bugger

[HampshireRich]

Rich, I've seen plenty of photo's on Facebook from student nights out in Pompey where girls in white tee shirts get free drinks in a succession of pubs & end up in all sorts of mess but am numb to that now, last time she & her mates came to Carvoeiro they got home at around 7am & slept all day in the bathroom, rising only to lift their heads over the toilet bowl, all much to the mirth of their much younger brothers

Ah - the good old days - have a great trip sunman!

[sunman]

an 11 hour schlep through driving rain from London to a little village just North of Bordeaux was rewarded by a draught blonde beer, beef Carpaccio draped with herbs & parmesan followed by delicious baked cod washed down with a 1/2 litre carafe of delicious local red; the French may posture & drive crappy Citroen cars but you have to doff your cap, they know how to cook & make wine

today was much easier, sparsely populated roads and a shorter hop to Valladolid; I'm trying a different hotel, first impressions are very good, an old building modernly decorated with free wifi in the very comfortable bedroom the test, as usual, will come tonight at dinner, I adore Jamon Iberico but apart from that have never eaten a decent meal anywhere in Spain, I remain optimistic & look forward to the in house dining room experience a bit later; they open at 8.30 & I'll be first in line, wish me luck

[bruce]

Good to hear from you Sunman, you really are having a hard life
Hope you enjoy your meal tonight, I can almost taste that ham!

[shanagarry]

Saw on the news tonight that the Brittany Ferries strike is for an indefinite period - suggesting to October travellers that they make other arrangements

[sunman]

incongruous, the hotel here in Valladolid is €10 cheaper than the one in France and yet the meal was €20 more expensive! I chose it on the net because after 7 or 8 hours at the wheel I'm not really motivated to go out looking; so after a nice long bath I trotted down to the restaurant;
1 bottle of beer, a plate of Jamon Iberico, steamed cod, 1/2 bottle of Rioja cost €65! , oh, bottle of still water as well, 'carafe d'eau' is free in France; the cheapest starter was €15 so I couldn't have saved much, so whilst delicious I'm afraid the cost took some of the enjoyment away.
I was first in at 8.30, and last to leave a little after 10, the only patron, little surprise, not sure how many locals would spend that sort of dosh on dinner

off to Carvoeiro today, hurrah!!! looking forward to a Caneca & some chicken

[roy4eyes]

Why not try stopping at Salamanca - an interesting university city - trying our regular, the Hotel Horus. It is on the outskirts, easy top find, safe parking and only a 1.35 euro bus ride into the centre. The table d'hote dinner is 16.50 euros for 3 courses including wine.

If you book direct on recepcion@hotelhorus.com - ask for Angel (head of reception) and say I recommended you for a 10% reduction off the published agency rate - room rate 2 weeks ago 58.50 euros.

Hope this helps.

[DaveK]

Now confirmed that our Monday sailing is cancelled from Santander so will be doing Sunman"s route in reverse to Calais. Lovely . It appears that the stand-off is now between BF and the unions, but the crews were prepared to go back to work days ago.

Roy, we will try your hotel in Salamanca one day but we really need to be further North on day one!

[Michael Crane]

Have a safe journey, Dave, and love to Gill. When you get back and have recovered give us a call and we'll have dinner . . . and a pint or two.

[sunman]

Now confirmed that our Monday sailing is cancelled from Santander so will be doing Sunman"s route in reverse to Calais. Lovely . It appears that the stand-off is now between BF and the unions, but the crews were prepared to go back to work days ago.

Roy, we will try your hotel in Salamanca one day but we really need to be further North on day one!

sorry to hear that Dave, a real pest

and I agree, you have to get further on day 1, the whole thing is 2300km so you need to be doing 800+ a day, Valladolid to here today was 840 or so, there's a good hotel just off the motorway exit, nice rooms but it's a burger & chips cafe attached & the area is a bit crappy but it does the job, will try to remember it, begins with N, NH something?

nice to be here, drove through lots of savage rain today, a bark, but looking forward to an evening with friends & a catch up over a few beers

[DaveK]

Sunman, pleased to hear you arrived OK. No doubt gasping for a beer or three We will probably stay at the little hotel near Burgos night one where we stayed on the way down.
Clean, reasonable price and quite good food in the cafe area. After that a case of suck it and see! Pity as we had booked a large outside 4 bearth cabin with TV. Was looking forward to that but no doubt the TV would be crap!

Enjoy your break

[laserblazer]

Was looking forward to that but no doubt the TV would be crap!

I used to travel on the ferries between Ireland and Wales a fair bit. You always knew when the ship was out of the harbour and on course because the TV picture would be clean.

[DaveK]

Michael. Will contact you when we get back for a meeting at the Peacock. Cheers.

[DaveK]

Gill had a phone call from a very pleasant lady at Brittany Ferries earlier checking whether we wanted to return via Cherbourg or Calais. We had decided Calais as the Cherbourg to Poole crossings were late at night and we wanted to do some shopping at Cite Europe near the Eurotunnel terminal at Calais. A full refund of the amount paid for the Santander crossing together with an additional £200 for fuel etc will be credited to our bank account within the next 7 days. Well done Brittany Ferries .

[laserblazer]

I think it's all a ploy to boost the French economy.

[Matryx]

Received an email from Brittany Ferries last night to say that the strike was over, and that normal service will be resumed from Tuesday, which I presume means today.