Scotland farewelled us in a blaze of sunshine. Even though we only had two short flights to get to Toulouse France it was a very long day. Jenny and Alf escorted us to the airport to make sure we left, then I think they took a well earned break. It was then highlighted to me that the world has gone mad when airport security they confiscated our vegemite. I packed it in our hand luggage as our suitcases were already overweight. Apparently vegemite is a liquid which you are not allowed on the plane if it is over a certain size. I reckon the security guy just wanted something tasty on his sandwich for lunch. Without vegemite (and a pair of scissors I forgot about - oops) we headed for our first flight which was delayed and made me very nervous about our connection in London. No need to worry as our flight out of London Heathrow was also delayed. We finally landed in France and picked up our new Peugeot 308 that will be ours for the duration of the trip. Due to feeling a little ill from the flight navigating was not an option for me so I hit the motorway at 130 km/hr on the other side of the road with all cylinders blazing, and with a slightly nervous Neil navigating beside me. Victoria our sat nav (named by Heather) guided us beautifully to our first accommodation in the heart of the Pyrenees. It was a beautiful drive with the towering mountains to our left along the motorway until it was our turn to enter them. By the time we arrived it was about 8pm. With numerous "I'm hungry" complaints from the back seat, after a quick run down of our new home in French by Dominique our host (who has limited English), we created a pile of luggage in the cottage and headed into town for our first French meal. We only partly knew what we were getting as the menu was very brief in description but when it arrived, it was fresh, delicious and served with a smile. Just what 4 weary travellers needed. The photo below is taken from the bottom of our road about 100m from the cottage. Off in the distance the tallest mountain in the middle is Col du Tourmalet, the highest of Neil's climb.
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