Last (Wobbly) Legs Home - Days 12 and 13 (at Sea)

Despite my best efforts to miss the ferry, we did eventually board it (see video or click here). In fact, we were the very last on. The ferry itself (the Pride of Bilbao) reminds me a lot of Spain. Not in a flamenco type of way, but in a more physical way. At the risk of sounding offensive, this vessel is, well, a bit untidy. Everything about it is a bit tired and in need of a good clean, much like the majority of the Spanish scenery we saw during the last couple of weeks. It seems as though the Spanish can’t really be bothered to finish anything properly, be it pavements or wiring or just cleaning up. Perhaps it is either too hot or too cold for them to physically be able to but, whatever the reason, that ‘Keep Britain Tidy’ campaign was a jolly good idea that the Spanish could learn from. As for the Pride of Bilbao, this vessel has been navigating the Bay of Biscay for over 13 years now so it's entitled to look a bit weary I guess.

The programme of entertainment on board was very good but the prices charged to its captive audience are a bit of a rip off. Had I known that in advance, I probably would have stocked up with more drinks and snacks before leaving Bilbao, but as it was, I spent over £150 feeding and watering us all whilst on board. Still, I did manage to win the bingo earning a free mini cruise for me and Mrs. F for next year. On that journey, I hope the weather and therefore the crossing will be kinder to us however. As we boarded and found our cabins, the Captain flooded us with warnings of bad weather ahead. Shortly after leaving port, we were hit by a force 9 gale which lasted right through the night. This meant that the majority of the passengers fell ill and started blowing chunks. This included Mrs. F and all the children, but surprisingly not me. I was one of the lucky 20 or so who were treated to the ‘Hollywood Nights’ evening in the gala bar all to ourselves. It was just us few blokes and virtually the entire crew who easily outnumbered all of the the passengers on what was a really empty crossing. The swell caused by the Force 9 gale was so rough that within 2 hours of slipping port, the entire vessel stank like the last hour of a boozy Stag night. Disgorged food particles strewn everywhere.

It was a shame the crossing was so bad because we had planned for the trip to be 'our' time where the kids could go and do what they wanted and me and Mrs.F could be left to do whatever we chose. To help meet this purpose, I booked the children a 4 bunk room and we had a Club Class cabin. Upgrading us from standard to Club class cost an extra £20 (I think) but this was definitely worth it. Not only did we have a bigger cabin with a proper double bed, tv, room service, two chairs, a dressing table and two windows, but this grade of ticket became 'cancellable' which meant I could have had a full refund had I needed to cancel the trip (unlike the standard ticket). In addition, we received two vouchers for free Champagne and two vouchers for free breakfasts (£17 value). In all, definitely worth the upgrade, especially as you only have to upgrade one of the cabins to get the cancellation option.

Despite its tardiness, the vessel is very comfortable (or it was when the weather eventually calmed down) and it is very well equipped. It has two cinemas, several bars and restaurants, for example. Certainly enough to keep the children occupied for the entire 35 hours or so we were on board. The shop is well stocked too and they even carried our swag down to the van for us.

When we eventually got off, there were just a couple of hours more driving until we got home. Of all the 2,125 miles, those last 100 home were by far the worst. The weather was so bad that it felt like we were in a giant washing machine being spun around from side to side. It was a bit weird driving on the left again, but even more weird driving in the dark and in the rain. Since leaving home 2 weeks ago, we hadn't seen a drop of rain and only drove briefly when it was dark. It was ironic, therefore, that the challenging part of this challenge was on the final leg in the UK, but there you go. That's not what I would have put my money on.

On getting home, we were pleased to see that other than Mr. Wilks (the cat) all was well although annoyingly the central heating hadn't fixed itself. Mr. Wilks unfortunately spent Christmas in the vets having suffered a biting attack, probably by a fox, on Christmas Eve. Our neighbour was terrific in sorting Wilky out for us and he is on the mend now. The dog came back from the kennels ok and then we hosted a New Year's Eve party. On New Year's Day, we all went out in the van again to visit family in Broadstairs (about 100 mile return trip). It was then, for the first time, that I realised how appalling our roads are. The major roads are ok, but compared to our continental cousins' roads, our local roads are riddled with potholes and bumps which makes driving in the van very uncomfortable and quite hard work. Perhaps that explains why I found driving in France and Spain such a doddle?

Once we managed to find a moment to ourselves, we were able to reflect on the amazing trip we had been on and also how we had faired on such a challenging first trip. We were also able to rate the van and our performance and consider how much we had learned. I will document some of those views in the next few days together with a full van review. I'll also upload a few more pictures and video clips and a glossary of some of the terms we have learned. After that, this blog will be complete and left on here for us to review in a year or so to remind us just how green we were to begin with.

In the meantime, it is fair to conclude that the trip was even better than we imagined it would be. We expected the children to get bored and for things to go wrong. However, they didn't and they didn't. Also, the thought of driving 300 plus miles a day sounds tiresome, but actually, it wasn't. It was mostly a pleasure. I think if we had been in a car or on a coach, it would have been much harder and less enjoyable. However, in the van, having two seating areas meant everyone could swap seats regularly and generally move about a bit. Not being on a rigid itinerary also meant we could duck and dive up and down roads that took our fancy and stop wherever and whenever we wanted to (within reason) like veering off to Chablis for example.

This added a personal dimension that erased any boredom before it even had chance to set in. In addition, for us parents, spending so long with all of our children in such a small place was really nice. At home, everyone spends a lot of their time in their own rooms stepping out, it seems, either to eat or to annoy one another. However, in the van, they all got on like the Von Trapp children. There were no major fallings out and, by the end, they were even buying each other presents. If you have seen the Robin Williams' film 'RV', it was a bit like that although not in such a Hollywood way obviously.

For me, I am glad we got home without any major upsets. Apart from the near miss in France and if you ignore the stress associated with trying to find and arrive at a secure site before it closed, the whole venture was a pleasure. The only downside was the weather. Although it was warm compared to the UK during the day, the night and mornings were still cold. In fact, other than in Rojales itself, we woke up to a frost everywhere. This made it pretty uncomfortable dashing to and fro the showers, but also meant that hardly anything was open. I'd be interested to do the same trip again but during the summer to see just how different it might be, but I wonder if the extra crowds might delete the extra services available?

The two pictures above show some of the Fego clan on the beach at Guardamar on Boxing Day and the exit road from the site near Bilbao (a 1 in 15). The video below is where we stayed on our second night near Ceyrat. Click here if it doesn't play properly.

Happy New Year

Not enough time to finish the story today, so here's a couple of videos to have a butchers at. I'll post the final chapter in our story before the weekend and follow it up with some pictures, videos, a full review of the van and a dictionary of terms as seen from a beginner's view.

The first video is how it looked at the top of the mountains on the A75 near Poncy (glad it's not like that outside now) and the second is a minute of the ziggy road near Bilbao that was relentless, it went on and on and on, a bit like the Mother-in-Law...




Click here or here if they fail to load for you.

Madrid to Bilbao (340 miles)

Day 11 – Madrid to Bilbao (340 miles)

The site we stayed at last night near Madrid worked out to be very good actually and definitely a place to think about for the summer time. During the depths of winter, however, it’s not much to shout about really; nothing more than an expensive safe haven and a shower block. As the last few days have been very warm and sunny, it was odd watching the kids throwing snowballs at each other across the frozen swimming pools now that we have moved north and beyond 1000m above sea level.

As we left, we realised that we had managed to use the electric hook up without actually paying for it. Even though we had paid more than 50 euros for just one night, it was an extra 4 Euros for electricity. They had initially escorted us to a pitch without lekky, but after driving around town for a bit, we returned to a more level pitch that happened to have a power supply. It wasn’t much cop though because it kept tripping out if we used more than just one heavy watted item at a time.

The Tom Tom was instructed to take us to the next site north east of Bilbao which it did very well. The owner of the site had told us to arrive before 5pm or face parking in the car park for the night. As became customary during this trip, we arrived with just one minute before closing time and after struggling to found the reception area (it was just a buzzer on a wall) we were given the freedom to berth anywhere we liked. Three pitches drew our attention and one after the other we bowled up only to find that the electricity wasn’t working. Another down side to travelling low season. We returned to the main field (10 yards from the car park) and got the hook up working fine. Fine for a minute anyway.

The electricity kept tripping out so, after a couple of tries, I changed the port I was plugging into and not only did the lekky survive the abuse we gave it, but the buzzing from the meter box also stopped. This, as I will explain, brings me on to that list of things I should have bought with me.

Four weeks ago I wouldn’t have had a clue about reverse polarity. I’m not that much of an expert now it has to be said, but I do know what it is. Unfortunately, I don’t know when it exists because I didn’t bring a reverse polarity tester with me. To make me look even sillier, I nevertheless bought with me a European plug wired for a reversed polarity supply. How I thought this reversed wired applicator could be used when I was never to know when it needed to be used is beyond me now but that’s where I’m at. Der brain.

Anyway, in my defence, I tried very, oh ok, quite hard to buy one, but Barrons were out of stock and the camping shops I subsequently went in didn’t have any either so I was forced to travel and take my chances. Up until last night I thought reverse polarity was a bit of a hyped up propaganda in the same category dreamt up by the campsites when warning of the ‘gassing and robbery’ at the Aires. However, in the same way I have had [second hand] experience of camper vans being gassed and robbed, I now think I have had first hand experience of reverse polarity. The first clue was with the hoover not working anymore. The second clue was with the extreme buzzing from the fuse box. I think I have managed to pogger the [Sir] Dyson by charging it on a reversed circuit. Also, when I changed the buzzing plug points, the tolerance of the burden on the circuit significantly increased. So, although now it’s too late, I have learned that you can tell if your hook up is incorrectly wired if it buzzes loudly. I suppose, however, that I could have learned that too if I had managed to get a reverse polarity tester and bought it with me. If I had managed to get one of those before I left, I might still have a hoover that works which would have been really handy today when Mrs.F accidentally threw an entire packet of Rice Crispies everywhere.

The drive up to Bilbao was dominated by the last 30 miles or so heading north east to where the campsite was. The roads resembled those seen on the Italian Job (the Michael Cain one). Dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah, de dah dah dah. Jeez, up up, down down. Hairpins, cliffe edges. Everything. To top it all, the final 500 metres up to the site was so steep that the van nearly didn’t make it. It was at least a one in 15. Then, of course, we had to do it all over again in the morning on our way to the port, but this time with me being on the cliffe side and with the disadvantage of a very strong wind that had whipped up during the night. I remembered the tip about parking facing the breeze, but there was no breeze when we arrived yet by the morning the wind was full on our beam at about force 6. This meant most of us had had weird wind related dreams mostly involving rolling down the edge of a cliffe and crashing.

I deliberately chose the site a Lekeitio because it meant we wouldn’t have any trouble plodding off into Bilbao to get the ferry the next day at 12’ish. Yeah right! First of all, we had the 30k of loopy lanes to navigate then the very poor street signs pointing out the ferry port to miss. It seemed to me that there was literally just one sign saying ‘ferry this way’ and it came too late for me. I had long since committed to follow the truck in front which went straight into some kind of customs area I quickly did an illegal U-turn and proudly lied to my confused family that ‘I forgot to fill up on cheap fuel before heading back’. I then got back on the motorway and headed for the next exit where a fuel station saved my blushes. Looking at the video, I can now see that the exit was clearly signed so it must have just been me that missed it, probably distracted by the map on the Tom Tom.

Next time round, I followed the signs and got on the waiting boat no trouble. The weather is a bit desperate so it looks like we are in for a well dodgy crossing. The captain has already extended the crossing time by an hour and that’s before we have even left.

Shortly before boarding the ferry, we topped over 2,000 driving miles in the van. Without a doubt the longest drive I have ever been on. Apart from one forced spell, I have done all of those 2,000 miles behind the wheel. I will document my full views later, but it is suffice to say that I am massively impressed with the van and how it has performed. When fully loaded, it is a bit slow off the blocks, but once it’s off, it just keeps going and going so that on the whole, we have been cruising between 70 and 85 mph. Very little fatigue and absolutely no quibbles whatsoever. I couldn’t have asked for more. It definitely gets a 10 out of 10 for the driveability aspect and the habitation side doesn’t come far behind either.

We are now on our way home and on reflection this trip has been more of a roadtrip than a Christmas adventure. We’re all glad to be going home, but we’ll all be a bit sad to have effectively lost a Christmas because no matter how you dress it up, unless you are at home, Christmas just isn’t Christmas…

click here if video fails to load for you.