We have made it to Bilbao....just.

Internet is rubbish in spain so will be 3-4 days delayed in our nimes-barcelona-andorra-bilbao-home postings.....

About 200km ago, while getting fuel, the car didn't start. The solenoid to the starter motor has packed up so we are having to bump start the car every time we need to start it.

That should be interesting tomorrow when we board the ferry and tuesday when we try and disembark in portsmouth......

More later....
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The Leg has made it to Barcelona

We got here yesterday.

Having a great time. Will post pics and vids tomorrow as we are going to be late for mojito happy hour at La Rosa bar (apparently!)

Off to the festival again tonight hoping to see Goldfrapp.

Having an incredible time.

A+C+B+K

Day 6 + 7 Naples - Ancona - Parma - Nimes (1,500KM)

The posts will become more sporadic on our journey home simply because

1: The challenges are over
2: the distances especially days 6+7 are greater and there is less time.....

I dropped Dad off at Naples airport (real dump), but not before the car caught alight due to some spilt oil in boiling naples traffic (a worrying but amusing episode), and picked up Bob Moore who flew in (late) on the easyjet plane Dad was taking out.

We then had 500KM to Ancona and then another 250KM to our hotel just outside of Modena (in an industrial estate)

Lovely view of the mountains en route to Ancona airport

Taken off the motorway and on an endless string of winding roads behind trucks

At Ancona airport having a similar picture of one I had taken 4 years previously

Goat the sheep enjoying the ride

Bob enjoying the lovely lancia ride quality

and Courts clearly doing the same

We arrived at our lovely Mercure just outside Modena at about 7:00PM, and checked in (it wasn't really that great but it would do). We cooked ourselves Pasta in the room (well on the balcony) and enjoyed a few beers.

Next day - on our way to Nimes (a massive 450 mile drive)

Nice out of the window shot

YEAH

tunnel vision (there are so many tunnels in this part of the world)

slightly failed but still good shot

one of many epic bridges of Italy

on one of the high altitude autostradas above the med

Stopped in Villanova-Albenga

The Leg

Old lancia meet modern lancia (the one pictured is called an Ypsilon)

Hello France!

Kristian succumbed to the heat and noise and fell asleep

Another gratuitous out of the window shot

a lovely sandero just outside of Nimes

Nimes is a stunningly beautiful town nestled between Montpellier and Marseille in the south of France. It is home to the second oldest Colosseum in the world, which was featured in the film Ronin starring Robert De Niro. Most people recognise Nimes for its buildings but don't know where it is.

Le Colosseum

Cool architecture at a bar where we had some Mojitos

Courteney very much enjoying his (strong) Mojito

Memorial to the dead of WW2 we believe.

So - two long driving days, but a hell of a lot of ground covered:

Next few drives are short - 250 miles to barcelona, 150 miles to Andorra and 300 miles on the final leg to Bilbao. Really looking forward to sightseeing again in Barcelona but not so much the drive in the city........ Here is a short video of the last two days:



A+K+B+C

Staples2Naples 2010 Naples awards ceremony and closing meal

So - Staples2Naples 2010 had come to an end. All that remained was to find out the scores of the various challenges along the way and find the winner. 1st place would win £1,000, 2nd place £350 and 3rd place £125! We met at Don Salvatore's Pizzeria in the centre of town for dinner which was great and started on the beers.

Having a beer on the terrace of our hotel before dinner

Light saber nuns

A view over Naples bay

Nigel and his friend and some of the other people on the rally

restaurant packed with rallying people

More people!

Justin and Karin the organisers about to announce the results

The ZX boys taking second place

The skoda boys winning "best banger". Rightfully deserved.

So, time for first prize then:

YES YES YES YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thats right! Team 369 MacColl Media in the Leg has won Staples2Naples 2010. £1,000 more for the MNDA. Funds will be settled directly in December. What a great end to a great event.

A+C

Day 5 - Viterbo - NAPLES (300KM) 20th September 2010

Today was the final day of Staples2naples 2010. We were to drive the short 200ish mile drive from Viterbo to Naples (our final destination and the location of our lovely 5*hotel)

We woke up at 9:55. Dad said "shit, we've blown it". He said that because we were supposed to meet in the square at 9:00. We called and begged and the organisers gave us the challenge. Ordinarily, if you're not there at the meeting time, you forfeit the challenge. The challenge today was to find the oldest car with 4 wheels we could possibly imagine, and photograph it, and it COULDNT BE IN A MUSEUM. So lets see what we found moments later at a supermarket.....

1920s vintage. Yes mate. We're still in the game after yesterdays mediocre nun episode.

A rest stop shortly afterwards where we feasted upon anti pasti and espresso. Mmmmmmm...

My old mate Goat the Sheep.

The first sign of where we were heading on this crazy trip.

Off the motorway and heading into Naples. Getting manic.

Run down, smelly and hot

Pulling up at our final destination of the trip. The grand hotel parkers, Napoli.

The Lancia at its final hotel of the Staples2Naples rally 2010, but not at the end of its journey.

So, the fact is - The Lancia, The Leg, whatever you want to call it - has made it to Naples.

Update later with the results of this years Staples2Naples 2010. Meanwhile, watch our video:



A+C

Day 4 - Aprica - Viterbo (600KM) 19th September 2010

Today was fancy dress day (nuns on the run). Basically we had to show up at a car park to have a waterfight (dressed as nuns). All good. especially in a catholic country on a Sunday.

Then we were to be given a number of challenges....

The stunning alpine town of Aprica in the morning sun

The Volvo 740, 480 Volvo, one of the remaining fiestas and our wonderful Lancia.

Yes.

Goat making an appearance.

The Leg, dad and the alps

Nun waterfight

one of the guernsey ZX guys

bunch of characters and some lovely motors

James from the Proton team

The jager bummers 626

The Leg

Nitro only!

A nice drive

rear view with train horn Skoda legends. These jokers had a blown head gasket on day 1, fixed it up and showed up on Day 3. Respect.

The said skoda

The challenge today was to have our pictures taken with people we don't know dressed as nuns. We had the idea to stop everywhere and look for coaches, hoping that we;d get plenty as we got bonus points for groups over 6 or 11. Germans didn't take kindly to us, check above.

Yay!

Nice british couple who posed with us

9 lovely italian ladies who posed with us

quality characters

Lovely sunset over Viterbo from our splendid Best Western establishment.

After this we enjoyed a few beverages, then went into Viterbo for a meal with possibly the worst service we have ever experienced. But the food was good. Well mine was. Dad's was shit. We then went to a lovely bar and got rather drunk.

Here is a video of our day:






A+C