You would think that the hardest part of an overland trip would be the driving and the navigation. But no it turned out to be getting off the little island of Jersey to start with. The boat was booked for the Sat 07:30 sailing. This they changed on us to 09:30 about one week before. Then the type of boat changed to a smaller one, which our Landies would not fit into. So they then had to change us to a different company who then changed the sailing time to 15:30 because of bad weather. Then on Sat morning they phoned up and told me that they were sailing at 10:00 because the weather had changed. This was at 07:45, which meant we had to pack the rest of our gear into our Landies in a record time of 1H:15m and get down the harbour. Anyone who has packed an overland (or any car to go on holiday with) vehicle will appreciate the stress and panic involved in doing it in an hour. After the chaos we met at the harbour and got into the queue. After that our first day was literally plan sailing. The crossing to St.Malo was smooth. Once off the ferry we made good time and by the end of the day we were north of Saintes. We made camp in a service station, which turned out to be a good call. As it had showers, toilets, shop, etc.
Spent most of the morning sorting the back of the Landy into some workable order. With it organised a little better Julian then notice something hanging off the steering drop arm. It was the o-ring seal that fits underneath the retaining plate of the ball joint. The bottom half of the ball joint was missing along with the retaining plate and c-clip. This explained why the steering felt light. Which I had put down to all the weight being in the back. Luckily I had put all the old parts of the ball joint in my spares kit. We then used Julian’s jack and a socket to compress the old parts into the bottom of the joint. Lots of fiddling and swearing later it was it place. We later found out that the parts had fallen out just out side my house and that my parents had found them and where worried sick until I reported in. By this time it was around 14:00 and we had not move from the service station car park. After a quick test drive round the car park we where off down the road, at last! By the end of the day's driving we had managed to get to Biarritz. Not before Julian’s Landy getting a flat tyre, which conveniently happened on the hill of a dual carriageway. The tyre change was straight forward and we where in Biarritz in no time. Once there, we found the weather was rainy and windy, and so retreated to a local bar for steak and chips and a bedtime beer. We then moved the Landies down to the water front road and set up camp in cold but windless conditions. We found out later in the night that this was not to last, as we were subjected to force 6-7 gales lashing the roof tent.
After a rough nights sleep, we woke to find that the wind had dropped but thing were still grey and rainy. After a quick breakfast we were driving round the town looking for somewhere to get Julian’s tyre fixed. After a few laps and some local directions we came across a top auto shop with seamed to stock everything. So this kept us busy while waiting for the tyre to be fixed. Again by the time we had done all this it was lunchtime. We then drove along the Pyrenees toward the Mediterranean end passing through Perpignan and on to a service station in Spain. This took us until around 20:00. So after some dinner I check my e-mails and rang home to put my parents minds at rest.
The service station we had slept at in Spain was about 100Km from Barcelona where we were to meet Verena. So an hour down the motorway was all we needed to get into the city. That was the easy bit, finding a parking space was the bigger challenge. Luckily Julian knew of a car park that the Landies would be safe in, as all the street parking was taken. Once there we had to work out where we were in the city and work out how to get to Barcelona Sants, the station we were supposed to meet Verena at. We used a couple of landmarks like the Cathedral to get our orientation, and jumped on the metro (underground) to take to the train station. Once there we found our way to the right platform on time only to find the train was late. But not long after we had got there the train turned up and we met Verena, who had her own travel story to tell us of her disjointed train journey from Germany to Spain. Once together we went back to the Landies and made our way out of the city south to find a campsite to stay at. This ended up taking the rest of the afternoon, as getting directions to the campsite was tough and the signs even more unreliable. Ballena Allgre was the campsite we eventually found, but it was soon obvious that they had only just opened themselves, as certain parts of the site were not work or open. This led to go find a restaurant to have a nice dinner to celebrate meeting Verena and Julian’s birthday the day before. This turned into a bit of and epic journey zigg zagging from the road to the beach front through this suburb area. 10Km ( or at least it felt like that) later we finally came across a Pizzeria and tucked into pizza and wine. Which for some strange reason the red wine was chilled to the point of freezing! But the table water was room temp, go figure! Once the beer compass had taken hold we found our way back to the campsite in record time and slept like stones until the morning even know the temperature was freezing. Maybe that accounted for the wine?
After a late start and a nice breakfast, we headed of into Barcelona on the bus. Stopping on the out skirts of the central city. We then walk past the main Place and over the hill into the city park which contained a lot of the Olympic facilities, which where impressive building in the own right. We then made our way through the park to a viewpoint over looking the harbour area and the then down into the old town area. We wondered up Las Ramblas the main perdestrianised street stopping for lunch in a side ally and making our way to the top via some other shops. We found our way back to the bus stop via an Internet cafe and back to the campsite. We then stayed at the camp and cooked our selves a nice dinner and just chilled and chatted.
We decided that we had seen all that we wanted to in Barcelona and so we wanted to move onto somewhere new. As we had received the news that a friend that we were supposed to meet in Madrid could no longer meet us, we decide to head down the coast toward Valencia. Staying of the motorway (which you have to pay for) was quite a tricky process and lead to a few wrong turns as the sign for the normal main road would disappear just at the critical point. Never the less we found our way along the coast and to a coastal tourist point about halfway between Barcelona and Valencia. On scouting out the campsites and finding the best one, we made our selves comfortable for the night. I managed to fix the backup electric engine fan, which had failed earlier in the week and rigged up the inverter to run the laptop. Which all seamed to work fine. While Julian and Verena done some creative cooking to use up the night before leftovers and wipe them into something tasty. Unfortunately the night was cold and we ran out of wine too early.
Got up and had a leisurely breakfast, while some work men decided they would dig up old tree roots around us with a JCB. One of the things I have noticed is that Spanish people generally are not very considerate of others, and do exactly what they want to do and dame anyone else. This is reflected in there driving style, especially at roundabouts, which turn into a free for all. After heading out to the main road we continued our way south along the main coast road and kept off the motorway. This road was not very eventful and seamed to pass through old industrial areas. So we decided to take a scenic route through the mountains over to Benedorm. On our way through the mountains we came across picturesque little villages an houses perched on cliff tops, which we made it all the more of a shock when we passed by Bennidorm which in contrast is a concrete jungle. At this point we continued along the main coast road and eventually came across a campsite. It turned out to be very nice with clean facilities and all the mod cons. After getting our pitch and putting up the roof tent. We decided to go for dinner in the bar on site as it was pouring down with rain, which it had done for most of the day. Once we had dried out a bit and our stomachs fall, we stayed in the bar chatting until we returned to our rain sodden tents.
When we awoke the weather had not changed, still cloudy and raining. So I rigged up quick shelter up over the back door of the Landy to make and eat breakfast under. After packing up roof tent and sleeping gear in the rain, again... We took of down the road toward Granada. We followed the main dual carriage way through the mountains and for a time the weather cleared to revile some nice mountain views of the Sera Nevada area. We also spotted some interesting houses cut into the cliff faces of the many mini gorges that were between the hills. Once around Granada we decide we would look for a campsite. We ended up going up into the Sierra Nevada Mountains to find somewhere to stay. Verena insisted that we stay inside for the night as she had come down with a heavy cold, and did not fancy another cold night outside in the roof tent. After checking out one rough hostel and a high altitude campsite, which was down this off road track, we decided upon a pleasant little hotel perched on the side of the mountainside along the main road. We moved our stuff to the room and bedded down for the night. Not before making some dinner outside in the car park at the back of the Landies and then sneaking it into the hotel room. Hot showers all round and a pleasant warm nights sleep.
After a quick breakfast in the car park of the hotel up the mountain, we head down into the valley and followed signs to Alhambra that is a big and impressive castle, which overlooks the old area of Granada. After finding ourselves some free parking we bought tickets and wondered around the inside of the castle, palaces and other buildings Some of which were very impressive, because of the fine detail in the decoration of the rooms and court yards. Which included fine woodwork, orate stone carvings and colourful tiles. After our big tour we got a spot of lunch and headed down into the old town beneath the castle to find ourselves an Internet cafe. After a bit of searching we found one, which was really cheap at 80 Euro cents for an hour. After check and replying to e-mails and a quick look at the weather forecast (more rain) we walked back up the hill to the Landies. By this time the majority of the day had gone by so we went in search of another campsite, this time armed with some tourist maps of the area pointing them out. Soon enough we had found the one we were looking for at the side of a lake in the northeast suburbs of Granada. The place was basic but workable and so we found the less muddy of the pitches and made camp. Including putting up the awning between the two Landies to protect us from the rain. After long discussions about money and time, Julian decided that he could no longer afford to come any further and would have to turn around and head north to his parents place around the French Italian border. This was a shame as he really wanted to come to Morocco, but with one thing and another he no longer had the funds to do so. The weather didn't let up and we had a wet and cold night's sleep in the roof tent.
After breakfast we packed up camp and said our good byes. We then followed each other along the main road into Granada before Julian turned off to head north and we continued into the town centre to find Verena a Pharmacy to get some more medicine to fight her cold. That done we found our way out of Granada west through the mountains, before turning off and heading down to Malaga. Unfortunately not far outside Malaga we got caught up in a 10Km traffic jam, which took us the rest of the afternoon to get through. Once we had slowly got through Malaga itself, we headed out along the coast in search of campsites. After popping in and out of a couple w found a nice one with cabins at a reasonable rate (40€), Which had a little kitchen in one corner, heater and separate bathroom. We went for this option because we needed to dry a lot of our gear out and give Verena sometime to get over her cold. Later on that evening I went and had a chat to a Belgium couple that had a camper converted Land Rover Defender, which was very nice. They told us that they have been spending the last 15 years travelling around Africa, 3 months at a time during the winter. So they had plenty of useful info to tell us about campsite and borders. We spent about at hour or so making notes on the map and chatting in a mix of French and English. After that a few bit of admin and off to bed.