Thursday evening 7th February at approximately 8.30pm, a car horn is heard and to our relief Eddie drives the New Land rover Discovery down the drive!
His adventure started on Tuesday 5th February when he takes the morning Easyjet flight from Stansted to Nice, having driven down from Suffolk in the early hours!
He is met at Nice airport by Daryll Jones, from whom we had purchased the Disco and escorted back to Valbonne, where the car was being held. Satisfied with the condition of the vehicle and ensuring the documentation was in order, he passes over our guaranteed bankers draft (sob! sob!) and sets off on his 1,688km journey to Ronda.
He makes the best of what daylight remains and stops for the night at a Formula One hotel somewhere between Marseille and Montpellier.
His adventure started on Tuesday 5th February when he takes the morning Easyjet flight from Stansted to Nice, having driven down from Suffolk in the early hours!
He is met at Nice airport by Daryll Jones, from whom we had purchased the Disco and escorted back to Valbonne, where the car was being held. Satisfied with the condition of the vehicle and ensuring the documentation was in order, he passes over our guaranteed bankers draft (sob! sob!) and sets off on his 1,688km journey to Ronda.
He makes the best of what daylight remains and stops for the night at a Formula One hotel somewhere between Marseille and Montpellier.
Although Ed makes an early start on the Wednesday, progress is slow! Unfortunately, the French taxi drivers are staging a one day strike! Disgruntled drivers disrupted traffic throughout France, protesting against plans to deregulate their industry. More than 1,000 drivers caused gridlock on access roads to the southern cities of Marseille and Nice and blocked traffic on the main highway linking France and Spain, causing tailbacks of 12.5 miles! Can you believe it!! However, things improved once he had crossed the border into Spain and he managed to make his way to the south of Barcelona, before stopping for the night.
The highlight of the day was the towering snow-capped peaks of the Pyrenees and the visible ski-runs.
Thursday was all together different. The sun was shining; driving became a pleasure again and after stopping for a couple of hours in the afternoon near to Alicante, he completed his journey later that evening. What would we do without our Eddie or our Karen, who ensured that everything was well organized in the UK prior to Ed setting off!
Thankfully the car is immaculate, as described by seller! We had taken a huge gamble buying a car on eBay. We had stupidly transferred a deposit of £500 before discovering that it was virtually impossible to insure it!
An English couple, buying a German car, being sold in France for use in Spain. We need our heads examining!
Miraculously, everything came together in the end and we are now proud owners of a beautiful new car.
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