Bongo Fury

No, we just love the place. It took me a while to get Mrs Muz to agree to going there, she was convinced the whole place was like Benidorm

For the wine & food stopovers, see http://www.espana-discovery.es/en
For wild-camping suggestions, see http://www.furgovw.org/mapa_furgoperfecto/

There was definitely no Bongo-parking in Marseille, plenty of parking but all underground height-barrier places, so the TGV from Avignon seemed a civilised alternative. The train into Barcelona we've done before on other tours, and also into Valencia, Madrid and Lisbon, much better than cooking your Bongo in traffic.

Andorra was a disappointment I'd have to say, but worth going to tick it off the list. Montserrat and Barcelona definitely worth making the effort for. You can get a train from Barcelona to Castellbell i el Vilar - Monistrol de Montserrat on the R5 line, from there there's a rack & pinion train up to the Monastery. We took the cablecar instead as there's wild-camping in the cablecar carpark.

You need to plan. Do some research, particularly timetables of places you want to go and trains if you're going to use them, and potential places of interest along the way. Be realistic (I'm a fine one to be preaching that ) on what you can do in a day, and the holiday will be so much more of an achievement.

I'd also challenge the view on your child being ok driving through France, they'll probably be asleep most of the way. You can get any number of ferries or the tunnel to France and then hit Andorra, then from Barcelona drift west towards Cantabria When possible I like to use different routes, different operators too if possible, to add to the overall experience. You're stuck with Britanny Ferries for Santander but for France you can use Condor Ferries from Weymouth or Poole to Saint Malo, DFDS from Dover to Dunkerque, EuroTunnel from Folkestone to Calais (the tunnel is an experience if you haven't used it and don't have LPG power), LD Lines from Newhaven to Dieppe or P&O from Dover to Calais. From North Wales any of those would do and you can tie in places en route in Wales, England & France to suit. Weigh up the cost of your Santander crossing (including cabin) against the fuel and much cheaper crossing from France. I'd recommend doing Santander one-way only and drive through France for the other leg The LD Lines Gijón to Poole service is now abandoned.

One last thought, being able to speak a bit of Spanish is a big help. In Benidorm they all speak English but inland they don't. Sure, in Barcelona they'd rather you spoke Catalan but a bit of Spanish will get you a long way

Any questions, ask away

I'm with Muz on the ferries. We regularly travel down to the Pyrenees and the trip down is doable in long day or just take a break half way. The Brittany Ferries are a complete rip off IMHO.
Have a look at the DFDS Newhaven to Dieppe route, this saves about 100 miles rather than from Calais. I've just booked a couple of trips down, one in mid July for £90 overnight with a cabin. Even if you use the motorways with tolls it won't be anywhere near the cost of the Santander/Bilbao ferry.

BongoGog wrote:wow impressive and all done in just 3 weeks all wild camp and no awning tent - where do you put all your gear? No trailer either.

In my experience you should decide beforehand how much money you're going to need and how many clothes you're going to need. Then take twice as much money and half as many clothes. You'll find you've got about half the money you need and still about twice the amount of clothes you need.

Travel light

Oh yeah, something else we bought whilst at Graham’s Port Lodge, but we can only reveal a photo today. A 1994 bottle of vintage port for Jr’s 21st – Happy Birthday Muz Jr, we were thinking about you at work while we were quaffing all that shampoo!!

Happy 21st Muz Jr. Good to know the old folks are starting you off on the right track. Important to know your Port from your starboard

I wish Mike. Sadly, like most students, the most he knows about port is that it gets you drunk quicker than wine

Hi
A belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY....and after 21 years old, we can welcome you too the "Over the Hill Gang"
Cheers
Helen

Happy birthday from me too, Junior!

Aw... happy b-day muz jr.


Just remember, don't drink and cycle. Otherwise, you end up sleeping in a ditch. (My OH has done that before).

Interesting, very interesting. See this from my original report....


….No Man’s Land fort which has been a hospitality centre with indoor pool and two helipads. Some of the 1972 Sea Devils series of Doctor Who was filmed here. All large marine traffic has to pass between these two forts as the WW2 submarine defences still remain to either side


Then see this from earlier today - looks cool

http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/remote-isl ... d=30647236

...and this http://www.amazingvenues.co.uk/solent-forts/

Muzorewa wrote:
....and the left side the parador hotel Hostal San Marcos. You should recognise this place from the 2010 Martin Sheen film The Way And if you haven't watched that, you should

The Way was shown on BBC2 last night and is on the iPlayer for the next few days. Well worth a watch, it's not religious but a really good film with cracking location shots from Pamplona, Burgos, León, Santiago and Muxía. The DVD has very interesting interviews with Martin Sheen and his real-life son Emilio Estevez, but the film itself is a good tale

Muzorewa wrote:
Spinnaker Tower, Portsmouth

Is nothing safe from the grip of blatant commercialism?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-33187732

It was designed and built in white and that's how it should stay. Otherwise why not add another next to it and paint them both gold, and have a 24-hour McDrive at the base

Muzorewa wrote:

Muzorewa wrote:
Spinnaker Tower, Portsmouth

Is nothing safe from the grip of blatant commercialism?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-33187732

It was designed and built in white and that's how it should stay. Otherwise why not add another next to it and paint them both gold, and have a 24-hour McDrive at the base

Even sadder is the explanation of why they are having to do it:

"We wouldn't have to do any of this if we weren't so desperately short of money. We have a primary school places crisis at the moment - this money is going towards building new classrooms."

Hey ho