The last few days of our trip were to be spent mainly on the Spanish autoroutes, firstly the leg from Nimes to Barcelona (where we would spend 2 full days), then onto Andorra-la-Vella (lovely little tax haven in the Pyrenees) and finally the slog to Bilbao and home via the last ever sailing of P+O Ferries' Pride of Bilbao cruiseferry.
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| This would be the route for the final days, a scenic but mainly motorway based route covering 750 miles |
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| Yes, this is pronounced "poo-hole". Teehee |
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| We saw some lovely Dacia Dusters on the back of a transporter just outside Spain |
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| The first sign of our destination for the day....Barcelona |
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| Crossing the border into Spain...where the weather instantly became sunny and lovely :D |
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| Filling up (petrol is a lot cheaper in Spain at about £0.95 a litre) We saw quite a lot of frenchies coming over the border to get their fuel, and then turning round again. |
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| Getting closer to our destination......I'd only ever flown to Barcelona before, so it was to be a new experience driving in a Spanish city! The Leg was performing superbly well today, doing about 85mph all the way and just sipping away on fuel. Amazing for a 30 year old rustbucket. |
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| Waiting at some lights just around the corner from our hotel. Amazingly hardly any traffic in Barcelona and not very hard to navigate at all. |
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| Checked in and enjoying the view from the 14th floor of the Novotel Centro |
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| On a packed tram. We'd turfed up in Barcelona at the start of La Merce festival,and after a few beers at the hotel we decided to follow the increasingly large crowds of people walking towards the waterfront... |
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| arrived at the festival (bonkers!) and loading up on litre beers! |
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| posing with some lovely catalans (note the embarrasing spilled beer marks all over my person) |
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| Bob Moore struggling with the litre beers (they were quite unpleasant.) |
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| hahaaha awful poses! |
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| One of the two stages at La Merce 2010 and the huge crowd! |
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| Very friendly Catalans! |
After a few hours and way too many beers/sangrias we decided to call it a night, and sent Kristian hunting for Kebabs (he went on a 40KM round trip in a taxi, and came back with four of the best kebabs we have ever had - mind you we were very drunk)
Next day we did the touristy thing - Gaudi, gaudi, gaudi, football stadium, gaudi......you get the picture. We got wind of a bar that did mojitos for €3.50 and that
Goldfrapp were playing La Merce later that night (I LOVE GOLDFRAPP), so that was the plans for that day anyway.
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| At la Sagrada FamÃlia (still not finished) |
So....that was Barcelona.......onwards to Andorra......
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| Novelty sized bottles of spirits can mean only one thing - you are in Andorra! >€7 for a litre of vodka would be considered expensive here. What a comedy place. |
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| loaded up on Booze+Fags, we were ready for the night out! |
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| At the same bar me+K went to last time in Andorra, enjoying some delicious Vodka+Bitter Lemons |
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| Doing an impression of an Italian person |
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| Kristian enjoying himself (and sideways) |
The drive from Andorra-Bilbao is really boring - like notoriously boring. So I've only a couple of pictures of it. its 350 miles of mainly flat motorways (empty), but the weather is usually great. The starter motor decided to pack up just outside Bilbao, which would make the next day.....entertaining..........
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| duty frees... |
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| The lancia glittering as always |
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| Back into Spain.... |
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| Top Gear style pose at a petrol station just before the starter went... |
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| Bonnet up - can't be good! |
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| Arrived in Bilbao thanks to a bumpstart! Kebab time!!!! |
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| Irish bar - typical tourists - and comedy pose! |
Final day! The short drive to the port of Santurtzi, and the final sailing of the Pride of Bilbao, a cruise ferry that has been in service on the route since 1993. Due to consistent losses it's been cancelled. (apparently, although staff onboard seemed to disagree and quite a few suggested it was a very questionable/dodgy decision by P+O - putting several hundred staff out of jobs...payoff to Brittany Ferries maybe? They've just taken up the route afterall....ok I am rambling...)
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| Sitting in the backbar, waiting for dinner |
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| Dinner onboard @ Langans |
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| Goat and langans |
Roughly 20 hours later, we docked in Portsmouth, bumped the car off the ferry and less than 2 hours later, we were back home in Maidenhead.
Kind of a sad feeling after such an incredible trip. It's been expensive. I know I spent about £800 on the trip (not including the car!!!), but every penny was bloody worth it. It's been one of those experiences that I'll never forget, and one of the best times of my life. It was great to spend the rally with my Dad, chatting about things past and present, (the odd argument too), drinking and eating in foreign places never visited, experiencing cultures, meeting new people, and then the trip back with my best mates. Wouldn't change a thing.
Above all, using this opportunity to raise over £5,000 (including prize money) for the MND Association. What an experience.
I hope you enjoyed reading the blog entries, and I look forward to doing it all again next year! The 37 minute edited video is shown below (it is made up of three Youtube Parts so I've set up a playlist that you need to click - all three parts are there).
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=C240BE095F93D996&feature=bf
If you want a copy of the DVD, please mail me your name and address and I will send it when I get a chance (t
a.maccollcopy@maccollmedia.com)
For now, thats all folks!
Thanks,
Alex+Calum+Kristian+Bob+Courteney+Alex
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