Day 23 – 27th May 2009 – Wednesday, Spain!

We made it. What an awesome day. Got up to clouds with blue peaking through and so decided to go for it. Showered and managed to clean my teeth mistakenly with shaving cream – eugh… not an advisable activity at all (that’ll teach me to collect the tiny tubes from hotel rooms!) then got some breakfast before starting to pack everything up, we were ready to leave by 12:45pm (getting better). The drive to the Spanish border was stunning; snow capped mountains, waterfalls and clear rivers opening onto vivid turquoise mountain lagoons. We climbed above the red kites until we reached the border and drove straight through. As we started the descent into sunny Spain, not more than 500m from the border, a deer leapt over the barrier on the left hand side of me and leapt again towards the van, “WHOOOOOAAAAAAAA” was all I could manage as Ant broke and the poor little thing missed the front of the van by only a matter of inches. A bit shaken but excited at the same time, we pulled over and watched the deer bounding across the mountain to join his mate who had crossed behind us. Was like a view from Heidi. Then we noticed some enormous vultures circling and landing not far from us, so in true secret-twitcher style, the bins came out, followed by the book and after some debate, the Griffon Vulture was ticked.
After a quick drive around the out-of-season ski resort of Candanchu, we continued down towards the river and stopped for some lunch and a map-check on the Rio Aragon. We decided to refuel in Jaca and then find a campsite. Fuel is much cheaper here, less than a euro a litre which is promising, but the campsite we have found is much more expensive – although we justified the cost as our first night in Spain (and we needed wifi, and somewhere to watch the champions league final of course – Barcelona Vs Man Utd.).
Tomorrow we are setting off for Pamplona; the city where the annual running of the bulls takes place. Don’t know yet whether we will reach it in a day, but we will probably wild camp somewhere.

Day 22 – 26th May 2009 – Tuesday, Accous still.

Raining. Mist covered the mountains again and two slightly miffed individuals got up, showered, ate and sat shivering in the awning for a bit, then went back to bed with a bottle of whiskey to watch a DVD of ‘Fever Pitch’ given free with the News of the World that we found in the entertainment box. Two hours of testosterone-fuelled football mania made slightly more bearable by having Colin Firth as the lead. Still it killed time whilst the rain at least paused for a bit, probably to gather up strength for another night of downpours. Can we at least have a lightening show to accompany tonight’s efforts please?
We have resorted to leaving the stove on all afternoon too in the hope it might help dry out the washing and allow us some breathing space in the van. At least the socks don’t feel sodden anymore, just damp.

Day 21 – 25th May 2009 – Monday, Accous.

Still no internet access and still more rain and thunder storms, we have moved further south, maybe 20kms from the Spanish border to a place called Accous in the low mountains. Bought yet more food and wine and set up under some trees, did some washing, (in an ancient machine that had more operating procedures than 747, and no spin cycle….grrrr.), which is now hanging, sodden, on every piece of wire or hook we have available to us, so much so that Ant is worried we will wake tomorrow with water on our lungs from the humidity of wet clothes hanging in the pop top! We are currently watching the huge hovering red kites (or are they Black Kites, can’t really tell from this distance) and the mist rolling over the mountain tops above us – a bit intimidating actually. The guy here said they had beautiful sunshine yesterday and expect a mixed day tomorrow, so we are going to stay two nights in the hope it will clear before we ask Bee to attempt the mountain crossing on Wednesday.

Day 20 – 24th May 2009 – Sunday. Camping Paysan still.

Awesome thunder show last night – forks of pink lightening straight across the sky in front and above us followed by loads of loud rumbling all around us. We had to get up again at 2am to close the pop top, because the wind was shaking the van so much.
We got up today to slightly brighter weather, although still no sun and can no longer see the mountains through the mist. Staying on another night here as we have grown to like the view and the serenity. Saw a black redstart here yesterday and had another go with my macro lens practising on a poor snail that really didn’t want to be photographed in the bright light of day.
Ant had a quick check in the engine bay (looking for a distributor number to find out the timing settings I think) but also noticed that the accelerator cable was rubbing on some piping and wearing it away, so he improvised a shield with our empty bean can and some cable ties, will check it again after a bit of driving tomorrow. We are hoping to find somewhere with a tumble dryer and internet access tomorrow so we can stop a few more nights in France before we cross over. Need to brush up on my Spanish!

Day 19 – 23rd May 2009 – Saturday. Camping Paysan near Gan, France

Another traveller arrived last night, John from Durham, a psychiatric nurse with a passion for motorbike rallying. He is on his way to the Sierra de Javalambre, north of Valencia in Spain to take part in a 5-day rally starting on Sunday. He pitched his tent in record time and joined us for a couple of drinks and some evening chat about English current affairs and old cars. He retired about 10pm in order to get an early start for the last leg of his journey tomorrow.
We got our first glance at the mountains this morning when the mist finally cleared to reveal a run of snow-capped peaks beyond the woods we had been looking at all evening – an awesome sight, if not a little daunting. Has Bee really got enough gears to get over those?
Only two problems with this place; 1) cold showers, and 2) the constant stream of flies buzzing about us; they are everywhere, it’s a struggle to keep all the food covered – and there aren’t that many cupboards French baguettes will fit into in this van! Maybe it’s the horse casserole we have bubbling away on the stove – smells gorgeous, just hope it tastes ok.
Ps: Ant will now be known as ‘Teabag’ since the tiniest of bugs landed on his arm today causing him to throw his entire mug of tea into his lap – I nearly wet myself ….. in sympathy of course.