True to forecast we woke to a recipe of overcast sky with a drizzling of rain, and as tomorrow is also expected to be much the same we decided against spending the day cycling around Valencia and reluctantly plumped for a 200 mile drive north up the coast. I say reluctantly, because we like to keep our daily travel to well under 100 miles, unless on a mission.

We had a trouble free drive on motorway and dual carriageway until we arrived during siesta time at our aire, which just happens to be a cava producing vineyard with a view of the Montserrat mountain range. In Catalan, the word Montserrat means ‘saw mountain’ as in serrated like a handsaw. This is our destination for tomorrow where we hope to visit the Benedictine abbey, Santa Maria de Montserrat.

Strange but true fact: In 1493, Christopher Columbus named the Caribbean island of Montserrat after the same place.

Back to the present, whilst having our ‘pre dinners’ we were invited to a brief tour of the vineyard with the occupants of the other 5 vans who had since thought it a good idea to ‘overnight’ at a vineyard. You can probably imagine that during the obligatory wine tasting a slight party atmosphere developed.

View from our aire

This reminds me of when parents have young children and
they hold something they want just out of reach!

Rachel's in love again

"Ooh, I think I've found our next wallpaper"

No vineyard visit is complete without the obligatory tasting session!