Southern Europe - Day 28

Home.

I'm writing this on the Eurotunnel train, sitting in the back of the van as we're whisked along under the channel. This is the way to travel! Just need a beer really but have some driving to do on the other side (and no beer).

We drove through the centre of Paris today and were rewarded with a panoramic view of the city with the Eifel Tower prominent. Not too bad a city to drive through.

We were supposed to be staying in Boulogne this eve but can't find a good camp site so we decided to try our luck with the tunnel and have managed to get a train 18 hours early for £18 extra. Well worth it.

On the way to the tunnel we took the coast road for a while and were rewarded with views of the white cliff's of Dover as its so clear today. What a sight after four weeks on the road!

The Cali has done magnificently. Not a single glitch or issue. No break downs, no problems, no worries. A true pleasure to tour in and streets ahead of our last van for this purpose. We really love it.

Had a superb 4 weeks on the road but we're both really excited to be home again. We can't wait to get back to english life: driving on the left, busy roads, traffic jams, rain, our friends and family and most of all Real Ale. God how I've missed it.

Next year we'll probably have a considerably more stationary holiday as Baby Blakey is due in April.

Cali comment: we're keeping it!

Sent from my ZX Spectrum.

Southern Europe - Day 27

Southern France.

We woke in an aire in the Pyrenees and camped the evening in an aire in the Loire valley. One thing the Cali gives us is much better ability to free-camp than the old van, with a 30 litre water tank and a brilliant fridge.

We woke in freezing temperatures with ice all over the outside of the van but as we'd slept down stairs with the heater on we were cosy enough. We did turn it off in the middle of the night as Mrs Blakey was feeling all suffocated - the heater takes all the moisture out of the air. When the heater was off it got very cold inside, although we did have the roof up (and bed down) which probably didn't help. Would like to try and work out a way to have the heater on all night. Maybe sleeping downstairs, roof down, front windows open a crack? Any Cali owners cracked this problem?

Today was a bit boring really. Just a driving day. French toll roads are superb of course so we made great progress on our way home but they're not cheap.

Tonight's aire is just by the side of the road. We haven't refilled the water tank for 2 days and we're still doing fine. It's interesting to see just how long you can be totally self sufficient - but we're going to want a shower soon!!

We did want to get water today but the last aire we tried was switched off so we drove onto this one which seems to want a token for water and electrical hookup. Sadly we have no tokens and haven't seen anywhere which might sell them. No worries, we have enough water to last us and the leisure battery is fully charged.

Tonight is much warmer so we'll be upstairs.

Cali comment: our laptop ran out of juice this evening. We've left our inverter at home so can't power it off a 12v socket. It's a shame the 240v socket isn't backed by an inverter which could draw from the leisure battery when the van isn't hooked up to mains.

Sent from my ZX Spectrum.

Southern Europe - Day 26

The Pyrenees.

We drove up into Andorra today and over the Pas de la Casa down into France. Up on top the snow was thick and a few people were skiing but the lifts weren't running and there were no real pistes yet. I guess we're still a little early for the season in these mountains.
The Pyrenees are pretty but I prefer the Alps. Andorra is picturesque enough although perhaps I'd feel a little claustrophobic in Andorra de Velle - the capital - as it is surrounded on all sides by sheer mountains with no view across anywhere to speak of.

We're in France now, still in the Pyrenees, and camped in a little aire. The French really do free camping well.

Cali comment: it's 8.5 degrees outside now and only 6.30pm. It could get pretty chilly tonight! But if it does we'll simply sleep downstairs with the heater on! Cosy!

Sent from my ZX Spectrum.

Southern Europe - Day 25

Barcelona.

Today we spent the day and evening exploring the city of Barcelona. We took a bus into the city from the campsite - a mere €3 for an hour's ride - and were dumped off in the centre of the city.

From there we hoped on the open topped city touring buses and circumnavigated the city. We jumped off at a few spots around the city for a better look at some sights.

Our first stop was the Sagrada Familia, the basillica designed by Antoni Gaudi. Started at the end of the 19th century it is not due for completion till the middle of this century. The inside was recently finished (it wasn't last time I was here in 2005) and so this time last year was consecrated by the Pope. This is one of the most magnificent and unusual churches I've ever seen. It's the icon of Barcelona and really amazing to look around. We wandered the interior and took the lift 65m up to the top of the completed towers for views across the city. Spectacular.

Next we hopped off the bus at the Park Guell where Gaudi lived. Guell was his main patron and this park one of his most impressive works.

The bus took us all around the city to the Neu Camp (which we couldn't look around as Barce had a home game), the Olympic Stadium and many other sights. We stopped off at the Spanish Village which was built for the 1929 exhibition taking example building styles from all regions of Spain. It's very quiet and there are loads of traders practising their crafts here. We watched a master glass blower making horses and cats and swans with amazing dexterity.

Then it was down to the port and the bottom of La Rambla, the main drag through the city. This was heaving with people, ice cream stands and stalls selling all sorts of Christmas goodies. It had a real vibe to it.

From there we dropped into the gothic quarter and had a wander around the cathedral and grabbed some tapas. Then back to La Rambla for a wander around a huge open air market and then some gofre (waffle with ice cream) and a sit down to watch the world go by.
Finally it was time to get the night bus home for a good sleep.

Barcelona: 8/10.






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Southern Europe - Day 24

A driving day.

We really didn't do anything today other than drive from Valencia to Sitges just outside of Barcelona.

We did take a quick drive around the F1 track in Valencia as we set off which was weird as the F1 track is painted onto the road surface and they stick concrete lumps down to make the normal road lanes - roads which have no markings on them. It's very disorientating.

Cali comment: Silver is a great colour for touring. 4 weeks of hard driving and although no longer shiny it doesn't look filthy as any other colour would my now.
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Southern Europe - Day 22

A cracking day sightseeing Valencia.

We spent today seeing the sights of Valencia. It was a swift 6 mile bike ride into the city on well defined, well maintained bike tracks. This took us straight to the 'Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias' (City of Arts and Sciences). This is a wonderful collection of buildings of quirky design which host a massive IMAX cinema, a science museum and a huge Oceanographic centre.

As we pulled up to the area it was packed with people, roads were closed and a loud speaker announcer was in full flow. Turned out that we'd arrived on the day the Valencia marathon was being run and the finish line was right in the centre of this attraction and the winning athletes were just coming in! Good timing!

We watched a few people cross the line then moved off to the Oceanographic centre where we watched a very impressive dolphin show and then wandered around the huge aquariums there, seeing walrus, seals, penguins, baluga whales, sharks, stingray, moray eels, turtles, jelly fish, sea dragons and all manner of fish. Its quite an amazing set up actually and easy to spend many hours there.

We went from there on further into old Valencia for a look at some of their old buildings. Central Valencia is all high buildings and small alleyways making it easy to get lost but we found our way to most sights we wanted to see. We also had time for a bite to eat in one of the many cafes.

Next we cycled back through the park to the Science Museum. The park is a neat feature of the city. It wends its way through the city like a river, with many bridges crossing it. I wonder if it even used to be a river which has since been drained - something to look up when we get home (unless anyone wants to reply here and let us know?). Its full of green spaces, bike tracks, fountains, orange trees and joggers and is a really pleasant place to stroll, run or ride.

In the Science museum we didn't have much time so it was straight to the top floor and the zero G simulator which wasn't much of a simulator really but did manage to make you disoriented in a similar way. There was also a flight simulator which simulated a visit to and from the International Space Station. That was quite cool although Mrs Blakey had to skip that bit due to being pregnant.

We ran out of daylight and so didn't get time to visit the marina or the F1 track but might do a drive by tomorrow morning on our way to Barcelona.

All in all Valencia was a cool place. We didn't see too much of the city itself as the Arts and Science 'city' takes loads of time - but it's now one of the city's main attractions. Another place I think we'd come back to.

Cali comment: discovered today that the bed will happily sit in the 'up' position with a duvet and 2 pillows still laid out in sleeping position. There is no need to shift them all to the back. This will be very helpful when staying in one place - but is less so for us at the moment as we are moving on nearly every day so need to bring duvets and pillows down to actually put the roof down.
Sent from my ZX Spectrum.

Southern Europe - Day 22

Costa Blanca.

Quite a change to the Costa del Sol although to be fair we only paid a visit to Benidorm so I'm not sure we got a fair view.

It was a driving day today with the only goal being getting to Valencia before the sun set so we could spend a few hours sitting out in it. That we achieved even with dropping into the most popular Spanish resort of the 70's.

Benidorm is all high rises clustered around a crescent moon bay. The beach is all man made and not brilliant. It is full of retired brown and wrinkly people with big beer bellies. We hardly saw a single young Spanish person there. We ate our sandwiches on the beach and pressed on. Hmmmm.

Bonus for the last two days: 20-25 degree heat and virtually no clouds at all. Its been lovely! Sadly we've spent a fair amount of that time in the van travelling, but it beats rain!

Cali comment: the front windscreen blind goes in really easily if you get out and push it in through the side door. Took us 2 weeks to figure that out! They could do with making it easier and somehow more built in like the other blinds.

Tomorrow: taking the bikes into Valencia for the day. No driving!

Sent from my ZX Spectrum.