A Mammoth Review of the Year

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With the year coming to an end, over 20,000 miles travelled, 21 countries and principalities visited, 132 Blogs published and over 3000 pictures taken we asked the International Mammoth of mystery for some of his views on his adventures in 2013 …..



What has been the most inspiring place you have visited this year?

Well, that’s an easy question to start, let’s hope the other questions are better! It would have to be Mount Nemrut , the location was incredible and to see what they had built on the top was amazing and truly inspiring to a Mammoth of my size. In my (not so) humble opinion, truly the eighth wonder of the world.



You have quite a few outfits, which has been your favourite one for the year?

A few outfits….are you kidding? My wardrobe is seriously lacking so I reckon it’s about time you went shopping! But seriously, I obviously look fabulous in all my outfits. I did rather like my Christmas attire but probably my favourite would be my pirate bandana from the lighthouse at Ile de Re.



If you could describe yourself in five words what would you say?

Hmmmm….lets see. Awesome, perfect, (stunningly) handsome, amazing and sophisticated. I’m pretty sure no-one can argue with ANY of that!



If Jo and Ian had to describe you in five words what would they say?

I hate to think…..and, just in case any children read this, I refuse to answer that question!



What was your favourite place visited in the UK?

Hadrian’s Wall , no contest, but then of course I have bumped into Hadrian in nearly every country I have been to, what an amazing bloke, I wonder if he liked pistachio’s?





From all the countries you have visited which one stands out most and why?

Hmmm so many places this is really difficult. Other than Turkey of course I think it would have to be Romania the people were wonderful, the views were incredible and it was so cheap! Of course, I had to dodge vampires all the time but it was a price worth paying.



So many countries and so many miles, which were the best and worst roads to travel?

Hmm, as you say, so many roads! One of the best had to be a quiet back road we found in the south of France, somewhere between Marsielle and St Tropez. A beautiful ribbon of tarmac, about twenty miles long, twisting left and right, up and down, between the trees. Ian made Ollie dance along that stretch and, of course, it’s always fun watching Jo turn green!! The worst road? Maybe the one James directed us to after the visit to Nemrut. It started off as a fairly good road into the mountains but turned into little more than a goat track clinging to the side of the mountain with a sheer 500ft drop inches from Ollie’s wheels. Still have nightmares about that one!



Having claimed TWO Mammoth World Records in 2013 do you think you can better them?

Well if it hadn’t been for Ian refusing to drive to Wales I could have beaten my five countries in one day record! It did give me a great feeling of having accomplished something though and having looked at the atlas I’m sure I can do better in the future.



Which countries food have you enjoyed most?

Ohhhh this is a really hard question as everyone who knows me knows I am a bit of a ‘foodie’. We had some super meals in France, Spain stands out for their delicious belly pork, Bulgaria had some brilliant food and sooooooo cheap I had a great excuse to eat even more. Of course, there was also the traditional pizza in Italy, truly amazing! Ooo, and then there was the Goulash in Romania……and the breakfast buffet in Germany…..and the sausages in Hungary….how about the KFC in Holland, does that count??



What has been the hardest part of travelling?

I suppose getting up early every morning and packing everything up, making the morning cuppa’s for the lazy humans and making sure they know where we are going that day. Jo and Ian don’t seem to appreciate the work I put in to give them an easy life.



What have been the scariest moments on your travels?

Blokes at borders with guns, snow in the mountains and no snow-chains, so many roads with precipitous drops right outside the car window, semi-naked women on the roads in Spain. I suppose the worst had to be the drivers on the roads in the U.K., or was it the mess Zoe managed to make in the tent when she came to visit?



Having experienced so much this year what would be your top three places to visit?

What kind of question is that? You can’t seriously expect me to pick a top three out of all the awesome places I’ve taken you to this year!





Which has been the best campsite and hotel on your travels in 2013?

Difficult to choose but camping Les Pratt’s in Spain has got to have a mention (despite the name!), the food was brilliant and the facilities were excellent. For the hotel I’d go with Ali Balzir Hotel in Beysehir, great value for money, and room service to die for!



You have had two main methods of transport so far, what have you enjoyed about them both?

Ollie was amazing and managed to get us everywhere we wanted to go, in fact it was us saying ‘no way’ that stopped him and not the other way round. Georgie was wonderful and so comfortable to live in, we missed her a lot and still wave at Motor homers on our journeys.



If you were taking your bestest friend Sion anywhere where would you take him?

How amazing would it be to have the bestest friends on the road together? It’s impossible to choose just one place but certainly I know he would enjoy gazing at the stars at the Zeiss Planetarium in Jena , Sion has been to Le mans but it would have been so much better to have shared that adventure, I would even have let him have a go on my skateboard, or we could go round on our JCB, do they have a lap-record for JCBs? Another definite place that we would have to visit together would be Maudaram Model Village in Holland , I mean how could we go wrong in a whole town which is our size?



What has been your most disappointing place to visit?

It would have to be the Roman Site at Xanten, Germany , what a major disappointment. It looked so brilliant when we pulled up and to find only a few actual ruins under a custom made temple was a big fat swizz. I also have to include the “biggest cave in Turkey”! I love the country but…..BORING!!



Jo achieved one of her all time dreams this year, did you enjoy her dream visit?

Oh you mean the Spanish Riding School in Vienna , it wasn’t bad at all. Although I’m not fond of large hairy snorting animals usually it was lovely to see her little face bathed in delight and it was an amazing way of keeping her quiet for over an hour!



Jo and Zoe accompanied you to London, was this very different to your usual travelling adventures?

Oh yes, it was hell on Earth! They talk, all the time, in fact they never shut up and they like SHOPPING, I mean really who needs so many clothes (apart from me)! London itself was pretty cool , I loved the globe Theatre and Camden Market (not for the shopping of course but for the atmosphere). The Tower wasn’t as good as I had hoped but I suppose with so many visitors going there it was never going to be a quiet place to visit. The best bit had to be watching Russell Grant running off and not paying his bill hehe.



You have made it to three principalities over the year, which did you like best?

Hmmm which were they again? Only kidding. Monaco was incredible and even though it was really hot on our visit I would love to go again, preferably when they have the Grand Prix so I could race on my skateboard. San Marino was so pretty if a little steep in places, it did feel like a fairy-tale place and there was loads to see. Andorra was not what we expected at all and we were all very disappointed, nothing pretty only a town and lots of mist and snow. Monaco was definitely the best!



What was the worst experience you had?

Most of my experiences have been pretty cool, Jo however insisted we visit this cave art museum(Carrieres de Lumieres) , it was horrible and dark with flashy lights everywhere not something I would want to see again. I think the other worst experience was the apes in Gibraltar , they nearly mammoth napped me, they were very scary and very very quick, I spent most of the day in hiding!





Where would you like to go back to?

Everywhere of course, although one of my favourites was our Safari in Portugal , that was really good and very different to most of the places we visit, in fact I think we should do more activities like that – hint hint.



The weather has been good to you in general but some weather conditions have been bad which remains the worst in your mind?

I think Segovia, Spain stands out, it was quite scary finding the weather changing so dramatically and the sudden appearance of snowploughs gave me paws for thought but I wouldn’t have missed the city for anything, it was incredible. The flood at Manavget was probably one of the worst as we didn’t know if we would have anything left to come back to in the morning, luckily I was saved from getting wet with no thanks to Jo and Ian.



You seem to have enjoyed so many places over the year, has anywhere made you feel sad?

That’s a very good question as we usually find happiness on our travels, I think that Bulgaria was quite sad, it looks so desolate and unloved in the areas we travelled through. But possibly the saddest place we visited was Lourdes so many people looking for help made me wish I could do so much more for people, even though I see people smiling when they see me it seems so little in the grand scheme of things. And seeing all those girls in the windows in Amsterdam, poor things couldn’t even afford clothes!



What resolutions have you made for 2014?

As I’m perfect in every way there is nothing else to change hehe. If you’re going to start asking stupid questions again this interview is SO over, I’m off to find some sensible folks to talk to!



It has been the most incredible year for all of us and one that will be hard to beat.

We would all like to wish all our followers, fellow Blogger’s, family and friends the Happiest and Most Prosperous of times for 2014 or mutlu yeni yıl and the safest of travels wherever you might be going.

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