Day 30: Prancing Horse

Date: Sunday 27th April
Staying: Hotel Don Candido
Distance Travelled:
Song of the day: Apologise - Timbaland ft. One Republic

I just want to start today's blog by apologising to all the Spaniards who I laughed at when Fernando Alonso's engine blew up (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA). To be fair, a whole load of them left the lap after this happened, which is really poor. The way they had been treating Lewis Hamilton (Alonso's old team mate), with jeers, whistles and some fairly unsavoury comments, it is hard to have any sympathy. (Note: The 2 drivers were standing beside each other and chating on the drivers parade, so maybe the Spanish fans should take note).

Anyway, I digress from the most important part of the day. Laurinda was over the moon because Jenson Button managed to drive to 6th, his best finish for 2 years (last race we went to he pulled out when his engine blew up). As he was driving around on the victory lap, he managed to spot Laurinda in the crowd (she was waving her hat pretty madly) and waved out to her. Well, at least that's the story she was telling me anyway ;-). I at the time had run to the front of the grandstand to get a couple of pictures.

The race was really exciting, we even got to see a crash at one of the corners we could see. One of the drivers decided to bounce off another car to get round a corner instead of driving round it like everyone else. The race was notable for one accident that wasn't quite so tame. As one of the drivers was going round a high speed corner, his tyre disintegrated and he went into a tyre barrier at about 150 miles an hour. He was extricated from the vehicle and was absolutely fine, but there were a few tense minutes while we waited for the Marshalls to remove all the tyres from on top of the car so he could be taken out.

Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention, FERRARI 1-2. GET IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kimi Raikonnen (Ferrari's current World Champion) lead from start to finish, with his team mate Felipe Massa in 2nd after passing Fernando Alonso at the start. It was close for most of the race, and from our seats we could see the first 4 cars at one time most of the race. There was not more than 2 corners between them at the end.

We left the track and were both really ecstatic from the result (unlike most of the Spanish as Hamilton finished third HAHA). It took us a couple of hours to get away from the track due to the vast amount of traffic, but when we eventually got onto the motorway (in the right direction, damn police road blocks), we found a hotel (planned, we weren't cheating this time) and downloaded the 1200 photographs that we 'kept' from the weekend.

PS: We have put some photos up from previous days on earlier posts. If you want to see some F1 photos, I have out a few on my Facebook profile.

Day 28 & 29: Rugby, Racing and Beer (or 2 out of 3, at least)

Date: Friday 25th & Saturday 26th April
Staying: Circuit de Catalunya – Barcelona, Spain
Distance Travelled: 42.2 Miles (Saturday)
Song of the day: Cars - Gary Numan

This was a weekend devoted entirely to the F1. We made it out to the Circuit de Catalunya having only driven an extra 20km out of the way. Once again we had an "Oh dear, we seem to be in town" moment. This time we took the bull by the horns (appropriate for Spain), and decided to go through the centre of Barcelona since it would, theoretically, put us on the north side of Barcelona and near the track (and because we couldn't figure out how to turn around). Fortunately the nice people of Barcelona helped us by providing signs to the circuit.

We were camping at the track and by the time we arrived, there were already hundreds of campers there, flags flying. Jarno took this opportunity to decide he didn't want to reverse anymore, so we had to "manually reverse" ourselves into a spot, helped by our new French neighbours.

Camping at the track is rather like camping at a festival, except it is a lot drier and everyone is better equipped. Music plays into the night, and the smell of generators pervades the site. Women are outnumbered by men at about 15 to 1, so you are viewed as an object of some curiousity. There are basic facilities (chemical toilets, showers), but essentially you are parked in a field.

Let me explain a little about an F1 weekend for those of you who are not acquainted. Although the main race is on a Sunday, the weekend really starts on Friday with the practices, one from 10.30 - 12 noon, the second from 2 - 3.30pm. In between, other practices are run for the GP2, Porsches and BMW's. Saturday has a 3rd practice session in the morning for the F1, then from 2 - 3pm is qualifying which decides the grid (who gets to be at the front of the starting line). Sunday is race day, and the F1 has a drivers parade at 12.30 (all the drivers on the back of a truck, waving to the fans). By 1.30pm they are on the grid, and 2pm the race starts.

The Spanish Grand Prix is really all about one driver for the Spanish fans - Fernando Alonso - and he can do no wrong in their eyes. He's driving for Renault this year, so between the normal contingent of Ferrari fans and thousands of Spanish Renault supporters, that's about 95% of your crowd. Cam supports Ferrari. I do not. I support Honda and Jenson Button, and have been for about six years now. I believe that there were approximately 12 Honda fans at the track. I can tell you that you get a lot of looks if you are:
1. A girl
2. Not supporting Ferrari or Renault
3. Not supporting the same team as the guy you are with (because 99.9% of the women here are with a boyfriend/partner).

When at the GP, earplugs are a must. I don't know if any of you have ever heard an F1 car before, but it's a bit like having your ear next to a jet engine. GP2 cars are a little quieter, though still ear-splitting. The Porsche cars sound like a swarm of angry wasps just behind your right ear. During practice, qualifying and racing, Cam and I spend the time communicating by shouting (ineffectively), and hand gestures.

Anyway, to dispense with descriptions, the Spaniards went bonkers when Alonso looked for a moment as though he had gotten pole position on the grid in qualifying, only to be pipped 30 seconds later by Raikkonen (Ferrari), who left it to the last minute to put in the fastest lap, making Cam just too happy.

Day 27: Hard Rock

Date: Thursday 24th April
Staying: Camping 3 Estrellas – Barcelona, Spain
Distance Travelled: 0 Miles
Song of the day: Spoonman - Soundgarden

Our third and final day in Barcelona dawned beautiful again, so we decided to take it fairly easy. Laurie wanted to view another of Gaudi's creations (apart from 'La Sagrada Familia'), which is an apartment block in downtown Barcelona (La Pedrera). One of the apartments is now a museum, and they give you full access to the Roof, which is cool. So we spent the morning looking round here. The roof was awesome; the chimneys having designs like the one in the photo above. You could also see La Sagrada Familia from the roof.

We then headed off to a lazy lunch at the Hard Rock cafe. I know, its cheesy, but I hadn't had a steak in a while and I really felt like one. It wasn't suppose to be a lazy lunch, but unfortunately the Spanish seem to work to a different timescale to the rest of us. So a couple of hours later we eventually got served, and most of the afternoon had gone by.

But we did have time to go and do a bit souvenir shopping. Or we would have, if we hadn't come across the rudest shop keeper ever. So after he insulted me, I explained to him how this probably wasn't the best way to get me spending money in his store, and how his approach to his customers may need some work, amongst a couple of other things that might not be best repeated. He left pretty quickly after I had finished my tirade ;-)

Day 26: Mediterranean Time

Date: Wednesday 23rd April
Staying: Camping 3 Estrellas – Barcelona, Spain
Distance Travelled: 0 Miles
Song of the day: She Bangs - Enrique Iglesias (in Spanish, it's much better)

Cam having done what he wanted to do (i.e. Camp Neu), it was my turn to choose something. I chose the Picasso museum for the beginning of our second day in Barcelona. Now, I'm sure many of you know a good deal more about Picasso than I do, but Cam and I were both quite shocked at just how good he was at such a young age - by 13 he was pumping out paintings like an old master. I have to say that neither of us were particularly into his later stuff, but it was an interesting visit nonetheless.

We stopped off for sangria and tapas before taking a swing by the Barcelona Cathedral. Time can somehow get away from you in Spain, and by the time we'd had a leisurely lunch, we were thinking we'd just drop in and take a look for a few minutes. Oh, how wrong we were. We've seen a lot of churches so far on this trip, so it's difficult to pinpoint why this one is different, but somehow it just is. Started in 1298, it features a fantastic outdoor cloister, which was so peaceful and we decided every church should have one. The whole church is in the Gothic style, but is flooded with such a lot of light that it doesn't have quite the same foreboding feel as some Gothic churches.

In the evening, we had a lovely pre-dinner stroll on the beach, then dinner at the campground restaurant (yes, they do have restaurants, and bars, shops, laundries, souvenirs, internet, etc, etc). Life in campsites is interesting - it's like an international community where no-one speaks the same language, you're all living out of a house on wheels, and everyone wears crocs. Yesterday we ran into a British couple who stopped us saying "Hello! We just wanted to say Hello! It's been such a long time since we've said it!" (understandable since it's mostly Spanish and a bit of French in the campsites we've been to so far). So, Hola from Spain, and Adios for now.

Day 25: 'La Rambling On'

Date: Tuesday 22nd April
Staying: Camping 3 Estrellas – Barcelona, Spain
Distance Travelled: 0 Miles
Song of the day: Barcelona - Freddie Mercury

I love this place. After 1 day in Barcelona I have fallen in love. I´ll admit that I did get to choose the things we did today, so that probably helps, but even so, what a magic place. You all have to come here.

We started this morning at the Nou Camp (thats the home of Barcelona Football club for those back home). Barca were gearing up for there game against Manchester United on Wednesday night, so there were lots of people at the ground (mainly Man U fans. Shame about that). So after rubbing shoulders with a couple of English footballing personalities, I had a tour of the ground which seats about 100,000 people and the museum, and bought myself a Barcelona shirt, so the locals didn´t think I was a Man Utd fan. The ground is just enormous. Hard to put into words really; that may people is staggering

Next we headed to 'La Sagrada Familiá', the crowing glory of Gaudi´s carreer. This is a mammoth construction, and is still yet to be finished. Begun in 1882, it is not planned to finish until 2025. With 16 columns ranging in Height from 100m to 175m (that one hasn´t been built yet), the engineering feat is spectacular. It can already been seen from all over city, and is something of a landmark similar to the Eiffel tour in Paris. Gaudi only managed to finish one of the facade before his death in 1926, but it has a real gothic feel to it, which is something I love. This is a very cool place.

We finished the day with a walk up 'La Rambla', the main shopping street of Barcelona. Unfortunately, there were far to many Man U fans singing to make this particularly enjoyable, so we might go back later in the week.

Day 24: Splat!

Date: Monday 21st April
Staying: Camping 3 Estrellas – Barcelona, Spain
Distance Travelled: 248.0 Miles
Song of the day: Bliss - The Dudes

"So, which way do you think I should go?" I ask Cam as we circumnavigate the roundabout for a second time.
"I don't know," Cam replies, "the road signs sent us this way, but now they've stopped."
"Shall we try this way?"
"Alright."
A moment later, we were at a marina.
"Not here then."
"Nope."
Back to the roundabout.
"Which way do you think I should go?"
"Let's try this one."
A moment later, things were starting to look familiar.
"Isn't this town?"
"Oops."

So, having gone back into Valenica in order to turn around and get back out, we were finally on our way to Barcelona. On the way out of Valencia, there are thousands of orange trees that make the city famous. Unfortunately they are all surrounded by hundreds of thousands of dragonflies, throwing themselves at our windscreen. Very messy.

Anyhow, it was a very uneventful trip to Barcelona, enlived only by the occasional song, and a few classic comments along the lines of the following:
Going through a tunnel -
"Doesn't it seem really dark in this tunnel?" I ask Cam. "I can't even see the headlights! I wonder if something is wrong with the van?"
15 tunnels later -
"Oh wait..." Removes sunglasses. "That's better."

We spent about a half hour driving around the one-way system in Castelldefels looking for a campsite, a new best-ever record for us. It was worth it though, as we drove through the site right to the edge of the beach and a view of the Mediterranean beyond. We were just in time to go to the camp shop, buy anti-pasto, and settle down for a few beers at the end of a long driving day.

Day 23: Stop

Date: Sunday 20th April
Staying: Devesa Gardens – Valencia, Spain
Distance Travelled: 0 Miles
Song of the day: Don’t Stop Me Now – Queen (a personal favourite)

Cam: Alright, I’m up and dressed (I even managed that myself, I’m a big boy now), where are we going today?
Laurie: Nowhere
Cam: What, nooo. You can’t stop me now, I am in full tourist flight, AWW YEAH!!!!
Laurie: Today, we are gonna have a nice relaxing day, the first since Chateau La Gorce
Cam: Are you sure this isn’t just because you are behind on reading all those books you bought with us
Laurie: That ‘MAY’ have something to do with it ;-)

As a lot of you will know, travelling is exhausting. This kind of travelling is especially so. Everyday you are either visiting something new; dealing with new environments; talking to lots of people who have no idea what you are saying (that is very tiring) and you, in turn are clueless to them; or travelling to somewhere completely new, on roads you have never been on, driving on a side of the road which is alien to you (I think that sums up the whole trip so far...manic).

So we decided that today was going to be a day of leisure, a proper vacation day, rather than a travel day. As we were so close to the beach, it seemed like a good idea. So of course it poured with rain. All morning was wet, and then, when that cleared, the wind decided to blow all afternoon. So we didn’t get to enjoy the beach, but stayed in the van all day (I didn’t go futher than the toilet block all day – about 15m away), or sitting in the sun, sheltered by the van from the wind. All-in-all, it was an excellently relaxing day, although I have a bit of sun burn to show for it. Oh well, it will go brown......LOVE IT

Day 22: The City of Oranges

Date: Saturday 19th April
Staying: Devesa Gardens – Valencia, Spain
Distance Travelled: 0 Miles
Song of the day: We are the waiting – Green Day

Our day in Valencia got off to a slow start. We were out at the bus stop at 9.12am, awaiting the trusty local bus to Valencia. One hour later the bus arrived. No problems, at least we were on the way.

Valencia is a port city, and host of the last America’s Cup, so they have a lot of impressive waterside buildings on the way into town. We were dropped off on the Grand Via. No problems, we’d just find our way to an Information Centre, get a map, and figure out what to see in Valencia. After a few false starts (there is more than one Grand Via in Valencia, and ours was off the city map), we made our way to what seemed to be the centre of town, and found an Information Kiosk. Kiosk is the operative word in that sentence, being a building a size of a hot water cupboard, manned by one person, looking very harassed and apparently full of flu. We joined the 10 person deep queue to get our map. 45 minutes later we had befriended the people behind us in the queue, thought up some new slogans for Valencia, and we were at the front of the queue. Our anticipated time in Valencia now being half over, we thought we’d better go and get some sightseeing done.

After all that waiting around, Valencia is actually a very pretty city, even though we managed to end up at the Central Markets twice, thinking it was a cathedral on the illustrated map of Valencia. The Plaza Ayuntamiento was lovely, and while in the queue at the Information Centre, we admired (what I took to be), the Town Hall and the Post Office, that boasted syncopated chiming clocks. Another highlight was the town old town gates, two overwhelming edifices that would have scared the pants off anyone trying to come in unlawfully I’m sure.

Having had our fill of Valencia, we returned to the campsite, and took a walk down to the beach. Which was gorgeous. We could see right down the coast to Valencia (about 13 km away), and it was totally deserted. We sat down to admire the view with a couple of beers, opened with the car keys, having discovered neither of us had thought to bring a bottle opener. Well, you can’t have everything can you?

Day 21: 4 Seasons in One Day

Date: Friday 18th April
Staying: Devesa Gardens – Valencia, Spain
Distance Travelled: 243.3 Miles
Song of the day: 4 Seasons in One Day – Crowded House

This was actually quite an eventful day. The previous night, in the camp bar, we meet an English couple and got discussing camp sites, amongst other things. We had nowhere lined up in Valencia, so they gave us an idea, as well as Barcelona. Problem was, and with my apparent lack of navigation skills, we didn’t have a map. So first thing in the morning, we had a made dash into Madrid centre, to the internet cafe we knew to organise a place to stay. Whilst I got the instructions, Laurie went to the English Language bookshop to get some more camping books. Unsurprisingly, it was closed.

No stress, we had the instructions. Well, we thought we did. The drive to Valencia was as eventful as ever with mad Spanish drivers showing us exactly why we think they are mad (Laurie has a new phrase, ‘Passing like a Spaniard’. Hair-raising to see.) , and with some torrential rain and gale force winds giving Jarno (the van) an extra 10km uphill, we practically flew to Valencia. Problem; turns out, www.viamichelin.com, the doyen of driving sights, doesn’t understand the need to include roundabouts in it’s instructions, and when it does, can often forget to tell you which exit to take. After getting the wrong exit at 2 roundabouts that weren’t listed, and again using some choice words to describe said website, we eventually found our campsite.

I was ecstatic to learn that our camp site had its own zoo, Awesome. Nothing scary in there mind, but cool none the less. We were less happy when we discovered that the restaurant we were told was open, wasn’t, and the bar that we were going to eat in, closed when we were having our first beer. HHMMMMMM!!!!!! Still, we had a place to sleep (luckily), and tomorrow is Valencia. Bring it on.

Day 20: In which I assault a local in Madrid

Date: Thursday 17th April
Staying: Camping La Osuna – Madrid, Spain
Distance Travelled: 0 Miles
Song of the day: Beautiful Day - U2

Our 2nd full day in Madrid took shape slowly as we took the metro into town in the morning. We decided to take in the Cathedral de la Almudena at the back of the Palacio Real. In contrast to most of the churches we’ve seen on the trip so far, the cathedral was started in the late 19th century, and not fully completed until 1993, so it came complete with Picasso-esque stained glass windows.

From there, we caved and headed to the Plaza Mayor for more paella, where we sat under an umbrella as it poured with rain, while our waiter (with about 20 words of English) proclaimed “Beautiful day! Beautiful day!” From there we took a stroll to the Monumento a Colon, where a behemoth carving in stone commemorates Columbus discovering America. For a break from the city, we decided to take a (rather wet) stroll through the Parque del Retiro, taking in the Spanish version of the Crystal Palace.

On the way back to the campsite, we decided to take a look at the Estadio del Torres where the Bull Fights are held. Cam was all keen to go (me less so, for obvious reasons), but they’re only on on a Sunday (fortunately). It was at the station that I managed to assault one of the locals who was trying to get into the Metro station through the gate I was leaving it by. I’ve not really got much of an opinion on fare-dodging, but there was only space for one of us, and he was always going to loose. As I barged him out of the way, muttering expletives, he got the sharp end of my elbow on the way past, much to Cam’s amusement. Anyhow, the Estadio del Torres was a great building from the outside. Then it was back to the campsite and a retreat to the campsite bar for a few beers before bed.

Day 19: Bend it Like Beckham

Date: Wednesday 16th April
Staying: Camping La Osuna – Madrid, Spain
Distance Travelled: 0 Miles
Song of the day: Temperature – Sean Paul

As any football fan knows, Real Madrid are the most successful team in the world. They have won more cups/trophies than anyone else. Apart from the 30 domestic leagues they have won, the 9 European Cups speak volumes for the club (AC Milan are next with 6 and then my beloved Liverpool with 5). This morning was all about my visit to Madrid’s home ground, the ‘Estadio Santiago Bernabeu’.

The ground is massive, seating 80,000 people (that’s 2.5 times bigger than then Westpac Stadium for those in Wellington, for those in London, a little bit smaller than Wembley. Not bad for a privately owned stadium), and being a rectangular stadium, the seats at the top are spectacularly steep, the highest are some 70m above the actual playing surface. The tour takes you through the ground museum and through the trophy room, which, as you can imagine, is rather full. The highlight was the 9 European trophies all lined up; really impressive (see photo).

The captain of the club, Raul (a legend amongst fans), was being interviewed on the pitch when I arrived, but due to the direction of the tour, I was unable to get a good photograph of him. The tour was well worth the money, and I think I spent about half my time there in the trophy room. I met Laurie afterwards in the team shop (she had spent a nice relaxing morning in the Real Madrid coffee shop), but managed to talk myself out of buying a shirt (a lot cheaper in London).

The afternoon was all about genuine tourism (bad I know). We got a ticket on the open top bus, and took both routes round the city. Got some good photos, and we now have a fair idea of where we are going back to tomorrow. The temperature was cracking 26° so the trip in the bus was probably for the best. Otherwise it would probably have been another afternoon of Sangria in the sun. Tough life this travelling innit ;-).

Day 18: How a perfect day should be on the road

Date: Tuesday 15th April
Staying: Camping La Osuna – Madrid, Spain
Distance Travelled: 134.7 Miles
Song of the day: Perfect Day – U2

After Salamanca, we were a bit apprehensive about making our way to the enormity that is Madrid, Spain’s capital. To break up the trip, we decided to make a stop at Avila (another fortuitous discovery from the “1000” book), since it was on the way, and Madrid only a mere 200km away from Salamanca.

We took a gamble, and broke our number one, cardinal rule: “Never go into a city unless you have a map”, but at only 50,000 residents, we took a chance. It paid off handsomely, as we found a park, a supermarket, and got into the city within 15 minutes of turning off the highway. Avila is a walled city, built between the 11th and 13th centuries, but looking as though the brickwork just came off the shelves of IKEA. Like all good walled cities, they are built on hills (Avila has the distinction of being the highest city in Spain), and the highest point is usually the cathedral, so we had a good hike around the city, looking for the cathedral, patches (Cam), and coffee (Laurie). It was peaceful, and not at all touristy, quite a hidden gem I suspect.

After Avila, we drove off for Madrid, the tense point of the day for me, as we approached the city from the north. Madrid is only a little smaller than London, but the roads are better, wider and more organised. There are five lanes of traffic in each direction coming into Madrid, and I’m pleased to say that we navigated them with relative calm, only muttering “sorry” to other road users about three times (perhaps I have finally mastered overtaking like a Spaniard? Though Cam tells me I don’t do enough brake testing, a la Fernando Alonso, F1 fans take note).

Of all the odd things, the campsite in Madrid was the easiest to find that we’ve had yet – from the off-ramp (number 8), turn left at the roundabout, and it’s on the right. It was so simple in fact, that we had time to actually go into Madrid for an afternoon of Paella and Sangria in the Plaza Mayor (Main Plaza). (Sangria rating = 10/10, although we couldn’t finish the jug. I know, we’re lightweights.) We did a quick reccie of the place, before retreating to the (relative peace) of the campsite.

Day 17: Salamanca Surprise

Date: Monday 14th April
Staying: Ruta De La Plata – Salamanca, Spain
Distance Travelled: 0 Miles
Song of the day: Yeah - Usher

When we were planning where we would be going on this trip, we used a book titled ‘1000 places to see before you die’; quite morbid really. They could have named it ‘1000 places to see during your life’; it doesn’t have the same finality, the same sense of foreboding – ‘You must see these or you will be punished in the afterlife’.

We used this as guide really, to make sure that we were going to see everything we should in the places we were going. What we didn’t expect was to come across a place listed, in a city we never intended on visiting. The ‘Plaza Mayor’ in Salamanca is a stunning place. Surrounded by centuries old buildings and bathed in glorious sunshine, I see why it was listed.

Salamanca was just going to be a stop on the 650km drive to Madrid. Instead we stayed for a couple of nights and enjoyed what is a beautiful city. The Cathedral (we love all sorts of churches) was incredibly ornate and detailed on the outside, although the inside was a bit of a let down. All the chapels were fenced off, as were most of the other interesting bits. The rest of the old town was built out of the same stone (Sandstone I think) and was immaculate in its presentation and very photogenic (good for me).

And to top this place off (so much better than Porto), we saw an amazing sunset on our last night there (see photo above), which of course I spent a lot of time photographing. Quite impressed.

Day 16: Matador Territory

Staying: Camping La Playa - Salamanca, Spain
Date: Sunday 13th April
Distance Travelled: 218.4 Miles
Song of the Day: Home on the Range

Today was largely a day of travel, with nothing too exciting to report, so I thought I'd just jot down a couple of today's random conversations:

On seeing bulls in all the surrounding fields:
Cam: How do you catch a unique cow?
Laurie: How?
Cam: You-nick up on him
(Try saying it out loud...)

On looking at road signs:
Cam: All these signs go to somewhere called Espanha. That's not on the map.
Laurie: Nevermind, let's just go to Spain.
(Tongue firmly in cheek. We were in Portugal at the time.)

The "five people you'd have for dinner" game (choose five people, dead or alive, that you would like to have dinner with):
Cam's first selection: The prophet Mohammad, Vishnu, Jesus, the Dalai Lama and L. Ron Hubbard (interesting dinner conversation, no?).
Cam's second selection: Enzo Ferrari, Michael Schumacher, Bob Paisley, Sir Donald Bradman, Pele.

Plus a fine rendition of: "The wheels on my house go round and round, round and round, round and round..."

On a lighter note, we didn't get *too* lost in Salamanca (despite the two tourist information centres on the map that are now no longer in existence...). Thank God for Spain.

Day 15: The Pain in Portugal

Staying: Camping Costa Nova - Costa Nova (Portugal)
Date: Saturday 12th April
Distance Travelled: 184.7 Miles
Song of the Day: We Gotta Get Outta This Place - Eric Burdon and the Animals

Oh my days, what the hell hit us there. This had to be the most awful experience of the entire trip so far. Now, I will be the first to admit that we did break cardinal rule number 1 - Don´t enter a city without a map. Our confidence was high after a great run since Bordeaux. Oh how wrong were we.

Now, if you drive into a new city, and you see these three signs, which would you go for:
Centro Commercial
Centro Cultural
Centro

Yip, yip, that´s what I thought you would choose. Well you would be wrong. It's none of them. And we know, cause we checked. All of them. Centro Cultural we checked Twice. And we still couldn´t find central Porto.

As an idea, for you all, imagine driving around a city the size of Wellington and getting stuck driving round in Wainuiomata for 2 hours while looking for Te Papa. Or imagine driving round Walthamstow for 2 hours looking for Big Ben. It was so bad, that we pulled up in some random suburban road, ate our cheese sandwiches in silence and then drove on.

And this wasn´t the worst of it. You would think that a city with 350,000 people would have signs on how the hell to leave the place. But again, you would be wrong. I have to admit to some choice turns of phrase directed at a few town planners during our escapade. I´m not proud of it, but they were accurate.

Finally we got back onto the motorway and headed south having seen nothing worthwhile of Porto what-so-ever. Although, I can tell you some areas you wouldn´t want to visit, just in case ;-)

Did I mention that petrol is 30c a litre dearer in Portugal compared with Spain? Maybe the town planners and the petrol firms are in league. They make you drive round for hours trying to find something that isn´t there, just to get you to buy petrol you didn´t need in the first place. Hmmmmm. I have to admit, Portugal did not endear itself to me.

Day 14: Galician Glory

Staying: Camping Al Cancelas - Santiago de Compostela
Date: Friday 11th April
Distance Travelled: 0 Miles
Song of the Day: These boots were made for walking

Santiago de Compostela was an important medieval pilgrimage route, and one that people still make today, by foot, from all over Spain and France. To be honest, I felt out of place without one of those walking poles and a waterproof backpack cover, until Cam pointed out that we'd come all the way from New Zealand (a fair point I thought).

Santiago is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and has all the dark, gothic, brooding buildings and churches you could ever want in one place. The cathedral is fascinating from all angles, with more saints and sculptures than you can point a pointy stick at. It also has the best souvenir selection (a 9/10 rating on the Laurinda souvenir scale), and we were hard pressed not to fill the little van with all things Gallician. I'm pleased to report that the local cafe con leche and "Torte de Santiago" went down a treat on more than one occasion.

Photos to follow: words can't really do this place justice.

Lots of Posts

Hi all

We are updating as we get internet, so sorry if we do a whole lot of days at once. And please keep the comments coming, we love to hear your thoughts

ola from Espania

Cam

Day 12 & 13: The Big Wet

Staying: Camping Al Cancelas - Santiago de Compostela
Date: Thursday 10th April
Distance Travelled: 420.7 Miles
Song of the Day: Why Does it Always Rain on Me - Travis

It´s not often that we will run more than one day together, generally becuase we have very different views on things and are constantly disagreeing with each others blogs. However, we were both of the agreement that these two days we could do as we only had 1 goal, to drive across Spain. Well, the top of Spain to be precise. We split the journey in two, as it is an epic journey, and arrived in Santiago de Compostela this afternoon. Also, coming here was something Laurie wanted to do, so it is only fair she blog about it.

Yesterdays journey, although long, was completely uncomplicated. We got out of San Sebastian really easily; the roads in Spain are signposted really well, so we got going in the correct direction. After a brief stop for lunch somewhere green (I don´t remember exactly where, but between Santander and Oviedo), we contiued on our merry way, to rock up at our campsite where we had views of the Atlantic out the back of the van.

Today, however, was not so good. It rained most of the day yesterday, and continued all night, and was still going when we got going this morning. Turns out that the dodgy wiper we had decided this would be the perfect opportunity to throw it´s toys completely and stop working. After a lengthy period of me standing in the rain working with tools to try and get it fixed (insert swearing as you see fit), we decided to get back to the campsite and find a mechanic. We came across a petrol station on the way and after some sign language they pointed us to where we could find a mechanic.

So we roll on up to the back of this Hyundai dealer in the middle of nowhere, and Cam walks inside to ´chat´ with the guy working there. The conversation consisted of signing and pigeon-spanish (and that´s being nice about my Spanish), but I was able to convey our problem. This guy was a CHAMPION; he tried to fix the wiper we had, but couldn´t (they had none in store as this wasn´t a shop), he then ran off and removed the wipers from one of the cars that were in the parking lot and installed that (obivously the wiper is designed for a right handed car, but it still wipes innit). All of this took about 10 minutes, which was 10 minutes he didn´t need to give me. He was fantastic about it, and I practically had to force money into his hand (in fact, he came back with pens and stuff because we paid him). It´s good to see that there are still nice people in the world who will happily help a stranger.

Day 11: Sun and Siestas

Staying at: Camping Igueldo, San Sebastian
Date: Tuesday 8^th April 2008
Song of the Day: Candle in the Wind – Elton John
Distance Travelled: 0 Miles

Our campsite at San Sebastian was nestled in the hills, between the mountains and the sea. It was quite beautiful, but it did require a bus ride into town, so Cam and I braved the local buses. Once in the old town of San Sebastian we did a walking tour, powered by coffee and pastries. The Church of San Vicente was our first stop, and its plain exterior hid a 16^th century masterpiece, making it our favourite church of the day with its gothic scenes and beautiful rose windows. Just down the road was the Basilica of Santa Maria del Coro with a baroque facade, more gothic scenes, but lacking the stained glass windows. Both churches had music in full swing though (see the Song of the Day), making them peaceful places to sit for a rest. We then wended our way up the hill to the Castle of La Mota, constructed in the 12^th century and with the Sacred Heart monument presiding over the city and giving us an impossibly blue view of the sea, sky and city.

By the time we hit 1.30pm, we were ready for a break. Here we hit our first snag, in the form of the Spanish siesta, which closes everything up from about 1-4pm every day, the peak time of our tourist activity. Having finally found a bar in the region of the Cathedral of El Buen Pastor (also closed), I finally figured out how to get a cappuccino-like coffee (cafe con leche), and we sampled what seemed to be frittata in bread (a lot nicer than it sounds). We eventually found a supermercado, and stocked up on a few essentials, before basking in a bit of the afternoon sun (22 degrees, and us with four layers on), and making our way back to the campsite for beer and olives in the camp bar (also a lot nicer than it sounds).

Day 10: On the Road Again

Staying at: Camping Igueldo, San Sebastian
Date: Monday 7th April 2008
Song of the Day: Misty Frequencies – Che Fu
Distance Travelled: 180.3 Miles

Never believe anything that you see or hear in the movies. For example, the rain in Spain falls mainly wherever the hell it likes, generally on us; and we have not gotten anywhere near the plains yet.

I chose Misty Frequencies as the song of the day for two reasons, 1/ due to the previously described inclement weather, and 2/ because today saw a very sad goodbye to the Chateau where we had such a fantastic weekend. We finished the weekend off last night with a bit of a dance party in the gambling room which went until the wee small hours (which wasn’t good for those of us with early starts), and caused me to have a very hoarse voice in the morning (but when Bohemian Rhapsody is playing, you have to sing). It was sad to say goodbye to some old friends and to quite a few new ones too, but I want to thank everyone for making this a really enjoyable (and very intoxicated) weekend, and hope we can catch up with you all for a beer or three when we are back in July.

We took Erica and Rickard back to the train station in Bordeaux and then went back to the motorway to head south for Spain. Due to the Schengen agreement, there is no longer passport control between France and Spain (and lots of other European countries) so we were both disappointed not to get stamped through to Spain. The journey was uneventful, and we even managed to find the camp site after only getting lost once (new record). But by the time we were set up, we were both exhausted, and yours truly had a kindy nap in the van which, along with the rain that rolled in about 3 o’clock, screwed up any sight-seeing. So roll on tomorrow.

Day 9: Riding, Racing, Describing, Dancing.

Date: Sunday 6^th April 2008
Song of the Day: Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
Distance Travelled: 18.3 Miles

Sunday was the all-important day of the week for Cam: F1 race day. Consequently, I elected to do the early horse riding session to get back to the Chateau in time for the race. I haven’t been horse riding for nearly 20 years, and I’d forgotten more than I ever knew about being on a horse. After having the stirrups adjusted 3 times so I could actually get on the wee beastie, we went off on a little walk (and occasional trot) around the countryside. It being a bit muddy, there were a few hairy moments (for me only, the horse seemed completely happy if somewhat hungry), but I made it back in one, slightly bruised piece.

After the horse riding, we retreated to the chateau for the F1, where there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth, for me anyway (could someone please post my driver a lucky charm of some sort?), accompanied by beers and other members of the party who were drawn into Cam and my F1 frenzy.

After a hundredweight of Pizza in the evening, everyone got down to a game of Articulate, a team game in which you have to describe an action, person, place, object or item from nature to your team without actually saying the word. There was much competitive spirit (and some team hopping – yes Cam, I mean you), and a bit more wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Hooking up the laptop, we got “Nightclub La Gorce” going in the evening, and there was much getting down and jumping around. Cam and I finally retreated to bed about 2am (no idea when the others finally gave up, but you guys rock).

Day 8: Burnt

Date: 05 April 2008
Song of the Day: Welcome to Paradise - Green Day
Distance Travelled: 0 Miles (yay)

Pink would be an appropriate colour of the day today, as everyone was a bright shade of it after all the sun. While London was enjoying (for sake of a better word), a huge dumping of snow, we were recovering from a day by the pool, and some very welcome sun. My arms and legs are a fair shade of pink. And it is only gonna get better as we head into Spain next week.

The day started with a wine tour at a vineyard just up the road. The guy who took us through the place was all class, although with such a thick French accent and not knowing lots of English, I am sure a few of his jokes were well and truely lost on us. He also taught everyone how to taste wine (although there was a distinct lack of a ‘moderaton’ bucket. Must have known we were coming). The highlight would have to be the loud and unexpected screech from one of our number on the discovery of a dry dead frog in our midst, to which our guide expressed his concern for the loss of such a delicacy. I think a special mention should be made for Mike for his ambitious attempts at getting some free wine. Not that it was necessary; the prices were ludicrous for quality wine.

After another afternoon spent sunbathing by the pool (It is a tough life innit. Did I mention it was snowing in London), where we came up with a theme song for our trip (The wheels on my house go round and round), we had a birthday dinner for Mel, the reason for being there. Quality night. Between the fantastic food (who knew Qauil eggs and bacon went so well on toast) and all the cheap, quality wine we had purchased, the night ended very late, and very intoxicated for everyone. And another special mention for the articulate game at the end of the night; awesome to play while drunk, would recommend it for causing a lot of laughs.

And one last thing, Laurie beat me in chess cause I was falling over drunk, and she knows it ;-)

Day 7: This is the life!

Song of the day: Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard
Distance travelled: 39.7 miles
Friday 4th April 2008

I'd like to make an official complaint to the Bordeaux authorities: they must install more parking around their railway station. Picking people up is very difficult if you can't park anywhere. After a few hairy moments trying to get our van into a space that was not quite large enough for it, we double parked, successfully uploaded our human cargo, and headed off for Haux.

Haux is just outside Bordeaux, and we were staying at Chateau LaGorce, an amazing set of stone buildings next to the river, nestled away in the French countryside. It's a beautiful place to stay, and an even better place to meet friends and spend a few relaxing days while celebrating birthdays. We took advantage of the "Intermarche" to stock up on supplies (read cheap wine, beer and cheese), and retreated to a hillside for an impromptu picnic before the Chateau was ready for us. In the evening we were well fed by Steve who volunteered for BBQ duty, and despite a few near misses (goes on tour, stays on tour) a good evening was had by all. I'd also like to report that I beat Cam at chess. A rare accomplishment, and a great end to the day.

Day 6: Sun, Sun, Sun

Song of the Day: Here Comes the Sun - Nina Simone

Distance Travelled: 140.1 miles

It is one thing that I really missed in the UK, but there was plenty of it in Ile De Re. SUN!!!!!!!!!! We spent yesterday afternoon walking along the beach of Ile De Re, and generally enjoying the sun. We parked up with a fantastic view of the sea, and had a relaxing evening reading and watching the world go by (insert violin music and sighs of contentment etc).

So this morning we went to La Rochelle to have a look around. The old town is a stunning place, and after using the internet, we went snap happy with the camera (how surprising). Old cobbled streets and old stone brick buildings are the kind of thing I love. We also did the French passtime of sitting with a drink and watching the world go by.

We headed to Bordeaux at night as we had to pick up some friends in the morning before we headed to the French Chateau we were spending the weekend at. Of course, nothing can ever be that simple. Apparently our van needs more than 4 amps to run the fridge (oops). Just want to take this opportunity to apologise to all those people that I shorted out. My Bad ;-)

Day 5: Low Gear

Song of the day: Top Gear theme tune

Miles travelled: 246.4

Today was mostly a day of travel, so I thought I’d take this opportunity to tell you a little bit about life on the road, in the van. So far, we’ve travelled through almost every type of weather that France has to offer: sun, rain, torrential rain, hail and fog. Not bad for only 4 days in the country. Our little van is only a 2 litre petrol, so there is no taking advantage of the 130km speed limit on the highway, about 100km is all we can really manage, and even then the van gets the shakes at anything approaching 105km.

We’ve named the van Jarno. For those of you who don’t follow the F1 (that would be almost all of you, I’d assume), the name comes from a Toyota driver called Jarno Trulli. He is by no means the favourite of either of us, but the Toyota he drives is white (as is the van), and he has an annoying habit on the race track of creating what we call a “moving chicane”, in other words, a moving object that is so slow it must be passed, yet annoyingly, keeps moving. This is a bit like the van – since we can only manage about 100km, and the French have much more powerful cars in general, we are constantly being passed, struggling up hills in 3^rd gear (hence the title of today’s blog).

We’ve travelled from Le Mont St Michel to just outside La Rochelle today, to an island called Ile de Re. Despite our top speed, we usually make fairly good time. The bit we haven’t quite mastered yet is finding campsites, which usually takes us a couple of hours. This will come with time I expect. The thing we have mastered (fairly well at least) is right-hand driving. It’s always a bit hairy when you get to a round-a-bout (for the uninitiated – you have to go anti-clockwise), but we’ve only had one or two near misses (neither of which were due to going the wrong way) and had more to do with the French round-a-bout layout than massive errors on our part.

We’ve got the packing up of the van down to a (half hour) fine art now, putting away the cushions, folding up the chairs, and disconnecting ourselves from the main power supply. Having electricity in the van is brilliant, and allows us to blog every night, even if we have to wait a few days to post when we have an internet connection. Cam also clears the photos every day, and charges up the camera batteries for the following day, which are getting quite a work out. Hopefully there will be some photos to post soon, as we head off to Bordeaux on Friday for a friends birthday.

Day 4: That First Awestruck Moment

Song of the Day: Swamp Song – Tool
Distance Travelled: 102.6 miles

Its not everyday day you get awestruck by something; today held the first moment for this trip. You know the feeling, when you see something that is truly spectacular for the first time, and you say ‘holy crap’ involuntarily. That’s what happened when we first laid eyes on le Mont-Saint-Michel.

Le Mont-Saint-Michel is the most visited site (as opposed to landmark) in France. It is a fortified village on a granite outcrop rising from the sea. It is accessible only by a thin strip of land that links it to shore. Its tides differ by up to 50 feet, and when out, it leaves the island surrounded by 10 miles of sea floor. The Benedictine Abbey that sits 500 feet up on the top of the island is just breathtaking when viewed from the shore.

When on the island it feels like ‘Venice on Rock’ (Quoting myself there. Quite poetic I thought), as you wander through a tight alley way surrounded by tourists and tourist shops. The Abbey is beautiful in its simplicity (for those that don’t know, Laurie and I love churches. We visit them just to look, all the time), with the stone and lots of light windows making for a beautiful space. The views from here back to the mainland and out to sea (the tide was out for us) were quite spectacular.

Although, my lack of French did almost cost me a shoe (as I tried to go across the flats which are like quicksand when exposed; there was a sign, I just missed it), it was a price I would have happily paid after seeing the views of the island. This is a place I would recommend people visit, for religious (Michael the Archangel is said to have appeared here in 708 AD) and non-religious (it is breathtaking to behold, and very photogenic) reasons.

Day 3: Britain at War

Song of the Day: We got to get out of this place
Distance Driven: 94.1 Miles

Laurie’s bit:

We couldn’t get out of Le Havre fast enough. Sitting in the van, we quizzed each other on why we had decided to go there. Neither of us could remember.

Onwards and upwards then to Bayeux to see it’s renowned tapestry. At only 70cm wide, but 70 metres long, the Bayeux Tapestry recounts the Battle of Hastings in 1066. At almost 1000 years old, you can still see the fine details of the needlework as though it was completed yesterday. It shows the events leading up to the battle (Harold swearing fealty to William, then promptly taking over England at the first chance), preparations for the battle (trees being felled, boats constructed), then sailing across the ditch (the channel in this case) to wage the battle. Horses galloped, arrows flew. Alas for Harold, one (apparently) ended up in his eye, ending his ideas of being top dog in England. The tapestry is quite a sight, and was not marred by the throngs of French schoolchildren.

Cam’s Bit

It seems that Normandy and England have quite a strong connection when it comes to war. D-day (Operation Overlord), the largest invasion in history, was the turning point of World War II. The beaches were or next port of call.

It’s hard to think now that the sleepy little village of Arromanches, on the coast 10km from Bayeux, was the scene of one of the greatest maritime feats ever achieved. Arromanches was the point of invasion for the British contingent of the D-Day force. Once the village and surrounding area had been liberated the floating harbour called Mulberry B (more affectionately known as Port Winston, as Winston Churchill came up with the idea), was pulled into place on the bay in front of Arromanches. Massive floating pontoons were then attached so thousands of men and their machines could come into shore. There are still vestiges of the harbour in place as a reminder. It is a stunningly beautiful village that seems to be stuck in a time warp from 1944. It was an excellent place to spend a quiet night (we were the only people in the camp site).