Logrono

It's amazing the difference a few hundred miles makes, in all aspects. We left a rainy windy miserable France and headed across the border. The drive through the mountains, which are the small edge bit of the Pyrenees, is truly spectacular, with long tunnels cut through the rock, suddenly opening into wide vista's of valleys and hills. The climb up goes on and on and ears pop at regular intervals. Our route took us from South of San Sebastián, down to Pamplona and onto Logrono, which is where we are now. And what a place.

Unknown to us, we arrived the day after a week long fiesta started, so six more days to go. Logrono is the capital of the Rioja region and the fiesta is to celebrate the start of the new wine season. Thousands of people from all over Spain head to Logrono for this celebration and the campsite, which is literally a ten minute stroll from the centre of the old town, soon became full of excited tenters of all ages (mostly young) and caravanners of all ages and nationalities.

Madness!
A massive difference the range of maintains and a border makes is the attitude. We left a country of Gallic shrugs and indifference and arrived in a place of smiles and sunshine. This is Spain.
So what have we been up to? Well, apart from being the capital of Rioja, Logrono is world famous for tapas and there are literally hundreds of bars and restaurants offering every type of tapa you can think of. And every dish is served with a small but sufficient glass of red or white Rioja. So, you eat, you drink, you move, you eat, you drink, you move, you pee and repeat this until all three actions become one long party with tens of thousands of other like minded people. It's fabulous.

And basically that's what we've done for the past four days.

Every evening at 11 pm, there is a massive fireworks display, each one set up and managed by a different region of Spain.

On Friday we had the home town put down their marker. On Saturday it was Madrid's turn, today Sunday, it's the turn of Granada and on Monday it's France! So we expect that display to be a bit dull and shruggish!
We've not had the BBQ out since we got here. Well you wouldn't really. The food is so bloody good.
Another Brit couple parked next to us the day at we got here. They are fun folk, who have just begun a year travelling through Spain. The day they got here, was straight off the UK to Spain ferry in a brand new van, which they had only spent two nights in back home. Never done this before and like ourselves and wide eyed and legless at everything that is going on. We've exchanged emails and stuff and there's no doubt that we will cross paths over the next year as we both wander through this great country.

Oh yes, the Ipad!!!!

Well, we decided that as we are to be in this country for two months now and then another couple of months after the New Year, we would seek out a local 3G mobile supplier and get a sim for the Ipad. No more wifi worries! So, we found a great English speaking guy working at the Orange Mobile store and explained what we wanted to do. After five minutes, we had agreed a monthly roaming pay as you go 3G arrangement and a sim was purchased. Excited, we gave him our all singing all dancing, very expensive Apple product and he carefully opened the draw which contains the UK sim. Placing the Spanish sim into the little plastic draw, he tried to close it. It wouldn't close. After five minutes of trying to get it closed, he gave up and directed us to an Apple store down the street. They should be able to help. Off we went, found the shop, tried to explain the problem and the mano in the place also attempted to close the stupid little plastic 5 cents drawer in the side of the £600 bloody Apple product! Nope......... so he directed us to a computer workshop who could have a new drawer. Off we went, hope slowly ebbing out of us along with the sweat from a 90 deg city sun and found the place. Can you please help us, I said in what is gradually going from Franglish to Spanglish and the lady disappeared into the bowels of the shop for five minutes. She came back with a new drawer and the sad face that comes with the 'I've got bad news for you folks'.
Evidently, the wonder that is the Ipad 4, retina display, 3G, WIFI and all, has been brought to its knees by a Chinese half inch by half inch plastic drawer,that won't shut and allow the SIM card to be activated.
On the phone I go to Apple Glasgow where we bought the thing. Not us, said the lady in the store, you need Apple servicing, and transferred me. Not us said the lady, you need Spanish Apple, they should be able to help and transferred me. 'Sorrrrrry, I know Eglish speak good, me get advicer to phune yow back'.
Lo and behold, after 20 minutes of listening to recorded Apple adverts, the phone rang and a wonderful English speaking lady listened to my tale of woe and has arranged for us to go to Valladolid for an Apple appointment to get the thing fixed..............or not! We might be given a brand new machine, I hope they can transfer all the stuff on this one.

A celebration of the burning of the old vines to welcome the new season.

 An example of street clothing worn by the local basketball team. No wonder they win all the gold medals.

So, what's new. Well Spanish is definitely not French, so merci and bonjour when mixed with what Spanish I know, causes all kinds of looks and laughs. I'll get there, we're here for months, I can do this.
The sun shines, all the time, even at night. It's just dark, but we know its there!
It's much much cheaper than France. Food, drink, everything. Here's an example. A litre bottle of our fave Vodka. In the UK £18, in France about £15 and here in Logrono, about £11.
Diesel is also much cheaper, so more miles for the Euro.
And that's about it for now. Next time something will have changed. It could be the machine, or the SIM card, or just my expectations. All will be revealed.

Adieu France

Well here we are, 5 miles from the Spanish Border and about 10 days earlier than we expected. It's been a much easier drive down than we'd thought and the places we've visited have all been really straightforward. As usual, I built in SNAFU breaks, but touch wood and plastic, things have gone great, so we are early.

This blog is a diary for us to read when we get home and even later on when we've forgotten everything, so, here's some stats so far.
We've driven 1,705 miles to get to the border.
The average fuel consumption has been 27.1 mpg
Average speed 39 mph
Total driving time 43 hours and 13 minutes
Total diesel bought 316 litres or 69.5 gallons
Total cost of diesel 463 euros or £387

All thanks to the on board trip computer. Damn clever these Germans!!!

Funny thing. We were waiting at the reception of this campsite earlier today and a guy walks in, also to check in. We looked at each other and in halting, German, Franglish, realised that we had spoken to each other on a campsite a week ago, North of Bordeaux! Now I know it's a small world, but come on. What's the chances of that happening!!!!

The weather has taken a turn for the worse and today, we are mainly sitting in the van drinking wine and watching rain. However, tomorrow, we will be in Logrono, Spain, the capital of the Tapas. It's 26 deg C there at the moment and getting warmer as the week goes on.

It's also my dad's birthday tomorrow, 18th, so here's a Happy Birthday dad, if you ever get round to reading this.

We've got this

Moskito's

There's always mosquito's! It's a saying that, over the years has served us well and again we were ready. But let's get there first shall we.

We were in Fouras with a slow but effective internet. I always wanted to stay on a ranch and there we were. Fouras is a pretty town with enough to see and do.

We played the first round of the invitational open and this was Jake teeing off.

and playing her second with a net at the hard water hazard..........

and then a tricky one out of the bushes. Suffice to say that I managed a sneak win on the 18th, so first round to me.

We also decided to fish for sardines and cook them on our BBQ. We got a fine catch, which handily came in a bag.............

So there it was. What it doesn't show is the mess that results in gutting, deheading and cleaning those little buggers. Well worth it though and another of life's lessons learned.

So to Bordeaux and Camping Du Lac.

And on to Arcachon and the Camping Club...........

What happened to Bordeaux I hear you say? City life, the chance to mingle with the good people that we meet. Shops, bars and excitement!!!! Well, pop back to the title of this episode and it will give you a big clue. Camping by Le Lac in Bordeaux, as pretty as it looked, as soon as the sun started to go down, you could hear them. The Mossie's. And there was loads. So next morning, off we went to here. Arcachon. And thank the lord we did. This place is brilliant. The site is in a forest with camping pitches under vast pine trees.

The view from the van door

The walk to the town is wonderful, as Arcachon is an old fashioned coastal resort which has been more or less kept original. There is a lift from the park above the town, which takes you down to street level and this has been working for 125 years. Amazing.

Here's the town from the park and the balcony around the lift

and here's the lift from the street. It was built in 1880 something and is a piece of historical architecture

Now we are only 200 miles from the Spanish border, the houses in general are still typical Francais

but there is a definite change in the landscape and tree cover. It's a much drier area and Arcachon is actually built on a massive sand dune. In fact, only a mile away from us, is Europe's largest, The Great Dune of Pyla, which is 2.7 kilometers long, 500 meters wide and 110 meters high. I would have posted a photograph of it, if we had gone to see it. But when it was mentioned as part of the itinerary, Jake stated it was really just a big pile of sand and she didn't want to get any sand in her shoes.........

Now, what have we gleaned so far on this trip. It's early, so not much, but
all wine in France is good, it's just cheap or expensive
don't trust anyone. They may look helpful and accommodating, but there are hustlers everywhere
driving on the right is easy and the roads are empty
there's not much to do when it rains
I miss the football
Jake doesn't miss anything other than a few folk and her slippers

But all is well and we go on. One more stop in France and then it's Viva Espania.

Chicken

We do laugh. A lot! There's just too much happening that is funny or daft or just frustrating, that makes laughing an integral part of everyday life. Take shops and bars and towns really. There is no doubt that even in the short time we have been travelling, we have visited some lovely wee places. However, if you've not got yourself sorted before midday, then that's it till 2.30. Ferme! And even after they've all had their two and a half hour whatever it is they do, at 7 in the evening everything closes. Maybe it's because we are in rural France and the 'season' is almost over. But come on. They're like ghost towns in the evening, except me an Jake usually. Hunting for a bar somewhere.

There is a third traveler on this trip. You've seen him before, just never really noticed. He's been with us for 10 years and goes everywhere with us and kinda guides our way. You will see him throughout this journey. I just thought I would officially introduce him.

This is Chicken.

What else? We get lost from time to time. Jake is GPS map reading and sometimes, 'you turn left here' is said just as we pass the turning................grumps!!!! So far though, she is doing a grand job and considering where we've been driving, she's an ace co-pilot.

During our last stopover in La Plaine sur Mer, we came across a tiny shop that looked as though it hadn't changed since the 40's. It sold stuff. You could buy one egg. We bought four, although we only bought one lemon. It sold witches brooms and hand made corn dollies and packets and tins that had probably been on the old wooden shelves before sell by dates had been thought of! And running this time machine, was Madam Yvette Salaud who is probably around 85 years young. Not a word of English was spoken between us, but we learned that times are hard as the big supermarkets are taking all her trade. The shop had been her grandfathers and then her fathers and now hers, but there was no-one left to take it over when she was gone. Sad!

When we told her that we came from Scotland, Madam Yvette became very excited and said she collected postcards and that people sent them to her. She showed us what she had received till now. We said that we would send her a card when we got home, but in the meantime we were travelling, so we will send her cards from wherever we go. She wrote out her address which took ages as her hand wasn't steady, but it was a lovely meeting and is what our trip is all about.

We've reached Fouras by the way. It's just a few miles South of La Rochelle and is the last stop before we spend a long weekend in Bordeaux. Today is the first overcast day we've had since we started and we're going to play Crazy Golf this afternoon, so it had better stay dry. There's only one winner in that match.

By the way, one of us started the day with a slight hangover and it wasn't me or Chicken.

A nuisance of the localised interweb is the upload speed. So putting just one photo on here takes around 20 minutes. Hopefully the speed will improve in the city, as we've loads of pics we want to put on. Bear with us on that.

A tout a l'heure.

The Road West

So we've made Quiberon, which for us is the further point West along the North of France and marks the beginning of the long road South. But let's go back a few days and catch up. We were in Fecamp, which is a lovely coastal town and has an ace campsite.

This is Fecamp

Sunsets are like Negril!

The beach isn't, but it's still very nice.

We had a great three days here in Fecamp and then the sun disappeared, so we upped and outed on the road to Houlgate. Another small coastal village with a few eating places and fairly miserable residents. Maybe it's the same everywhere, but there does seem to be a lot of 'not very happy' personnes here.

 

Here's a picture of two happy people in France, outside a bar in Houlgate. Typical :-)

So after only one night, we decided to push on to the West Coast of Brittany and stop at Quiberon, which is where we are now. And voila, beaucoup de Wifi at last. Quiberon is a beautiful place at the tip of a stretch of land, almost an island, but not quite. Google it, saves me the time explaining the place, but it's very cool, with cool people and cool shops and cool us!

Couple of pics of the place.

So, back to the beginning and we've reached the start of the road South. What have we learned on this first part of the trip. OK, the wifi thing is an issue, but we are getting round that at the moment. Shopping daily! That's interesting. Weather dependent at the moment, do we BBQ or not? Mostly we are, so meat is burnt and beer and wine drunk. So far so not much veg, but we'll get there too.

Language. Mon francais is getting on OK. I understand what I'm saying so that's a start. I've just got to get the locals tuned in.

Evenings. No TV!!!!! We haven't watched any TV in 11 days and it's kinda good. OK the interweb keeps us in touch, but it's been a long time since we had no box to watch! Can we last three months? We are playing lots of Yahtzee and talking shite and laughing about little things. It's a gradual stripping away of the past 20 years or so, and finding ourselves again. It's nice.

The driving on the wrong side of the road isn't so bad as the van has the steering wheel on the wrong side as well. So I'm ok with that. The road across the North of France is littered with the war graves of those that died, so that we can do what we are doing in freedom. There are many UK and US sites that are just acres of white stones and crosses. We have both commented on the sadness of these places and although we could stop and pay respects to those brave people, we don't feel it's time to do that. Another time probably.

We have a water leak in the van. It's coming from a hose under the boiler. Jake shows me the water almost every day as it trickles across the floor. I'm not sure what to do about it really, so best to do nothing for the moment and wait till it gets worse!!

And that's it for now, living the dream, not waking up for a long time.

L'art Du Blog

Two things, first....in France there are better toilets than there is reliable WiFi. Anyone that's been knows where I'm coming from!
Second, Blogs are done by people who have nothing else to do!. Make of that what you will, but I will say that our days and nights are full in the extreme and add the first and the second point together and you get my drift.

Where were we. We have lights.....

We are the trailer people, on every site that we visit. In fact, we will be arranging the lights everywhere we stop. This was in Amsterdam, which by the way, was everything we expected. Mental as anything, excellent Indonesian meal for our anniversary

and we walked loads. Here's a typical 10 minute walk through the centre of Amsterdam............

So we left Amsterdam after four brill days and trundled down to Brugge for the beer. Brugge is best described as Amsterdam's virgin auntie. Look the same family, but you wouldn't swear in front of her kinda thing. The site we stayed on had an acorn problem!!!!The problem was, we were parked under an acorn tree that bombarded the roof of the van all night! Not good, so we moved into La Belle France and we have reached Fecamp, which is where the wonderful views are from and the weather is soooo good.