This BLOG was written when we arrived, but lack of internet access etc, meant that it has been resting on my laptop untill now…
I seem to remember that when I wrote the last entry I was under the impression that we’d be updating the BLOG ‘en route’. Naturally this didn’t happen- for a number of reasons, but primarily because internet access was sadly lacking in the places that we stopped. And then I had hoped we’d be writing regular updates since we arrived here – but again, no phone line so internet means trips to Zafra.
Anyway – the last week…….
Monday 26th, we headed off. Plan was to leave at 10.30, but uncharacteristically we were ready early and as we were ready by 9ish we left then. Good job, as we had not factored in the heavy traffic . We arrived at Dover about 3.30 for our 4.30 ferry. The additional half an hour was to allow for the ‘additional paperwork’ required as we were travelling with animals. This ‘additional paperwork’ consisted of sticking a sticker of a dog onto our boarding card, so we were left with plenty of time on our hands to stare at the White Cliffs of Dover for the last time.
The ferry crossing to Calais is a short one, enough time to eat chips, buy a map and worry about what havoc Basil would be causing. I was concerned that he would get into the front of the van and loosen the handbreak, at the very least ensuring our van bashed into the ones in the front and behind us, or at the worst sinking the ferry. We think there were Paris to Decar rally support vehicles with us on the boat and I don’t think they would have taken to kindly to being rammed by our aged transit – particularly with Basic behind the wheel. But all this was unfounded as when it was time to disembark, we found Basil quietly asleep and being well behaved.
Jim had kindly printed out for us a route which we successfully followed out of Calais and along the coast, and started on our journey through France, until the road signs disappeared and we ended up having a bit of a spontaneous sight seeing tour. Using the stars for navigation, we headed south (ok, we picked up road signs again at this point). We slept in the back of the van and, boy, it was cold. We were in a layby and some nice policemen woke us up at 4.00 to see if we were ok. I am not sure what they found most sinister, Ian jumping out the back of the van in his sleeping bag, or the fact that we had Davy’s litter tray on the front drivers seat and it looked as though the van was being driven by a cat turd. I was quite glad that they did wake us up, as I think that hyperthermia was taking over and I had forgotten that we were laid on top of a duvet, so when we put this onto us, and then fought a bit over Basil, the rest of the night was spent in comparitive comfort.
Tuesday we were heading towards Bordeaux. We found a much better place to over night. It had showers and everything, however at sub zero temperatures, there was no way we were going to take advantage of outdoor facilities. We took the thermometre we had bought (to measure the balmy temperatures of Spanish spring) , into the back of the van and were disturbed to note that the temperature on waking was –5c. The van was frozen on the inside and some orange juice we had left in the front was frozen.
When we, the van and the pups had defrosted we headed off, only to find ourselves in snow. When we got to Biaritz the snow got worse and we were stuck for quite some time at the bottom of a hill that people were having difficulties climbing. Actually the snow wasn’t bad at all, not by northumbrian standards, but there was black ice which was not nice. We crossed the border into Spain at 12.00, which was a couple of hours behind schedule.
As we entered Spain we started to get more excited as this was where we were going to call ‘home’. Whilst we were perturbed by the ongoing snow and the precense of snow ploughs, these soon disappeared and we entered the spanish interior. Lots of small villages, fields of oranges and disproportionately large churches.
We found an excellent overnight stopping point, which was a picnic area north of Salamanca and we had our tea outside. Admittedly it was a tad cold, and we ate quickly, but it was warmer than it had been.
As we headed off the next day, we stopped for a coffee and looked at the map, we were getting closer to Zafra and estimated that we should be there early afternoon. Which we were. So we headed to Badajoz, went to a supermarket and headed back. Really just killing time. This was Thursday and we had our most disappointing overnight stop. It was a layby outside Zafra which lacked any facilities and we felt a bit vulnerable. On top of this Basil was an absolute NIGHTMARE and fidgeted the whole night through. I didn’t suffer as badly as Ian who kept getting hit in the head by Basil wanting to play ‘Shakey Paw’. I was quite glad at this point that my position was cramed in the back of the van by the puppy cage and away from where Basil could play. However, the lawyer called us to confirm our appointment the next day and we were excited enough to wake up early and head into Zafra, despite not much sleep.
The trip with 6 dogs and Davy was not too bad really. Davy was much happier when he was along side the dogs – and didn’t howl too much. We let him roam in the van at night which let him stretch his legs. The rest of the pups were well behaved and there was the occasional barking session which was no more than to be expected really.
Zafra is a pretty place, however not known for its wide streets, and our long wheel van caused some issues parking and generally blending in. But we found somewhere to park without gridlocking the town, found an internet café and mooched around a bit before we were due to meet the lawyer in the bank. Luckily our lawyer speaks very good English and took us through the process. We withdrew the money from the bank and then headed to VillaGarcia to complete the priocess. It was on this leg of the journey that it hit us – the van had made it! 1600 miles and still going strong. Hoorah!
So…. December 30th. We saw the house for the first time together. It was bigger than I remember, which I think might be as a result of Ian saying it wasn’t as big as he thought. There was one room which I had forgotten,and another which Ian had not seen, so we were both surprised.
Night of the 30th we were tired, we had bread and cheese say in an empty kitchen, bar half a dozen boxes, dragged a bed into one of the rooms and fell asleep. Only for us both to find outselves awake again at 4.00. Deciding that we were not going to sleep, we got up and started lugging furniture around and unpacking. By 8.00 it was starting to take shape, by 8.30 I was back in bed getting ready for my siesta later, but Ian continued and needless to say we were both in no fit state to celebrate new years eve, being asleep by 9.00.