A (pictorial) Road Journey from Mojacar to Gosport via Dieppe

in Expat Life, Expat Tips and Hints, Facebook Posts, General

This is an unashamedly self indulgent post that is made up of 83 photos taken during one of my trips back to the UK, in September 2014.

These photos will give you an idea of what you will see if you decide to drive from Mojacar, Almeria (South Eastern Spain), through France to the UK. We are based in Gosport, Hampshire (when we are in the UK), and on this trip we took the a ferry trip from Dieppe in France to Newhaven in the UK, so the final leg of the trip was a short hop along the South Coast.

The photos are mainly of roads, signs and traffic (well they were taken on the road so what do you expect), but it also has lots of ‘scenery’ too. I must admit this post may not be to everyone’s taste. However, as well as giving you a good taste of the state of the traffic densities in Spain, France and the UK, it does show the huge difference in scenery between the South of Spain and the much cooler climate in the UK. There are also some interesting roadside sculptures in the North of Spain, as well as pictures of Newhaven as we arrived from France. Oh and, if you don’t want to splash out on a sat-nav, the photos will also show you how to go from Spain to the UK in the shortest time by car. It is not the most economical route, as we used some tolls in France and Spain, but there aren’t any other routes that will get you across Europe as fast.

This is for you if you would like to see the business end of what Indalo Transport does. It will give you a very good idea of what I do when you ask me to transport your furniture from Spain back to the UK – as this is the staple route when we travel between Southern Europe and Britain. Transporting entails me travelling along these roads around once a month, all year, in all weathers. During this trip the weather was glorious for the complete duration, which is not a normal occurrence.

And in case you were wondering, the trip took about 22 hours in driving time, plus rest stops and the 4 hour ferry trip across the Channel. Oh, and it was just over 2000km, which is just under 1250miles.

You could probably do it a lot faster in a car, as I am always careful of the fuel I use and my driving time reflects this.

Enjoy!

PS In case you are wondering how this was done, film of the whole route was taken by a dashcam, and then the individual shots were grabbed from the recording – as using a camera whilst driving is most definitely very silly, as well most illegal!

25° and beautifully sunny	Murcia – North of Almeria	Back into Almeria again
Green up here	East West Motorway	‘Indalo Man’ origin
Impressive Mountains	pick up in Chirivel	Home of Carnival
The Ancient Town of Lorca	‘Bow’ bridge – at 150Km	Busy roads in Spain!
Alicante Province	One of 13 ‘Costas’	Castle at Villena
Turn here for Madrid	Will la Font de la Figurea ever get a bypass?	First few clouds in the sky
Valencia very close	The Ford Factory exit	Sit down here
About to turn off left	Lots of services in Spain	The start of the big climb
Storm ahead	Teruel, almost 1km up	I love this sculpture
‘Motorway of the Moors’	Biggest A23 sculpture.	More roadside sculpture
Sculptures are metal	Long viaduct	Drop down to Zaragoza
Heart of Northern Spain	Ebro – a very long river	Mountain labels – nice
I want this all over Europe	‘Running bulls’ Pamplona	Good name for a Mountain
Lots of Mountains up here	Not far to France now	The Mountain Motorway
Road widening in France	Spain done-France now	First French Toll
Slow down at junctions	birthplace of the fountain?	Atlantic Coast Beaches
Contraflow repair work	Bird Sanctuary	Traffic Jam in Bordeaux
Angouleme it is then	History in Bordeaux	Avoid €30 toll – use N10
In the heart of France	Time to Pay – again	Last push North in France
Weekend in Paris?	Le Mans -24 Hour home	The last push to Dieppe
Approaching Alencon	Another rest areas ‘Aire’	Remembering them
Ferries to UK here	A distinct bridge	Not far now
Final destination in France	Approaching the UK	Newhaven Lighthouse
Nice sandy beach	Looks a little narrow!	About to disembark
Hello England	Finally at the UK Border	Rare in France & Spain
We go left…	A very mild day in the UK	busy AM on the A27
Now Miles rather than KM.	From East to West	Finally in Hampshire
Ferries here too	Arriving at Gosport