The French Riviera, Nice and Monaco

As we were driving out of Andorra I commented to Melinda 'hey there's no border patrol here!'

Melinda: 'Oh no i wanted to get a stamp in my passport!'
Adam: 'Nah not that silly, we should have bought a heap of cheap cigarettes and then sold them!!!'
Melinda: 'you reckon? You hardly know anyone that smokes?!'
Adam: 'No but I reckon we could sell them somewhere?!! There must be a market for them!!'

40 mins later (still on the same road with no possibility to have turned off) we were pulled over by French customs police! Car briefly searched and we were on our way.

Adam: 'Gee luckily we didn't try and stock up on smokes'

Top criminal I would make...

Any way, it took quite a long time to get through the Pyrenees and to a small town on the French Mediterranean coast. When we got there we got a cheap room that happened to have a balcony with a sea view (uninterrupted) with the Pyrenees in the distance at sunset!! To top it off, in the morning we received our breakfast of croissants and coffee on the balcony!!

The next day we drove to Nice, which happens to be quite nice. The only thing I didn't like was the pebbly beach, but the water colour was almost unreal (very bright blue).

We also made a day trip to Monaco, where I declared that I should change my career path from Engineer to 'Rich Prick'. You see there are lots of rich pricks in Monaco, they drive rich prick cars, have massive rich prick boats and eat expensive rich prick food.

Some rich pricks boats...

Some slightly less rich pricks boats parked next to the Grand Prix circuit

I had some trouble finding the local job centre, so I will have to try again later...

Future rich prick???

Andorra - my new favourite smallest country

We drove for about 7 hours from Mar Menor up to Tarragona, a small town on the coast south of Barcelona. We had been there once before on a trip to Spain in July 2005. Everything was fairly dead because it was the off season for tourists and alot of camping places were closed.

So we made the call (checked the GPS) and headed for Andorra. It took a couple of hours to get there winding along the steep walls of a river, through tunnels and finally the border. They didn't seem particularly interested in us, but people coming out of Andorra were being thoroughly searched for cheap duty free!!

We got a camp site in Andorra La Vella (the capital of Andorra). It was the coldest weather we had felt in quite a while! We stayed for a couple of nights and did some driving around. Being in the Wagen I felt invincible and drove straight up a ski field (no snow) past all the ski lifts! (It seemed ok and there was a track there?!!). Melinda on the other hand was not so hot on the idea and I think there are some permanent fingernail marks in the 'Jesus bar' and on the dashboard!

Its a beautiful country with loads of duty free shops, but if you get out of Andorra la Vella its really beautiful. After a couple of nights there, we thought we better get moving so that we could see the French Riviera and Monaco! (Although I could have stayed there for a lot longer!)

A salty lagoon and windsurfing grandparents

After we left our cave hotel, we headed east for the Mediterranean cost and the Mar Menor lagoon. A lagoon formed by a narrow 20km spit of land on the South East corner of Spain.

When we got there, there were heaps of caravans with oldies complete with bicycles, satellite TV dish and small dog. There must have been an oldies windsurfers convention too, there were heaps of people who looked like they are in their 70's out windsurfing on the lagoon!

We only stayed one night here before heading up towards Barcelona, and for the first time in a while, towards the UK.

Sierra Nevada mountains and sleeping in a cave

Leaving the Costa del Sol, we took a drive through the spectacular Sierra Nevada mountains. It's a long, winding and dusty road up through the mountains and through several villages. We drove through most of these villages during siesta so there was hardly a soul about.

We eventually reached the pass (Puerto de la Ragua) at 2000m, which is normally covered in snow in winter. Just about 1km down the road, we came on to the North side of the Sierra Nevada and a spectacular view of the valley below.

We stayed the night in a small town called Guadix at the bottom of the valley. Apparently there are around 20,000 cave houses in the area so we stayed in a cave hotel! It was fully decked out as a normal house with kitchen, lounge room complete with fireplace, 3 bedrooms and a bathroom! No problems sleeping in there because as soon as you turn out the light - it is really pitch black. Just like a cave... (der!)

The Costa del Stuff-all

We spent a couple of days at Estepona on the Costa Del Sol, a favourite destination for British retirees. Also a place to come if you are a British 'celeb' (i.e. you have been on TV once and showed your boobs) and get photographed for trashy magazines.

The place was like a ghost town. There must have been thousands and thousands of little apartments which were all closed up and nobody around. Even on the beach there were only people every 200 - 300m. Apparently we had arrived in the off season!

It was nice to spend a couple of days on the beach doing very little other than reading a book and topping up the sunburn. With great views of the Pillars of Hercules (the two mountains at the mouth of the Mediterranean - one is Gibraltar and one is Monte Hacho in Africa) and perfect clear blue skies, we couldn't have asked for more.

Should I stay or should I go???..and THE ROCK!!

We headed to the windsurfing mecca of Tarifia which sits on the European side of the Straights of Gibraltar. With Morocco clearly visible only 14km away and the surf in Spain looking non existent, we decided to see if we could get over to Morocco!!

- Space on the ferry, check.
- Insurance coverage, check.
- Enough wax for the surfboards, check.
- International Drivers License..... oh bugger. End of that idea.

With our dreams of Moroccan waves dashed (they lasted for around 4 hours), we headed for THE ROCK!! (not the wrestler, the peoples champion - but a large land mass on the bottom of Spain, looking similar to the peoples champion...).

The excitement held as we waited in the long car que for around 45mins to get over the border. As you drive in to Gibraltar, you have to drive over the airport runway! It certainly was bizarre after being in France, Spain and Portugal to see signs in English, little English post boxes and even a couple of Bobbies on the beat!

We didn't stay long, it was a Sunday and there wasn't much open. So after a quick drive around the rock, we left Gibraltar and headed for the famous Costa Del Sol.

Los Canos de Meca - Nelsons Naval Victory for Brittain

Crossing back in to Spain we stayed at a place called Los Canos de Meca on Cabo Trafalgar (Cape Trafalgar), the site of the famous Brittish naval victory over the Spanish and French. It is this battle that caused Trafalgar square to be built in London with Nelson's Column. (Common knowledge if you are English...)

We only stayed one night as the surf was flat.

Lagos

Can you guess where we are??

Only 20 or 30 km away from Sagres is the famous Portuguese town - Lagos! Its very popular with tourists and we could see why! Its a beautiful little town with small cobblestoned streets packed with restaurants and shops. And its positioned on a nice sheltered bay with yellow sand beaches in copper coloured coves.

We were walking around one evening in town after we had finished dinner and as we walked past a pub I recognised a guy that I play rugby with! What a small world, he was there on a surf camp for the week. So we met up with the next night for some beers and to swap some tales/lies/stories about what we'd been up to.

We stayed in a camp ground in the middle of town with rock hard ground with a heap of gum trees (native to Australia). Gum nuts on hard ground do not make for a comfy bed...

While we were in Lagos I sorted myself out with another job back in London for when we came back from holiday. The only bad bit was that they wanted me to come back a week earlier than we wanted to. So we decided to push on, back in to Spain and towards Gibraltar.

Our favourite restaurant for lunch

Sagres - the town and the beer

Happy Traveller!

With no surf in Villa Nova de Milfontes, we pushed further south to Sagres on the South Western corner of Portugal and of Europe. As well as the name of this town, Sagres is also the name of a famous beer in Portugal!

The G Wagen - gets us everywhere!

We spent 2 nights in a little camp ground just outside of town where every morning and every evening, a herd of goats and their shepherds went past on their way too and from somewhere. I got some good waves around Sagres and the scenery was spectacular. We werent so keen on the local people we met and every shop we went in to, be it a restaurant, supermarket of hamburger shop, everyone seemed to be very grumpy. Perhaps there was some reason why but after how friendly everyone else was in Portugal, it was a bit of a rude shock.

Checking the surf on the SW tip of Europe

Boat harbour in Sagres

Villa Nova de something orather...

Villa Nova de Milfontes was the next stop on our trip. A couple of hours south of Lisbon, its a nice little village on the mouth of a large river. Supposedly there are a few surf spots around here but unfortunately there wasn't any swell while we were there.

I did take the opportunity to do a bit of 4WD exploration along sandy tracks around the area. It was very exciting to drive along sandy tracks and then see footprints leading towards the sea! I get out of the car, walk for about 400m through the sand dunes and........ nothing. Bloody flat.

Salamanca to Supertubos

We made the long drive from Salamanca in to Portugal and headed straight for the coast. We spent a night in Figuera de Foz and then headed south towards a small fishing town called Peniche. We followed the coast past many little coastal towns which all seem to come alive for the tourist season in August and then back to sleep for the rest of the year.

Peniche has a famous Portuguese beach break called 'Supertubos'. There is even signs to the beach on the way in to town! We set up camp and headed straight for the beach where I paddled out in to surf for the first time in 9 months (since I was in Australia). With a daily rate of around 9 euros per day for our accomodation, we stayed for 5 nights in Peniche.

Peniche

While we were there, we went for a drive to a small walled village called Obidos, which was once given by a King to his new wife as a wedding present. One night there was a huge wind storm which lashed the coast with torrential rain which resulted in me standing in the pouring rain at 5am digging a rain trench around the tent. The next morning there were plenty of sleeping bag and broken tents laying out to dry around the camp ground! I scored some good waves and Melinda was sporting a new tan by the time we left. But finally we decided to leave and head further south for more waves and somewhere new.

Melinda in Obidos

Adam on the walls of Obidos

Rain, wind and no surf in Spain

The wet and cool weather continued for the next 3 days while we waited around in Zarutz for the weather and waves to improve. So after taking a couple of drives in the Wagen, checking our emails and generally sitting around for 3 days, we decided that we should move 20 or 30km along the coast to another village.

When I went in to the camp ground office to pay, I noticed a 7 day forecast printed out sitting on the desk. 7 days of poor weather and according to the bloke at the desk, equally poor surf. 'If you go 200km south, you will find good weather' he says to me. Right, thats it.

Out to the car where Melinda is waiting and I tell her 'we're going south 200km or until we hit good weather'. After a quick look at the map, we plot a course to Salamanca and our planned 30km drive turns in to around 350km.

And sure enough, the further south we went, the better the weather got. By the time we got to Salamanca late in the day, it was blue skies and warm weather.

3 nights across France

The theory for the first part of our trip was that the further south we went, the better the weather should be. However it seems that the further south we went, the cooler it got until finally as we drove in to Spain, it was raining!

The first night we spent in a little village not very far away from Calais where we got off the ferry. There was a small panic as we got to almost 9.30pm and thought that we couldn't find anywhere to eat! As a last thought before conceding defeat, I turned on my new GPS to see if it knew where there was any food. As it turned out we were walking around the wrong end of town!

Another days driving and we camped at a place called Tours a bit west of Paris. Third day on the road and we found ourselves on the coast west of Bordeaux camping at the base of Dune Du Pyla. At over 100m high, it is the highest sand dune in Europe. Much to Melinda's disgust, I made her walk up to the top. However once at the top there were superb views of the Atlantic, with storm clouds in the sunset making for a nice vista.

On the fourth day we spent some time stuck in traffic in Biarritz and we finally made it to a chilly and wet Spanish border. Like most of the borders we have been through in Europe so far, it was pretty lack lustre with a small sign telling you, you are in Espana. We finally set up camp a couple of hours later in a village called Zarutz about 40km west of the Border.

And we're away!!!

Day 1 of trip to Europe in the Wagen:

Aim - get off the British Isles and get to France

Method - Ferry, train or otherwise which results in Adam, Melinda and car complete with surfboards arriving in France.

Results - Success! After deciding not to bother booking ahead for a ferry place, we turned up to Dover and bought a ticket on the next ferry which was leaving in 30 mins!! We got in to France and the next main point to concentrate on was remaining on the right hand side of the road in my right hand drive vehicle.

We plotted a course towards Biarritz in southern France on my new talking GPS (the old one really did infuriate me that much!) and drove until dusk where we found a campsite and pulled in for the night.

Conclusion - Objectives of day 1 have been completed.

Back to London for a couple of days

Following our quick trip to Strasbourg, I took Melinda to the airport and she went back to London. I finished off my job in Germany a week later and went back to London myself. The plane was crowded on the way home and as you would expect they put me (who has broad shoulders) next to another fellow of similar size on a small plane. I was quite amused when I saw him typing in an email in to his Blackberry to (I assume) his secretary to get a complaint form for him.

I got home and spent about 45 mins inside before going straight to my mates house for a party. I think that I have got used to nice clean chemical free German beer because despite only indulging in about 4 cans of Red Stripe I awoke the next day with a cracking hangover. Fortunately another mate had a hangover so we went to the pub together for the afternoon for some hair of the dog and watched Australia lose rugby.

Only one day was left to get our gear ready for our surfing holiday!!

Back to civilisation!

After spending the last month or so in deepest darkest Portugal and Europe - we are back! So I start updating this blog very soon with our latest stuff...

A meat from my childhood...

Just completed a quick overnight trip to Strasbourg. I have always wanted to go there as I have had plenty of Stras and sauce sandwiches as a kid!

The city itself was quite nice and it looked like the sort of place where you could spend a bit of time sitting around drinking beer or coffee (depending on the time of day), eating croissants and watching the water flow past in the canals.

I was dissapointed however to be unable to find any stras and sauce or stras and cheese sandwiches for sale in the cafes.

Adam in Strasbourg

Canal Houses in Strasbourg

Strasbourg Cathedral

An island and an ancient Spa town

Following our (eventually) successful mission to Liechtenstein, we then headed back North in to Germany where I can read/guess the street signs a bit better than in Austria and Liechtenstein. As it was a little bit sunny I thought we should go to a small town on Lake Constance/Bodensee (seems to have different names) and have a swim. The lake contains borders of Switzerland, Austria and Germany somewhere in the middle of it.

We went to Lindau where a lot of their hotels are on a small island about 150m offshore (over a bridge). So we had a small island getaway for the night. I think that most of the water in the lake (which is also the Rhine river) has come off the glaciers in the Alps because it was freezing! Plus there wasn't really any beach to speak of either.

View out the window of our hotel in Lindau

Boat harbour at Lindau

Lindau

Melinda relaxing on a paddle boat

The next day we headed to Baden-Baden. A small spa town in the Black Forest and its where the English Football (soccer) team stayed during the world cup. (It was hard not to know all about it living in London during the world cup). There are a couple of places where you can go swimming in the thermal springs there and get healed by their healing properties (according to all the pamphlets). Apparently the Romans turned up a few years ago and decided to build some baths their and since then, King and Queens and footballers wives have been coming to rejuvenate themselves!

A mad dash for Liechtenstein

1300 hrs Thursday - Left work
1330 hrs - Collect Melinda
1600 hrs - Somewhere in France, completely pissed off with my GPS (I think I may have missed a turn in torrential rain)
1730 hrs - Still somewhere in France convinced that Melinda has set the GPS mode to send Adam completely mad (she is trying not to snigger every time my GPS tells me to turn right 30m after the street we were meant to go down. 1st opportunity to get off the wrong autobahn - in 7.6km)
1750 hrs - Melinda: 'Lets follow those signs to Strasbourg and get a hotel'. Adam: 'I think you are right, and when we get there I'm looking for a shop to buy a new GPS and I'm going to sell this piece of shit on ebay'
1800 hrs - Adam has calmed down. Adam: 'I want to have one more crack at getting to Liechtenstein'. Melinda sighs and says 'ok then, if you think we should'. If you have ever been anywhere with me in the car or hiking, I am absolutely determined to get to my target destination.
1845 hrs - Back on track where we should have been at 1530 hrs
2330 hrs - Liechtenstein Border - yee haa!!
0030 hrs - Only hotel we can find in the capital of Lichtenstein (Vaduz) is 390 Swiss Franks a night, but since its late she gives it to me for 300 swiss franks. I ask how much is that in Euros? Its 200 euro. Shizer... (finally I know some useful German).
0045 hrs - Melinda is delighted with the 5 star accomodation and Adam is passed out on the bed.

We wake up the next morning to a spectacular view out the window across the Rhine valley and enjoy a very nice breakfast with some people who look like they are slumming it in this place. There was some serious money here!

The view from left to right from our balcony

We checked out at the latest possible time to make the most of it and then got back in the car and headed for somewhere more in our tax bracket...

Photos back on and plans for a new weekend

Well I have figured out the photo problem, I think I was trying to upload photos too big for the blogger system. Anyway, the photos are now there for our river weekend and from Luxembourg.

It looks as though our time in Germany may only have a couple of weeks left, so we are going to try and do a mission to Lichtenstein this weekend. Its south of Germany and actually surrounded by Switzerland. We'll let you know how it goes!