Mini Clan trip to Costa Daurada, Spain

4 Minis and 9 people made the journey from Glasgow to the East of Spain in our fully packed Minis.  This is our story.  Pictures are a combination of mine and Rob Hurt's.

Day 1 - Tuesday 31st May 2005 - Bothwell to Rugby

4 very well-stuffed Minis arrived at Bothwell Services for the trip down South.  The aim was to leave us lots of time in hand in case there were any last minute breakdowns or emergencies (see tomorrows episode...)  Once we'd swapped luggage between cars so that we could all fit in and see out the windows we were off!  3 of the cars had CBs which made it easy to keep our Mini convoy together.  My car was more heavily loaded than it had ever been and looked like it had a suspension lowering kit fitted. 

Surreal moments # 1 - We arrived at our Rugby Travelodge to find the worlds worst receptionist.  Sitting outside, fag in hand, she muttered "I'm on my break, I'll be with you in a while."  closely followed by "I've got 2 jobs, I work 30 hours a day, I'm miserable, and i'll fall asleep right after I check you in."

Surreal moments # 2 - After eventually getting checked into our rooms, we headed to the Little Chef for some much needed food.  "Sorry, the Little Chef is missing" they told us.  "We can do you a slice of bread though?"... eventually we worked out what they could and couldn't make, and cobbled together our first meal together.  At least they had cold beer!

A wee dram in our room, and a phonecall to our old friend Calum to meet him tomorrow and our day was over.

Day 2 - Wednesday 1st June 2005 - Rugby to P&O Ferry Pride of Bilbao - Portsmouth

An early start, and we headed to the Gaydon Motor Heritage museum.  I had last visited when it was brand new in the mid 90s and felt it was very disappointing this time.  It had been owned by Rover Group when I was there, but now it had various Fords including brand new models.  I thought the point had been lost along the way.  The lack of Minis was appalling - last time I was there they had every interesting model.

(Left to Right above - "TOB" with David & Fiona, "Dennis" with Rob & Bob, "Fes" with Rob, Ewan, Judith and Kenneth with "Edwina")

And this is where things started to get interesting... we met up with Calum in Winchester and he offered to take us a scenic route to the ferry port in Portsmouth. He has just started a window cleaning business (www.calumcraig.co.uk) using his Mini Equinox as transport - complete with large ladders on the roof.  We looked a strange sort of site as we followed him through the beatiful lanes full of gorgeous old thatched houses. 

And then "Edwina" started to rattle and slow down... we all pulled over to the side of the road.  Damp electrics were initially suggested because it appeared to be running on 2 cylinders but as various things were ruled out it started to look more serious.  The decision was made to struggle on to the ferry so that we had some time to work out what to do.  At a top speed of 30mph, this last bit of our journey was pretty scary but we made it.  The AA arrived and pressure tested the cylinders, discovering that the head gasket was suspect and that she'd only been running on 1.5 cylinders by the time we reached the ferry.  At this point our night in shining armour stepped in - Calum offered to lend us his Mini ("Ernie" the Equinox).  We were all simply gobsmacked at his generosity.  Following a Benny Hill style routine of swapping everything from 1 carefully packed Mini to another, we were finally ready to board the ferry with seconds to spare.  Despite everyone being in the wrong cars, we eventually explained ourselves to the check in people and got in the queue for the ferry.  By this point we were all very stressed, relieved and emotional.  And incredibly grateful to Calum.

Our ferry - 'Pride of Bilbao' - P&O Ferries largest ship.

We got on board, left our stuff in the cabin, and headed to the outside bar on deck for some much needed drink and calming down.  Portsmouth looked beautiful as we left, and we all started getting excited about Spain.

Day 3 - Thursday 2nd June 2005 - on board ferry.

The ferry has various restaurants, bars and shops so we were never really bored. We also spent time looking for whales & Dolphins as the ship passed through the Bay of Biscay.  Having spent months preparing all the various bits of emergency equipment required for driving in Spain, I found them all in the ferry's shop...

Rob & Bob start looking for whales & Dolphins

Day 4 - Friday 3rd June 2005 - From ferry in Bilbao to IMM campsite, Salou

Our first glimpse of Spain and it looked grey and a bit damp!  But the red tiled roofs and terraces built onto the mountain side assured us we were in the right place.  Judith joined me in Dennis (because he had a CB and "Ernie" didn't) and I had my first taste of driving on the continent.  Scary to start with, but I rapidly got the hang of it.  My first fill up with Spanish fuel and I managed it by only saying "Tres" (the pump number).  The temperature climbed and climbed as we headed South, eventually reaching an amazing 34 degrees Celsius (nearly 95 Fahrenheit).  We stopped to change into lighter clothing, even though my car's air conditioning was giving me an unfair advantage over the Classic Minis.

Eventually we reached Salou - all very tired from the long (350 miles) journey completed that day.  Driving along the seafront of a British package holiday destination resort in our own cars was somewhat surreal, as were the palm trees and heat!  Ewan (5) was staying with his Mother in a hotel, so we dropped them off before heading to the IMM campsite.  This was poorly signed, but eventually we found our way in and found the Clan's allocated campsite. 

We were hot, hungry and exhausted.  Beers were opened, the tent was erected and then with Ewan and Judith back with us we headed for dinner.  Which they were stopping serving... until they changed their minds given the huge number of hungry people still facing them!!  We headed back to the tent and considered heading to the disco, but we were simply too tired and hot after our journey.  A couple of wee drams and we headed to bed.

Day 5 - Saturday 4th June 2005 - From IMM Campsite to VIlla at L'amettla de mar.

We spent the day at the IMM until the early evening, at which point none of us could think of anything except the villa and its pool (and a good square meal!).  All of us had struggled to get the time off work for this trip, and were determined to get the most out of it.  The villa had proved to be an incredibly cheap way for us all to find accommodation for a week.

Fiona and Judith headed into town to shop for dinner, while the rest of us plunged into the pool to cool down and chill out. A beautiful evening meal courtesy of Fiona rounded off the day, and we all started to feel human again.

Day 6 - Sunday 5th June 2005 - Villa - Rest After all the travelling of the previous days, we decided to do very little indeed on the Sunday... a late start, a late brunch, a laze by/in the pool and we explored the Mediterranean which was at the end of the street.  Temperatures were in the high 20s which suited me nicely. We were slightly disappointed to not find a nice beach nearby (see tomorrow's instalment...).  Rob's friend Alex arrived in the late evening after a flight from Heathrow and a train from Barcelona and joined us for our post-dinner drinks before everyone headed to bed.

The villa's lovely pool - which we could illuminate for a late night dip!

 

Day 7 - Monday 6th June 2005 - Villa - Rest

We had decided to go to Barcelona tomorrow, so today was to be another lazy day!

Alex was up very early, unable to sleep on his first day in a strange place and went exploring in the morning cool.  He found a beautiful beach, a mere 5 minutes walk from the villa.  The photo on the right is Alex looking suitably smug at his discovery and the other photo is of Alex having his first swim in the Med.  The beach was cleaned each morning and even had showers.  The water felt cold for a moment, but then you realised that it wasn't really.  I cant swim but waded in anyway to get a feel for the temperature.

That evening was our first barbeque at the villa - which included an enormous stone barbeque in the garden.  With Alex at the helm and various bottles on the table we enjoyed ourselves into the wee small hours.

I was enjoying myself taking long exposure photographs with my camera when we discovered Kenneth's uncanny ability to stay perfectly still for an entire 64 seconds - evidence attached!  Everybody else came out as a blur.  The Villa, with its illuminated pool, made a great subject for the camera, as did the star-speckled night sky.

Day 8 - Tuesday 7th June 2005 - Barcelona day trip

By far our earliest start at the villa - straight into L'Amettla de Mar (our local town) and onto the train to Barcelona.  This took about 2 hours although it was interesting to see the places that the train went through.  I kept thinking that everything looked like Mexico...  We arrived in Barcelona at the top of 'La Ramblas' and proceeded to stroll down taking in the atmosphere - very touristy but we weren't really caring.

We had some lunch from a bakery place and then began feeling like we were sizzling in the heat rather too much so decided to join young Ewan at the Aquarium down at the harbour.  Again, I got to play with the settings on my new camera.  Most of the following were done at ISO-400 in order to get a short enough shutter speed for me to use it in my hand without shakes.

As a ship fan (see elsewhere on this site) there was also lots of other stuff in the harbour to keep me amused...

By this point we were all very hot, and very exhausted - especially Bob and I who had had to trudge halfway across Barcelona on foot after part of their Metro system shut down!  We would turn to each other and say the simple word "pool"... we were visualising being back at the villa already... on the train back to L'Amettla de Mar it was standing room only (for 2 hours) so we were even more exhausted by the time we eventually got back to the Villa...  at 9pm, in near darkness, we were back in the pool...

Day 9 - Wednesday 8th June 2005 - Villa - Rest

Rest from what you're saying?  Well it was a holiday!

We did some exploring in the area around the villa and L'Amettla de Mar, Judith took some photos for her work (landscape artist) and Bob got some fishing in.

 

Day 10 - Thursday 9th June 2005 - Road trip into the mountains exploring.

This was a fun day - we'd have done more days like this day had we been staying for longer.  We simply plotted out a rough round trip from the villa, up into the mountains and then round and back home again.  As we journeyed on, they day got hotter and hotter and i was very glad of my air conditioning!  The best bit was seeing this amazing little village, called Tvissa, clinging onto a mountainside and managing to drive our cars right up to and into it in the middle of afternoon siesta time.

 

Day 11 - Friday 10th June 2005 - last day at Villa.

Italian meal out in L'Amettla De Mar...

 

 

Day 12 - Saturday 11th June 2005 - Villa to Bilbao

I will never forget this day, and the latter part is rather hard to describe - you had to be there!

We headed back across Spain taking the more scenic route this time including re-visiting Tvissa so that the others could see it.  Some of the scenery was spectacular and it would have been nice not to have been in a rush to get to Bilbao before it was too late.

As we got closer to Bilbao there were fierce spectacular electrical storms and sudden heavy rain and very high humidity.  The final bit of the drive - into Bilbao was just incredibly - and not in an entirely good way! 
Coming off the motorway, we wound our way down into the town on narrower and narrower streets and with it getting ever darker and wetter and busier and busier!  Trams would come at us from all angles and people seemed to just leap onto the road at random.  The Minis were attracting a lot of attention each time we stopped...  We did a couple of loops of the main street but still couldn't find our Hotel (the Hotel Sirimiri - NOT recommended see below).  We took a wrong turn and ended up on the wrong side of the river on a 1 way system.  The lead Mini stopped to get their bearings again but with 4 in a row, this left Dennis and crew outside a seriously dodgy pub!  Our doors were locked tight and we were looking for an escape route as the local all headed towards our car!  We yelled into the CBs and walkie-talkies simultaneously that we really wanted to move on now, and we didn't care where to!!
Miraculously, expert navigators Judith and Kenneth managed to then take us straight to the hotel, which was lurking down a very small lane behind the main street itself.  But not before we accidentally went the wrong way up the lane and ended up behind the hotel in a miniature slum area where my "big" Mini almost got stuck while a crowd looked on in growing amusement.
Unfortunately that wasn't the end of the excitement for the night... the hotel had got our booking horribly mixed up and it all looked like it was going to end in tears but eventually the cars were safely parked and we were able to head out for our last meal in Spain.

Except we couldn't find anywhere to eat.  Bilbao, while architecturally attractive in a sort of medieval sort of a way, had had some sort of football match that day and the town was absolutely mobbed with very very rowdy youths - it did not feel like a particularly safe place to be.  After looking for somewhere to eat for at least 90 minutes, we gave up due to the onset of starvation and no Burger King has ever looked so gooood...

We headed back to the hotel, emptied the cars of the remaining wine and beer, and assembled in a room for our final knees up in Spain.  A very rowdy party in the room below meant we had to turn up the film on the TV loud to be able to hear it - which film?  Italian Job 2 - in Spanish of course!

Day 13 - Sunday 12th June 2005 - Bilbao to "Pride of Bilbao".

We awoke and after more arguments with the receptionist at the hotel departed into a Bilbao that looked amazingly different than the night before.  It was sunny and there wasn't a delinquent to be seen anywhere!  We drove around the town to the Guggenheim museum to take photos of the Mini's outside.  Unfortunately it opened at the same time as the ferry departed so we didn't actually get to look inside.

Outside the Guggenheim

Italian Job eat your heart out...

Meeting a Northern Irish truck in the middle of Spain

But the Italian job didn't have tolls!

Ever been drunk while having a haircut?  I have...  we were so happy to be on board our familiar ferry again, that we all enjoyed quite a few drinks on the open area decks at the stern of the ship... after a short snooze to recover, I decided I had had enough of my scruffy holiday hair and went to the ships beauty parlour to get it sorted.  As the hair stylist patiently dealt with me as I slurred my way through amusing anecdotes, the others all poured into the salon to take my photo... i'm not sure which one of us was most embarrassed... I was past caring!

Day 14 - Monday 13th June 2005 - Pride of Bilbao to Portsmouth Travelodge

Whale watching and eating covered most of the day and it was the afternoon as the Pride of Bilbao headed towards Britain and it was hot and sunny.  We saw Jersey/Guernsey and St. Malo in the distance as we covered the final stretch.  I visited Jersey in 1990 and it felt strange to see it again after all this time.  We lapped up the last of the sun on deck before the white cliffs appeared

On our way out, Portsmouth had been dark, but on our way in it looked fantastic - far more interesting than arriving in the UK is normally!

When we got off the ferry, awaiting at the entrance to the ferry port was Calum and family all stuffed into Edwina.  They took us to dinner in a delightful country pub and it was good to be home and to understand the menu again!!  At this point, (Surreal moment #4) a slightly scary permanent customer of the pub took rather too much interest in the children at our table and wanted to take them for sweeties... err, no!!
Due to a mix up (my fault) we didn't realise we were about 400 yards from our Travelodge for the night and went on a drive around the area for an hour before realising that the Travelodge we wanted was back at the ferry... we roared into the carpark, exhausted, and headed in to book in.  Next mix up - the price was higher than it should have been... i vowed at this point never to book anything for anyone except myself ever again!!  Also at reception (Surreal moment #3) was a day-release prisoner, who'd been hoping to get a sleep in a comfy bed, when all these noisy cars roared in... needless to say he wasn't happy...

Day 15 - Tuesday 14th June 2005 - From Portsmouth to the Mini Clan Club night, Glasgow.

So finally, the home stretch.  A greasy breakfast and we were on the road.  Unfortunately it didn't take long for us to realise that Edwina still didn't want to go over about 65mph without getting all hot and bothered, and Fes had lost a wheel weight and didn't want to do LESS than 85mph without shoogling like crazy!  Trying to keep a convoy like this together was virtually impossible!!  But still, we managed it, and (much) later that day crossed the border into Scotland, 4 abreast, with Runrig blaring over the CDs from Dennis.  As if all that wasn't enough, we headed straight to the Mini Clan's club night which was that very night.  We arrived just in time, exhausted, starving and wearing our sombreros. 

All in all it was a fabulous trip and I'm very glad I did it.  I'm just not sure I'd do it all again, that's all!  Lessons learned including never using Expedia to book a hotel again...

Pictured above outside the Mini Clan club night in Glasgow -
Rob & Bob with 'Dennis', Kenneth & Judith with 'Edwina', David,
Ewan (borrowed from J&K!) and Fiona with 'TOB' and finally Rob in 'Fes'