Wednesday 11th March

1.25pm

Well, it's my day off! Got the blog uploaded - sorry for the delay... technology issues!! If you're just reading this now, you'd be better reading from the bottom up, as those are the oldest posts.

Enjoy!

8.00pm

Finally it's all over! Arrived at a friend of my dad's house North of Malaga, in the mountains. Gonna get a couple of good night's sleep now, and a well earned break! Heading back on Thursday afternoon - hopefully get into Calais by Saturday lunchtime, to sort out the meeting point, then back to miserable old Britain. Ah well.

Almeria was very nice by the way. Found a little bar which is slap bang in the centre. Big outside terrace. I think we'll take the place over. Will give them a ring first and warn them of course...

4.00pm

Sierra Nevada is beautiful. Got some funny looks from the locals when driving through the little towns, so God help you all in your ridiculous looking cars when you roll up! Should be fun! Very barren round here... it's like Mars or something.

12.20pm
Just found a scrapyard by the airport - only a mile away, so walkable when you scrap it. Interesting negoatiation again,as again he spoke no English. Ended up using Babelfish on my phone - very useful! Will get my Spanish-speaking friend to ring up when I get home to confirm details, but he seemed happy enough with the arrangement!

11.45am

Nearly at Almeria, and there are more snow-capped mountains ahead, defying the heat. Presumably the Sierra Nevada range, where I'll soon be heading to set today's challenge!

Tuesday March 10th

10.30am

Blasting down to Almeria this morning - about a three hour drive. Got to find somewhere suitable for the awards ceremony. Found a cracking campsite last night - perfect but for one thing - it's made of concrete! I don't think they have grass in Spain. Right on the sea though, and a nice little bar with log fire and pool and table tennis and very cheap beer and food! Just bring sharp pegs and a mallet to get though the concrete.

Was interesting trying to negotiate group prices with the manager though. He doesn't speak English, and I don't speak Spanish. Ended up trying to negotiate in French... which I'm frankly not very good at!

3.45pm

The French and Spanish motorways are a joy to drive on... but the tolls are a sick joke! 100euros and counting, though we're near the end of toll-land, thankfully...

3.20pm

Looong drive through Spain today! 3degrees in the North, a balmy 19 degrees down towards Valencia. Going to try and find a nice campsite near Alicante tonight to knock a few miles off the trip. I think Murcia is a little too far for comfort. Spain is gorgeous... never knew it was so mountainous. Montserrat, en route to Barcelona, was a particular highlight.

Monday 9th March

9.30am

Negotiated a good price at a decent little hotel. Fairly basic, but clean and comfy, and cheap! Dead central too. Just off to Spain now... I'll be sad to leave Andorra. Even the fuel is cheap! Beautiful little country... friendly people and lots of small dogs.

10.00pm

Andorra La Vella is a superb little town!! It's got everything!

5.00pm

My my... Andorra is a pretty special place! The scenery is much more than I was hoping for. Some brilliant roads.. absolutely beautiful!

As an added bonus, this place above is just over the border, and it seems it's where the French come to shop! Dirt cheap electricals, fags for 10Euros for 200, 1.85euro for a litre of vodka; bottle of absinthe £3! I'm like a kid in a sweet shop!!

13.30
Just caught my first ever glimpse of the Mediterranean, then turned a corner to see the Pyrenees again, rising majestically from the sea! Stunning! Pulled into a service station to appreciate the dizying warmth... 18degrees! Will make the most of it as it looks like it's going to get a lot colder very soon. The pass into Andorra is over 2400m - I hope it's open!

13.30

Just caught first glimpse of the Pyreness in the distance.. looking good!

11.00am

The Millau Viaduct - nuff said.

Sunday 8th March
Got up an hour later than planned today... forgot to change the clocks. Never mind though, as it's a much shorter day. Shower and a brekko and off we go...

5.15pm

Now consistently driving at heights above anything in England and Wales, and we're not even in the proper mountains yet. Thinking again about camping tonight... the end of April is one thing, but March is quite another. 5 degrees up here, and it's only going to get colder! Only 20 miles from Marvejols now, and hopefully a cheap hotel will appear somewhere after we go and chat to the campsite.

4.00pm

The road's getting a little more interesting now.... rolling hills and distant mountains. 140 miles to go, and just got our first glimpse of snow on the distant mountains!

3.15pm

The sun! Found the bastard!!

3.00pm

Seems the French haven't cottoned on to the idea of seperate male/female toilets. Or toilet seats.

2.45pm - March 7th still...

Power naps are amazing.

10.00am

Eiffel Tower - done!

Notre Dame - done!

Paris - done!

Now to get out of the place and get down South as quick as possible...

9.23am

Snatched a couple of hours sleep in the car at a services, and now heading into Paris! Not been before, so quite looking forward to (briefly) seeing the sights!

En France!

MARCH 7th 4.42am

Was supposed to be getting the 4am ferry UK time, but they put us on one a couple of hours earlier as we were there by half twelve! Snatched an uncomfortable hour's kip on the ferry, and get into France before 5am. We deceide that what needs to be done in Calais can be done on the way back, to save time, so we decide to blast down to Paris!

Forgot to put the GB sticker and headlight convertor on on the ferry, so we stop at the first services. Dark and absolutely freezing cold!

Leaving tonight, and we can't find driving licences.... smooth!

Run for the Sun Recce

Not long now till I leave for my 5,000 mile odyssey across Southern Europe! Still a few things to prepare, like an adaptor for my laptop so I actually have some power in the car - ntohing like good planning...