Viva Espana - Day 8 - Madrid to San Sebastian

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Like all the best laid plans, what we expected would be a fairly straight forward drive to the north of Spain turns out to be a long 6 hour nail biting journey as Charlie starts to lose power 20 minutes into our trip, just as we're about to overtake a lorry on an uphill road. We pray it’s only a one off but he does it twice more and we look at each other with a sinking feeling. We’re in the arse end of nowhere, not even a small town in sight so for the rest of the journey Greg is reluctant to go more than 35mph. To add to the fun and excitement, at one point the windscreen wipers start to go awol and nearly fly off completely. I can understand why Charlie is beginning to protest- he's already done about 4000km in 3 weeks so we can't really be mad at him. He's our little superhero and I give him an encouraging pat and promise him he'll have a rest soon enough. It must work as for the rest of the journey he cracks on relatively trouble-free.

To be honest, the 3 weeks non-stop travelling is not just taking it’s toll on poor Charlie, it’s beginning to take its toll on us too – being cooped up in a space no bigger than a tent for hours on end each day is tiring and I can feel myself getting irritated at the smallest of things. At one point all I can hear is Greg breathing heavily through his nose making a little squeaking noise every time he breathes out, and it’s making me want to punch him. At this rate I’m in danger of getting locked away in a Spanish jail for what I would plead as 'culpable homicide'.

After getting lost trying to read basque signposts (a near impossible task and hats off to anyone out there who has ever done it without getting lost – they have no resemblance to what their English translation is), we finally reach the town of Zauratz where we are staying tonight. It’s only as we enter the town that we both realise neither of us took down the name of the hotel. Bollocks.

We think we roughly remember what the hotel looks like from photographs online and when we pass by a hotel which looks like the one in the pictures, we do a drive by like something out of an American gangster flick (but without the bandanas and guns) to get a better look. We enter the reception cautiously then breath a sigh of relief as the receptionist gives us our room keys. I'm surprised that most people speak Spanish here and that all the signs are in English and Spanish (apart from the bleedin road signs which you think would be a priority but obviously not). We were expecting everyone to speak euskaler (basque language) and last night we spent ages on the Internet making sure we knew the basic phrases to say rather than be heckled for speaking in Spanish. Turns out we don't need them as they speak Castallion Spanish, plus most locals speak perfect English too.

We head out to find somewhere to eat as we are both beyond starving at this point, and after a quick tour of the local area (VERY quick tour consisting of walking along the promenade for 5 minutes), we stop at a little bar which has a nice feel from the outside. As we enter, we spot loads of extremely delicious looking plates of tapas on top of the bar, non of the likes we have seen before. It's like being a kid in a (savoury) sweet shop and we quickly order several tapas (or pinxto as its known here), including fried aubergine with jamon and cheese, stuffed breaded peppers filled with cod mousse, mushrooms with garlic and fried eggs, and a Spanish tortilla layered with spinach, peppers and onions which put our version to shame. It all tastes as good as it looks and I am definitely stealing many of these ideas to pass off as my own back home. Suitably satiated, we buy a few beers and some 'pipas' (yep we are well and truly addicted) and head back to the hotel room for some James bond action (the film that is!). We haven't quite decided where to stop next, as our friends in Bordeaux are still in England until Tuesday. In the end we decide that rather than getting back in the car and travelling somewhere else, we might as well stay another night here and just have a day of relaxation.

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