Beziers, France
We made an easy run up the coast today from Tarragona, Spain, across the border into France. We stopped early, we could have made it to Avignon, but we decided to take it easy on ourselves so we stopped early.
Traffic was very heavy around the major cities, like Barcelona, and lighter elsewhere. As you would expect. Lotsa lotsa lotsa trucks, everywhere. And they try to pass each other. So what, you ask? Well, just this: When the trucks try to pass each other on a two lane road (ie two lanes in each direction) the speed relative to each other is between 2 Km/h and 5 Km/h. By the time the follower pulls out, then passes, then pulls back in, all of the flyers in the left lane have had to slow down because the highway is blocked. And they get MAD! Today, I saw a couple of cars weaving back and forth along the lane divider flashing their lights and honking their horns, completely ballistic. The passing truck was barely making 2 Km/h speed difference, and sometimes he slid backwards relative to the truck in the right lane, it was really irresponsible of him to try that move. Eventually he made it, but I'm sure the blood pressure readings of everybody in the left lane was over the top of the scale. Except me, I waited till all the fuss was over and passed with no problem. But ... I had intended to pass the two trucks before the one pulled out to pass. They were doing maybe 100 k, I was doing 130 k and closing fast and was just going to put on my signal and looked back. A black dot was rapidly gaining in size in the left lane behind me, so I held off to let him get by first. He was probably doing 160 k and would have had to brake even if I floored the pedal. Just as he was closing, almost at my bumper, the truck's flashers went on and he pulled out. The Peugeot that had been the black dot was now beside me and really had to get on his binders, as did the white car that was on his tail. Now they were stuck, and they were mad and weaving around. I backed off, giving them space to get exercised in, I don't want to get mixed up in that ego display.
I thought about that for a while. Should I have gone even faster and pulled out to pass from the right lane to freeze the truck before he pulled out? Might have worked, might have meant all three of us could have gotten by before the truck tried his pass. But ... Then I would be driving like a mad thing, thinking for everybody else and forcing the issue with my speed and presence on the road. My job is to stay safe and keep everything in one piece, and I will slow down to truck speed and stay in the right lane all day before trying to figure out or second guess the fireballs in the outside lane or the goofy truckers who try to pass and gain a couple of kilometers per hour.
When the road is three lanes wide it is just as bad, for another reason. The big rigs pass each other more often there, using the middle lane to do it. Problem is, cars are in that lane, usually doing 130 to 140 kph, while the real high speed cars are passing us in the left lane. So, a rig moves from the right lane to the middle, and now you have, just a short distance in front of you, a blockage in the road with about a 40 kmh closure speed, and left of you the fast-movers and about 20 kmh or more closure speed as they come up. So I am watching my mirrors every couple of seconds because I never know when a rig will pull out and I could be under his rear bumper in moments if I can't get outside to the left lane, and I will have someone else under my rear bumper if I pull out when I shouldn't. Also, everything happens so fast that looking at the mirror is not enough, you have to shoulder-check as well. Seriously, the guys on the left come up so fast that I check my mirror, look ahead, see a slower vehicle, decide I have to pull left to pass, check my mirror again, then shoulder-check, and find that I have someone beside me going like a bat out of hell. I would have hit him if I pulled out without the shoulder-check. It makes you shiver.
Most of the time the traffic isn't that bad, but you can never relax. The rule is stay as far right as you can, even on three lanes with sparse truck traffic. Today I was averaging about 135 kph in a 120 zone, the trucks were well spaced out in the right lane, averaging about 110 kmh, and the car traffic was light. so I sat in the middle lane, steadily passing the right lane vehicles. The left lane was free for those using their afterburners, and they could pass me if they wanted. Then a couple of cars come up behind me in the middle lane, I'm going 135 and they're going faster, but they don't pull left they get close behind me and flash their lights. I pulled over, I'm not going to duke it out there on the freeway, and they go by. Then I got back in the middle lane again because the high-speed stuff was in the far left lane with their left turn signals on, indicating that the left lane was theirs and they were going to stay there no matter what. But, I moved right quickly when somebody was coming up close on my bumper again even if I was pulling in and out of the line of trucks.
In short, this ain't North America. The time I have spent on US and Canadian highways, though it can be taxing, is a cake-walk compared to over here. Its a different league all together, a whole new game, with new rules. And I can hear it now, 'Sure, well, I've seen that happen here.' Sure you have, so have I. But in North America it is the exception, not the rule.
Heavy winds along the road, really blowing everything around especially the big rigs. Jan has a picture of a windsock (these things line the highway in the areas subject to high winds) and the thing is sticking straight out. It must have been blowing 50 Km/h from the look of the sock and all the trees lining the highway.
Oh look, a Castle! Again, still, continuous, they didn't stop till we got to the border of France. Then they became Chateaux.
Jan has a lovely picture of the Pyrenees too. Very hard to get at highway speeds on the undulating road.
Good driving weather, no rain, no sun, just high clouds.
