Sorry its been a while since my last blog we have been unto a lot in a the last week or so.
Where do i start, after our night in the winery we decided to head toward the coast so the boys could get some waves. We decided to go to a place called biscarrosse, on the way we stopped off at the largest sand dune in europe "dune du plya" its 170m high, was a bit of a mission to climb but it had some awesome views from the top, and the way down was fun the boys were doing jumps and army rolls all the way down. After the sand dune we headed to the campsite where we parked amongst the trees, that night we rode our bikes down to the beach and watched the sun set over the ocean, with a few beers of corse, being that the sun dosnt set in europe until around 10pm - 10.30pm we didn't get back to the campsite until around 11ish and didn't get to eat our dinner until 12ish, crazy. We we only stayed there for one night then it was off to Hosseger. We arrived at the campsite in Hosseger mid arvo, and got set up, on the site next to ours was a kiwi couple matt and kajiana, they had also hired a van and were travelling around. They were really nice and ended up hanging out with us for the arvo. The next day we headed down to the beach, as there was no surf the boys hired some stand up paddle boards, and paddled around for the arvo. there must have been some serious grip on the boards as paul took most of the skin off he's knees some how. It was pretty funny as we were sitting there on the beach a group of life savers ran past just wearing there red bordies, and it just so happened that paul's bordies looked almost identical so he decided to join them. i don't think the life saves knew what was going on, they kind of looked at him funny and kept running. That night we rode into town to get a few beers and dinner, on the way home and yes we did have a few pints some how mikes handle bars and my handle bars some how got locked together and i landed in a bush, the next day i had the biggest bruise on the side of my leg.
The next day we were off to Barritz and as matt and kajiana were also in a van they joined our little convoy, we spent 3 days in Barritz and a lot of alcohol was consumed in those days. The first day we didn't do much, chilled out by the pool in the campsite, and the boys went in search of waves. The next day mike started to get sick, he was in bed for about 3 days which really sucked i think all the drinking caught up with him and he was a bit dehydrated. While poor mike was in bed us girls went for a walk to the beach which was about 1 km down a hill from the camp site, it was ok going down not so good going back up. The next day Paul, Courtney and I caught the bus into town. The town was really nice, we walked up to the look out which had a really good view of the city and the beaches, that afternoon our mates Mason and Fritha arrived, it was really good to finally see them. A lot of beer and wine was consumed that night.
The next day we were off to pamplona for running of the bulls, the drive there was amazing we drove through the mountains and down narrow lanes, hans struggled a bit getting up the steep hills. We arrived at the campsite we were staying at it was about 30km from pamplona, what a place! This guy comes out and shows us where to park our vans, there were hundreds of tents and vans scattered everywhere, the guy shows us our place, we are in a kids playground and between our two vans was a sea saw. The first day we were there was pretty much a massive party, there were drunk people everywhere it was pretty gross people spewing and peeing everywhere . The next day was the opening ceremony for san ferryman (running of the bulls) this was absolutely crazy. We dressed up in white and red and caught the shuttle bus in to the city which took about 40 min not so much fun when 90 % of the people of the bus are hard core hung over and stink of stale alcohol. Once we got into town we headed to the shops to buy some sangria, which you can buy in 2L bottles for around 1 euro. We headed to one of the main squares and the party started, it was a sea of red and white with sangria, shaving cream, tomato sauce and pretty much anything else you can get your hands on being thrown everywhere, you start the day white and end up purple. After the main ceremony was over with we went and walked through the streets, which was a bit difficult as about 50000 other people were all trying to do the same thing. There were even marching bands trying to work there way through the crowds, it was crazy. Our friends mason and fritha were staying in a hotel in town and with the thousands of people we couldn't find them for the main ceremony, but walking thought the massively crowded streets we managed to bump into them, we had some lunch and chilled out in the park for a bit then we had to catch the bus back to the campsite. The next day was the bull run. We had to get the bus at 6 am which sucked as the campsite dosent seem to sleep, people party all day and night long. Once we arrived into pamplona paul and a few other boys went to to go where they had to run from, and mike, mason, firtha, courtney and my self made our way to the arena. The arena itself wasn't as big as i expected, but still had an awesome vibe to it. We waited for about 45min for the run and in the mean time they had showing on a TV in the arena the bulls and there weights, the biggest bull weighted 600kg, crazy. At 8am we heard a bang and looked at the screen and it had started it didn't take long for the bulls to reach the arena, it was funny watching the people run into the arena, you could tell when the bulls were coming, the people would all be jogging along and then all of a sudden they would start to bolt then you would see these massive bulls run in. I thought the big bulls would have stayed in the arena but they run out as soon and they get in. Once all of the runners and bulls have entreated the arena they let the baby bulls (which are still massive) one by one into the mass of people. Its kinda sad to watch the bulls being taunted by all the people, and its crazy how serious the spanish are. One non spanish guy grabbed one of the baby bulls horns and tryed to drag it to the ground and a spanish guy grabbed him and started to bash him, crazy to see. After all the excitement of the bull run was over we headed back to the campsite to pack up. Thank goodness we were out of that place it was by far the worst place we have stayed at.
That day we drove to San Sebastian. By the time we got there is was late arvo so we had a drive through town and found a parking area to sleep for the night. The next day we headed into town, it was a beautiful sunny day we went for a walk up to the top of the mountain there where there is an old forte and a massive statue of jesus, the views rom the top were amazing , after that we headed down to the beach and mike got some waves in. After the beach we decided to all go to a place called Zarautz which wasn't far from san Sebastian. We arrived at the campsite and it was amazing, it was onto of a massive hill overlooking the town and the ocean, It was a bit of a walk to the beach(down the side of a mountain) but worth it. The next day our mates mason and firth joined us, they stayed in pamplona for a few extra days. Unfortunately they went allowed to stay on the same pitch as us but they weren't far away, that night we all had a few drinks and watched the sunset it was beautiful.
The next day we all headed to a small town called sopelana, where we spent the next 2 nights, we chilled out for most of the time as the weather wasn't the best on the first day but the second day was nice and sunny so we headed to the beach. Sadly the next day we all parted ways, mike and i headed down to a place called Ajo, unfortunately it was poring with rain for most of the day so we found a quiet beach and parked up for the night (our first proper free camp). It pelted down rain all night and the next day wasn't any better and we had checked the forecast and the next few days were suppose to be rain so we thought stuff it let go to portugal. it took us about 9 hours to drive there but seems to go pretty fast, we went through the mountains which were amazing and finally arrived into a place called figueira de foz for the night. This place wasn't that nice there was a lot of mining going on and the water at the beaches was pretty polluted so the next day we headed to Peniche, on the way we drove though so amazing little towns, Nazare being one of them. We drove to the top of a cliff and there was the cutes little village, with all these old women walking around in traditional dress. We have spent the last 3 days in Peniche, its it a really cute little town. We have been riding around exploring, we found an awesome little place for lunch where you can get a pint of beer for 2 euros, awesome. We went to a medieval festival and ate lunch out of terracotta tiles which was interesting and even managed to be in town for carnival which was cool, they had a massive parade and everyone was dressed up in theses amazing costumes. This morning we left Peniche but not with out any dramas, mike and i both needed to go to the loo early this morning so we both went and thought we had left the car door unlocked, some how the door managed to lock and we couldn't get it. It was cold and started to rain and we had no way of getting in, the people at the reception were useless but the two vans next to us were a big help and after about an hour one guy finally managed to break in. What a morning, we are finally on the road again now not sure what were going to yet, mikes in search of waves :)
until next time
