Van Trip Part 2 - North Spain

7/8/2011 San Sebastian

The next day we woke with optimism that today would be a better day. We crossed the border into Spain. The day didn't  go well to start again as the camping ground at was full and so was the field next to it apparently. As there were no other camping grounds near San Sebastian we parked in town to have a look around. It is a very pretty city, built up on the hills around the harbour with a nice stretch of beach all along the promenade. We walked along the beach into the old town where we stopped for some pintxos (little snacks that you buy from the bar from a couple of Euro each) and Sidra (spanish cider, which they pour from a height to make it bubbly). Jess had pinxtos that looked like a lizard but was actually a sardine and another seafood one. Marcus had chorizo/bacon and fish. Mmm tasty. After a bit more of a wander through the city we headed back to the van and drove along the coast hoping to stumble across somewhere to stay. We parked up in a seaside town called Orio (not where the biscuits come from). It looked like it was all ready for the influx of tourists but they hadn't arrived so there was plenty of space to park. After a walk around we went to the beach. It was a little cold for swimming so just sun bathing today. As the day wore on the crowds did in fact start to arrive and by early evening it was quite busy around the place. We found a little bar by the sea for a jug of sangria before heading back to the van for some pasta for dinner.

8/8/2011 Santander
It wasn't too far to our next stop, Santander, and we were praying that we would find a campsite as it had been a while since we had had a warm shower. Success at last! Arriving early we found a spot at Camping Cabo Mayor so we decided to stay for two nights. Once we had settled in it was time to do some chores (our clothes hadn't been washed for a while either) before exploring  the town. We walked in along the beach, which was golden and busy with a nice promenade and parks scatterd along its length. This seems to be what Oriental Bay is going for, but this is much nicer than Oriental Bay (sorry Wellington). With the warm weather we enjoyed an icecream and continued into the town centre. We went to the supermarket to pick up some supplies but it took a while as the shop went into darkness and the siren started. It was ok though we didn't break it and it wasn't too long until we were back at the campsite. We had a chorizo medley for dinner (normal chorizo, liver - we think and a white one - maybe pork or chicken?)

9/8 Santander Day 2

We started our second day in Santandar leisurely and walked up to the Lighthouse (al Farode Cabo Mayor) which was near the campsite. We got a fantastic view up and down the coast but we hurried away once a bus load of tourists arrived. We then walked along the waterfront. Halfway to the main town is the Magdalena peninsula where we had a walked around the mini zoo and the King's palace when he is in town. Then we laid out at playa de bikini (but some people forgot their bikini tops!) where we had a swim at the nice calm beach and  then headed off to get some food in town. Then it was back to the campsite for a rest before heading out to dinner, our first dinner out since we had started our trip. We had been told  that Barrio Pesquero was the place  to get fresh seafood meals. We wondered if we had it right as we headed along through a dodgy neighbourhood in the port area. With hungry tummies we were starting  to think that we might be out of luck. Then we turned a corner where there were around half a dozen restaurants on one stretch of road where the vendors were competing for our patronage. Not as intense as brick lane but similar on a small scale (and in Spanish). Once we chose which restaurant we decided against the special set menu. A couple along from us were struggling with their mega plate of prawns, and that was only the first course. After referring to our Spanish phrase book Marcus settled on a monk fish fillet and Jess had a hake fillet. The fish certainly was fresh and we enjoyed a nice bottle of Rioja to accompany the meal. They didn't speak any English and we didn't speak much Spanish but it all worked out. You could tell the fish was fresh because through the back door of the restaurant the fish was all sitting on ice having just been unloaded from the ships. Feeling satisfied with our first dinner out since went away we headed back to the camp for a good nights sleep.

10/8 Gijon

Off again the next morning this time to Gijon, further along the coast. We were lucky enough to get a spot at a campsite on a peninsula right next to the sea.  We walked along the waterfront and passed some nice statues - the solarid (a metal looking spider thing) and Monumento ala Medrodel Emigrate - which was a really sad looking lady whose family must have moved away.  It was feeling a bit like we were back in Wellington as it was rather windy. We were glad we decided not to make today a beach day not only because of the wind but as there were millions of  people crammed onto  Playa de Sun Lorenzo. Gijon was pretty similar to San Sebastian and Santander with a city next to a long beach and a promenade to walk along. Unlike its neighbours, Gijon was clearly poorer with the buildings being a bit more run down but was good for a slight change. We ventured into the old town where we saw the house of Jovellananos (a composer we think as there was someone playing music outside). We then continued past all the people drinking cidre in the sun to Parque Como de Santa Catalina an old military battery but now home to another giant sculpture on the hill. Nice panoramic views too. Marcus was then feeling rather tired so we headed through the town via the supermarket to our campsite where he had a snooze while Jess chilled out in the sun.  We had a lovely dinner of chorizo and prawn paella made by Jess - pretty yummy with the cidre we had brought in Santander.

11/8 La Coruna

We stopped along the trip today to visit the Tower of Hercules an old lighthouse in the city of A Coruna. We climbed up it along with the other tourists and could see all around including the ruins on the ground. The Tower is the oldest working Roman lighthouse although actually only the foundations are ancient, the rest having been rebuilt in 1791. After the strong winds encouraged us back down we went on a long drive  trying to  find somewhere to stay. After driving along the coast, through hills, in and out of forests and through little towns and we eventually settled in a rest area not too far out of town where we almost go eaten alive by the bugs.

12/8 Santiago de Compostela and Vigo

We were eager to get on our way today. We stopped at the nice old town of Santiago de Compestella which is where a lot trekkers end their walk across Spain (the one our friend Tree did but we don't think she made it all the way). It is a huge christian pilgrimage and the tourists around did have the look of pilgrims moreso thsn they normally do. We went into the cathedral to have a look. There were loads of people singing and praying. We also looked around some nice historic buildings taking in the Christianity. Before heading on our way we had some churros with a mug of hot melted chocolate which although delicious made us feel a little sickly by the end.

Back in the van we headed to a beach near Vigo called Playa de America where we parked up for the night. We spent the afternoon relaxing in the sun and eventually got brave enough for a swim although it was mighty cold so only lasted a few minutes.

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Van Trip Part 1 - France

29/07/2011 - London to Dover
As Friday 29 July rolled around we finished our last day at work and rushed back to the flat for a last pack up of our things. After saying our goodbyes to our flatties we headed off to Dover. There were even fireworks in the sky as we drove away celebrating the start of our travels. We decided for our snack on the trip that we should have an English porkpies as we were looking forward to some European cuisine in the weeks to come. Our ferry was for the next morning so once we finally got through all the evenings traffic we parked up on the promenade in Dover for our first night of free camping in the Iceberg complete with both sea and garden views - oooh la la (oh wait we're not quite in France yet).

30/07/2011 - Calais and Jumieges
The next morning we woke early after an ok sleep - hopefully we will get used to sleeping in the van. We sat on the waterfront to have the first breakfast of the trip, bread and coffee. Looked like it was going to be a nice calm trip on the ferry. Too late for the good weather now England... We headed to the port and boarded on our Sea France Ferry to Calais. We enjoyed the nice views of the White Cliffs of Dover and of the coasts of France on our trip. We had looked into the cost of tolls before we starting our trip so when we arrived in Calais we decided to take the scenic route to Rouen to avoid the extra charges. It was nice to drive through some small towns and to see some sporting figures on the roads as we passed by. The good thing about the roads in France is that there are lots of signs with pictures of the local attractions so it is good to know what is in the area. Every town seems to have its own one. Once we arrived in a camp ground in Jumieges we decided it was going to be too much of a mission to head into Rouen itself and instead chilled out in Jumieges.  We walked into the small town and looked at the abbey of Saint-Pierre-de-Jumieges and had a nice walk along the Seine. Along our way we saw some really cute horses - they were very considerate to each other and stood top to tail in order to keep the flies out of each others faces. Or at least that's what we think they were doing. Of course travelling is all about the food and drink, so we picked up some cidre (French cider) and camberet which we enjoyed back at the campsite.

31/07/2011 - Bayeux
We headed off to Bayeux today and saw a cute bridge along the way. When we arrived at Bayeux we looked around the town and Jess even managed  to try out her language skills and order some croissants. We figured as we were travelling through foreign countries we should at least be making an effort to learn the language, so each morning consisted of listening to a few podcasts and stumbling through the phrases they were trying to teach us. Our French wasn't too good so first off  was Coffee Break French with Mark and Anna. Bonjour! One of the biggest attractions in Bayeux is the Bayeux tapestry so we thought we would check it out. The tapestry depicted the Norman conquest of Britain which culminated in the Battle of Hastings in 1066. It was very impressive and the audioguide gave you just enough information to keep you moving. After finding a campsite  we headed to Omaha Beach which is one of the D-day landing beaches. There we went to the museum and the American cemetery. It was good to see the history although a little depressing. It is amazing to think that there were people dying  less than 70 years ago on those beaches where kids were now swimming. Back to the campsite we had a dinner of brie, ham and salad as well as, of course a baguette. French bread is certainly much better than the stuff they call bread in London. We also tried a local tipple, Calvados. It is basically an Apple based spirit. There wasn't much of a taste of apples though. Jess can't say she was much of a fan and although Marcus kept drinking it eventually he had to give up too. Every country seems to have their "local" spirit which tastes like turps. In France it is calvados.

1/8/2011 - Mont-Saint-Michel and St Malo
We successfully ordered bread and paid in french today as we had struck our first campsite that couldn't speak English. Not too difficult to communicate the basics but more lessons in the van followed. Today we were heading to a site that we had been looking forward to, Mont-St-Michel, which is an abbey on an island. It used to only be able to be accessed by boat or when the tide was right out but now there is a joining road which allowed us with the rest of  the hoards of tourists to visit. It was really beautiful despite all the tourists. It just required us to use our imaginations a little more to appreciate the beauty behind all the people. There is a road which spirals around from the bottom to the monastery situated at the top of the island. The monastery was huge and there were spectacular views from the top as well but the crowds eventually made us decide it was time to head back to the van and carry on with our journey.

Back in the van we headed on to the port city of St Malo. This was a little bit more stressful  due to narrow streets and no where to turn around but we finally found a camping ground (Alet) which is near Forte de la citie which had views in all directions of ports and beaches and St Malo itself which is a walled city. It used to be a pirate haven, yarrrr!  Once we settled in we went for a walk to the Forte by the camping ground and then into St Malo where we blew today's budget on macaroons (I think it was worth it though!).  We walked along the city walls and enjoyed the views. Its a shame they still let traffic into the city as it would be much nicer if it was pedestrianised. I guess that is the tourist in us, rather than the people who have to live there. Back to the van where we did the first proper cooking in the van - red wine chicken (not too foul at all - oh no the bad jokes of the trip started this early!) Le clutiere red wine alongside -we could definitely get used to this.

2/8/2011 Carnac

The next day we ventured inland a bit towards Carnac to see Stonehenge's French cousins. These rocks have been most famous for being the rocks that Obilix, from Asterix comics, carried. It was kind of like Stonehenge but they were much smaller. There were many more of them everywhere though, as well as all the celtic paraphenalia that goes with them. We also appreciated the sunflowers fields which were dotted along the roads. We decided we better have a crepe for lunch before continuing on our journey. We headed to the beach at La Trinitie and found a campsite before heading off to the beach. Unfortunately the weather was a bit overcast and we thought it might even rain so we headed back to the campsite to read until the weather cleared up again. We didn't really know anything about La Trinitie and it turns out it is basically just a holiday resort swarming with English tourists paying lots of money for their campsites. Oh well. When they sun came back we headed back down to the beach for Jess' first swim. Marcus wasn't brave enough to go all the way in though so he just had a little paddle. It wasn't quite warm enough but there were plenty of others giving it a go; both young and old. The beach looked much nicer the second time around as the tide had come in to hide all the gungy sea weed. Back to the campsite for a shower and dinner - on tonight's menu chorizo and red wine risotto matched with a Cote du Rhone. Ooo la la.

3/8/2011 St Hilarie de Reiz
We drove off again with the aim to have a relax at our next campsite. Unfortunately the campsites in the area were of the family holiday resort variety, with giant waterslides and family entertainement. Not really our scene. Luckily we arrived at Plage de la paree Preneau where we happened to stumble upon an Aire de Camping where it is allowed to park up and camp for free.  We were feeling hungry so we decided to walk the 'short' distance to the shop to get our supplies for the night. However, what was meant to be a 1km walk turned into a 5 hour trek, complete with blisters and sun burn. Should have checked the map... We finally reached St-Giles-Croix-de-Vie where we were able to find an open shop before heading back to the van exhausted. At least we got to walk along the beach on the way back. We decided we needed to head to the beach to relax after that so we went for a quick dip. This time Marcus was slightly braver and went in up to his waist. There was an upside to the long walk though - we found a battery shop, Monsieur Batterie - as we had found that our leisure battery had decided to use this time to give up. That night we were rather exhausted so after our pasta dinner we had an early night.

4/8 /2011 La Rochelle
A good start to the day as we headed back to Monsieur Batterie to see about  getting a new battery. We were a little concerned of our lack of french and a hefty price. However the man at the shop spoke a little English and was very helpful and set us on our way with a new battery (much  better than the last) and only €200 lighter in our pockets. We also managed to buy some yummy brioche before we set off to La Rochelle feeling much happier.  When we arrived in La Rochelle the first campsite was full but they directed us to another one where we set up for the night. The weather wasn't looking its  best with on and off rain but that was probably just as well as our skin could do with a  break from the sun.  We then caught a bus into the town where we wandered around and checked out the 3 towers at the port (la Chaine, la Lanterne and St Nicolas) nice white stone buildings.  The town centre is built around the old port area and was still teeming with tourists, despite the weather. It was certainly very picturesque. The sort of place you can imagine yourself spending a luxury weekend sway, sampling the local wines. As we are on a budget, however, we instead enjoyed some nice flan and apple tarte before heading back to camp.

5/8/2011 Teste De Buch

Our plans didn't go to plan today. Our aim was to go to a camping ground where we could get a train into Bordeaux but the camping ground we wanted to go to no longer existed. So we headed off to find another camping ground but alas no luck. We continued further and further away from Bordeaux and after much driving around we finally settled on a camping-car spot in  teste-le-buch near a surfing town called Biscarosse. France is well set out for campervans. This place was massive and well sheltered under the trees with a toilet you could use too. We were lucky to get a sport. We saw plenty of people later on who had to turn away. Giving up on Bordeaux we went for a walk to the town to get some food and see the beach - a much different attitude to the places we had previously been. The town was busy but not bustling. Felt a bit like Mount Maunganui. We sat on the beach and watched some of the local surfers before wandering back to the van. For dinner Jess made duck breast in toffee apple sauce - the duck because it is very french and the sauce as a Normandy speciality. Bon appetite. Marcus claims this was the best dinner Jess cooked on the trip. As we didn't get to Bordeaux we drank a red wine from the region instead.

6/8/2011 Bassin D'Arachon and Biarittz

Early the next morning we headed to Bassin D'Arachon, a slight backtrack, to see a huge sand dune. This had been recommended by our french flatmate in London, Cami. In Marcus' words it was 'really big and sandy like being on a sand dune, you know like the book Dune'. Well no Marcus you know I don't read your silly sci-fi books but yes it was big and sandy but a five year old could have come up with that description.  It was worth seeing though. There were plenty of people scrambling up and over including some buddhist monks who seemed to be enjoying it too.  We then headed on to our next destination Biarritz. It was school holidays throughout Europe, so very busy. Unfortunately we had another day where things didn't go quite according to plan.The camp grounds were full and the traffic was everywhere. We managed to find a park on the road not too far from  the beach at Bidart. After all the driving and hot weather we needed to cool off a bit After 2 swims, some sunbathing and reading we headed back to the van with the plan to head closer to Biarritz to find some dinner. We  thought we deserved a treat as we hadn't eaten out on the trip so far. No such luck - the streets were very busy and narrow and no where to park. Feeling very grumpy we  gave up on eating out and headed out of Biarritz and parked up further south down the coast at Guethary, next to a beach. We made do with bread for dinner as by then heavy rain had set in. An early night for two very tired campers.

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July

We started into July with Tree’s 4^th of July party. It was a good chance to dig out some old costumes which we hadn’t used for a while. (You will have to look at the photos to see which, but suffice to say they both went down a treat.) Everyone really got into the spirit of the night, with some cool costumes, beer pong and cheesy American hits keeping the night going into the early hours of the morning. Luckily Tree only lives around the corner so it was nice to be able to walk home (changed out of our costumes to avoid unwanted London muggings.)

We decided to get some culture into us with a visit to the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition. We weren’t quite sure what the deal was, but turns out they have a large exhibition of original artwork every year for which you are able to buy the limited edition prints. Suffice to say the prices were high so we weren’t really in the market for any art but was good to see what the intellectuals get up to. After that we went for a wander around St James’ park and around Westminster, where we haven’t actually spent all that much time since arriving in London.

We also made it down to Clapham to Forrest and Laura’s place for Laura’s birthday. Was good to catch up with them and the likes of Monique, Matt, Fagan and Cameron (who had shrunk into virtual non-existence as a result of an extensive exercise regime he had been undergoing.) He was happy to share all his secrets with anyone prepared to listen. We like cake too much for that though.

We also had a couple of other birthdays in July. First we were out to West London to visit Abbie for an afternoon birthday BBQ. Considering it had been a pool party the year before it was a bit of a let down for Abbie that this year we all had to be rugged up against the cold. Blasted London summer! After our last catch up with Abbie before she goes home it was back to Islington for Ash’s birthday at the HUGE Wetherspoons converted from an old theatre on Holloway Road. We arrived pretty late so the place was closing not long after we arrived but that didn’t stop the birthday girl and it was off to Big Red, a rock bar up the road. We had never been sure about the place, with flaming skulls painted on the outside, but once we got in there we had a great night listening to our kind of music before again being lucky enough to walk home in the early hours.

We finally got a bit of sun the following day so we made the most of it with a relaxing afternoon at Regents Park. Was good to just enjoy some sun and read our books. We didn’t stay late though. This was our last weekend in London before our big van trip so we had organised to have a dinner with the flatmates at, where else but, Ziloufs. Had to get in our last dose of ribs and pork belly.

You would think that with our next week being the last before we left London we would be spending the evenings sorting out last minute plans. We were but it was also while going out for dinner with Michelle and Jason, who were also off on a long trip, but they wouldn’t be coming back as their planned destination was Melbourne where they were planning on starting afresh. We met in Stoke Newington where we had some tasty Mexican fare. Not too hot to burn our tongues off though.

It was another dinner as well that week. This time a last taste of Le Mercury with a few of our friends. Turns out July is the time to leave London because it ended up being a small event. As we were still coming back to London again we couldn’t be too jealous for those of our friends who chose to go to the other leaving dinners. Turned out to be a great night though and we left lingering with plans for a dinner club…

And with the week and the month coming to an end it was time for the biggest trip yet. The Iceberg was going to take us around Europe…

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June

Inspired by our weekend away in the Cotswalds we decided to take the Iceberg for another spin. This time down to the New Forest for an overnight stay. We left early on Saturday morning hoping the drive wouldn’t be too long. Unfortunately a lot of other people seemed to have the same idea so it was pretty slow going. Nonetheless we eventually arrived in New Forest and used our Caravan Club connections to get a spot to stay (even if we were sure that they were all looking distastefully out of their caravans and campervans at us while they had Coronation Street playing in the background.) We took it easy the first day and just decided to go for a walk in the countryside. There was plenty of paddock and a few trees for us to duck and dive through. We even got to say hello to a few of the wild horses which live down in the New Forest. They just roam around like they own the place. As it was spring there were some cute foals around too. The next day we ventured a bit further afield and did some proper forest walking. We checked out some local red deer. We visited the biggest tree in the New Forest. It is pretty big although has probably seen better days. We managed to avoid running over the hundreds of horses everywhere. We also saw the spot where King William II was accidentally killed by one of his men. Oops! By this time the rain had unfortunately set itself in so we were back up to London again.

Darryl had been planning to have his birthday in Amsterdam, however a lack of funding from everyone to make it all happen meant that instead it was birthday in Hampstead, or Hampsterdam. Summer this year was proving somewhat unreliable (to put it mildly) so we were hoping that we would actually see some sun. Luckily for us the sun had come out today and we were able to sit in the beer garden at the Freemansons Arms right next to Hampstead heath and enjoy a few brews. Ricky Gervais was there but as he appeared to be lunching with his family we thought he probably wouldn’t want to join us. As we were so close to the Heath and the weather was dry we decided to head across the road (via M&S) to have ourselves a picnic lunch. It was nice relaxing London park fun with friends (and the odd visit to the copse). Afterwards it was back to Darryl and Beverley’s for a few more drinks a bit of singing and Marcus making sure everyone was being sensible…

A flat party was also long overdue at our place so after a false start a few weeks earlier the Animal Party was underway. Jess came as a bee, Marcus as a horse (sort of), we had Camille the frog, Andy the Meerkat, Nick the Crocodile, Sam the Peacock, Huw the Donkey and a whole menagerie of other animals roaming around our flat. In the usual fashion the party carried on well into the hours of the early morning (although we had gone to bed loooong before that.)

One of the advantages of London is all the big concerts that are held there. This is especially true in Summer when they put up a big stage in Hyde Park and hold various concerts there. This year Hard Rock Calling was again on and one of the nights was being headlined by Bon Jovi. Now we didn’t actually have tickets to go see Bon Jovi but because the stage just has a big wall around it you can go sit outside the wall and listen for free, even if you can’t actually see what is going on. Darryl had organised the usual suspects to attend. Who would have thought Darryl was such a huge Bon Jovi fan? We certainly discovered once Jon and the boys started playing because Darryl knew ALL the words. It was all good fun and another good excuse to have a picnic in the park.

As we said before the summer weather in London this year wasn’t the greatest so any chance we got to spend some time outside we did. One of the parks we hadn’t managed to visit was one of the biggest, Richmond Park. With great weather arriving on the last weekend of June, we jumped onto the Overground and hopped off at Richmond heading in the general direction of where we assumed the Park must be. After a hike up the hill we found the entrance to the park and proceeded to sit in the shade for a nice picnic lunch. If you are lucky in the park you may see deer roaming (it was Henry VIII’s hunting ground after all). We didn’t see any roaming but there were plenty sitting around enjoying the sun. We also got a look at King Henry’s Mound which has an unobstructed view all the way to St Paul’s Cathedral. Apparently Henry stood there and could see the signal that Anne Boleyn had been executed. Lovely man. The rest of the afternoon was spent exercising our legs, wandering around the park and then taking a rest in the shade. It was nice to finally get some summer weather and nicer that we could be somewhere so green and open to enjoy it.

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The Cotswalds

It was now several months since we had acquired the Iceberg and we had still not really taken him away properly camping for a few days. With the second May Bank Holiday we intended to remedy that with a trip away to the Cotswalds. Not only that but Ian and Amy were going to come along too with Minty. The planning of it all had been a little bit last minute so we didn’t have any accommodation booked, however it was Ian to the rescue with the idea that we join the Caravan Club and then we can use their site just out of Oxford. We flirted with the idea of free camping the whole thing but then sense prevailed and Caravan Club members we became. We each made our own separate ways on Friday night. With the busy Friday night leaving London traffic Marcus had a bit of an altercation with a bollard and unfortunately Iceberg came off all the worst for it but we did manage to make it to Woodstock, just outside of Oxford in one piece where we met up with Ian and Amy who had already sussed out a campsite. To say our campers looked a bit substandard compared to the other people at the Caravan Club site was something of an understatement, but we weren’t there to impress anyone, we were just up for getting some nature into us and having a look around this most English part of England. The night was chilly, so we were thankful that at least we had somewhere to park up and after a couple of drinks and a chat it was off to sleep with a busy weekend ahead.

The next morning, after a round of bacon sandwiches, we wandered next door to Blenheim Palace, the former home of the Churchills, the most famous being Winston. It is a big, beautiful stately palace and gardens which now serves as a museum about the Churchills, and is lived in by the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough. We started with a wander around the gardens. We did have to dodge the odd rain shower but overall managed to stay reasonably dry. There is a massive lake out the back of the palace so we took a walk along the shores of that, checking out the birds and plants which were all around. We then wandered back up through the middle of the garden, stopping to smell the roses, before we arrived back at the palace. We stopped for some tea and scones (along with hundreds of other tourists…) but as we didn’t mind sitting in the rain we didn’t have too much trouble getting a table outside. After a bite to eat we took a wander through the part of the palace which was open for public access. It was interesting to see all of the family memorabilia although the amount of it was a little overwhelming.  Instead of doing the guided tour (complete with ghost story) we went across the Vanbrugh's Grand bridge where we chilled out a bit on the other side and were witness to a guy proposing to his girlfriend (awesome). Although the spot he had chosen was a little bit heavy on the duck poo. After that spot of romance we made our way through the palace one last time and got ourselves across to the butterfly house down the road. It wasn’t exactly teeming with butterflies but the ones we saw seemed to be happy enough. Along with the butterfly house there was also a street of mini buildings which we think was supposed to look like the main street of Woodstock`. No stately home is complete without a hedge maze, so we spent some time wandering through there (can you work out what word the letters in the hedge spell?) After being worn out by all that walking we took the token tourist train back to the entrance of Blenheim Palace where we were lucky enough to be able to visit a local arts and crafts fair. Even better this was a proper arts and crafts fair with real artists and artisans showing and selling their wares. There were sculptors and potters and carvers and all sorts of other people showing original interest in art, not just the usual tat. Amy was very pleased with her painters' box purchase. It had been a big day so far but it wasn’t yet over. We took a stroll through the picturesque town of Woodstock. It really was everything you imagined an English Country town to be with stone buildings covered in Ivy and pubs and cobblestones. We decided to head to one of the pubs on the outskirts of town as we had noticed it had a cool water wheel on it. After sampling some local ales and playing a couple of rounds of the new worldwide phenomenon “Stop the Bus” we made our way back to the campsite for some well earned rest. We had some uncertainty as to how the weather was going to hold so we managed to get the awning on the side of the van raised for the first time with a bit of duct tape to hold it all together. It was then an evening of red wine and Backpackers before turning in.

 The next day we all piled into Minty for a trip further afield into the wider Cotswalds. Our first stop was Chipping Norton which left us feeling slightly underwhelmed. We were able to find some water at the supermarket, so it wasn’t a total write off though…Luckily the town of Moreton in Marsh redeemed any misconceptions we may have had. It is the site of the White Hart Royal Hotel which housed King Charles during part of his time in exile. The Costwalds is a very royalist area. The craft market wasn’t up to the standard of the day before but that was OK, because we treated ourselves to a tasty cream tea before checking out the crazy array of teapots in some of the other tea rooms. There was everything from the standard yellow teapot to the three wheeled van from Only Fools and Horses. We continued along our way to the town of Stow on the Wold, where the wind blows cold. Stow on the Wold is situated on the top of a hill so is apparently very windy. There certainly was a chill in the air. The tourists had heard about it too obviously, as there were plenty around. We checked out the local church, which had a cool looking entrance where the trees had grown all around it. Then it was back into town for a pint at the old pub. Unfortunately they had had it redecorated so only the roof beams were still old but it was nice to have a pint nonetheless. It was then back to in the van and off to Upper Slaughter (via Lower Slaughter) for a short walk through the countryside. We ran into one of Ian’s old workmates who was perhaps slightly over the top in her reaction to seeing someone unexpected but as always Ian played it cool. Our last stop of the day was the town of Bourton on the Water, home of a miniature version of itself. And within the miniature version was a miniature version of the miniature version!! Crazy!! There is only so much excitement you can take in one day so we made our way back to the campsite with plans for a nice pub dinner. However, it turns out virtually everything closes on a Sunday night so we wandered the whole town before eventually agreeing to a curry. They couldn’t fit us in straight away so we went for more of a walk where, purely by chance, we did find a pub that was serving food, and it was decent food at that. Joyously we tucked into our tasty dinners before tucking ourselves in to bed.

We awoke to torrential rain on the last day of our weekend away. Fortunately we had packed most of our stuff up the night before so it was all stowed safely in the vans. We weren’t sure whether we should just pack it in and head back to London, but in true NZ style we carried on and decided to go see the Uffington White Horse, a chalk horse drawn on the hill in Somerset. Different Sat Navs took us different directions but we both got there in the end, although the rain followed us too. We couldn’t really get much of a view of the horse so we wandered across the hills, battling our umbrellas, until we got a close up look. It was pretty cool how the ditches had been dug into the hill and then filled with stones which were covered in chalk. Some brave souls were out touching up the chalk that day but I am not sure how well their progress was going in the rain. We were all thoroughly soaked by the time we got back to the vans. Fortunately the beauty of having a van is that you can get changed into dry clothes straight away! We took in a decent pub lunch at the Fox and Hound before thanking each other for the weekend and making our way back to London, our first proper weekend away in the Iceberg a success.

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May

It was a mixture of social events that kept us going throughout May. The first was lunch for Beverley’s birthday with all the usual suspects at the Flask in Hampstead. We were impressed with the Flask. It was a good English Pub with good food and service. Marcus probably didn’t need to order the sausage platter though. A platter implies you share it Marcus…It was then back to their huge flat in Hampstead for general shenanigans and some old fashioned Circle of Death.

 
We did manage to get out of London in May too with a trip to St Albans, the old roman city and general nice place, just to the north of London. The London traffic meant we probably spent more time getting to and from there than we actually spent in St Albans but at least Iceberg got to go for a spin too. We checked out the cathedral and managed to score some lunch at the cathedral café. We wandered around the park which is where the old Roman city of Verulamium used to be. We didn’t see all the ruins but we looked at the old wall and some cool mosaics on what would have been someone’s living room floor a couple of thousand years ago. Apparently the oldest pub in the UK is supposed to be there too, however after seeing the outside we were not convinced we wanted to see the inside so decided to give it a miss. Probably a good idea when driving anyway. Overall a successful, if brief, trip to St Albans.

We caught up with Ian and Amy at their place for some tasty BBQ dinner. We certainly miss having some outdoor area at our flat and it is always good to burn some meat outdoors and enjoy some good company.

It was Ian and Amy’s place again for the “Murder at the Deadwood Saloon” murder mystery evening. Marcus was Gambling Jack, he was successful but that success didn’t all come honestly, and Jess was Bonnie the Banker, the wife of the banker, although we all know who really controls the money. It was a great night of fun, confusion, tacky costumes and bad western accents. Ricky was particularly good. By the end of the night between us we had managed to collect no clues and really had no idea what was going on or whodunit but it was excellent fun and we would highly recommend it to anyone who gets the chance.

The next night we made the journey down to Wandsworth to catch up with Anna and Perry. Perry is Canadian so he was drumming up support for the Canucks who were on the road to their first Stanley Cup. There was a good crowd of Canadians and Kiwis there and although we don’t know much about Hockey we still had fun. Unfortunately Perry was looking a bit scratched and sore. This was the first time we had seen him since Yum Cha. Alas, upon returning home from Yum Cha he found he had locked himself out of their flat. Instead of bothering Anna at work he decided to use his ninja skills to scale the wall and enter the first floor window of their flat. Suffice to say he was not successful and ended up in a hospital bed rather than his own. Luckily all is well again although next time he will probably just call Anna.

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Ireland

Having only just arrived back from Scotland, we weren’t going to waste another four day weekend in London. Although the Royal Wedding of William to Kate was the event of the decade we decided to get out of town and instead visit the Emerald Isle of Ireland. Our trip to Dublin had left us thinking there must be more than the Guiness factory to see. We took off on Thursday night on the train to Leigh on Sea where we were spending the night with Karla and James and Harry before departing from Southend Airport. It was really good seeing them all and finally managing to check out their new house. Karla was concerned that James’ constant renovations would mean that the place would be in a shambles but from what we could see it was coming along well. Lucky James can live on only two hours sleep a night. After a few drinks, a few chats and a massive Chinese meal for dinner we tucked ourselves in to bed ready for the start of our next adventure the following day.

Staying at Leigh meant a civilised start to the morning watching the preparations for the Royal Wedding before James dropped us at the airport. Southend Airport is aiming to the be main airport for the Olympic Games with people being able to come in and head to east London without having to travel through central London. If you have ever been to a provincial airport in New Zealand then you will get some idea of the layout of Southend. A shed a desk and a door. I think it has some way to go before 2012. Nonetheless we managed to get on our flight to Galway with reasonably little effort and we landed in a splendidly sunny Ireland. We picked up our rental car at the airport. Not as nice as the one we had had in Scotland but at least we had wheels. It was then a drive into Galway itself to have a look around. We stopped for some tasty fresh fish washed down with some Bulmers cider (called Magners in the UK. Bulmers is different in the UK. Confused?) We then wandered into the town of Galway itself. It is a very pretty city. It has a river which flows in from the port which we wandered along before meandering back through the town centre. There was plenty of stone and it felt old fashioned while still having all the modern conveniences. There were plenty of people about just lazing around enjoying the sunshine. However, we had much to see before the end of the day so it was back in the car again and down the coast to the Cliffs of Mohair. They are a series of sheer stone cliffs which (once you get through the hordes of flies) provide a dramatic and spectacular outlook over the Atlantic. Like any of these sorts of places, tourism means that they have now been quite heavily developed, so what was once probably a relatively isolated walk to the cliffs is now a paved path with shops and a museum. We had a nosy at the museum and checked out some of the local legends about maidens and monsters before it was back into our car and onwards to the town of Bunratty, our first nights accommodation. Upon arriving we were very impressed with the country manor B&B which Marcus had booked. We wandered down the road and found the local restaurant who served us up some tasty dinner, washed down by a Guinness and then crossed the road to the local pub, which had a good set of low ceilings and pokey rooms to qualify as a quality Irish establishment, before making our way back to our room for some sleep.

Turns out we were just down the road from Bunratty Castle and historic village. So after a full Irish Breakfast (which was similar to the full Scottish breakfasts we had enjoyed the week before) we wandered down and had a look around. If you have ever been to Shantytown on the West Coast of the South Island it is along those lines. They have taken the castle and some nearby manor houses and churches and built a village around it in the style of old Ireland. Although it sounds quite cheesy it was quite well down and there was enough information to keep you reading but not so much that you got bored. Slim Dillon even got to have a look around at this one. After taking a nice stroll around and coming out better informed we carried on to the city of Limerick. Limerick felt a bit like any other city. There was a river and there seemed to be a castle down the way, but the city centre was full of the chain stores and other places that make it normal. It is a place where people live. For us it wasn’t a place which was exciting to visit. However, we did find ourselves some sandwiches for lunch before continuing south to the town of Killarney, the start of the Ring of Kerry. We could see that Killarney could be a pretty town, if somewhat touristy. Unfortunately it was the site of a car rally that weekend so chav boy racers from all over Ireland had descended on the place and were doing laps around the city centre and haunting every street corner and pub in the place. This was not our idea of a good time so we grabbed some food and then made our way into the reserve on the edge of town. There was an old manor house there but it was pretty run down and obviously under repair but a walk further into the reserve was very pleasant and a nice way to spend the afternoon away from the boy racers. We assumed the bars and restaurants would be full so thought we would try fish and chips for dinner. We weren’t quite sure where to look  but found what turned out to be a fish restaurant serving fresh local catches. It wasn’t fish and chips but it definitely was tasty.

The next morning we travelled backwards around the Ring of Kerry because we had heard there were some good walks around a nearby lake. We stopped and went for a wander up the hill through the forest and past a waterfall. A bit of local nature is always well appreciated. It was then back in the car and off the other way for a drive around the Ring of Kerry. So called because it is around the Kerry peninsula. There were plenty of hilly areas, and views out to sea. Although it didn’t blow our minds it was still very pleasant. I think we are a bit spoiled with that sort of thing in New Zealand. It was certainly reminiscent of some parts of New Zealand at times. We stopped off along the way for photos and a breath of fresh air. We had a particularly nice walk around the beach and grounds of Farraniaragh after deciding to take a random road where we weren’t quite sure what we were going to find at the end of it. We finished up our day coming into the town of Kenmare which was a bit like Killarney but without all the boy racers. Our trip to the local stone circle left us questioning whether the whole thing had only recently been set down there, although the French hippies seemed to be convinced as to the authenticity of it all. A hunt for dinner proved somewhat difficult. The place was full of restaurants, but they all seemed to think it was reasonable to charge 17 Euros for chicken. We felt if all we were getting was chicken we would be better of going for the local fish and chips, which we did.

 

It was an Irish/German breakfast as the B&B we were staying at seemed to be owned by Germans, so that was a slight change on the morning routine. Also (it had had to happen), the rain had finally arrived. We made our way towards Blarney in the hope that the rain would lift. Unfortunately the rain continued to pour but this did not deter us on our visit to Blarney Castle. It is a funny place, Blarney Castle. It is clearly a tourist trap but luckily the rain had kept many of the tourists away today. The grounds and gardens were beautiful and we enjoyed wandering around them in our rain jackets. We weren’t entirely convinced as to the authenticity of the druids’ cave and witches’ staircase but we played along anyway. The kissing of the Blarney Stone, at the top of the ruin of Blarney Castle, was again one of the those things that you do but, unlike the American tour groups you wait in line with, you never feel quite like you are getting a true authentic experience. However we both lined up and we both kissed the Blarney Stone so now we should both have the gift of eloquence. We shall see how that one plays out over time. As the rain continued to fall we jumped back in the car and continued on our way to Cork. Cork is a mixture of both modern and old fashioned. We were able to discern that much through the rain. However it being Easter Monday and Ireland being a strongly Catholic country Cork was largely closed. With the rain pouring and the city closed we eventually relented and drove out to the airport to await our flight back to London. Much like New Zealand, you don’t get an Emerald Isle without a lot of rain. To be sure, to be sure…

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