An action-packed four days has just been spent on a whistle-stop tour covering bits of southern Europe and a little bit of northern Africa with good friend Peter (who took the pics you see on this page).  We hired a car and tried to cover as much ground as possible. Being just after the Easter weekend and after Semana Santa in Spain, Seville Zoo was eerily quiet, almost to the point where it looked close.  But we’re glad we checked whether they were actually open and not just maintaining the place (it was that empty).  An interesting look around.  They

Well, I did originally write that I was going to work out how much it all cost, that whole Europe trip thing. And I did… sort of… Card statements took a while to come in and there were so many different transactions (every time I passed a tollbooth, there was another one – and that happened a lot) so I decided to work it out roughly. Basically, the tolls, fuel, accommodation and food costs went well into four figures. That said, it was still very well worth it. And I would do it again. But I’ll go for variety and

So, this is it. The last day. But not without another country to visit. Luxembourg. There’s not much to write really as although it’s a small country, it’s got towns and a capital city. However, the capital, Luxembourg, is always very nice to visit because it’s very efficient and they’ve managed to get a lot in there. The other good thing is that you can see the influences from all the surrounding nations – and again, it seems that everyone can speak at least two languages. The route back from Luxembourg (after filling up with very cheap diesel compared to

This is the entire weekend in one update – one which I thought would be relatively uneventful compared to the rest of the trip but I was proved very wrong…. I woke up fairly early on Friday determined to make an early start to the journey to Paris. Even though it’s the same country, it is one of the longest journeys of the whole trip as France is such a big country. I used to think of Paris as being at the heart of the country but really it is quite far north, even though it is still a few

This morning I had a quick look around Bilbao, a cosmopolitan major Spanish city which includes the Guggenheim museum and a train station with a massive stained glass piece of artwork. I have been here before – and there’s been grey skies all day today – so I stayed to have some morning tapas and coffee, walked around by the river and got back into the car. Crossing back into France, I could see that they’re currently building a massive customs / border control plaza on the border. Who said free movement? Driving across a number of countries is much

‘Barcelona Reus’ Airport, it’s called. It’s over an hour away from the city – still that’s budget airlines for you. This was the point where I had to say goodbye to my wife. It was a shame that she couldn’t stay for longer but I’m glad she shared the middle part of this epic journey and experienced everything from Austria to Spain. The next part of my trip proved the most complicated, long-winded and – at times – frustrating. But it’s these sorts of things that can mean finally achieving the thing is more rewarding and it was great to