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Published: July 22nd 2007
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Hey Guys,
Our first entry on this trip comes from Sunny Spain, at a place called Valdelavilla. We have made it through France, Spending a week and a bit driving from Calais, stopping in Normandy, the Loire Valley and along the Coast South of Bordeaux.
It was a bit of a transition from living in a house to living in a Camper Van, and along the route there was also much to experience and discover. The Channel Tunnel was an experience- driving the van onto a train platform, then onto a train carriage which was locked up. It only lasted half an hour but it felt very wierd to be moving, but not driving!!
We wasted no time checking out the countryside of france, sticking to the back roads while Ben learnt about driving on the other side of the road. It was never a major problem, with only a pull-out from a service station requiring a bit of last minute change of plans!
Noramndy provided lots of crops and rolling countryside, with little cattle or people. We stopped in a few towns along the way, learning about the D-Day operations at Bayeux and seeing a
70 metre tapestry about the early Kings of France and the battle between the Normans and the Saxons.
We stopped on our way south by an interesting church - on an island in the middle of large sand flats. Surrounded by shops, in the middle of nowhere, it was something different to the normal churchs and cathederals in the cities.
In the Loire Valley we searched for Chateuxs, and ended up camping in the Vineyards of a chateaux which we visited. They also sold wine produced from their grapes, which made a great addition to our meal that night of fish wrapped in bacon, marinated in oil, garlic and the wine. The local food from the patisseries and butchers was beautiful, especially the baguettes.
On from there we decided to continue south with the aim of staying near Bordeaux. We aimed for a part of the city near the river where we thought there would be plenty of campgrounds, but found nothing but houses and industrial estates. At a loss for what to do, we asked a lady for local camping grounds - she took us into her house and showed us an area on the coast
that would be suitable. She gave us some water and did as much as she could to help - it was a great lift of the spirits and we were soon on our way to the coast to find accomodation.
We found nice beachs and sand dunes, with plenty of camping (if a bit expensive at 25 Euros a night) We sat on the dunes that night with a bottle of wine and the ukulele, and watched the paragliders go past. It was a great end to a very long day.
The next few days we continued down the coast, staying at cheap local camping parks. The surf was improving, and at Biarritz we spent a day on the beach with a rented bodyboard and fins. The surf was quite rough but it was still good fun, if not a bit hard on the body. That night we stayed in a camping car park, meeting a nice bloke from Switzerland, who we hope to see later in the trip.
We moved on to Spain, experiencing a change in language and a shift in scenery. The land was now quite sandy, with different buildings and a slightly wamer
climate. We stopped in San Sebastian for the night, meeting a nice couple from New Zealand who owned the same type of VW Camper as sheryl (the van we are driving). They were on there way to Bilbao, but would also be going on to Pamplona, our next destination. We were on our way there for San Fermin, popularly known for the running of the Bulls.
Pamplona was a sea of Red and white, the colours of the festival. There was lots of drinking and dancing, but also families wandering around at the circus part of the festival. Brass Bands would march down the street with people waving large flags in front of them, and people would dance and jig and follow them down the street.
In the morning Ben prepared to run, with the bulls. It was a nerve racking experience, and the course was surveyed and questions were asked of the event. A good position was found, and at 8am the Cannon was sounded to alert people that the bulls had been released. The atmosphere was like a riot - people just went everywhere in a panic. Ben ran up the street keeping up speed, and
slipped into a doorway as the bulls passed. Where I was the bulls all were running in a straight line, so there was no problem - but earlier in the course one bull had fallen over, confused and turned around, spearing a man in the stomach.
On the second day, I decided to run again -i´d been pretty carefull to start and finish in the right spots (the corners were the worst) So this time I started a bit later and finished up in the Arena, following the bulls in. The big bulls were taken out, and a smaller one was let loose in the Bull Ring. While it was running into people, they were only getting pushed about and not properly gored. At one point the small bull entered into the safety area just behind the ring - everyone jumped into the arena (i didnt know what was going on).. One of the officalls quickly opened the gate for me and then soon after the bull to come out back into the ring!
With our hearts beating with exitement we headed for Valdelavilla. With plenty of time up our sleaves we were in no hurry. However the
day wasn´t that striaght forward. We had pulled in to get some petrol about 15kms out of Pamplona and while we were to busy trying to explain to the attendent that we wanted 20 Euro´s of petrol we didn´t concentrate on what he acturally put in the van. We only got 1km up a hill and the van started to stutter and smoke came out. We realised that the attendent had put diesal instead of unleaded petrol in. Not really knowing how to drain the petrol tank we had to wait for our breakdown cover to come or the servo people said they would send someone out to help. We waited and waited. All of asudden the New Zealand coupld who we met earlier, came along and pulled over to help. Dwarn happened to be a deisal machanic and showed us how to drain the tank. we were back on the road within an hour!!!! Very very luckey they had come along. WE arrived at Valdelavilla at about 4pm during the siester.
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Allison
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wandering minstrals
Hi guys, Once again your adventures have been truely inspirational and of course entertaining. The world is a funny place; a good friends og mine from here in Canberra just arrived back in Australia after a 6 week stint in London and Paris. It would seem everyone I know who is overseas somehow manages to be in the same place as eac other. You and Stacey have done almost the exact same trip as my cousin and her boyfriend have, just one week behind...actually you were both in wales at the same time over Easter!! It's too much for me!!!! Hope you continue to enjoy your trip - careful on the vino. Love al