Yeah I’ve heard the Puigcerda crossing is lovely this time of year 
Free and secure parking inside the port in Barcelona.
Don’t worry about the Guardia Civil police entrance gate, if he asks why, tell him Petromiralles fuel station.No problem parking overnight, cafe and fax machine at the garage, lots of room on any roads nearby.Shower there too.
Don’t park on the industrial estate roads of Zona Franca unless you stay with the truck due to cab break in if unattended.
Port parking is Petromiralles.Calle Port de Haifa 3, Delta 1. Postcode 08039. Moll de inflamables.
If you choose the route from Toulouse to the border of Spain , I would save money and come off the toll road south of Toulouse, weight limit signs, but never stopped, they are designed to make trucks use the toll road.
Carcassonne is ok to transit on free national road, weight limit for centre which is nowhere near transit route.
Perpignon the same, artic suitable by pass.
In Spain ,dodge the toll, suitable road in Girona, from there take the free national two to Barcelona via Badalona.
From Barcelona to Murcia, dont go free via Castidelfells, twisty cliff road by the coast.
Three choices from Barcelona to Murcia, coast road National 332 via Gandia and Benidorm or toll road to Alicante.
My favourite is free road National 340 inland route to Alicante to Murcia, time and kms the same on all three choices.
Be carefull of stopping for a shower, coffee, meal, fuel up or shopping at the huge La Jonquera truck stop area in Spain due to crime, cab robberies .
Walking with a towel to the shower tells thieves your cab is available for ten minutes.
There are lots of supermarkets, casinos, restaurants , even Eastern European food shops.
Never park overnight alone in the laybys on the toll road in Spain, park in numbers.
Or where you unload and reload, ask the customers if ok to leave the lorry there, some factories have a locked gate and a night watch man, with use of their subsidised canteen and a shower.
Tachos have to spot on, in Catalan , its the Mosses traffic police, with huge fines, and don’t forget that Spain is the only country , where by law, you must tell the tacho your begin and end of shift location by entering the county .
The road signs indicates the county you are in or ask a driver to be sure.
Hotels accept trucks parking , and have driver menus or menu del dia, daily menu, or a set fixed price.
Enjoy your trip, maybe blue sky and some nice sunny days await you.
Club is not a disco, if you have a heart condition, enter at your peril.
I used to work for Lindner an Austrian.firm that insisted we all fill up in Luxembourg for Calais to Barcelona trips.
It was way out of my way, the cheap fuel in Luxembourg, not sure if that nade a profit .
I got the job in a truck magazine advert.
A driver had abandoned a truck in Calais.
Off I go on the bus to Dover, on foot on the ferry.
The keys left on top the tyre wheel arch but waited till 3 am for their driver to bring me the vehicle documents.
If you need a 45 hour weekly rest in Spain I would take the cheap high speed train to Madrid or any other big city.
Hostels and hotels are cheap in the winter season.
Granada is stunning, the skiing on mountains and the Alhambra palace is jaw dropping.
Or hire a car in.Malaga to tour the Olviga area and mountains .
Google the book : Driving over lemons by ex Genisis musician Chris Stuart.
I stayed at his cottage.
Spanish coaches are top of the range, hop on one to some city.
More words of wisdom from the TobeMeister!! 
toby1234abc:
…Walking with a towel to the shower tells thieves your cab is available for ten minutes…
Whilst walking with JUST a towel around you to the showers tells certain other types of individuals found hanging around truck parks, that in fact, it is YOU that may be available for ten minutes!! 
Bullitt, Dipper would like that.!
From Tarragona southbound there is a toll free dual carriageway for a good distance,then good quality single N340 as far as Torreblanca where a new road climbs uphill to the new Castellon Airport from where it is toll free dual carriageway all the way to Murcia.Avoid roads with "peage"signs,pass Sagunto,by pass Valencia.After Torrent services follow Alicante por interior towards Albacete and Madrid until you reach A31(?)signed Alicante and Elche then pick up Murcia.All dual carriageway.Enjoy.
Franglais:
Down to Rouen. Then Evreux, Dreux, Chartres. Join peage at Orleans, A10 A71. Down the free A75 from Clerment Ferrand (lovely if youre running light) to Beziers. Then peage A9 thro La Jonquera (still got that "frontier" feel to it) then into Barca. Lots of other choices, but that avoids Paris and the boredom of the run to Lyon. Thatd be my starting plan anyhow.
Exactly my route, except for one thing, jump on the autoroute at Artenay, not Orleans. The road beyond that is fraught with frequent speed limit changes and…cameras !!!
If you come off the boat Monday evening in Calais, La Fleurie at Abbeville, just off the autoroute is a good overnight stop. The taller of the 2 very busy blokes who used to work at Chez Jo’s is in there now. Boy, that bloke needs a speed limiter. 
Jdexille , if you want a change, and don’t want to go back to Calais on the return leg, try Valencia to Teruel, all new twin track road .
If you exit the by pass at Teruel, decent bar and cafes on the old national road.
From there head to Dona Godina to Pamplona, this is a short cut to avoid Zaragoza, takes off about 30 miles.
Pamplona to the French border via Sunbilla to save the tolls.
Its all free,viaducts and road tunnels.
Irun to Bordeaux toll road.
Then head to Angouleme to Poitieres to Le Mans to Chartres/Everuex to Boulogne sur Mer to Calais.
toby1234abc:
Jdexille , if you want a change, and don’t want to go back to Calais on the return leg, try Valencia to Teruel, all new twin track road .
If you exit the by pass at Teruel, decent bar and cafes on the old national road.
From there head to Dona Godina to Pamplona, this is a short cut to avoid Zaragoza, takes off about 30 miles.Pamplona to the French border via Sunbilla to save the tolls.
Its all free,viaducts and road tunnels.Irun to Bordeaux toll road.
Then head to Angouleme to Poitieres to Le Mans to Chartres/Everuex to Boulogne sur Mer to Calais.
Still ends up in Calais, 
and what are the road conditions like at this time of the year from Pamplona to Sunbilla?
Let me know where you stop for your 24 or 45 hours weekly rest, I can send out the Mayor’s daughter.
My tip is look at a road atlas for free in the services.
See the scenic route marked in a different colour.
Come off the main route and toll road, and park the wagon in a medieval village with river walks or a forest to explore.
I have used hotels or pensions to get out the cab .
If you stay in the motorway services, expect 300 eastern European trucks to be idling engines 24/7 to charge batteries.
If you do stop on the motorway, walk out the staff car park gate which is never locked to walk off.
Muckles, a proper European driver would have snow chains and a shovel to expect the unexpected , or park up til the snow plough clears his route.
Late for the ferry, so be it.
Good route suggested by toby,above.If you go via Dona godina,though,don’t forget to turn off the A23 at Carinena.
I’ve not had any weather problems on the N121A between Pamplona and Irun largely because you don’t go over the top any more.Instead there are a few tunnels.Last month there were roadworks in 2 of them requiring alternative light controlled traffic flows.
toby1234abc:
Muckles, a proper European driver would have snow chains and a shovel to expect the unexpected , or park up til the snow plough clears his route.
Late for the ferry, so be it.
Or they’d ask for advise on conditions up ahead and avoid the snowbound route altogether.
muckles:
toby1234abc:
Muckles, a proper European driver would have snow chains and a shovel to expect the unexpected , or park up til the snow plough clears his route.
Late for the ferry, so be it.Or they’d ask for advise on conditions up ahead and avoid the snowbound route altogether.
For traffic conditions in Spain, go to this site
dgt.es/es/
you used to be able to select english as language, but I do not see it anymore
but just select trafico and then mapa del trafico and zoom in
Ps; last weekend there were numerous roads closed in spain due to the snow
and for the op; beware parking along the A7 and AP 7, the whole part down to Allicante is dangerous for theft, better to get off and look for a little restaurant on the national with plenty of (Spanish) trucks.
(Not foolproof but the better option 
)
On the N340 just south of Tarragona at Cambrils used to be the Gran Buffet Restaurant where for a cheap price you could eat as much as you like.Best place in spain that I recall but does anyone know if it is still there?It has now been bypassed by the AP7 and toll free A7.There was another with the same name just north of Tarragona at Altafulla.Restaurants on the N340(off motorway)are numerous.In fact this is true pretty well all over Spain.Travellers are well catered for 24hrs a day.
I’d agree with Bald: eat and park where the locals are. Normally better food and safer. Go to a resto with loads of foreign trucks if you want to awake with a headache, a mouth full of cotton wool and a wallet full of nothing.
There are exceptions but it’s a good rule of thumb.
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Saw a picture of the gran buffet having been demolished somewhere
Its a shame the Grand Buffet is gone.It had log fires to grill the meat, steaks the size of van steering wheels.
Fresh fish, a huge choice of food for a set price.
The last time I stopped there you were given a dud parking receipt to claim back from your boss, you didn’t pay to park.
With many drivers that have a kitchen on the trailer side locker, did it shut for lack of drivers ?
I was weekended in Tarragona and saw Manola Garcia in concert and went to the big adventure theme park.