was tired, and just wanted to sit and howl like a little kid that has had enough. I would happily have gone to bed, but then thinking of that increased my stress as the later we got, the more the awareness that we would not make our train and that there was a problem that needed to be fixed. Our scheduled train arrived after the taxis stopped running in Sarlat and our AirB&B accommodation had kindly offered to pick us up. The tickets were not cheap and I was unsure if I could get a refund – doubted it, and we were potentially looking at a night in Bordeaux plus extra train tickets and loosing half a day. I think our insurance may have covered it – but was not sure. The worst thing is that you can not buy time.
The taxi driver dropped us off at 6:20 and was very apologetic. We thanked him for his best efforts, tipped him and said note to worry – that this would make a great travel story. Wearily we wheeled our bags inside the station to try and sort the problem. The information man man spoke great English and was very kind. When I said we had a problem, he replied this is not a problem in France, and we could just take the next train. It may have been that they were first class tickets and refundable and exchangeable. Phew. Now to contact Emilie to see if she could still pick us up – instead of 8:30pm it would be 10:30pm. Free wifi at the station meant of course we could message and that was fine. 1.5 hrs went quickly, we really only had time to grab a quick bite at I really hate to say it McDonalds as there were few options and it was the better. Plus side you get blue cheese on the signature burger! It was really busy at McDonalds and it was hard trying to work out our order on the automatic machines, so we ended eating in a rush to make the second train platform. There was no way I was going to be this close and something go wrong. As we headed off to confirm the platform number we couldn’t believe it – “retardo 20 minutes”. The 20 minute delay then became 30 minutes delay before we were off. Yet another email to Emilie- we would now be not arriving until 11pm. I felt so terrible to be putting them out like this – but we were stuck.
Finally to add more grumps to the day I thought – like British rail – that 1st class would give you water, maybe cup of tea and a snack. Nope, nada, nothing. Free wifi and bigger seats. So by the time we got to Sarlat I was tired, dehydrated and over it. the only plus was that I got a blog done – playing catch up.
We had a five minute wait in the warm dark evening before Emilie arrived. It was a short 5 drive to our accommodation for the next 4 nights and after a quick hand over of keys we had a refreshing cold shower and fell into bed. I was a bit over tired and it took me a while to unwind and sleep. I ended up putting in ear plugs to drown out husbands contented snores. Sometimes I could smother him with a pillow LOL.
Travels with Valrock 