Overland with Kids

We finally made it to Spain and are currently in El Puig, Valencia where we arrived late this evening. We have been unable to gain internet access since last writing. 

We have suffered several shakedown ‘pains’ it seems or have just been very unlucky. To summarise as follows:

• Land Rover breakdown on day 1 of our trip which took 15 days to fix (cam/timing belt snapped despite having a brand new one fitted before we left). Cost 1,000 Euros
• Hire vehicle smashed up accidently (plus another stationery vehicle) by Anne. Cost so far 1,000 Euros
• Caravan jockey wheel broken (new hitch had been fitted before we left). We are now unable to detach from the Land Rover without using jacks and blocks of wood as props.
• Andrew got a terrible abcess on his tooth which resulted in agony, abcess bursting and then sickness.
• Caravan experienced a flat tyre en-route from Sarlat to Clermont Ferrand. Although we had a spare tyre and changed with the kind help of a very nice Portugese lorry driver, it took some time to source 2 additional spares as they are no longer standard and resulted in more delays and changes to our plans. 300 Euros.
• We now have a problem again with our vehicle which occurred en-route from Clermont Ferrand to Millau a few days ago - suddenly seems to pull back and lose power through each gear and we are losing oil under the chassis. Vehicle is still drivable though it needs to be seen to and we are fustrated as we want desparately to push on (we have an appointment with a Land Rover garage in Valencia tomorrow morning - we are praying they will miraculoulsy remedy the problem and that it will not be too serious or expensive). Meantime gaffer tape and cable ties work wonders - we are starting to becoming professional mechanical bodgers!  

 As a result of the issues experienced (resulting in ncredibly slow travel - 10mph up lots of steep 1000m altitude hills (bloody hills and mountains everwhere!), we have now abandoned the caravan (left in storage at last campsite in Millau, France which we will collect at the end of our trip). We are beginning to think that maybe the weight of the caravan is contributing to the issues we are experiencing with our Land Rover though this should not be the case. But it remains that we are losing valuable time if we want to make Morocco for at least the last few days before our shake down comes to a close. As it stands - Andrew is keen to get rid and sell it due to the issues experienced. Will be a shame as we have become attached to it and it works when the combination of both vehicles (when in order) are OK. But there is no denying, it is slow, heavy and cumbersome on the road and when travelling. Andrew has aptly called the caravan ‘L´escargot’ as a result.

Regarding the trip itself, we have now stayed at a total of 5 campsites, 4 hotels and 2 homes. The budget is well blown we fear (we´ve lost the will to keep reasonable track of our budget now as a result of our vehicle fiascos) but we are still having a great time. We loved France, it is a very beautiful and pretty country (you could spend 6 months there discovering the place) but are glad to be finally out of it. It was also very expensive and we began to feel a bit land-locked there, as we stayed much longer than we had planned.

In the past few days we have stayed and moved through Sarlat, St Germain de Salle, Clermont Ferrand, Millau (France), Tarragona (Spain) and are now in Valencia. Everything we have done, seen and experienced has been fantastic and it remains difficult to leave each place we visit.

Yesterday was AJ´s birthday and he was 5 years old. He has been dying to be 5 for ages. We celebrated with presents, a barbeque in the evening outback of La Torre de Fountabella and finally a real Spanish ’felicidades’ candles cake. This evening Jessica and AJ giggled in the moonlight on the beach playing in the area around El Puig. Every day includes a variety of things to do and see. In Millau th children got great fun pulling apart a whole sea bream fish - it´s eyes, gills, tail, skeleton. Then there´s the bridge in the clouds as our children called it plus the many daily paragliders in the sky high above us in the mountains. We have seen lizards, frogs, beautiful butterflies and spend all our time out of doors. Swimming, cycling, beach and rivers remain daily favourites and Jessica hasn´t had her hair brushed in about a week. Neither have have had baths and resolutely refuse. We have two ‘tinker’ children on our hands. The only problem for us currently (apart from those dratted vehicles and dwinding funds) is that time goes so quickly and it will soon be over. 

There are loads of photos plus detailed diaries of our trip but again unable to post. We’ll have to rectify this by ensuring we have our own personal internet connection next time we are on the road. For the time being we will have to post this time round after our trip.

That´s all for now as it’s very late. Will try to post some more tomorrow.

Lot´s of love from A, A, J & A

xxxx  

Diary (Blog)