The day began rather late because of Ben and Dan deciding on keeping everyone awake last night. However the morning started well with Mike cooking everyone a massive bacon sandwich in some rather nice Spanish bread. After everyone had showered we set of out in search of mountain roads. On the way we got rather lost, well I say we but really it’s all Ben’s fault! Much bickering was involved; mostly you took the wrong turning bla bla etc.
We eventually found the mountain roads and drove them nicely. Taking corners wide and sliding round them etc. We stopped off at a rather massive dam, which had the most amazing blue water ever. We then drove a small winding road around the dam’s lake which was amazing.
We found a rather nice village called Guadalest where we stopped for lunch and walked around the village. However they charged us €4 for parking and here I thought Spanish people hated paying to park.
After grabbing some lunch we browsed the local town shops. Then heading back we did some rather insane mountain driving. Driving down the mountains was rather fun, thanks to Ben and his epic driving. Having the car powering into corners then wheel screeching out of them was very fun, sometimes we went sideways.
Later in the evening we ended up in the bar for food and drinks again.
Food of choice was:
Ben – Gammon which was rather large and looked like a bloody steak!
Mike – Vegetarian Pasta with with salsa (Homemade spicy salsa)
Dan – Chicken and mushroom pie with gravy, mashed potatoes and peas
Me – Steak Pie with chips and salad
Edit – Driving Video Added
(more…)
The day began with us all getting up at midday, mostly because apparently we were all up at 8am but no one realized. As soon as everyone had showered we set of out for food in Benidorm.
The weather was a bit overcast mostly from all the storms yesterday. But it was still a nice day, albeit a bit windy!
Went for a little walk down the local coast, took a few photos and made a rather epic panoramic photo of the coast line and storm clouds.
After that we spent most of the afternoon browsing the local town, before heading back to the villa. We were hoping to go to the bar but it had not opened, and was not due to open for 2 more hours. So we all decided to head to the local supermarket, which was bloody massive! You could purchase your garden stuff, and then go buy your car tires and a moped, before finishing up with a TV and some food.
Later in the evening we all sat in the bar with food and drinks.
The day began with me getting a rather annoying phone call from work. I have no idea what they want as I missed it, and quite frankly I’m on holiday.
After having a look at everyone’s pictures from the last few days on my laptop we set off out.
Everyone had decided that we needed to do food shopping, and then get lunch at an English restaurant called CJ.
As we left CJ’s the wind was really blowing and you knew a storm was coming. As we turned to go to the car we noticed these big black clouds and lots of them. We hot footed to the car and 2 minutes later it started to rain. Well started to would be an understatement! It bloody down poured with lots of hail which sounded like gun fire. With lots of lightning. The storm was so bad you could hardly see the traffic or roads in front. Roads got covered in basically ice which makes getting up hills interesting, most of the villa roads got turned into mini rivers. As we sat on top of the hill which overlooks the sea, there were a few lightning strikes at sea!
We decided to sit in the car and wait for the rain to stop or calm down, as the villa is a bit of a walk from the road.We gathered all the shopping up and ran to the villa and basically sat inthe villa bored. The only entertaining thing was seeing Ben break the sliding doors and then spending ages fixing them.
Once everything was fixed and the sun came out we all left for a walk around town. Ended up back at the villa while we decided whereto go for dinner. We decided on going for a drive, as wewhere driving around we also lookedfor places to eat. We ended up eating on a restaurant overlooking the coast. Nothing beats food and beer by the sea. Later in the evening we ended up in a place called Sin Bar for a few drinks.
After getting up at 6.30am, after a rather uncomfortable sleep in the car we finally set off. We decided to ignore all logical directions and follow signs for Gan. This is because if you follow the signs for Spain in France they take you through the tunnel. But we wanted to go basically through the Pyrenees Mountains which is more fun.
As we drove through the mountains one can’t help but stop and take pictures every now and again, in other words, every corner. The views were amazing; nothing beats driving through mountains and seeing snow. The roads are awesome, nothing like seeing a diesel spew black smoke out while boosting round corners. There are a few nice mountain villages, ones like Gabas. We finally drove out of the French side of mountains at 9.45am. As soon as we did we were greeted with an amazing view of even more epic mountains. Nothing beats driving out the mountains and seeing a massive lake and the mountains behind it. After much cruising we finally reach our first Spanish toll road the AP7, which takes us really near the villa. We finally arrived at the villa just after 17.00. All I can say is spending 3 days in a car without having a wash is not good. That first shower was awesome and long awaited.
Later on in the evening we all went out had a few drinks and got food. Much needed after a long trip, nothing like an ice cold bottle of Estrella Levante.
The holiday to Spain started at 2am on May 1st. Mike came over to my house; we loaded all the stuff into the car before I then took over driving to meet up at Ben’s house. We then left Ben’s house at 3am.
We drove down the M20 towards Folkestone for the Channel Tunnel. After being loaded on the train at 5am, we arrived in a service station outside the terminal in France for 5.30am (GMT) or French time 6.30am. We all set our GPS’s the same however Bens GPS said “While in France, Please continue to Europe”.
Mike started the French driving so I could get used to being on the other side of the road and French road sides etc. However while driving through France at about 9.30am (French Time) our little convoy got split up, because Ben did not keep right when he was supposed to. Of course phoning did not help because we don’t know where the hell we are or where they are. We finally met up at around 10am (French Time) on the D915 about 2KM distance behind us.
After taking a short rest break at 11am on the outskirts of Paris we started our road trip again, passing the main Peugeot factory. Lucky for us the GPS decided not to take us through Paris. However we did pass through a village with interesting name called Pussay.
We finally stopped off for lunch at 14.45 (French Time). Only to find Dumb and Dumber (Ben and Dan) had forgot their food and had to buy some. Also filled the car up with fuel, and continued driving for hours.
We finally then stopped for fuel at around 19.30 (French Time). It was a long awaited stretch, and set off again at 19.50 (French Time) for Pau, where we arrived at 10pm. Finally got some much needed sleep and some food.
