We wake to the first tractor passing by at 7:30. It's raining heavily and the van is rocking in the in the wind. At 10:00 all but Nick go to meet Frederic and taste the wine, during which time the rain becomes sleet and then heavy snow. For a short while the snow begins to settle on the bushes and grass but the ground is so wet it can't stick.

By the time we set off at 11:00 it has all stopped but the temperature gauge reads minus 0.5.

We head for the coast road and soon get our first glimpses of a green, choppy Mediterranean sea. The houses now are all neatly plastered pink or ochre with pink rooves. We stop in Collioure at a Lidl for some food then to Port Vendres where we stop on the harbourside for lunch. A container ship - Lady Rosebud - comes in and drops anchor.

The road corkscrews along the coast passing more pink houses and steep vineyards clinging to the hillsides in stone-walled terraces.

Banyuls is a pretty seaside resort, obviously empty this time of year but very colourful nonetheless.

In the centre is the old Railway Hotel, essential during the formation of these sea-side resort towns, but it's original art deco magnificence is disappearing beneath the scruffy and general decay.

Leaving Banyuls we see the potential perils of these winding roads; a group of men wave at us on a bend around which we find a Range Rover on end 15 or so feet down the bank. A bit further on the road climbs above a large railway marshalling yard which, from our vantage point, looks like a toy train set.

We pass through the redundant and graffiti covered checkpoint building and enter Spain at 15:00.

Soon we are on the autoroute towards Barcelona for an hour, past what appears to be lots of wild bamboo. All the time we see large, snow-dusted mountains.

We arrive at our first Spanish passion, a restaurant just outside Sant Celion. We meet the owners and find the restaurant is shut this evening, but they are happy to sell us a bottle of wine to go with tonight's delight, spag-bol. The wine turns out to be a very good Catalunyan red of 14.5%