Europe
Day 1
Stroud, UK
0 miles
We left Stroud for the Dover ferry at 9am in anticipation of the usual holdups on British motorways. The traffic didn't give us any headaches bur Lucky Dube did. A funny smell appeared and after investigation we found that our main battery was incredibly hot and was emitting a gas - the source of the smell. We disconnected the split charge system and wired up the secondary battery as the main battery and continued. We made our ferry and headed for France - HOORAY - and Belgium (a detour for tobbacco shopping). Our first night is in the luxury of a hotel in De Panne.
Day 8
Urrange, FRANCE
1292 miles
We're about to leave France and enter Spain. We've had our first mechanical hiccough - the new alternator we put in 3 weeks ago packed up, hence the boiling battery on day 1 and a flat battery on Saturday. Sods Law 1 states that the car will break down on a Saturday afternoon in the sleepiest town around where no-one's around to help until Monday morning. Anyway its all sorted now and hopefully we'll not have too many more problems. We've spent 2 nights under canvas so it feels like the trip has really begun now. Off to Spain next.
Day 12
Picos de Europa, SPAIN
1709 miles
Spent a couple of nights in San Sebastian, a small but really cool city. We sampled the delicious pintxos - the local tapas - at various bars and Campbell was soaked by huge breakers breaking over the sea wall. We then moved on to the beautiful Picos de Europa - a mountain range west of Santander. We have spent 2 great nights in a mountain refuge listening to the silence. The guardianof the refuge doesn't speak a word of English but we've managed to order some beer, wine and food - it's something we'll have to get used to. We had a great walk today in the very rocky, rugged peaks of the Picos. We are aiming for Portugal tomorrow, after negotiating the scary mountain roads back down - Lucky Dube only just made it up!!
Day 14
Calahonda, SPAIN
2800 miles
We're now on the Costa del Sol enjoying the sun and relaxing while making our final preparations before heading for Africa. We've spent a few days in Portugal, a very rural country compared to the rest of Europe. We went into Lisbon for a day - a city that needs a lot of TLC, but otherwise just like any European city. Looking forward to the next chapter of the journey now. We're already losing track of the days and the time and were even in the wrong time zone for two days - but I suppose that's how it's going to be for the next few months