UK - Spain - Portugal

  Porto, Portugal
Saturday, June 16, 2007

Hi all,

Well, we were back in London for 2 nights after the Middles East and off we go on Van Tour. Sunday morning we took off to catch the ferry from Dover to Calais with fellow antipodeans Suzy & Astro, and Kim & Mads. Ferry crossing was a doddle, no problems. Cruised through to Rouen where we camped next to the river Seine that runs through the middle of town.

The next day we traveled to Normandy and the D-Day landing beaches, the weather was very misty and a cool wind not quite summer sun on the beach yet. Visited the museum at Gold beach which showed how the Allies created a sea port in 12 days, it had the most amazing models made up showing how it was done complete with moving seas, ships, trucks, men and of course the piers and breakwaters them selves. Traveled further up the coast to Omaha Beach and visited the American memorial (the one featured in Saving Private Ryan) which was pretty cool. Then we went to Bayeux and saw the Tapestry which tells the story of William the Conqueror. Pushed through to Le Mont-St Michel, which is a monastery out on an island connected by a thin strip of land. Camped in the parking lot and headed up early the next morning to the monastery for a nosey and then gapped it before the parking warden could charge us for the night. It was a cold misty night with a similar morning .... Still waiting for summer!

ants and kim la mont st michel

Drive Day! We had to catch up with the rest of our van tour who were waiting for us south of Bordeaux in Biscarosse Plage. We arrived late that evening to a warm welcome from the rest of our crew - Hamish & Katie, Zeke & Jen, Paula & Digger. It was a great free camp site on the coast (water is freezing) in a forest. There was a free toilet and we had solar showers - quite cushy really.

Day four and we drove further south to the seaside town of Biarritz...bit of a struggle to find a free campsite for all 6 vans (for those wondering why 6 not 7 vans Bambam is starting latter and doing his own thing now) but we managed to find a parking lot fairly close to beach. The beach had a free toilet and a beach shower to rinse off after a dip in the chilly sea. We played a bit of beach cricket and flew Hamish's kite surfing kite ...good times...even got some sun!

Day five was a mission along the coast into Spain and then to Bilbao it looked pretty close on the map maybe hour and a half but the winding roads pushed it out to 3 hours. Bilbao is home to the most amazing building - the Guggenheim art museum built out of aluminium plates to look like fish scales and designed with amazing wings shaped with a fish and a ship in mind. Also out the front there was a huge 20 foot high puppy covered in flower plants - pretty cool place. From Bilbao we had a drive mission towards Portugal stopping half way just past Valladolid for the night. The drive took us up a mountain and thru a pass where it bucketed down for a good half hour almost making the van in front disappear. We camped the night in a rest area another free site doing well in this department.

ants bilbao

Day six we cross the border into Portugal (another non event, no passport checks) and head to Porto where we get our first pay camping ground do some washing of clothes and ourselves .... Hot showers luxury! Beer, wine, cricket, 2-on-2 soccer and a meal OUT, a nice end to the week.

Day seven we awake to misty rain so much for our endless summer. Going into town this morning in search of some diversions i.e. shopping, and then we're having dinner with a lovely aussie couple at the campsite who have kindly offered to cook for all 12 of us. We kindly offered to eat whatever they cooked.

sunny porto

That's all for now. Laters.