Barcelona

Following the traffic difficulties we experienced entering the heart of Paris, we had told google maps to lead us to a suburb a little out of Barcelona. Unfortunately it wasn't far enough, so once again we found ourselves lost in the streets of a large foreign city. Being unable to enter a new destination into google (and the newly bought GPS still unrouteable) our only option was to retrace our steps out of Barcelona. Once we were in a less chaotic  area we found a MacDonalds whose wifi we could use to search for a campsite that we could base ourselves until we got our bearings. Things started to look up when we found one a short distance away only to discover that most campsites are closed this time of year in Spain... Back to the drawing board we went. We finally found a site right on the beach that promised wifi, hot showers and a laundry... 2/3 wasn't bad and after freshening up we spent our first night in Barcelona.

On our first day in Barcelona we wondered from the campsite in the general direction of the city enjoying the walk along the beach while seeking a train station. After a short detour to an ATM and a couple of train stations later we were on our way into Barcelona. The first thing we noticed was how high tech the trains were. Many offered toilets (even though the longest train trip was ~45minutes) and all were very clean. The first thing we saw exiting the train station was Barcelona's own Arc de Triumf (which is much better than the French one according to the Spaniards we asked ;) ). From here we began to wonder the many small streets and alley ways taking in the many differences. One of the best things we discovered is the lack of large shopping centres (which they do have in some areas) but instead every street was scattered with unique little boutique shops. La Ramblas, the main shopping strip, was filled with performers and artists which all could be viewed from the alfresco cafes that filled the area. After a short stop to enjoy some tappas, paella and Sangria!! our journey continued with a nice warm glow. Our next stop was at an alfresco sports bar offering the best Mojitos in Spain (said the waiter). We spent the next hour enjoying a few quiet drinks while we watched an artist draw us a picture of Cooper.  Our first full day in Barcelona had been fantastic and we couldn't wait to see what tomorrow would hold.

We spent the morning finally getting the last of the maps for our GPS downloaded and packed up to find parking closer to Barcelona. After a quick train trip in we started with a light lunch at a beautiful restaurant on the way to Sagrada Familia. This was to be our next destination but with a mile long line and an exorbitant entry price we found the cathedral looked fantastic from outside. This also gave us time to discover some more of the building designed by Gaudi and more of the treasures that Barcelona had to offer. As the day started to grow to a close we noticed more and more people lining up on the side of the street in anticipation as if something was about to happen. As good tourists we did the same waiting with bated breath for a spectacle that we had stumbled upon. An hour later we were still standing there and all we had seen were numerous police cars we decided to head off to find some dinner. As luck would have it just as we sat down to eat, with window seats, the  Catalunyan Christmas parade started where the streets filled with floats often containing young performers throwing lollies to (sometimes at) the crowd.

In our final day in Barcelona we partook in a walking tour (lead by an Irish tour guide) around the old city of Barcelona. This explained many of the history and buildings we had seen over the previous days as well as took us into secluded areas that we easily would have missed. We were also educated as to the reason for the parade. Catalunyan's don't believe in Santa Clause but instead a character which is in the shape of a log. Each year the children are given a log a week before this parade and they are meant to care for it until the day of the parade. On the day of the parade they then get to beat the log with a stick whereby lollies shoot out it's arse. For added practice the city is filled with logs prior to the day for the children to work on their beating skills. We also learnt that Catalunya was extremely powerful in Roman times and it wasn't until much later the country was (forcefully) incorporated into Spain and as such they are now pushing to once again become independant.

France

After arriving on the ferry from Dover our first port of call was to get internet access, forgetting that it was New Years day in Dunkerque and everything was shut. We decided to head to Paris in the hopes that a city of it's size something would be open. Unfortunately not only were we wrong but with only a few hours practice at driving on the wrong side of the road (and all on a motorway) we found ourselves in the middle of Paris, with no internet, GPS or idea of how to get back out. We learnt the road rules very quickly and also not to take a campervan into the middle of Paris...

We continued south, with the intention of revisiting Paris when a) shops were open, and b) we were a lot more prepared, onto Lyon. We arrived in Lyon early the next morning to nice little city where the sun was now consistently shining. After a great deal of research we found a GPS that would suit all our needs (with the addition of some extra maps). We begun searching throughout the city jumping from free wifi location to the next attempting to find a store that sold it. Thankfully along the way we were given instructions (via pointing at pictures and locations on maps due to the language barrier) to a sporting store that sold this type of equipment. When we found the store 15 minutes later we were very excited until we were told we needed to go to the other store just down the road unbeknownst to us that this street had 5 of the same store selling different types of sporting equipment. Half an hour later, after meeting many friendly and helpful staff we found the specific store and purchased what we hoped would solve all our mapping needs especially considering the sales person convinced us to get the next version up which contained European maps. Unfortunately the batteries for the unit were sold in another of their stores, so back down the street we went revisiting our old friends in each store until we came to the correct one. Upon installing the batteries the excitement was palpable but short lived as we discovered that although it contained European maps it would not create routes on roads....

Our next step in what was fast becoming a long winded saga was to purchase and download the required map updates from Garmin only to find we were charged ~$50 more if we put Australia down as our address. Quickly changing this to the UK reduced the cost but we were now faced with the dilemma of downloading a 3GB file (we were initially under the impression it would be 90MB...) without any real internet connection. So again with no maps we headed southward for Spain using an out of date Google map route and road signs. But we made it unscathed...

Southward bound

After spending a nice relaxing Christmas in Fort William we headed to Kinlochleven to spend the day at the Ice Factor adventure centre. We started with some indoor rock climbing followed by an outside adventure course which involved traversing an obstacle course suspended 10 metres off the ground. The best part of this was the giant swing that you get to go on at the end.  After a small stop for some lunch (best not to go on boxing day as the kitchen staff are off) Glenn participated in some ice climbing on the worlds biggest indoor ice cube. Overall a fantastic day although we felt it over the next few days.

From here we decided to head to York but unfortunately the car had other ideas. To begin with, just outside of Leeds, we were met with our first motorway traffic jam followed by the car beginning to squeal and overheat. Luckily we were not far from the next motorway services where we made it too safely only to discover that a bolt had snapped off and our cooling system was no longer cooling... not cool. To add insult to injury there was a 4-6 hour wait to get an AA mobile mechanic out plus our car type wasn't allowed to park overnight at the services (designed to stop free camping). Therefore we spent the night in the attached travelodge and the following day we were on our way around lunchtime after the roadside assistance managed to fix the problem.

We high-tailed it to london to get a mechanic to recheck the cooling system as suggested by the AA mechanic. The good news is they advised that no further work was needed. The bad new was we weren't allowed to take the van into London (or anywhere remotely close to it) due to the Low Emission Zone. This meant we spent the weekend in a town south of London called Maidstone aka S#%t hole... where the parking inspectors are the nicest and happiest people in the town. The only good thing about maidstone was we found a good street to regularly park and sleep on. So Monday morning came and we were first in line at the DVLA  (licensing centre) trying to find out where our vehicle transfer papers were so we could leave for Europe. The news was bittersweet because the papers had been processed and posted (to the hostel in the middle of London) but they were unable to print them out for us locally. After contacting the hostel to determine if they had received the papers, only to be told we would have to come in and check ourselves due to the shear amount of mail they get, we decided to bite the bullet and catch the train in. It was the best $50 train fair we've ever spent because as you can guess the papers were there waiting for us.

So onto Dover we went to spend New Years eve, wining and dining at a local hotel (the last accomodation treat for awhile) eagerly awaiting the ferry departure in the morning. Our last view of England, for awhile, was of the white cliffs of Dover and a lot of very hungover passengers.

 

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