European Adventure

Well here we are in France. Glad to be back on the right hand side of the road. Before we move on I must relate the story of the ferry ride from Ireland to France on Irish Ferries. The trip takes about 17 hours but there is lots to do on board (if you would like to pay for it) and you do have a closet/cabin to sleep in. We enjoyed the Stena ferries a lot more.

Let's see, We are back in Ireland for a quick chat with the various family members to say goodbye to all. We are finally moving on to the continent and will stop freeloading.

So to sum up for Ireland:

Gas is easy to find but only the 95 octane. High test is hard to find. Prices from .85 to .95 euro. ( same price in Scotland just in pounds YIKES!!!)

Eating in the gas stations is easy cheap and shockingly very good. Most have a deli/hot food service.

Pubs are great. 'nuff said

We leave St. Lo for Granville for a few "off the bike days". Nice small seaside town with a cool harbour area and lots of fishing boats. The ride here is nothing to scream about, mostly straight and flat. We will have to wait until the south of France before things get interesting in that dept.

Today is Wednesday October 8th and I am really writing this on todays date... finally up to date with this stupid blog... I hope you guys are enjoying our travels and we would love you to email us at any time. Remember we only have each other to speak to in English and considering we have exactly the same day as each other it can get a little dull......

So we have arrived in Spain !!!

Hello all !!

We've missed a few weeks of updates so I'm going to give you the quick and dirty version of the last weeks in France.

So, where am I ??? Dark room, lumpy bed, small bathroom. Could be any of about 7 different countries. Open curtains and discover that it is a beautiful sunny day in San Sebastian or Donostia depending on your political views and ETA affiliation. We have had a great time in S. Sebastian. It is a beautiful city that is overrun in the summer time but offseason is great. We stay for a few days longer than intended as we are really enjoying the place.

Okay, it is October 25th and we have made it to Albufeira in the Algarve. Ahhh, sunny and warm and ocean and ....... tourists.

But I well get to that.

After leaving Salamanca (a city we both liked) we head for Portugal and a city called Coimbra ( pronounced queembra) We decide to stay in a chain hotel near the centre of the city. We arrive a bit late in the day and just crash in the room. This city has a bit of a rough feel to it. Not sure why.

Well it is November the 4th and we are on our last few days of having a home base for a while.

So I will take some time to give a quick overview of Portugal since really for the last 2 weeks we have been drinking and sitting in the sun.....

First of all the North of Portugal is much different from the south. In the north it is the real Portugal, meaning although there are still tourists running around, you know that you are in a different country.

Today is Monday November 17th and we have been travelling since the 10th from Portugal back into Spain.

We unfortunatly looked at the money we have left and have had to do some re-thinking about the last few months of our route. So we think we are heading along the Med. coast back into Southern France and then into Italy. We are trying to book a Gite de France for a few weeks to get us through the Christmas and New Year´s holiday season.

November 22

Just a quick update today. We are in a town called Perpignan France. We are staying here for 5 nights to get organized and to do some much needed laundry!!

The weather on the ride up was mild and sunny from Spain. We had to go around Barcelona to continue on our way north and that was certainly a scary ride. Everyone was doing at least 130 klm and the trucks were passing each other as well as cars. I closed my eyes and tried not to poke at Patrick as we seemed to be dodging trucks for about 25 minutes....i've aged about 10years.....

Hello all !!!!

Currently in Villenueve Loubet just outside of Nice in the South of France. Small town of 11000 or so with the worst drivers and traffic jams I have seen for such a small town. I can't imagine what must go one during the summer. Scary really.

Okay, i have a few update to share. Sorry about the delay.

So, I think Patrick left off while we were in a Gites de France in Villeneuve Loubet on the Riviera. Well, i,m not thrilled with the Gite, it is a basement suite and the shower curtain and I have had many a fight as it likes to cling to you. Also for some reason the shower nozzle is hand held (please picture how you fight off the shower curtain wrapping around you and washing your hair at the same time with only one hand). So needless to say it was an interesting spot.

So we finally leave the Eastern part of the south of France. No need for further comment except .... Yeah!! Yippee!! Much jumping up and down and rejoicing. We jump on the bike with most of our clothing on as the temp has dropped to about 3 degrees. Makes packing the bike easier ....... A little rain makes the riding nice and slippery just perfect for really testing your riding gear ( it failed) After the chilly ride we stopped for 2 days in Arles. Nice place Arles, lots of cool roman ruins including a cool amphitheatre.

We are having fun fun fun !!!!

What Patrick forgot to mention was the train strike in France which ment we had to high tail it to another city in France 200 klms away. That wasn't my favorite as the winds down here are scary and huge !