After the BBK festival it was great to get to a nice hotel peel off the clothes we had been wearing for 3 days and have a warm shower and shave, bliss! We headed to the nearest sandy beach and promptly fell asleep for most of Sunday afternoon.

Beautiful beaches

After a good sleep in the sunshine and feeling a bit more like ourselves, we set off to find a German bar that we had read about to watch the World Cup final. We gave our England shirts one last outing, after all it should have been England playing in this final! We settled down with a couple of good German beers and a meal of pork knuckle, sauerkraut and mashed potatoes. We enjoyed the match and were pleased that it didn't go to penalties. Germany were the deserved winners and have played some good football throughout the tournament.

We set off heading for the BBK festival in Bilbao, the Spanish equivalent of Glastonbury, a little jaded after our exertions in Pamplona.

On the way we decided we should get the van sorted so that we could rationalise the number of bags we needed to carry with us to the festival, as we also needed to take the tent and sleeping stuff etc. We pulled into a garage and set about the task of emptying the van. We were well into the process when I spotted in the corner of my eye a police car approaching, here we go, I thought. Three police men got out of the car and started off aggressively asking questions. We hadn't got a clue what they were asking us but they didn't appear to be full of the joys of spring. We did the usual "English" and did our best to explain that we were on a European tour and going to the  BBK festival, which didn't really have any impact, but as soon as we said we had been to the San Firmin festival (Pamplona), we got a few guttural si, si's and they left as quick as they had arrived. To be fair to them as we reviewed the carnage of boxes, bags, crates of beer, strewn all around us, we probably did look a bit suspect.

Me and Ronnie

After visiting Seville and Cordoba, we started to make our way north and stopped off in Madrid for a couple of days. The staff in the hotel we were staying in were fantastic. I'd booked a double bed in error but the hotel let us have two double bedrooms at no extra charge, nice one, and it saved us having to build a wall of pillows down the middle of the bed!

We visited the Santeago Bernabau stadium on Monday, really good tour and got to have our photo taken with the European Cup, Madrid's 10th win in this competition. In the afternoon we went to the Prado Museum where there was a El Greco and Picasso exhibition - we do culture as well you know!

After the culture style and sophistication of Madrid, we packed up and moved on to Pamplona for the Bull Run. Its fair to say that everything we had been told about the festival and the 24 hour party was true. It was bedlam when we arrived, the narrow streets crammed full of (very happy) people. After getting to our accommodation we went for a walk and bought ourselves our white Pamplona running gear, with the red sash and bandanna. Everyone in Pamplona wears the same outfit, the ones who don't look a bit out of place.

Our arrival in Seville was interesting. As we negotiated our way round narrow streets with parked cars inches from the  wing mirror on one side and houses the other, we turned a corner and suddenly we were in the middle of a street market. "What the ....…..!" was quickly followed by some comments about the usefulness of the sat nav, followed by "mind them DVDs" as we edged past a pavement display of dodgy movies. We tried to buy a couple of t-shirts through the van window, but we were unable to negotiate the price down. No one appeared to be bothered by us driving through, they probably just thought mad Brits!

Granada is the furthest point south in our journey. It is in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains - which contain the highest point in Spain and the most southerly skiing resort in continental Europe. As we drove into Granada in 34° temp we could still see the snow on the top of the mountains. After 5 days relaxing by the sea it felt like arriving in a different country as we drove through Granada's busy cosmopolitan streets.

We were having a tapas and beer, deciding in which bar we would watch the match when Bob commented on all the birds flying round, I think he said "its a wonder they don't crap in someone's coffee" next thing he feels a splat on his head! Its a pity we left our hats in Javea, but if I remember correctly, that's a sign of good luck. Did it mean that Belgium (our adopted team, because we like their beer) would beat USA? We settled down in a bar with Belgium fans on one side and Americans on the other.

After a great time in Barca, we started to make our way to Javea, where we have a 5 day stop over to recharge.

We had a couple of stops on the way down, the first was in Cambrils, where we met Sue and Andrew for a couple of drinks. Bob knows Sue and Andrew through the Sunday night pub quiz team in the Sportsman on Benty Lane in Sheffield. As they were in Cambrils and we were passing through it would have been rude not to meet up.

After Cambrils we overnighted in a small village called Benifallet where Bobs friend Pete and his wife June live. Unfortunately we weren't able to stay with them as when they heard we were coming they had to go back back to England for an appointment. (Just bad timing I think!)

Barcalona what a city! Due to good planning or maybe good fortune we arrived on the fiesta of St Joan or mid summer solstice. Fireworks, fires and drumming bands.

When we arrived we went for a walk round the old quarter we saw the Sagrada Familia, Arc de Triomf and walked up Las Ramblas. In the early evening fireworks were randomly being let off and drumming bands with crowds following them were sambering through the streets. A great atmosphere was starting to build.

We decided to have something to eat and found a restaurant called Mosquito, with a Chinese tapas menu and a range of beers from around the world. Both the food and beers were excellent, and the staff very helpful. They told us to go to the beach to see the best of the festival.

After a couple of days in Frejus we moved on to Argeles which is in the foot hills of the Pyrenees. The mountains provide a stunning backdrop to the town.

We had made good time on the journey, arriving before the mobile was ready for us. While waiting we thought we would take advantage of the pool. All the campsites we have been on have their own set of rules and regulations unique to them. The warning signs in Argeles were there when we entered the pool area and there were two bronzed lifeguards strutting around a pool the size of a bath tub.

We left Menton and drove down the coast road to Monaco and Monte Carlo. It was a stunning drive with fantastic scenery. We parked the van in the casino car park in between a Bentley convertible and a Lamborghini. We went for an explore round the marina and walked part of the Grand Prix circuit. Don't think we bumped into anyone famous but to be honest I could have been stood next to someone and I wouldn't have known!

After Monaco we continued the drive to Frejus and our next camp site. Up until now the campsite sat nav coordinates have been pretty reliable. However this time they took us to what looked like the farm used for the 'Carry on Camping' film. After driving round Frejus for the 4th time we decided we should give in and read the directions we'd been given. Then as if by magic we found the proper campsite! The sat nav is now in the bin!

Milano was interestng and I left thinking that I would like to come back at some point and explore the city a bit further.

The hotel had a car park where you leave the car on a lift and then it disappears and its autoparked in a 'box' somewhere underground. We didn't realise this so when we arrived at reception they asked us for our passports which of course are in the van. So they have to retrieve the van - 15 mins later with passports in hand and the van safely back in another box we got to our room. It then dawned on us that all our bags are still in the van! They were very good with us when we plucked up the courage to get the van out for a second time!

After a couple of chill out days in Coatia we packed up and drove back through Slovenia into Italy.

The campsite site in Ca'Savio is set amongst pine trees and fronted by an endless sandy beech. Having checked in our first task was to find a bar showing the England match.  As we were playing Italy we expected high excitement, but it all felt a bit subdued.

With a suitable bar selected we donned our '66 England shirts and made our way to 'Dave's bar (not the proper name he just looked like a Dave I used to work with) and braced ourselves for the game.

Its only a week since we left home, but with the amount we have crammed in during that time it feels as though we have been away for a lot longer.

So far we have covered 7 countries and approx 1200 miles since we set off, now that we are in Croatia we have a couple of rest days and of course the start of the world cup.

The sound of music tour was excellent, visiting some of the more recognisable locations from the movie and managing to fit in some singing on the coach as we travelled around. Did you know that the house and garden scenes were filmed in two separate locations so when you see Maria in the garden talking to Herr Von Trapp with his back to the house they were some considerable distance apart! That's Hollywood for you.

We are having some problems loading photos, so I'm hoping that the blogger fairy at home can work some magic for me. In the meantime we have posted some photos on Facebook and Twitter.

The journey from Dusseldorf to Munich was our longest drive of the trip approx 7 hours with stops. We had the air con working full blast (both windows were open) and I ended up with the 'bus drivers arm' (right arm bright red).

Munich has been good, but very hot 34°+. We have done the touristy Hofbrauhaus and had plenty of white sausage (not a euphemism) and sauerkraut.

We are on day 3 of the grand tour. We are cracking on at a fair pace and the weather so far has been unbelievable.

We set off with the van packed to the rafters and England flags flying proudly from the van windows.

We made good time to Eurotunnel and as we passed through passport control being two blokes in a white van we duly were asked to pull into the customs inspection line. Once the back door to the van was opened the customs guy took one look and and obviously thought life was too short and waived us through.

First stop was Bruges, the hotel was good and our host very hospitable. We had a good chat about our European tour and all the countries we would be visiting. She then asked if we could move the van to a car park approx 100 yds down the road, yes no problem - 30 minutes later we appeared back at the hotel having got lost driving round Bruges, you could see this woman thinking how on earth are they going to get round Europe if they can't find a car park at the end of the road!

Its been a while since I last updated my blog, I know you won't believe this but I have just been so busy, I've not had the time to sit down and write it!

I went to the Rail Ale festival at Barrow Hill with Steve and Neil. This beer festival is a regular on our annual beer festival circuit and its always an experience. The weather this year was glorious, shorts and t-shirts, it was so different to last year, when it was so cold that at one point my lips had turned blue, and I had to buy a hat to enable me to keep on drinking! 

The festival is held in the last working round house at Barrow Hill and the bars are set against a backdrop of steam and diesel locomotives. The festival is getting more mainstream these days, but it is the coming together of the beer tickers and train spotters, which presents some good people watching opportunities. Now, I would never call myself a style guru or an expert on fashion, but there are always some interesting, and I suspect unintentional, fashion statements made that it almost makes me look on trend!