Well it felt fantastic to be here safe and sound with a bike that had caused no problems and I wasn´t aching like I thought I might.
My first breakfast in Spain and I had it in the back veranda! I could get used to this, breakfast in the SUN. My Mum & Dennis had thought about what I may need to be seeing and doing in my first few days and it was great to relax and go along with everything they suggested.
The plan was that I had the week in which I would get my bearings see my new Boss mid week.
So the first day we just went down into the Port of Mazarron and I did the tourist thing of just looking around and taking in all the sights. I was very pleased with what I saw. This is not the place where we are planning on living because the workshop that I´ll be working in is 70miles away but I thought if this is a average Spanish town then this would do myself and my family very well.
We had coffee in one of the many bars and I was very impressed with what my Mum and Dennis had picked up in there 2 years here. I don´t just mean ordering coffee, they seemed confident going anywhere and trying to ask for what they wanted. They have picked up an awful lot just by being her and trying.
That night they took me to one of the many activities that they take part in . We went to play Pétanque the French game of bowls! It was great, there are about 30 to 40 people attend and they all draw numbers to see who is playing who. This way it is one big socializing event and it´s great fun!!! So whilst you are having fun playing a game you are talking to different people and hearing of different experiences.
As you can imagine after all this I was pretty tired again! It´s hard work you know.
On the Saturday we up to Catral to were I would be working to see the town and what it was like. I don´t know what I was expecting but it was better than that!
Now over the next few weeks I will have to look around the town and surrounding areas to see where best I think will suit my family but on first impressions, I liked it.
We spent the whole day out and about looking around. It was all good and I had a really good feeling that we had made the right choice to try this new life (even though it has only been 2 days!! Don´t get carried away I hear you say!).
The thing I was shown at the evening time is there is different choices to make as you can go into the Spanish towns and bars or if you really wanted to there are so many English here that you can go to areas that are full of English people living like they are on holiday. It´s Spanish all the way for me!
Now during the afternoon I received a text explaining that it was not necessary to go and see my new Boss and that I would be starting to work on the Monday rather than in a weeks time! That wasn´t the plan! I was going to have a week off. But then I thought it was loads better because I would know what the job was rather than thinking about it for a week and I would start earning sooner! I am here to work not to holiday! So Cool on Monday I would start work.
Now though was Sunday the day of rest. Not here it isn´t. Loads to see and do.
We went to a village Fiesta in the afternoon/evening. These Fiestas go on in the towns and villages all the time. They are for religious celebrations/ Saints days and Wow do they put on a show. The whole town turns out!! When we arrived they had just shut the main road and people were just putting out chairs and tables. What seemed like 5mins but was probably about half an hour and the streets were full. Everybody from little babies to Grandmas and Grandads and all in between were out. Everybody seems really happy and cheerful. We ordered a drink and sat down and wait for the precession to start.
UNBELIEVABLE! When it started the first float/group of people arrived and I thought I better get the camera out because this is amazing and I wanted people to see the effort they put in. Then the next act came in to view and again I thought wow, camera again. Believe me the whole precession was like it.!!!!!!!
It must have been at least an hour for them all to go by. the floats were big and truly spectacular, there were dancing girls in full costumes doing routines all the way down the streets, there were people in amazing costumes. (if I ever get this phone to connect to this PC I upload some of the pics for you to see!). What I didn´t expect was that the whole thing had gone round the town and now they were coming past us again!!! All of them still dancing and performing as if they had just started. Who´s ever heard of this in England, you see a carnival and then it comes around in full again with as much passion as the first time?!!
Now it was starting to get late and the party atmosphere was really getting going! There was a big stage, a market down the market and performers getting ready. It was about 11.00 and the main stage was not going to start till midnight!! They sure know how to party!
Unfortunately I was starting work in the morning, so that was the end for us. Party pooper!
But I had been here just 3 days and if this was anything to go by I could see that me, my wife and girls would be more than happy with this.
Let me get to work and see if the dream carries on in this same positive way!
Monday 10 September 2007
Thursday 6 September 2007
Day 3 (The Long Ride)
It´s breakfast and I´m still in France so it´s croissant and jam of course.
Today the plan is to get another 400miles completed which will take me to Valencia and then on the Friday I´ll only have another couple of hundred so will be in Mazarron for lunch.
So I set the TomTom for Valencia and I´m on the road for 9a.m.
It´s a lovely warm day and I´m feeling refreshed from a good nights sleep.
I´ve completed about 50 miles when suddenly the wind picks up. Then that's it for about 70 miles. I´ve never ridden in wide like it. The wind is throwing me from one side of my lane to another, in fact it´s very hard to stay in the same lane! Just like yesterday with the rain, I should stop and in fact I nearly did cause at times I did bob myself! But no I didn´t stop I kept going only much slower and when I wanted to overtake a big lorry I made sure both the 2 outside lanes were clear.
Even then it blew me all over the place and just when you think you banked over and holding on as tight as you can the wind picks up again!
Well I got through it and all I thought was bring on the ice and snow and I would have ridden in all conditions in one trip!!!
Only 120 miles from setting off and I was going over the border from France to Spain! Hola!!!
I did get off my bike and take a picture. It then accrued to me that since leaving Nottingham I had only shown my passport once which was at Dover and then I had my helmet on! I know we´re all part of the European Union but I thought there was still some checks. Oh well I´m in Spain now.
The terrain, landscape seemed to change very quickly. Less grass and more sandy looking mountains were in view now. Still very picturesque. I was feeling tired at all and when I got to Barcelona had I little look round. Then got out very quickly. Very BUSY!
I carried on riding until at around 5 I got to Valencia.
This is were I wanted to be for the night so once again I thought lets have a look around. Wrong again. Everything looks nice but the same so after going round a few corners I had totally lost my bearings! I stopped for a drink and thought the sensible thing would be to use the TomTom again to get me to a hotel. This was not as easy as France as a lot of the roads and one way systems have changed and I had forgot to update the TomTom before leaving!
Well after an hour I was back out and had found a few hotels but there was no way I was paying 75 or 69 euros!!!
So although I missed some of the views because by now it was pitch black I completed the whole of the 640miles in the one day and met my Mum at 10.00 safe and sound.
I was pretty knackered but very happy. 1550 miles in 3 days!!!
All that was left to do was say hello and then good night, we could catch up in the morning when my and my family's new life in Spain would begin!!!!!
Today the plan is to get another 400miles completed which will take me to Valencia and then on the Friday I´ll only have another couple of hundred so will be in Mazarron for lunch.
So I set the TomTom for Valencia and I´m on the road for 9a.m.
It´s a lovely warm day and I´m feeling refreshed from a good nights sleep.
I´ve completed about 50 miles when suddenly the wind picks up. Then that's it for about 70 miles. I´ve never ridden in wide like it. The wind is throwing me from one side of my lane to another, in fact it´s very hard to stay in the same lane! Just like yesterday with the rain, I should stop and in fact I nearly did cause at times I did bob myself! But no I didn´t stop I kept going only much slower and when I wanted to overtake a big lorry I made sure both the 2 outside lanes were clear.
Even then it blew me all over the place and just when you think you banked over and holding on as tight as you can the wind picks up again!
Well I got through it and all I thought was bring on the ice and snow and I would have ridden in all conditions in one trip!!!
Only 120 miles from setting off and I was going over the border from France to Spain! Hola!!!
I did get off my bike and take a picture. It then accrued to me that since leaving Nottingham I had only shown my passport once which was at Dover and then I had my helmet on! I know we´re all part of the European Union but I thought there was still some checks. Oh well I´m in Spain now.
The terrain, landscape seemed to change very quickly. Less grass and more sandy looking mountains were in view now. Still very picturesque. I was feeling tired at all and when I got to Barcelona had I little look round. Then got out very quickly. Very BUSY!
I carried on riding until at around 5 I got to Valencia.
This is were I wanted to be for the night so once again I thought lets have a look around. Wrong again. Everything looks nice but the same so after going round a few corners I had totally lost my bearings! I stopped for a drink and thought the sensible thing would be to use the TomTom again to get me to a hotel. This was not as easy as France as a lot of the roads and one way systems have changed and I had forgot to update the TomTom before leaving!
Well after an hour I was back out and had found a few hotels but there was no way I was paying 75 or 69 euros!!!
So, I was feeling tired so onwards I went. I was now thinking I could make it to Alicante. So away I went. I stopped to call Jo and say what I was planning and after a quick discussion I decided that if I was going on to Alicante I might as well ring and ask if could arrive at 10 o´clock at night in stead of midday Friday. Cool no problem.
Thats it then, onwards.So although I missed some of the views because by now it was pitch black I completed the whole of the 640miles in the one day and met my Mum at 10.00 safe and sound.
I was pretty knackered but very happy. 1550 miles in 3 days!!!
All that was left to do was say hello and then good night, we could catch up in the morning when my and my family's new life in Spain would begin!!!!!
Wednesday 5 September 2007
Day 2 of the journey
Well that´s it I´m abroad. Breakfast is a croissant and jam and coffee.
It´s nice and early because I want to get to the south of France by tonight. I´ve set the sat nav to Montpellier by going down mainly pay roads but also with a couple of country bits.
I thought for some reason that now I was past Paris that it would be sunny and warm. Wrong it´s cold and dark. Oh well I´m on the bike and loving seeing the countryside around me.
As I´ve said the petrol stations are great because when you get to one it tells you how far the next three are so I was able to judge a lot better when I needed to stop for gas. Another good thing is about the services in France is that many of the have what are like picnic parking areas next to them so that you can fill up, get something to drink and then park up and you would not think that you are near a motorway.
I´ve now been on the road for about three hours when the sky becomes a lot darker so I pull in to one of these lovely picnic areas and put the water proof covers over my bags and cable tye a clear bag over the TomTom. Then just as I get to Lyon the heavens open. I don´t mean a drip or two but all of sudden I can´t see because there is as much water spraying up off the roads as there is coming down. A lorry came along side me on the left on the slip road and the water came right over the top of my legs. I was soaked!!!!
Now the sensible thing I here you say is pull in and wait for it to stop but this is me and I think it can´t last long cause I´m abroad and it´s August so I carry on. And I carry on and the rain doesn´t stop for 120miles. It did slow down after I had negotiated the city streets of Lyon.
I even stopped at a service station when I thought it had stopped, went to the loo, came out and it started again. Who would have believed it the storm was going my way!
Finally after the rain and completing 780 miles form home the sun came out!!
Now I was nearing my destination I had completed 380 of the 440 miles I was going to do today and I had dried out of the rain water and now I was wet with sweat! Can´t please some people!
I was quite chuffed with myself I had got to where I wanted to be and found a FirstHotel with a great room, with a toilet and shower!! Heaven! The guy understood a bit of English as well and gave me a room so that I could take the bike right to the door, throw the bags off and straight into the room. Brilliant. I had everything I need a shower and bed and it only cost 45euros. Cheap at half the price.
It´s nice and early because I want to get to the south of France by tonight. I´ve set the sat nav to Montpellier by going down mainly pay roads but also with a couple of country bits.
I thought for some reason that now I was past Paris that it would be sunny and warm. Wrong it´s cold and dark. Oh well I´m on the bike and loving seeing the countryside around me.
As I´ve said the petrol stations are great because when you get to one it tells you how far the next three are so I was able to judge a lot better when I needed to stop for gas. Another good thing is about the services in France is that many of the have what are like picnic parking areas next to them so that you can fill up, get something to drink and then park up and you would not think that you are near a motorway.
I´ve now been on the road for about three hours when the sky becomes a lot darker so I pull in to one of these lovely picnic areas and put the water proof covers over my bags and cable tye a clear bag over the TomTom. Then just as I get to Lyon the heavens open. I don´t mean a drip or two but all of sudden I can´t see because there is as much water spraying up off the roads as there is coming down. A lorry came along side me on the left on the slip road and the water came right over the top of my legs. I was soaked!!!!
Now the sensible thing I here you say is pull in and wait for it to stop but this is me and I think it can´t last long cause I´m abroad and it´s August so I carry on. And I carry on and the rain doesn´t stop for 120miles. It did slow down after I had negotiated the city streets of Lyon.
I even stopped at a service station when I thought it had stopped, went to the loo, came out and it started again. Who would have believed it the storm was going my way!
Finally after the rain and completing 780 miles form home the sun came out!!
Now I was nearing my destination I had completed 380 of the 440 miles I was going to do today and I had dried out of the rain water and now I was wet with sweat! Can´t please some people!
I was quite chuffed with myself I had got to where I wanted to be and found a FirstHotel with a great room, with a toilet and shower!! Heaven! The guy understood a bit of English as well and gave me a room so that I could take the bike right to the door, throw the bags off and straight into the room. Brilliant. I had everything I need a shower and bed and it only cost 45euros. Cheap at half the price.
Sunday 2 September 2007
I Have Arrived
I made it safe and sound! I arrived Thursday night at 10.00p.m. I will just back track to tell you about the journey.
Day 1
Tuesday 28th August, the big day! The ferry was booked for 10.50a.m. so I decided to start at 6.00 to give myself plenty of time to get there. At half 5 my beautiful wife and 3 girls all got up see me off. It was hard to think that I was not going for a couple of days and that it could possible be months before I saw them again. Look ally I had lots to do with loading my bike! (When I can figure out how to link my phone to this PC I´ll upload some pics.)
I had brought panniers, back bag and tank bag so there was more than enough room to fit everything I wanted to take.
At just after 6 I have a great picture in my mind of Jo and the girls all stood at our front door in their dressing gowns waving me off!!!!
That was it I was on the road. I felt a bit weird for quite a long time that I was not going to go back for a long time. Once I got lots of motorway miles under me then I began to focus on the journey and route ahead. I had adapted a car sat nav to the bike(with the help of mates) but obviously from Nottingham to Dover it is pretty much a straight road. The first concern was that the bike only does 100miles on a tank full of gas so I needed be aware of where the services were! I passed a service station with 70miles on the clock and thought I would be ok. Then at 100 I went on to reserve so this is were I used the TomTom to get me to the nearest petrol station. It took me off the motorway and I think I was just about in fumes when I got there.
Has I got off the bike I put it on the side stand (couldn't put on main stand with all the luggage on the back!) . As I walked round to the pump the bike slowly fell over!!!! Well adrenaline must have kicked in cause I went straight back round and after a coulpe of heaves stood the bike back up!
I had now learnt 2 very important lessons. 1 if I see a service station at 70miles stop and secondly when parking the bike on the side stand always leave it in 1st gear!!!!!
After this little glitch I was back on the motorway and on time to get to Dover. Having never been on a ferry with a bike before didn´t quite know what to do but basically if you just follow the signs it´s really simple and a chap helped strap the bike down for the crossing.
Ist part accomplished, I was on the ferry!!! Spent the 1st 20mins I think just texting people saying I was off.
Now I´m in France.
I had planned my journey on maps (again with help from a mate) so I set the sat nav to the next destination I wanted to get too. I had decided to miss out Paris and that I would use pay roads as I thought the cost of petrol verses the cost of roads would balance it self out.
Got used to driving on the right by following other cars for the first few miles. I found it quite easy, probably cause I was concentrating so much.
The miles went by pretty fast and a lot of the roads were like driving through Scotland's countryside. Got the hang of picking up a ticket at one Toll Station and then paying at the next.
Didn´t have a problem of when to fill up with gas either because there are signs at each service station showing in K´s how far the next 3 stations are.
So after 480miles I had reached Troyes which is just south east of Paris and where I wanted to be at the end of the first day. I had a ride round and again because I had the sat nav just typed in the nearest Formula 1 hotel and off I went.
The first thing was I don´t speak French and the lady in reception didn´t speak English. Not a problem really, with a bit of grunting and pointing managed to get a room with breakfast in the morning all for 36euros.
Now these hotels are cheap and easier than camping but they are as basic as you can get. You get a room with a bed and sink. Everything is bolted down. There are toilets and a shower down the corridor but that's it(every time I went for a shower it was being used). Not moaning really cause all I wanted to do was sleep!!!
So that was it. It was 5.30p.m. I had a bed for the night in France were I wanted to be so as far as I was concerned - Result!
Day 1
Tuesday 28th August, the big day! The ferry was booked for 10.50a.m. so I decided to start at 6.00 to give myself plenty of time to get there. At half 5 my beautiful wife and 3 girls all got up see me off. It was hard to think that I was not going for a couple of days and that it could possible be months before I saw them again. Look ally I had lots to do with loading my bike! (When I can figure out how to link my phone to this PC I´ll upload some pics.)
I had brought panniers, back bag and tank bag so there was more than enough room to fit everything I wanted to take.
At just after 6 I have a great picture in my mind of Jo and the girls all stood at our front door in their dressing gowns waving me off!!!!
That was it I was on the road. I felt a bit weird for quite a long time that I was not going to go back for a long time. Once I got lots of motorway miles under me then I began to focus on the journey and route ahead. I had adapted a car sat nav to the bike(with the help of mates) but obviously from Nottingham to Dover it is pretty much a straight road. The first concern was that the bike only does 100miles on a tank full of gas so I needed be aware of where the services were! I passed a service station with 70miles on the clock and thought I would be ok. Then at 100 I went on to reserve so this is were I used the TomTom to get me to the nearest petrol station. It took me off the motorway and I think I was just about in fumes when I got there.
Has I got off the bike I put it on the side stand (couldn't put on main stand with all the luggage on the back!) . As I walked round to the pump the bike slowly fell over!!!! Well adrenaline must have kicked in cause I went straight back round and after a coulpe of heaves stood the bike back up!
I had now learnt 2 very important lessons. 1 if I see a service station at 70miles stop and secondly when parking the bike on the side stand always leave it in 1st gear!!!!!
After this little glitch I was back on the motorway and on time to get to Dover. Having never been on a ferry with a bike before didn´t quite know what to do but basically if you just follow the signs it´s really simple and a chap helped strap the bike down for the crossing.
Ist part accomplished, I was on the ferry!!! Spent the 1st 20mins I think just texting people saying I was off.
Now I´m in France.
I had planned my journey on maps (again with help from a mate) so I set the sat nav to the next destination I wanted to get too. I had decided to miss out Paris and that I would use pay roads as I thought the cost of petrol verses the cost of roads would balance it self out.
Got used to driving on the right by following other cars for the first few miles. I found it quite easy, probably cause I was concentrating so much.
The miles went by pretty fast and a lot of the roads were like driving through Scotland's countryside. Got the hang of picking up a ticket at one Toll Station and then paying at the next.
Didn´t have a problem of when to fill up with gas either because there are signs at each service station showing in K´s how far the next 3 stations are.
So after 480miles I had reached Troyes which is just south east of Paris and where I wanted to be at the end of the first day. I had a ride round and again because I had the sat nav just typed in the nearest Formula 1 hotel and off I went.
The first thing was I don´t speak French and the lady in reception didn´t speak English. Not a problem really, with a bit of grunting and pointing managed to get a room with breakfast in the morning all for 36euros.
Now these hotels are cheap and easier than camping but they are as basic as you can get. You get a room with a bed and sink. Everything is bolted down. There are toilets and a shower down the corridor but that's it(every time I went for a shower it was being used). Not moaning really cause all I wanted to do was sleep!!!
So that was it. It was 5.30p.m. I had a bed for the night in France were I wanted to be so as far as I was concerned - Result!
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