We Return!

Hi all,

Just a quick message to say that Richard Hollis and myself managed to make it home!!

After an 18 hour drive from Angers to Northampton/Wellingborough we literally crawled home and were certainly appreciative of the sleep!!

The return party proved to be a great success - a huge thank you to everyone who attended! We managed to have a few beers, watch the movie premiere! and we even had a photographer from the Chronicle and Echo come to take a few pictures!! Eyes on the paper next Thursday.

Our video of the trip:

Photos from outside the Spinney Hill:

Barcelona to Gibraltar and then home!

After having a surprise day off in Barcelona due to counting the days wrong on the calender, we ventured off towards Valencia. By chance our friends Richard and Judith (and baby Seppe) were staying near by so we called in to say hi and ended up taking Richard with us to Ibiza!

Basically in Ibiza not a lot happened and we went to bed early but I would like to say a special thanks to Raymond at Ducks United 2CV hire company who gave us a great tour of the island in a 2CV and DS.

So we said a reluctant good bye to Judith, Richard, Seppe, Judith's parents and our host the lovely Mariane and headed on a crazy short cut inland in 40degree heat! Many mountains later, several breakdowns and a night spent in the car in Ubeda City Center we arrived near Gibraltar barely alive and not particularly happy. A night spent with the lovely Sacha and Davida helped us recover and we pressed on to the target Gibraltar! After 11days, 3000km at around 40mph, driving on average 10hr days in pretty hot temperatures - Morrisons full English and fish and chips was our reward! Basically Gibraltar was awesome very friendly, very English and very hot! Got into the Gibraltar Chronicle, spoke to a few people from Gibraltar who had been expecting our arrival after following us on Facebook and met with David Risso from the Gibraltar Classic Car Club who had been co-ordinating with us about our arrival in Gibraltar.

We stayed for just a few hours in Gibraltar unfortunately due to needing to make a start back if we were to reach UK on schedule. However we drove up the rock and saw the great views and of course the Monkeys! Then straight to Seville for a nights camping, followed by 12hrs in extreme heat has we passed Madrid. The following day I adjusted the brakes which helped over the Pyrenees on our welcome return to France. Massively busy here meant camping site was a problem and eventually we found one in the dark at a farm after 14hrs driving!Finally to Angers to stay with the lovely Emilie at her house. Now we just need to cover the 800km back to Northampton if we can make our ferry tonight at Midnight!

Return Party - Wednesday 15th August - Spinney Hill Pub - Northampton - 6pm to 8pm - come and meet us as we return with the car! Have a drink, chat and (hopefully) take a look at Stu's great UK to Gibraltar Movie!

Update from Barcelona

Paris to Barcelona - No Problem

Three days of massive drives have brought us to the Spanish capital. Most days have been around 10hrs at between 5mph and 50mph!

Paris to Limoges - 550km

Massive thanks to Floriane and family and friends for looking after us and sending us on our ways with food and drink! Big drive to Limoges instead of Clemont Ferrand as it appears closer to Andorra! With the steering column now jacked up and bolted down its still almost inpossible to turn but no more time to investigate so we pressed on. Great map reading from Stu (with some notes from Floriane's Dad!) lead us straight there. Camping was closed and locked up so we got the got the code from some Dutch guys and let ourselves in!

 Limoges to Pas de la Cas -525km

Big drive - very hot - Sahara Winds - lots of hills so 20mph on Autoroutes - driivng on hard shoulder lots. Gears crunch in every gear so adjusted clutch but reckon the gearbox is just worn out.

 Big night in Brive!

 Pas de la Cas (Andorra) to Barcelona 250km

Massive hills - took 4 hours to cover less than 30 miles. 4mph top speed in first gear meant we were very popular with the other road users. Very hot - especially Spainish side.

 Barcelona - Amazing we have arrived a day early due to us counting the days wrong on the calendar when we planned the trip. However it is very welcomed as we have already had enough of being in the car! Car now struggles to start so will need to have a look at it - but first the beach!

 English abroad?

 The only thing we have actually overtaken - except for the cyclists on the mountain, but they overtook us back before the top at 2700 meters!

Next stop near Valencia - we will try to upload some video- thanks for your support!