Viva Las Vegas 23/9

We had a rancho relaxo day in the room out of the heat. We wanted to be rested for the evening as we had some big plans. Our first stop was the Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel, on Las Vegas Boulevard. We had arranged in advance to renew our vows with a ceremony hosted by the great man, Elvis Presley. The ceremony included getting dressed up, so we got changed into our respective costumes. I was Elvis from the 70’s in a bejeweled jumpsuit with big hair to match, while Kirsten was dressed as Priscilla, complete with baby doll dress, dark tresses and white veil. The ceremony went fairly quickly, with the King going through a set of vows suited to renewal, with a few Elvis specifics in there like ‘not stepping on each other’s Blue Suede Shoes’. After the ceremony we danced as the King sang ‘Viva Las Vegas’ and the photographer took some snaps. Our last photos were taken out on Las Vegas Boulevard with the King and our names up in lights behind us. It was lots of fun and we laughed a lot doing it. Once the King had done his thing we got changed and then grabbed a cab to the Venetian for dinner. It’s a ridiculously huge and opulent casino, with over half a dozen top quality restaurants inside. After some tough decision making, we ended up at David Burke’s restaurant for his take on modern American cuisine. Kirsten started with some grilled octopus, a serve large enough to be a main and one that I enjoyed helping her eat. I had two large seared scallops which were lovely. Kirsten’s main was Striped Sea Bass, while I had John Dory. We were both stuffed after the fantastic mains so we didn’t end up having dessert at the restaurant. Next we headed out to the gaming area to try our luck. We had budgeted an amount to spend out on the floor, which we used at the roulette wheel followed by the blackjack table. Our dealer Andrew was nice enough, sadly this did not translate to any kind of luck or winnings in most of the hands we were dealt. Suffice to say, we did not last that long at the table. Our last stop was at a Star Wars themed slot machine, where we managed to make our money last slightly longer but this did not translate to a serious win either. Following all that we decided to invest our money more wisely in gelati, followed by a cab back to the Tropicana.

Vegas 22/9

If you want to go beyond the Strip there is a bus service but as we had a few different stops to make today we went for a cheap hire car. First stop was Starbucks for some breakfast, there’s one every couple of blocks over here so it’s pretty handy for a caffeine hit. Next up we went into the retail giant, a Walmart Supercentre, where we had to get a couple of bits and pieces, including another piece of luggage for the trip home. Our main use of the car though was to drive to the Neon Museum, a not for profit organisation who have a collection of neon and illuminated signs, starting from the 1940’s through to a couple of decades ago. They rely on donations to restore the signage back to its original glory. The local government is supportive and rents the land that they use for 1c a year. They rely on the casinos to donate the signs and one of the main manufacturers to relocate the signs. Some of these signs are so massive it costs a great deal to transport them to the ‘boneyard’. So called because the signs are spread out everywhere in varying states of condition and repair. There are some fantastic examples of graphics and lettering everywhere you look. Almost everywhere you turn there’s a great photo opportunity. Combined with our visit to the Grand Canyon, the Neon Museum drained our camera battery, but not before we got some shots we are really pleased with. We’ll post them when we can. The Killers shot a video there too which is also pretty cool - watch to the end to see the boneyard. Once we’d returned our car in the afternoon we had a bit of a relax back at the hotel before heading out onto the Strip in the evening. The Tropicana is next door to the MGM Grand so we had a wander through to enquire about a Cirque du Soleil show that we might be seeing on Thursday. Inside the casino there’s a lion enclosure which we thought a bit cruel with all the racket, lights and people everywhere but the lions seemed to be fairly inactive/content. We eneded up at the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. It had only opened five days beforehand (a second location in Vegas) and we saw an impressive collection of memorabilia, including some Elvis jumpsuits, most appropriate for the location. The nachos at the Hard Rock cafe are amazing!

Vegas 21/9

We spent pretty much all day today checking out a huge mall and doing some shopping. In the evening we had some free tickets to a magic show at our hotel so we went along to check it out. The show is called Dirk Arthur’s Xtreme Magic. We went along without too much in the way of expectations, which was probably for the best. Some of the illusions were quite well done and there was some impressive displays, like cutting a girl into nine pieces but the overall effect was undone a bit by Dirk being a complete ham as well as the dancing girls doing a touch too many dance montages. He wasn’t too shy in the self promotion stakes either, giving us a mid show magic break by showing us his Animal Planet special which showed him caring and training his big cats. The rare tigers he has as part of his act are the main stars of the show, I was wondering at one point how all the loud music and explosions didn’t incite the tigers to get stuck into Dirk. All up it was good for a free show but we are looking forward to seeing a more serious production later in the week.

Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon Tour 20/9

As we had some extra days in Vegas we thought we would make the most of it and take in the Grand Canyon. Our bus tour picked us up from our hotel at 6.15am and took us to the tour depot where we signed in and got some breakfast. We were out on the road in an almost full double decker bus by about 7.30am and made it to the Hoover Dam in a bit over an hour. Just before the Hoover Dam is a huge electricity sub station that we are sure my Dad would have appreciated. The Hoover Dam is a masive structure and well protected by local cops and homeland security. There is a checkpoint everyone has to go through before crossing the dam to a lookout on the other side. I’m hoping the pictures will do it justice as it’s too big to really describe properly. The trip out to the Grand Canyon took a couple of hours from the Hoover Dam. We changed buses for the last 15 miles as it was dirt roads and not suited to the double decker. Once we arrived at the first tourist station we changed to a local shuttle bus that loops the main viewing areas and a ranch all on the Western Rim. We headed along to the first viewing area, Eagle Point, which is home to the Skywalk. It is named Eagle Point after a rock formation that looks similar to an eagle spreading it’s wings. The point is on the western side of the canyon and provides excellent views, all the way to the bottom and the Colorado River, about 5000 feet down. The Skywalk is a glass and steel structure built out from the side of the canyon wall, so that when you walk out on the U shaped Skywalk, you can see right through the glass and down to the canyon floor below. It is quite an amazing effect and some tourists were coping better than others. We did fine and quite enjoyed it, the only issue being we couldn’t take our own pictures while we were out there. We had our picture taken by one of the on site photographers. We will hopefully scan it at some point and add it to the blog to give a clearer picture on how amazing the Skywalk and Canyon are. We had lunch at Eagle Point before heading to the next viewing area, Guano Point. So named as some of the caves on the cliff opposite were formerly mined for nitrate rich guano deposits (bat poo). A huge winch on our side of the valley showed how the guano was transported across the huge canyon mouth. The view here was even more impressive than at Eagle Point as the rocks stick out forming a peninsula into the canyon. I’m not going to worry too much about writing about it, apart from saying that we were both really amazed at the shear scope and size of the canyon. It is very beautiful and the ever changing rock colour amazing. We spent quite a while sitting and taking in the view at Guano Point so we didn’t have time to do the third stop, The Ranch, but as it was more a cowboy display and pony rides we preferred to see the canyon anyway. Once back on our tourbus we headed straight back to Vegas and to the hotel. The return journey took just over two hours. It was a big day and combined with the drive the previous day, we were both very tired and had a relatively early night.

LA to Vegas 19/9

We left LA a couple of days early as we did everything we wanted to do in the city and on the Hollywood tour. We both think we would have spent a bit more time there if we knew someone with some 'in the know' places to go. Without that inside knowledge the city isn’t that interesting. We hired a Dodge Caliber to get to Vegas which was a fairly easy drive, about five hours in total. Driving out through the desert on the large highway gives you a bit of an idea why there’s so many large SUV’s and trucks on the road. They really suit the landscape out here. The Caliber had a satellite radio which was great as there was no loss of signal out in the middle of Death Valley. We cranked some ‘80s hits to get us through the drive. This one had us singing along (badly):

Having an American voice on the GPS made a nice change too. I was fed up with the English lady on the GPS we had in the van - she had a bad attitude. We are staying at the Tropicana, a bit of a faded star amongst all the grand and over the top casinos on the Strip. We are happy enough with the room as it’s comfortable, clean and not too expensive. Once we were checked in and the blazing sun had gone down, we took the car back and walked back to our hotel along the Strip. It’s such an amazing specatacle at night, with huge crowds out and about checking out the neon, huge decorations, rides and gaudy opulence. It took us an hour or so to walk back to the hotel so by that time we were ready to go to bed.

LA 17/9

We started our LA tour by heading down through Marina del Rey, where apparently only 10% of the boats actually leave the harbour. The rest seem to be for showing off. Next up we went through the canals of Venice on our way to Venice Beach, checking out some very expensive real estate on the way. We had a good driver by the name of Monday who took great delight in pointing out expensive sports cars and houses. Down at Venice Beach, or Muscle Beach as it’s more commonly known it was quite quiet, still a bit early for all those pumping iron and making an exhibition of themselves. Next we drove through Santa Monica, the beach being part of where Baywatch was filmed, sadly no sign of the Hoff though. We did a loop through Beverly Hills and a couple of other suburbs viewing some stars homes, including some quite nice looking places, some gaudy and some just ridiculously huge. Some of the ones we saw belonged to: the Beckhams, Tom Jones, Michelle Pfeiffer (we later saw a bar belonging to her), Quincy Jones, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Liz Taylor, Britney, Ronald Reagan, Tom Selleck, Johnny Weissmuller (now owned by Val Kilmer but left empty after a fire several years ago), Joan Collins, Eddie Murphy, Nicholas Cage (a bargain for sale, reduced from 30 odd million down to 16), Rod Stewart, Tom Cruise (where they are filming some scenes from the Green Hornet), Walt Disney, Ricardo Montalban, Matt Damon (who had quite a nice house by our tastes), Michael Jackson (where he died), the Playboy Mansion (no bunnies in sight), Steven Seagal (totally over the top), Charlie Chaplin, Elvis' last purchase and finally the massive sprawling Aaron Spelling residence, a mere 117 rooms. After the viewing of these massive and expensive properties we had a quick stop on Rodeo Drive, checking out some expensive boutiques and the Wiltshire Hotel. Following this testament to obscene wealth we had some lunch, consisting of shakes and fries, after which our group headed to Hollywood Boulevard, viewing some of the stars on the sidewalk. There was also a good view of the Hollywood sign from the fourth floor of a shopping mall. While on the boulevard we also saw Mann’s Chinese Theatre, with star signatures, hand and foot prints out the front. Once back in the bus, we travelled along the Sunset Strip where we saw the Viper Room, Whiskey A Go-Go and other late night venues and bars where the stars apparently let down their hair. Had we been more in party mode we might have gone out to one of the clubs but as it is we are being very tame. We left it to the likes of Li-lo and Brit. LA is very spread out, with cars being the most popular choice in getting around. Everything is miles away from each other with suburbs in between. Amongst the whole slew of cars we spied a great variety of Ford Mustangs. Everything from a lovingly cared for 66 coupe through to a brand new GT. Nice. We had a quiet dinner at the hotel as the NYC jaunt has left us a bit tired. More local brews to be tried though: Flying Dog - Old Scratch Amber Ale and Hollywood Blonde Ale, both pretty tasty.

Wednesday 16/9 NYC-LA

7:30am saw us picked up by an airport shuttle service. We met another proper NYC character, this time a stereotypical neurotic New Yorker. He was stressing about everything and got quite flustered as our driver made his rounds picking up some other passengers. As a result of the traffic we were a little late in reaching the terminal, we had plenty of time but we were rushed from the van. As a consequence we left a cardboard tube behind, something we’ve been carrying since we were in Vietnam. We only realised it in the airport lounge, by which time it was way too late to do anything about it. Within the tube was some Vietnamese kites we’d bought as a gift. We couldn’t believe they’d travelled with us this far only to be lost with only three weeks to go. Bugger! We had a good flight from NYC to LA and upon arrival had some good service from a couple of airport volunteers, who helped us find and book a local hotel, where we scored a great room. After lunch in the hotel we were able to relax a bit which was great after such a hectic time in NYC. We decided to book a tour to see how spread out the city is and to plan what else to do during our stay. The tour is mainly for the LA city highlights with a bit of Hollywood trash thrown in including a tour of some of the stars homes.

NYC 14-15/9

Our first stop on Monday morning was the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) on 5th Avenue. We arrived before the opening at 10:30, and were able to beat the growing queue in buying tickets. Woo hoo! It comprises six main floors with different types of exhibitions or collections on each one. Some highlights included great works by Picasso, Dali, Van Gogh, Pollock, Warhol (the soup cans!) and Magritte, one of my favourite artists. There were also extensive photography, design and architecture collections. The design component had some excellent chairs and electronics from the 70’s. We were keen to have some of the decor in our future house! Following our time at MoMA we headed to the Rockefeller Centre, to a viewing platform known as ‘Top of the Rock’. It is 70 stories above street level and offers a great view of the city and of the Empire State Building in particular. You can see most of Manhattan, over to Brooklyn and New Jersey from the top. We had a clear day and the view was amazing. One surprise was the the Statue of Liberty looks very tiny from there, it is a fair way away, but movies give you the false impression that it is a massive feature in the NYC skyline. The Rockefeller Centre is also home to NBC studios. We had a brief look around the shopping concourse as well, it’s a massive buiding. Leaving the Rockefeller we saw the Radio City Music Hall on our way to Grand Central Station. Next up was the Chrysler Building, this great art-deco inspired building has some great features in the foyer, hopefully they will turn out in the photos. We had planned to go out to dinner to a particular restarant named The John Dory (we’d read about it in London) but unfortunately it had closed, perhaps not being terribly successful in the credit crunch. Over the road from the closed restaurant was The Chelsea Market, a great collection of fresh food stores, bakeries and lunch places but we didn’t find anything that tickled our fancy. Both of us were pretty tired and just wanted to be waited on rather than trying to organise something ourselves. We consulted our guide book again and by luck after a manic cab ride ended up at a great Italian restaurant on 79th Street where we had fantastic food and service, we think the evening turned out for the best. For Tuesday, our last full day in NYC, we were up early to catch the Number 1 train from 96th St Subway Station all the way to the Statten Island Ferry Terminal. It was about a 25 minute journey over to Statten Island and the same back again. The main purpose (of course) being the view of the Manhattan skyline and the Statue of Liberty, this time looking a little bigger as we were a lot closer to her. While onboard we had a talk to a Brooklyn local. I should say it was mostly him talking with a series of rapidfire questions about Australia and anything else that popped into his head. A real New Yorker. Once we’d returned to Manhattan we took the subway to the Time Warner centre near Columbus Cirle. There was a fantastic food market in the basement where we bought some provisions for lunch. They had absolutely anything you could want for lunch down there and it was hugely popular with the local people on their lunch break. We headed back out to eat outside under the statue of Columbus in Columbus Circle where we could do some people watching. After lunch we did some more walking along Broadway, stopping in a few more stores - Urban Outfitters (where we both could have spent a small fortune on vinyl, collectibles and t-shirts) and Victoria’s Secret before we had some Subway takeaway for dinner. All in all, we had a fantastic time in New York City. 99% of the people were really friendly, we had excellent food, great service, saw fantastic sights and art and it was easy to get around - great!

NYC Sunday 13/9

We headed out a little bit later on Sunday to a bakery lunch. They do great paninis in New York. Loads of locals were out and about as it was a lovely day. We saw heaps of people as we walked across Central Park. There’s a large lake or reservoir in the middle with a couple of hundred joggers straining their way around it. We were on our way to the Guggenheim Museum on 5th Avenue. It’s a striking building and a large number of people were heading in to have a look at the collection. The usual display was interrupted a bit to make room for a Kandinsky exhibition starting later in the month so we didn’t get to see as much as we would have normally. What we did see was quite good though. Following the Guggenheim we walked towards the East Village and some really cool shops and bars. With the temperature rising we had a drink in a cool bar to rehydrate before checking out the old CBGBs site at 315 the Bowery. This former music venue was a bit of a pilgrimage for us, having been the site of some incredible bands through the 70’s and 80’s. Elements of the original decor have been kept as part of the buildings new lease on life as a fashion store. Original graffiti and posters have been preserved behind glass so that was quite cool to see. The clothes all seemed to be beyond our budget though, way beyond our budget. Perhaps it's where rock stars shop once they've made it. Our next stop was a specialist sneaker store named Dave’s Quality Meat, it was a very cool store to check out. We had more of a walk through East Village, stopping at a great skate shop named Autumn Skateboards, before we had some Sangria at a bar, the Latin Lounge. By dinner time we were pretty hungry from all the walking and we ate at the Buenos Aires restaurant for some great pasta and seafood. Our last stop of the evening was a bar recommended by our travel guide, the Eastern Bloc. What the guide mentioned was that it had cool decor (which it did), but what it didn’t mentioned was that it was a popular East Village gay bar. We had a drink and the barman had a bit of a chat to us. We basically fitted the template of the undercover cops who come in regularly to check that he asks people for I.D. There would normally be a man and a woman, one would drink and the other wouldn’t, we thought it was pretty funny. We caught the subway home again, it’s a pretty easy system to work out and fairly clean which is good.

NYC 11-12/9

We left London in a pre-booked minicab instead of tackling the tube. A great move in retrospect as we wouldn’t have managed very well considering how bloody heavy our bags are at the moment. The flight was with American Airlines whom we’ve not flown with before. It was a good flight and we managed to get through three movies each before landing at John F. Kennedy Airport. Getting through US Immigration was fairly straightforward and we had a remarkably pleasant officer (compared with some UK counterparts). He even recommended some live music venues after discovering that was one of our interests. Once we cleared customs we grabbed our bags and headed out to the cab dispatcher. Our cab saw us headed towards Manhattan, very pleased to be in the US. Unfortunately the cabbie didn’t seem to share our enthusiasm or good mood for that matter, he was pretty much driving dangerously most of the way into the city and upon arrival (once he found our hostel) proceeded to berate us when we started to ask a question about the fare. We came to an understanding fairly quickly and, determined not to let his vile attitude spoil our evening we settled into our room with some dinner. On Saturday morning we got up fairly early and walked from our hostel on the Upper West Side (94th Street) down Broadway to have some breakfast. We then continued walking and taking in the sights: hundreds of yellow cabs and New Yorkers out walking their dogs. We worked up a bit of an appetite by lunch time and had some food at the Brooklyn Diner, a traditional styled American diner serving what they called ‘uncomplicated American food’. I had a bagel along with scrambled eggs and salmon while Kirsten had a super yummy prawn salad. Next up we walked down to Times Square, which was really busy with people queuing for tickets to broadway shows and generally milling about gawping at the giant neon signs and souvenir stores. Further down Broadway we came to the Flat Iron Building, a real highlight in New York architecture, the photos we took will hopefully do it justice. We had a fair bit of drizzle most of the day, though not enough to stop us walking. There was a market in Union Square, we also had a bit of a look in Puma where Kirsten got some 80’s style high top sneakers. We needed a bit of a rest stop at this stage so we found a cool bar named Leela Lounge and had a drink. Following our recovery we had a look at some cool stores around Houston and Wooster Streets, like the Adidas flagship store, Camper (new shoes for me!) and Kid Robot (where it was difficult not to buy awesome collectibles). It was time to get something for dinner by this stage so we walked over to Little Italy where a street fair was in full swing. We had read about Lombardi’s coal fired pizza restaurant in a guide book and wanted to check it out. Lombardi's is apparently the first pizza restaurant in NYC, having been established in 1905. It was quite busy being a Saturday night but after about half an hour we were seated. It was well worth the wait. The pizza was delicious accompanied by some great atmosphere to boot. To finish off our massive day we caught the subway home and made it back to the hostel ready for a serious rest.

London 7-10/9

While waiting for someone to buy the van, we have tried to get out and about a bit in the last few days. We spent Sunday afternoon exploring our local neighbourhood in Fulham, we had dinner at a gourmet burger bar on the high street before catching a movie at the local theatre. We saw 500 Days of Summer, which was quite funny with a great soundtrack. I gave it 6.5/10 as did Kirsten. On Monday we headed into central London to Trafalgar square and the National Gallery. We spent a number of hours there, it’s an excellent collection and considering it is free to get in they have some amazing artists displayed there: Turner, Van Gogh and Renoir to name a few. We had a good feed at the UK chain Pizza Express, something else we wanted to cross off our list and it was lovely. On Tuesday we had another day in central london, starting with an obstetricians appointment, we are happy to report that everything is going well with the pregnancy and that Kirsten and the baby are in great health. We have also been given the okay to fly for the rest of our trip so that is a great relief. We went out and had lunch in Regents Park where a whole heap of people were out enjoying the sunshine. Next up we headed near to Soho to pass some time before going out to dinner. I continued my sampling of UK ales, and had a Doombar Ale (from Cornwall) in a local pub. While walking around we came across a 1960’s fashion photographer’s showcase at small gallery (featuring amazing shots of Twiggy, Marianne Faithful, Jean Shrimpton to name a few). The photographer was on hand to answer any questions, we had a brief chat about film over digital while perusing all the photos. Sadly everything was priced beyond what we could afford but we were both glad we’d ducked in to have a look. We had a resrvation for dinner at Murano, a restaurant in the Gordon Ramsay stable. The decor was quite understated and posh which made the selection of a huge lighting centrepiece near the middle of the restaurant a little unusual. No such hesitations on the service or the menu though, everything was absolutely fantastic. We had three courses with some lovely wines to match, it was a great experience. We saw Gordon himself cutting through the restaurant so it must have been his protege Angela Hartnett doing the cooking that night. My main, grilled Halibut was fantastic and all the little extras we were given and the lovely mix of food was well worth it. It was really quiet in the restaurant and even though we had dressed in our nice duds we felt a bit out of place. I suppose we are used to the rowdiness of the local pub. We finally sold our van a day and a bit before we were due to fly, so we were able to have a celebration/catch up dinner with our good friend Nikki at our temporary local, the Fulham Mitre. The van sale also left us free to head back into London on Thursday where we did a bit of shopping and sightseeing amongst the crowds on Regent Street, Carnaby Street and Soho. That night we had a quiet night and packed for our early flight on Friday morning.

Humberston 31/8-4/9

We’ve spent a few days chilling out post festival with Aunty Anne and family in Humberston which has been great. We have also headed into Grimsby a couple of times so that we could both get some new (second hand) books and haircuts (mine was well overdue). I’ve been trying to drink some English ales before we leave the UK, two of the better titles are Bishops Finger and Jolly Ploughman, both were very nice. We also made use of the sensational local chippie, where we got some huge Haddock and chips for tea one night. We’ve had a lovely stay here so it was sad to leave. We set out on the motorway for London for the last time (for the immediate future anyway) on Friday and it was lovely that our van also wanted to get in on the act and give us a farewell present, in the form of another blowout on the motorway. The front tyre went this time, thankfully we were able to stop without incident. A motorway safety patrol was just behind us when the tyre blew so they stopped to see if we were ok, they also stuck around while I changed the tyre so it was good to have their high visibility van parked in front of our van. Once the tyre was changed, we drove carefully into London and collected a key to our temporary accommodation in Fulham. Following our arrival we have had a few van trials and tribuations, mostly to do with a toolbag who had promised to buy the van when he viewed it online and then reneged in person. We then had to contact everyone we’d put on hold to try and get the sale happening, a very frustrating process. We’re hoping to avoid any more time wasters.

Leeds Festival 28-30/08

We set off from Humberston for Leeds on Friday morning, a journey of about 80 miles. Thankfully there wasn’t too much festival traffic, it looked like a lot of people had set up the day before. Going through the main security gate we had some bottles confiscated, they weren’t allowing any glass on site. Sadly this meant losing some Belgian cherry beer and having to put a new bottle of scotch into a plastic water bottle. At least I got to keep the scotch. We were into the main arena by early afternoon (another looooong walk from our van to the arena) and we were just in time to catch another secret show by Them Crooked Vultures at the NME/Radio 1 stage. Once again the band looked to be having a fantastic time, with huge applause directed at Dave Grohl whenever his face came up on the video screens. Next up we went to watch Ian Brown on the main stage, a slight slope meant that we could make out the stage if we stood up or watch the video screens if we sat down. We chose to sit down and enjoyed him cranking out a couple of Stone Roses tracks as well as a lot of hits from his solo career, his enthusiasm making up for a very flat sound. We made our way back to the NME tent in time to see some of the Maccabees, we had seen them at Glasto but heard a bit more this time, they sounded quite good but nothing too inspiring. White Lies, Glasvegas and Gossip all followed on the NME stage. We were well pleased as it meant we could avoid trudging between stages and stay under the marquee out of the cold. White Lies had an electronic/guitar kind of sound, quite reminiscent of Duran Duran in places (in a good way) and they had huge amounts of people singing along to their lyrics. Glasvegas were once again excellent, in front of a smaller crowd (most people where off watching The Prodigy) they still inspired some enthusiastic singing along and were excellent to watch. Gossip finished up our Friday night and the band played quite well, technical mishaps and microphone abuse by Beth Ditto aside. No encore due to time restrictions meant we didn’t hear ‘Standing in the Way of Control’ but the rest of the set was extremely enthusiastic and the crowd lapped it up. Saturday seemed to be much colder right from when we got up, mainly due to a keen wind gusting across the open site. First off we walked down to the Dance tent to see some of the Crystal Method’s set, the stuff we heard from their album ‘Vegas’ sounding just as good as on record. We were a bit curious to see Crystal Castles after that following a lot of hype we’d read in NME last year and they didn’t disappoint, a mainly electronic beat with some mostly unintelligible girl vocals over the top. Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, Bloc Party and Radiohead were out on the main stage for the rest of Saturday night, it was already getting cold before the sun went down and was very cold after so we stuck it out to hear Yeah Yeah Yeah’s and Bloc Party in full and we left during Radiohead’s set as we were both freezing despite multiple layers. All of the bands sounded great, with Kele from Bloc Party doing his best to get the locals enthused and dancing along. The blasting wind did do us one favour however, it meant we heard a fair bit of Radiohead as we trudged back to the van and heard the rest of their set quite well once we were in the van. Once again we were pleased to be in the camper rather than in a tent. Some were barely holding onto the ground in the strong wind. Sunday saw the inclement weather turn even worse with some rain coming down in the afternoon. We managed to avoid it by staking out a spot in the NME/Radio 1 Tent and stayed in there for the rest of the day. This did mean we missed Kings of Leon but we decided that being warmer and drier was more important. We suspect we’ll get to see KOL over the Australian summer anyway. The first act we saw on Sunday was Little Boots, she had drawn quite a crowd as it seemed she was a local and the end of her set saw her getting a load of rellies on stage to dance about to her last song. Next up we saw The Horrors, who had quite a dark, goth guitar sound along with some menacing vocals, they were quite good. Jack Penate was up next, he’s been hyped a bit in the UK press but we didn’t find anything too exciting, just another male singer/songwriter like so many before him, seemed popular enough with the crowd though. Florence and the Machine played an excellent set after that, so much so we’ve put their CD on our (very long) list to get. Their set was over quickly after a few epic songs and they apologised for not being able to do any more as they were ordered off the stage. Friendly Fires and then Jamie T took the stage, getting good responses from the crowd but beyond the bizarre dancing of the Friendly Fire’s lead singer nothing else really grabbed us. Faith No More had the headline slot in the NME tent up against Kings of Leon on the main stage. They still drew a respectable crowd and we were please to see that Mike Patton had indulged in a costume change from his earlier pink suit from Pukkelpop. With Mike resplendent in a glittery silver suit the band launched straight into business with abandon. At Roskilde and Pukkelpop the band had been opening with a song called ‘Reunited’ but I think due to time constraints they were going straight for the hits. Twice during the set the band played the Eastenders Theme, the second time drawing a great response and some smiles from the crowd. Mike seemed to be determined to mock the crowd and enjoyed baiting the predominantly English audience about ‘loving your tea’. Another cut back due to time constraints meant that the band didn’t play their ‘Chariots of Fire/Stripsearch’ medley, but everything they did play sounded excellent and the band were very tight. Sadly there was no encore due to organisers time constraints, the band apologised and then that was the end of the festival. We waited quite a while for the crowd to disperse before we headed back to the van over the muddy and treacherous ground, we saw a few people slip into the mud and didn’t want to be part of their number. We made it back to the van without incident and had something to eat while we listened to the wind and the crowd in the distance. Monday morning typically saw better weather than the last few days and we found it very easy to leave the festival site, with no queuing to get to the motorway and an easy drive back to Humberston, Aunty Anne and a much needed hot shower.

Leaving Belgium

We checked out of Hasselt on the Monday, travelling into Belgium in time for lunch. We had some excellent seafood at a nice cafe but we only had a limited time there as the staff were keen to close for the afternoon. Kirsten had a char grilled tuna steak and I had a grilled salmon fillet. Both were beautifully presented with tasty veg. Yum! We spent the rest of the afternoon having a wander, coming across some cool looking shops (sadly closed as it was Monday) before we reached the statue of the Manekin Pis. Surrounded by tourists, the small statue of the boy peeing seems a bit inconsiquential by comparison, we took a couple of photos regardless. There’s a large fence we couldn’t remember being there before though we’ll have to check our photos from 2000 to be sure. Following the Manekin Pis we bought some local chocolate produce before walking through cobbled streets to the main square, featuring amazing buildings from the 1600’s. I tried a local dark ale at a bar on the impressive main square before we went along to the Tintin shop, a must vist for some postcards etc. Our last task in Brussels was to procure some waffles, which along with chocolate sauce, strawberries and ice cream, I’m happy to report were magnificent. Leaving Brussels we dropped into Bruges, only an hour or so along the motorway. It is a very pretty town with an impressive square and high church tower, I was tempted very much to talk like Colin Farrell for most of our visit. We had a quiet drink in a character laden local bar, the Nocturne bar. That night we camped in a freepark on the motorway. We were suspicious of anywhere too remote so we stayed at a service station. Some of the English papers had reported tourists being robbed by people seeking to make an illegal crossing into the UK. Thankfully the night passed without incident and we made it to Calais for breakfast croissants and coffee (plus a later cherry beer) at a local brasserie, followed by some shopping in one of the nearby shopping centres. We reached the P&O terminal a bit late but were allowed onto the next ferry. The only issue getting through customs was that we had to deal with the most sour border security person I have ever dealt with. It seemed that the very act of having to breathe and then converse with us was causing her untold agony. Struggling not to be sarcastic we boarded the ferry for a calm crossing, before heading up the motorway to Humberston and to see Aunty Anne.

Pukkelpop 20-22/8

As our campsite is just over five kilometres from the festival site, we decided to hire bikes for the duration of the festival. It was pretty reasonable in cost and took us a bit over half an hour to ride there each way, depending on how tired we were. We were a bit sore after the first day as neither of us has been on a bike for a while, the last time for me was in Darwin in March. Needless to say, we felt the bumps a little bit more than we would have liked. Bike parking was provided by the festival just down the road and secured on a ticket basis, there would have been over a thousand bikes in there at peak times so finding a spot to leave them was a bit of a challenge. Thursday had a fantastic line-up and we were pretty lucky this time around as there wasn’t a lot of clashes between time slots for things we wanted to see. Most other festivals we've had to chose between two good bands but here it was easy enough to walk from one stage to the next, it’s also quite a small site so not too much of a hassle to get about. Maximo Park kicked off procedings (for us anyway) on the main stage and they performed a pretty similar set to Benicassim but an enthusiastic one. Next up we saw Razorlight who seemed a little bit lost on the main stage, we were fairly far back but it didn’t seem like a lot of the crowd were paying attention, they sounded quite good though. La Roux was up next in a smaller tent known as The Club, when she was on at Glasto they’d just been hyped by the BBC so we couldn’t get anywhere near the tent. This time it was still pretty busy so we’ve not actually ‘seen’ her, just heard the set both times - this time the sound was better though so we enjoyed ‘Bulletproof’ and some other tracks a lot more. Between acts we had a bit of dinner and heard a bit of the Deftones who we are mostly familiar with through our friend Kirsty (Hi KP! - they were pretty good!). There was a secret act on the Marquee Stage next so we checked it out as there wasn’t anything else worth seeing at the same time. At Glastonbury the ‘secret’ acts are normally well known bands making a surprise appearance, here it was slightly different as Them Crooked Vultures are essentially a new band consisting of some people that have played together before. Dave Grohl and Josh Homme have performed together in Queens of the Stone Age, in Them Crooked Vultures they are joined by John Paul Jones, formerly of Led Zepplin and one other guy who might of looked familiar but I can’t place him. The main thing is that they played like they had been together a long time and like men possessed - their whole set was sensational and we thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. It was also realy good to see them enjoying themselves, they seemed to really enjoy the mostly local crowd and each other, Dave Grohl in particular grinning a lot. Time for some metal next with Opeth at a small stage known as The Shelter, it was quite an intimate space to see such a well known act but it was good to see them up close. Ten minute metal epics are childs play for Opeth and they too were having a good time. We heard a bit of Ladyhawke while we were sitting down waiting for Faith No More, she sounded pretty good but it was a bit lost in the crowd noise for us. Faith No More played a similar set to Roskilde but in quite a different fashion as Mike Patton was quite antagonistic towards the crowd, openly having a go at some audience members and also singing some of ‘Evidence’ in Portuguese. Which sounded pretty good by the way, I just don’t think everyone understood where he was coming from. It was a good performance though, just different. Last act of the night (for us) were My Bloody Valentine, a band I have been waiting almost 20 years to see. They reformed early last year (I think) and it didn’t look like we’d get the chance until I saw that they had been added to the Pukkelpop bill about six weeks ago. I am hesitant to try and put such an amazing experience into words so I’ll just say it was everything I could have hoped for... only louder - nothing else came close for volume for the rest of the festival, earplugs were essential! We eventually had to move back as we thought the sound might have been a bit too much for the bubba. Pure white noise. The ride home was a bit easier than our ride there and we had a bit of a sleep in on Friday before heading out in the afternoon to catch Eagles of Death Metal on the main stage. Another band that was having a good time, their set was great from start to finish, we sang along to ‘I Really Wanna be in LA’ knowing that we will be there in a few weeks. We saw the end of The Living End playing at The Shelter, they had a decent sized crowd and sounded good. We went to see Glasvegas next, in the Marquee, a much more intimate setting than at Benicassim and their performance benifitted a lot from it, they were fantastic. Big singalongs too, once again a huge one for ‘Daddy’s Gone’ - stirring stuff. The Ting Tings played the main stage next, getting a good reaction for ‘That’s Not My Name’ which was eagerly sung along to. Vampire Weekend (who all looked like they were 12) were at the Marquee next and they were really good, trying out a fair bit of new stuff in with the hits, they came across well to an enthusiastic audience. Snow Patrol played the main stage while went to find something to eat, we heard all their set but would have appeciated some older stuff in with the newer hits (I suspect I’m just being a snob there). The dark and mysterious Fever Ray had the Maquee stage covered in faint lamps so while they were playing only small parts of the stage were lit for short moments, they were all costumed too so combined with the atmospheric songs it was quite a show. I’m not sure if it was sitting right with a ‘festival crowd’ but we liked it. Vocals very much like the singer’s other band, The Knife. Placebo were on the main stage next, a set identical to Bilbao BBK so not much in the way of surprises, they played well but a little variation might have been nice. Last act for us was Blood Red Shoes at the Club, a small venue for this British band who we hadn’t heard anything of before, we were checking them out based on hype from NME. It was worth it as the two piece put on a great show in front of a loyal audience. Pretty tired by this stage so we went to collect our bikes as Kraftwerk started, we heard a little on the ride back but we’ve seen them before and didn’t expect any surprises. During the day on Saturday one of the bands mentioned that there were 60,000 people at the site, we were not sure of the official figure but it did seem like Saturday was the busiest day. The crowd seemed to be a bit older than some of the other festivals, still a mix with young campers but there was a whole heap of middled aged guys about the place getting drunk which is heartening for my future. We started proceedings with Dinosaur Jr on the Main Stage. We’ve not seen them for a number of years, certainly not while the key members have been back together so it was cool to see J Mascis rocking out playing ‘Out There’ and ‘Feel the Pain’ again in front of a stack of Marshall amps. We listened to Florence and the Machine after that (the tent being too busy to see) but it sounded good, even if it was suspiciously like Siouxsie and the Banshees in parts. We heard a bit of 50 Cent on the main stage, he had a large crowd but it was pretty unimpressive as far as we were concerned - but then he is just not our cup of Earl Grey. We went over to the Marquee to see Klaxons next, they had played a secret slot a Glasto but there was something else on at the same time. The singer looked a bit out of it but they put on a good show and the keyboard player had on a vintage Sonic Youth t-shirt the same as I have at home so that was cool. N*E*R*D were on the main stage after that, again not entirely what we’re into but it sounded quite good, I recognised more songs than I didn’t and they sounded a lot tighter than 50 Cent had earlier in the day. Second to last act of the day for us was Tortoise, once again listened to outside the tent as they’d drawn quite a crowd and it was too smokey inside. A good set, we only own the album ‘Standards’ though, so a lot of the material is unfamiliar but still good. Arctic Monkeys were finishing up on the main stage and early in the set they played an excellent version of ‘Red Right Hand’, very different to the original in that it was almost twice as fast but played really well. They put on a great show with songs from their new album as well as hits off the last two records, great stuff. We managed the final ride home easily, a bit less sore than the previous two days but a decent rest was definitely required.

Vanpark Action and Daytrip to the Netherlands

We’ve spent a few days at the van park which has been nice, it’s a nice spot with a pool, cafe and bar, swimming lake and loads of semi permanent residents over the other side of the lake in portable houses. On our side of the lake is a spot for all the tents and camper vans. There’s a real mix of different campers about the place, from 1950’s style caravans through to American GM V8 trucks/vans. We’ve seen more of these style of trucks here in Belgium and the Netherlands than anywhere else, a few bikers too. We headed out for a drive on Tuesday 18/8 to the Rijksmuseum in Maastricht and had lunch at the museum cafe before heading inside. The main exhibition was named Palazzo, after a group of Dutch collectors who were primarily interested in Italian paintings and some furniture for their private homes and whom amassed their collections between the World Wars. Most of the works on display were donated from these private collections and made up one floor of the museum, an impressive amount of works were featured. There was also a number of huge tapestries on display, chronicling the classical works relating to Diana. There will be some photos up soon to show just how massive in scale they are, it would have been amazing to see them when they were new as the faded colours you see now only give a hint of their past glory. On the top floor (the middle floor was closed as the exhibition had finished so we got a discount on admission) was some photography, mainly of oriental interior spaces. Peoples bedrooms, bathrooms, the inside of a yurt (tent thing) and a mortuary were the main topics. After spending most of the afternoon at the museum we returned to Belgium via a ‘shopping village’ full of discount stores, mainly specialising in European fashion and boutques. There was some interesting stuff there but not much caught our eye. We arrived a bit late and the places we would have most likely found something were closing so we headed back to the camp for dinner.

Paris to Belguim 16/8-18/8

We left the van park on Verneuil sur Seine on Sunday. We enjoyed staying there as it was quiet and cheap, the only thing lacking being a washing machine. We headed back to Versailles to check out the palace after some great morning tea at our local Patisserie (mmm croissants, eclairs, flans, cafe espresso) but unfortunately arrived at what seemed to be the peak time, it looked as though the queue would be taking well over an hour just to get the ticket before joining a second queue to go inside. As it was pretty hot by this point we decided to give it a miss and headed out on the motorway to Belgium. We arrived in the early evening without incident and have found a good van park not far from where our next music festival is to take place. We are booked in until Sunday night which is a relief. Kirsten is not really keen on camping in a tent anymore. Something to do with a belly getting in the way. Staying here means we can use their facilities as well as use our supplies for breakfasts in the van. We are hoping to hire a bike each to ride to the festival site as it is about 5kms away. That way we can leave the van in the safety of the park and not have to worry about it getting broken into or vandalized by festival punks. Not that we've had any issues so far but now that the van starts we have to be paranoid and stressed about something. In other news it looks like Moscow is off the cards. Due to us not being in the same spot for long enough, organising the 'official invitation' as well as the visa would be a hard task. It may be a blessing in disguise as we will now have a bit more time to sell the van before we head to the US. We've organised flights to Vancouver from Vegas to visit our lovely friend Dara whom we lived with when we were in the UK in 2001. For now it is back to relaxing. We will be offline for a couple of days but will be back next week with a full report on Pukkelpop. Lookout!

Paris 12/8 and 14/8, St Germain 13/8

We headed into Paris from Verneuil sur Seine mid morning on Wednesday. As the campsite is a distance from the small village and we didn’t want to leave the van in the station carpark all day, we decided to get a cab to the station. We then caught an overland train into central Paris and then swapped for the Metro. We headed out to Port Dauphine first as the Russian Embassy is situated there and we intend to go to Moscow after all the festivals are over. After a bit of a trip on the Metro and some walking we found the embassy but too late for any visas to be processed that day. We decided to head to the Champs-Elysees to get some lunch and to have a walk down this famous shopping strip. The first stop was to check out the Arc De Triomphe and then food. We found a restaurant a street away from the Champs Elyssee in the hope it would be a little cheaper. We were quite well fed for the price and then we headed off. It’s been eight years since we had visted here but it’s hard to tell if many of the shops have changed. McDonalds, Quick (the French fast food chain), Paris St Germain (soccer club) and Sephora (giant perfume/makeup/everything shop) were still in the same places. One outlet that was very busy was the Peugeuot store, a mixture of retail outlet and concpt vehicle showroom. The other major French manufacturers are represented along the street but they weren’t quite as busy, Renault came close. After a stroll and a drink we had made it to the end of the main drag and caught the Metro to the Eiffel Tower. As it was a beautiful summer afternoon the queues to go up to the top of the tower were massive so we elected to give it a miss this time. We did however, spend some time relaxing near the base checking out the fantastic tower and people watching. After that we had a drink a couple of streets over at a typical French brasserie before heading back to Verneuil sur Seine. As we came back about 10pm we had been hoping for a taxi at the station but there wasn’t anyone around. Our attempts to call one were met with and answering machine, it seems that not much happens in rural France after 10pm. What it did mean though is that we had to trudge back to the campsite which took 45 minutes to an hour, not something we needed after such a long day. We were incredibly glad to be sitting down again once we reached the van. We had a rest day on Thursday, we tried to catch up on some internet and some washing but after a few attempts at towns nearby it wasn’t happening. We did get to have a look around St Germain which seems to be a trendy town with loads of bars, cafes and great looking shops. Yes mum, we were thinking of you. Heading back into Paris on Friday, we drove in and parked a few streets away from the Russian Embassy as it’s on the edge of the city where a forest/park begins so we thought we’d be able to park without incident. Unfortunately we’ve had a second visa issue, this time the Russian visa clerk reckons we need to have an ‘invitation’ from our chosen accommodation sent to us and then present this to the Embassy. As we’re not in France long enough we can’t get it sorted out here so we’ll see how we go in London. Next stop after Port Dauphine was Notre Dame Cathedral which was heaving with tourists but with good reason as it looked stunning in the morning light. Photos to come. After we had spent some time walking around Notre Dame and sitting in the garden out the back we had lunch in the Latin Quarter. I had a massive serve of Mussels Provencale while Kirsten had some garlic prawns, very impressive. After lunch we had more of a wander around the Latin Quarter, very narrow streets and loads of restaurants, before we got onto the Metro again and headed out to Montmartre. As it’s higher up on a hill and the metro is a decent amount underground, getting out at the Abbesses station meant a huge walk up some spiral stairs meaning that we we both stuffed at the top before we’d even had a chance to walk around. When we did get going, we discovered that this lovely area has loads of great shops, bars, restaurants, traditional streets and houses and of course Basilique du Sacré-Cœur. We caught the funicular railway up the steep hill to the cathedral where huge crowds were enjoying uninterrupted views out over Paris as well as watching the talents of some local breakdancers. There was also a wedding (not in the main cathedral) and they used Sacré-Cœur as a backdrop for some photos. The black couple looked very striking. All white suits for the groom and pageboy and a big white dress for the bride. The funicular either had some problems or was just swamped by the huge crowds so we walked to a local Brasserie and had an impressive iced coffee and icecream combination. More people watching which was lots of fun. We wanted to stay put and perhaps go to a restaurant for dinner but we had no room for any more food at that point. Definitely an area to revisit another time. At the end of the day we went back on the metro and back to our van. We both had our fingers crossed that it would still be there, not have its wheel clamped and have no fines attached and we were relieved to find out this was so. Woo hoo! This time it was a lot easier to get home although not easy to leave as we both have loved our time here, Paris is fantastic.

Verneuil sur Seine and Versailles

We arrived in Verneuil sur Seine, about 40 minutes drive from Paris, on Sunday 9/8 after trying to find a spot at two other campsites around Paris. We’ve found a good one though in that the location is convenient and the price is good. The campsite is quiet and set in amongst lots of pine trees. Next door there is a holiday complex with a large swimming lake, cafe, restaurant and leisure facilities. We had dinner there on Sunday night as we didn’t have a great deal of supplies with us and we thought most local shops would be shut. On Monday 10/8 we drove to Versailles (thoroughly enjoying that we can start and stop the van as we choose) to see the palace. Turns out it’s shut on Mondays but we had a good opportunity to walk around the massive grounds and gardens on site. We spent a few hours enjoying the sunshine and views before we headed back to to the van (we plan to check out the palace later in the week). After that we went to a local shopping centre for a bit of a look around, returning to the van with a whole heap of stuff we hadn’t set out for (and the item we had looked for - shoes for me, we went without). We had intended to go to Paris today (Tuesday) but we’re a bit tired from yesterday’s long walks so we’re tidying up the van and relaxing today before we hit the city tomorrow.

It Lives! (La Seyne sur Mer, Cannes and Antibes)

The van is alive and well again after our stay in La Seyne sur Mer. Peugeot have replaced the starter motor and the battery for an obscene amount amount of Euros. While the van was in the shop (five days) we spent one night in the Novotel which was very decadent, and the rest of the time in the budget Formula 1 Hotel chain. We are both certain on which one we preferred. We also headed into town for an evening to get new books as we are going through them at a rapid rate and we had a nice dinner in an Italian restaurant. We picked up the van on Friday 7/8 and headed along the coast towards Cannes. We were able to find a park along the esplanade a few kilometres out of the city and we headed into central Cannes via train. This turned out to be a good move as the city centre was packed with thousands of holidaymakers. It’s an attractive city and we had a long walk along the promenade which was full of designer boutiques, hotels and restaurants. The large marina was full of expensive craft and there was a large number of trendy types swanning about. We had a sensational seafood dinner at a local restaurant before heading back to the van. We decided to free park out of Cannes to make up for a bit of a splurge on dinner and so it would be a little quieter. It turned out to be a good descision as the centre of the city was gridlocked in traffic or almost an hour watching a huge fireworks display out over the bay. Once we managed to evade the worst of the traffic we headed towards Antibes and found a park near a very small beach and got some sleep. The next morning we went down to the beach for a bit of sun and a swim. The whole beach was only a few hundred metres long and the public section was only about 50 metres wide (most of the beach was taken up with cafe’s and restaurants that had private beach chairs). As we didn’t want to pay for the privilege we found a good spot on the public beach and set up. Kirsten found the water too cold but enjoyed people watching on the beach. I went in for about half an hour. It turned out that there was a large number of small jellyfish along the coast, a guy near me ended up getting stung twice, prompting him to pack up his family and leave. I was stung once on the stomach but I didn’t feel it at the time, I only saw the welt once I was out of the water. Not a big deal. We worked on a theory that the guy who made his family leave didn’t want to be at the beach anyway. It was a really nice morning and a good farewell to the French beach culture. We left Antibes in the afternoon and took the motorway towards Paris, watching thousands of holiday-makers from all over Europe head towards the coast in vans and caravans. We stayed the night in another free park off the motorway in one of the many well kept and well equipped rest areas.

Leaving Spain, visiting Le Bacares, Marseilles & La Seyne Sur Mer

After Barcelona, we spent a couple of nights at the El Delphin Verde caravan park on the north east Spanish coast. It is a huge park, the biggest one we’ve stayed in yet with tennis courts, huge pool, beach frontage, supermarket, shops, bars and a restaurant. They also have separate stalls serving crepes, hamburgers and ice creams. A large Nordic contingent seemed to be holidaying there, with a large proportion of holiday makers seemingly intent on turning themselves a deep brown or orange. We had one of the van superintendents give us a tow start as we didn’t have willing onlookers to help push start the van but once we were on the road we were fine. We’re trying not to let the situation get to us but it’s a bit of a comedy of errors how much stuff seems to be not working or falling off the van at the moment. More on that later. Upon leaving Delphin Verde we saw a Peugeot mechanic and stopped in for a chat, my rudimentary Spanish was enough to understand that he wasn’t that interested in trying to understand or help, instead fobbing us off to another mechanic whom we never found. We continued the drive to France and went to Le Bacares on the French coast, about two hours over the border. We parked down by the promenade and the sea and went to have some dinner, a pretty decent pizza each. We also went for a bit of a wander around the main drag, it was quite nice but some of the shops were pretty expensive, fitting in with the seaside resort theme. We spent a night in the carpark along with a couple of other vans, trying to save a bit of money. Probably not the best place to park in the end as it was a popular spot until quite late, after which it got more popular with some hoons on hotted up mopeds racing each other. We got an early morning wake up too. Some local traders had arrived at 5.30am to set up their stalls for a market. Still, we managed to get our own back slightly as they had to push start the van for the priveledge of their space. We deliberated for a while on our next move and thought it might be best to strike for a larger city centre, hopefully with a greater concentration of mechanics. Marseilles was about three hours along the coast and is a very large port city. We set off down the motorway, we are quite impressed with French motorways as there’s parks quite often and you can have an easy rest stop. It was at one of these parks I saw that a small chimney/gas vent on our roof was bent back and about to fall off. After clambering up on a nearby skip to get access to the roof I saw it was held on by it’s last screw. Kirsten and I rattled off a list of things not working or falling off the van and tried to make light of the situation. At least the van goes... once it's started. We arrived in Marseilles just before lunchtime and Kirsten jumped out of the van while I parked illegally (it was absolutely heaving down by the port) to head into the tourist information office. We had a bit of help to find a couple of local mechanics and we set off. The first guy had a bit of a theory but couldn’t see us until after 4pm so we tried the next suggestion. They were a tiny, single car garage that the van had no hope of getting into so they suggested a nearby servo where we met again with helpful staff and mechanic but no room for the van to fit in the workshop. They advised us of two more places we could try on a nearby street, the first turned out to be closed and we couldn’t find the second one. We were getting a bit hot and bothered by this stage so we thought we’d try and find a park and go and have a drink somewhere. A lot of the city is on a hill so we tried in vain to find a park on a slope so we could roll start the van without too much trouble. After almost two hours of trying to find a park (it is no wonder so many people drive micro or Smart cars here) we gave up in bitter frustration and left the city. We didn’t end up going back to the first mechanic as we suspected the van wouldn’t have fitted in his workhop anyway (he never saw the van, only the manual which depicts a shorter version). The nearest campsite was 60km away so we left Marseilles without a real chance to look around which is unfortunate but we didn’t have much of a choice. The next caravan park, Mimosa, is a very quiet family affair and we’ve set up (near a slope) and have been quietly reading (I’ve just finished 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' and thought it was excellent) and relaxing since then. A local supermarket ended up having a massive range of food (something like 20-30 types of Brie alone, but I suppose that yes, it is France) so we got some stuff for dinner - lovely. There is also a Peugeot dealership just down the road where we've finally been able to book the van in to be looked at. Fingers crossed for Monday!

Playa Tropicana and beyond. 20/7 - 25/7.

Following Benicassim we stayed at a caravan park called Playa Tropicana for a few days. Great surroundings and facilities, about 60 km's north of Benicassim and right on the coast. We went to the beach which is directly opposite the campsite and apart from that have nothing major to report as we were relaxing. Ahhhh! Nice! We managed to push start the van ourselves this time thanks to good positioning at the site. We drove to Barcelona with the hope of sorting the starter motor but have not been successful. We took the van to a Fiat mechanic as we were told that the motor in the Talbot is a Fiat Ducato. The guys at Fiat were generous to us with their time however they could not help us. They reckon that the serial numbers on the engine don't match up with Fiat numbers. It is most likely a Peugeot meaning that the Phat White Duke is actually a Fat faux Duke. Anyhoo, we are now in a lovely campsite called Camping Barcelona. Tonight will be our third night here and it has been very enjoyable. Yesterday (Fri 24/7) we caught the bus from the campsite into Barcelona. Very convenient as it went from right outside the campsite to the heart of the city and back. On our tour back in 2000 we visited Barcelona but I had forgotten how lovely a city it is. First stop was La Rambla. After a yummy espresso and a chocolate croissant (yeah baby) we walked down the paved foot traffic only part that runs down the centre of La Rambla. We took in a visit to the Museu de l'Erotica for a bit of a giggle. On display is a variety of different artworks from all different cultures. Some more artistic than others... as you can imagine. Things of note were: original Playboy covers from early editions (very modest by today's standards); some prints from the 1800s (beautiful artworks in their own right even though they are a bit raunchy) and an original copy of a Norma Jean (Marilyn Monroe) calendar. Apparently Ms Monroe was paid the exact sum that she needed to get her car out of hock and that is the reason she agreed to do the saucy shoot. The things we do hey! After a walk towards the port we needed a bit of rest so recharged with a lemonade and watched the world go by for a bit. We pushed on walking through a few side streets and visiting a funky bar for another drink and a snack. We took in some window shopping before jumping on the Metro to see La Sagrada Familia. An amazing building that was started in 1882 and still isn't finished. It is a pretty crazy looking building and historically very interesting so check out the link if you want to know more about it. Our day was drawing to a close so we Metroed it back to where we started the day and treated ourselves to some consumer/exploitative/mass market fun at the Hard Rock Cafe Barcelona. We chowed down on some yummo Nachos and nearly missed the bus back whilst we were finishing up. A really enjoyable day and yes, very tiring. By the end of the day I was suffering with my first case of swollen ankles. Today has been spent chilling out by the pool. We will be on the road again tomorrow to head a bit further north. We are thinking we will try to get the van fixed once we reach France. Till then we are a bit of a comedy act with our push starting.

Benicassim 17-19/7

On the Friday we set out from the van area to a bus put on by the festival to go to the beach. Heaps of other festival goers had the same idea (it's what you do in sunny Spain) so when we got there it was heaving. There was still enough room to find a spot and have a swim though, very nice. We also had lunch at a local hotel which turned out to be pretty reasonable in price. Kirsten was very impressed with her calamari. We went back to the campsite where a bit of a storm started to develop. By mid evening it was developing into a gale. There were also a lot of sirens in the distance as it looked like something was on fire just beyond the confines of the whole site (we never did find out what it was). We ventured out to see a bit of Paul Weller on the main stage, the sound was affected quite a lot by the wind and he ended up cutting his set short due to the weather. It was very blustery, dirty and starting to get cold by this point. Kirsten returned to the van while I stuck it out for another hour waiting to see if Kings of Leon would play but unfortunately that was it for the evening as event organisers deemed it unsafe for bands to continue. The campsite was strewn with rubbish and crap flying everywhere by this stage, heaps of dust and sand had come in through our roof vent. The next morning it was calm again but there was litter, trashed tents, debris and belongings all over the place. We spent the day in the van trying to catch up on a bit of sleep before we saw our first Spanish band of the evening, Unfinished Sympathy who were quite entertaining. Next up was supposed to be Lilly Allen but she was a no show due to illness. Maximo Park played instead, which was quite good as they were meant to play after Kings of Leon the night before. Lots of fun and onstage antics. Elbow were on next, a really good performance from them, I'd say better than Roskilde although I admit I did fall asleep during some of their set at Roskilde due to the late nights. Franz Ferdinand finished off the bands component for Saturday night and they got the capacity crowd jumping to 'This Fire' in particular, they were clearly enjoying themselves and the crowd lapped it up. Our last day at Benicassim was another warm one, we first set out to see Calexico at about 8pm, then TV on the Radio on the same stage so that was good for a bit of relaxing in one spot. TVotR played a great set. We'd not seen them before having missed this year's Adelaide Big Day Out. They were well worth seeing. Second to last we saw the Psychedelic Furs, who I was quite looking forward to. They sounded pretty good, it was funny as their singer seemed to be surprised that people were applauding and getting into it. They played the obligatory 'Pretty in Pink' - well too. The last band for us on the night was The Killers and I have to admit I was surprised at how good they were. I think it helped that a 60% or so British crowd (who love them) probably brought out their best and they performed really well. Once again, I forgot how many hit singles this band has had and they went through most of them with some huge singalong moments from the crowd, they absolutely lapped it up. We retired to the van very worn out but pretty elated by everyone we'd managed to see over the four days. Leaving Benicassim on the Monday we were able to get a new spare tyre but the local garage was unable to help us with our starter motor issues, we are hoping we can get it sorted in Barcelona.

Benicassim 15-16/7

We set out for Benicassim from San Sebastian on Wednesday 15th. Not too much of a long drive compared to some, around 500 kilometres. We managed to have a couple of dramas on the way though, firstly we had to refuel (carefully) without stopping the engine and then secondly we had a tyre blowout on the motorway, about 200 km's from Benicassim. Many of the countries in Europe require safety equipment so I put out the reflective triangle on the side of the road, put on the reflective vest and set to work changing the tyre which had blown a huge hole in it. Fortunately we've been traveling at pretty modest speeds, under 100 km's an hour so we don't strain the van too much. I had pretty much finished the tyre change when a bloke pulled up, a Brit who saw the GB sticker on the back of our van and wanted to lend a hand to who he thought were his fellow countrymen. He helped me push the van while Kirsten roll started it and... success! When we arrived in Benicassim it was slightly better organised than Bilbao in that there were signs, but unfortunately the staff and police manning various checkpoints or roundabouts weren't very helpful. We eventually learned that the carpark was closed in the evening and we'd have to come back Thursday morning. We managed to find a park in the very busy city centre (on a slope for the next morning) and tried to get some sleep amongst all the racket being made by people coming down from the campsite in the hills to party central in the town. On Thursday we set back out to the campsite after a late breakfast and got the van onto the site at last. Thankfully we were able to hook up to some power for lights and a fan (thanks to Garry our van neighbour!) - in Spanish fashion they'd under estimated the amount of sockets needed for the vans on site so we piggy backed next doors. Once we had our wristbands on we felt a bit more settled. While the main site opened up we relaxed listening to the first Spanish band of the day, The Coronas. We then saw The View, who we don't know a lot of but they sounded ok. They certainly had a family of Brits near us rocking out, the dad was encouraging his kids to rock out with abandon. Next up were Mystery Jets, who seemed to have a little trouble with their sound but they came across well. Later we saw Gang of Four on one of the smaller stages, the more intimate setting suited them and we were pretty pleased to see one of the seminal 'Post-Punk' bands, especially (in retrospect) as we missed seeing Magazine the night after. The band area was a bit smaller than Roskilde and fairly open so it was quite easy to get around, something we were glad of as everything was on quite late. We ended up skipping Oasis to see New York band, The Walkmen. You might remember this song:

One excited punter said it made his night on the way out, we were also pretty impessed. Final band on opening night (that we were staying up for) was Glasvegas - putting in a great effort in front of a mostly British crowd, covering 'Be my Baby' and 'Wonderwall' as well as a huge singalong to their hit 'Daddy's Gone'. Returning to the van we thought our proximity to the band site might cause a bit of an issue but thankfully it wasn't too hard to sleep, helped by the fact that not many of our neighbours seemed to be partying hard. Woo hoo!

Bilbao BBK - 10-11/7 and around Bilbao

As the festival started later in the evenings, we spent the heat of the day relaxing in the van and trying to catch up on a bit of sleep. As Friday night rolled around we were ready to set off up the hill again. We'd been an hour out as I didn't realise there was a time difference between France and Spain lukily we arrived just as the Kaiser Chief's kicked off their set. They sounded good and they were getting a good response from the growing crowd. Jane's Addiction were up next, we'd not seen them since Adelaide Big Day Out (I think 2003??) but they seemed to be getting into it a bit more, it might have had a lot to do with Perry Farrell's disturbing red jumpsuit/catsuit (he also slipped into a bit of 'jazzercise mode'). Dave Navarro doesn't look like he's aged at all and was possibly wearing the same outfit he wore in '03, namely just leather pants. Echo & the Bunnymen were our last stop for the evening and they sounded really good, unfortunately we didn't stay for the whole set as it was getting quite late and cold by this stage. Asian Dub Foundation, Primal Scream and Placebo were the headliners for our final night at BBK Live. ADF were good but not great so we spent a bit of time walking around the festival site. It was quite small so it had a good atmosphere, also helped by the smaller amount of attendees, around 10,000 or so. I've been waiting to see Primal Scream since we were in the UK on out last trip but their shows always sold out in record time. They played pretty well, covering songs from all over their career. Placebo probably put in the most effort of the night. They were also the most polished in terms of performance - impressive. Our late return to the van after the festival was hampered somewhat as we managed to get on the wrong bus, taking us to another part of the city. Fortunately we could stay on board, return to the festival site and get the right one. It added about half an hour to the return trip which we didn't really need at that point but it couldn't be helped. On Sunday we set off for a walk along the riverside to have some lunch near the Guggenheim Museum. We had a bit of fun deciphering the lunch menu as our Spanish is improving at a snail's pace. We both ended up with a nice meal. Afterwards we had some good advice from the local tourist office on where to stay next and then we went to the Guggenheim. There's a great living sculpture out the front named 'Puppy' which is made up of flowering plants, the photos might describe it best. Inside the museum we took the audio guide which discussed the inspiration behind the design as well as some of the choices in materials, it's a very impressive building. Some of the pieces on the ground floor were commissioned specifically to fit the spaces so they are really impressive. No photos unfortunately as they are not allowed inside but you might see some if you check out the link. We spent a few hours wandering around the museum, we didn't really like the work of the artist in residence on the second floor (personal taste the only reason here) but the permanent collection on the third floor was worth seeing. We set back to our van in the late afternoon to head off. Upon leaving we needed a push start from a team of travelers camping nearby. After that, it was only a short trip to a caravan park in San Sebastian, it featured nice grounds and park facilities (clean showers). The next day was marked by some heavy rain which was a bit average as we'd just washed pretty much everything we owned. Not to worry though, the Spanish sun sorted it all out the next day. We had some more campers wanting to party near us again but in the end I'm glad we didn't have a go at them as they helped us push start the van despite their hangovers.

Road to Bilbao BBK

As Tony Wilson says in the movie 24 Hour Party People (quoting somebody else) - 'the road to excess leads to the palace of wisdom'. Our road to festival excess was leading us to BBK Live in Bilbao, Spain. In order to get there, we had to get off the plane from Copenhagen, drive up to Grimsby and collect our tickets to the festival. As we landed at Heathrow a bit late due to weather difficulties, we only drove about halfway up the motorway before we needed to have some rest. We set off in the morning to arrive at Aunty Anne's early afternoon where we had a much needed clean up and cups of tea action. We ended up staying the night as the weather didn't look to flash on the forecast (thanks Aunty Anne!) and we set off reasonably early the next morning, Wednesday the 8th of July. We drove from Grimsby to Dover, then took the ferry to Calais, after which we made it to Rouen before we had a snooze at a park already full of long haul trucks and their sleeping drivers. Setting off the next morning, we had about 850 kilometres to cover to make it to Bilbao as the festival kicked off that night. It was a long day's drive and when we made it to Bilbao it became apparent that we didn't have the first clue about where the festival site was. After we had pulled into a servo to try and get some directions, we met a couple in a similar predicament. They had been to the campsite but had been turned away in their campervan (a very similar model to ours) and told to park somewhere else. They couldn't find the location of the carpark suggested to them as an alternative as their GPS had died. We were all set to lead Anton & Kim to the site (our GPS is fine) when (after a fair bit of diagnosis and battery charging - thanks Anton!) we discovered that our starter motor had died. After a push start, we were on our way and we found the carpark - a large free area where quite a few campers had already set up. With our long drive and then the drama of the breakdown we were both pretty tired at this point but we dragged ourselves out of the van to head up to the first night's action at BBK. We walked about 25 minutes from the van, uphill to a city bus station. We eventually found the festival shuttle bus about a block away from the bus terminal (more signs were needed). A quick trip into the hills, followed by another 25 minute walk and we'd made it to the festival site, very tired but pleased we'd made it in time to hear a some of Depeche Mode's set. Sadly we had missed the Ting Tings and Editors but due to van circumstance it couldn't be helped. Depeche were in good form, they played around with some of the arrangements on some songs so that came across well. Dave Gahan seemed to be suspiciously active in encouraging the crowd to wave or clap along, at times it looked a touch 'jazzercise'. Thankfully it didn't detract to much from the performance as a whole. Next up was Basement Jaxx, but as we were falling in a heap by this stage we headed back to the van and got into bed about 2am (I think).

Denmark and Roskilde Festival 1/7-6/7

We arrived in Denmark after a very early morning start on Wednesday 1 July. The train system was relatively easy to work out and we made our way from the airport through to Copenhagen central station where we changed trains to get out to the town of Roskilde. On route we saw many fellow festival goers, from all over the place. We had a bit of a chat to an English couple and shared a taxi with them to the festival site, but it turned out we couldn’t catch up with them once the festival started as I didn’t have any mobile coverage out in the Danish fields. We made it to the campsite by early afternoon where had a tent already set up as part of our ticket - nice. Due to our super early start we had a very early night. On Thursday the bands didn’t kick off until 5pm so we headed along to check out what else the festival had to offer. As well as the usual food and market stalls there was also a series of large skate ramps and bmx bowls. On Thursday afternoon we checked out some locals going through their paces and performing some pretty decent tricks. Apparently on the Wednesday there was more of a competition and some DJ’s playing so we missed out there but we were still happy with what we saw. Once the bands kicked off we went into the main complex, a lot easier to walk between the stages than at Glastonbury, only a mere ten to fifteen minutes rather than half an hour upwards. Thursday night we watched a couple of bands but ended up having a reasonably early night as we were still tired. Unfortunately we shared proximity with a group of louts who were keen to stay up and make a racket for the duration of our stay so that meant we didn’t have the best night’s sleep. They were also making friends with a group of Sydney boys in the tent next to us who could only be described as BOGANS. Friday turned out to be the biggest day in regards to the band schedule, we saw Satyricon, an old school ‘Black Metal’ band who turned out to be excellent, Isis, Mono (for one track) as well as a reformed Faith No More who were sensational. Mike Patton and the new guitarist (formerly of Guns’n’Roses apparently) were resplendent in coloured suits. The band were in great form, cranking through songs from their whole career in great style. A bit of band tension was aired on the stage as well, with the new guitarist accusing the drummer of throwing drum sticks in his direction. Mike and Roddy were keen to explain that ‘this is what we do’ and that the audience would have guiltily been expecting on stage fireworks anyway. Thankfully it didn’t end up detracting from the performance or their decent encore. We also saw Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, in even better form than their Glasto appearance, so that was fantastic. Oasis were on after that, we’d not seen them before and they sounded pretty good. They also seemed to be focusing on the greatest hits to a good response from the crowd. We stayed to 1am to check out Nine Inch Nails as they are meant to be retiring for an unspecified period following this tour. They were in top form, cranking it out for an almost two hours so were back in the tent by about half past three. Tracks from the last twenty years got an airing, including 'Head Like a Hole', 'Burn', 'Wish', 'Gave Up', 'Hurt' - awesome stuff. I was able to get relatively close to the front of the stage so we’ve ended up with some good photos from that. Just prior to the end of the set, Kirsten and I were standing well back to the side of the stage when I was knocked into by some Danish revellers running past. I ended up with a sore lower back and crashed into Kirsten, knocking both of us to the ground. Thankfully neither of us was seriously hurt and the guys responsible just ran off into the darkness. It was getting light at about 4.30am so we didn’t get the best night’s sleep (when combined with our neighbour’s revelry) so we ended up having a slow start and a quieter day on Saturday. Thankfully the band schedule allowed us to take it easy. We went along to see Trail of Dead, Elbow and a couple of tracks from Amadou et Miriam without missing too much else and then had an earlier night. The last day, Sunday, was a good one. We had breakfast at a food stall near the field where our ‘Get-a-Tent’, (set up tent) was located. We ate there each morning as it was easy to get to and pretty tasty. Not cheap though, we found the prices of food and drink in general to be pretty expensive even by festival standards. Pete Doherty was on at 2pm, we saw most of his set and he was in pretty good form, probably better than Glasto as well. The Eagles of Death Metal proved to be a fantastic highlight as they were clearly enjoying themselves and ended up being quite humble in front of an enthusiastic crowd. We got to see a bit more of Madness than we did at Glasto which we were glad of. They were having a good time getting the crowd fired up. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs played after that, the band in better form than at Glasto, with better sound and we were also a lot closer to the action which was great. Our last band of the night was Coldplay, who we’ve not seen since T in the Park, a Scottish festival, in 2001. It’s easy to forget how many hits this band have had. They played a solid set of hits as well as a cover of Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean in tribute to the late, great Wacko. The music continued late into the night but there wasn’t anything we really wanted to see so we headed back at the end of Coldplay’s set. Monday morning we had our final shower (yes! showers at a festival! - they were included in our ticket as well as flushing toilets) before catching a bus back to Roskilde town and then the train to Copenhagen. Thankfully we could leave our luggage at the railway station and we had a few hours to have a look around the town and one of the main shopping streets. We didn’t end up buying very much but it was nice to have a look around and have a drink. The flight back to London was delayed due to poxy weather in England but we ended up getting back to the UK after 9pm to pick up the van. We had tickets to pick up from Aunty Anne’s again so I drove for about half the distance up the motorway before we had a well earned rest at a service stop.

Leaving Glastonbury...

Took a long time. We just relaxed during the day and left at about 2.30pm when the queue out of the camp site had diminished. The motorway heading back towards London was heavily congested though and made worse by at least a dozen cars on the side of the road. Most seemed to be victims of the warmer weather resulting in radiator troubles. We were very relieved to finally arrive at our van park in Chertsey outside London where we we ate and then collapsed in a heap. Looking around the next morning there were quite a few animals, including squirrels, rabbits and some camper dogs (not camping on their own but with their owners). The next day we headed into central London for a few errands and the traffic was totally ridiculous, it took about two hours to get into central London, after which we had the dubious pleasure of paying the congestion charge.

GLASTONBURY!! Sunday:

Turned out to be our favourite day of the festival as the weather was ok (only a couple of rainy patches) and we only had to go between two main stages to see the bands on our list. We started off with Amadou et Miriam, an African husband and wife fronting a funky band, they had a bit of a Michael Jackson tribute with a small bassline snippet in one of their songs. Next up was Tom Jones, who sounded pretty good considering his vintage. He was cranking out some greatest hits which the crowd were getting into. We heard about half a dozen songs before we headed off to see the Yeah Yeah Yeah's play. We were both pretty keen for this, Kirsten was already sporting a new YYY's T-shirt and they didn’t disappoint, playing some great stuff off their three albums. Karen O was sporting an eye catching outfit and was rocking out on the stage, really good. Next up was Bat for Lashes, who we had not heard a lot of but had heard some good things about. She played an interesting set and the reduced crowd really got into her music - Sadly no Springsteen cover (at least while we were there). Apparently she does a good cover version of 'Dancer in the Dark'. We managed to hear the last few songs from Madness which was quite good. We’ll be able to see more of them at Roskilde and then have a dance for our mate Wal. Second to last on the Pyramid Stage was Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds who cranked out a blistering set including 'Tupelo', 'The Mercy Seat', 'The Ship Song' as well as new songs 'Calling on the Author' and 'Dig Lazarus Dig'. He dedicated the set to the “late, great..... Farrah Fawcett” which received a good response from the crowd who had heard a lot about Michael Jackson’s passing by this stage. Headliners for Sunday were the reformed Blur who played a set spanning their whole career, right from ‘There’s no Other Way’ through to a huge crowd sing along for ‘Tender’. Really good light show and sound made sure that the capacity crowd at the Pyramid Stage had a great time as did we.

GLASTONBURY!! Saturday:

First port of call on Saturday was to see Spinal Tap play on the Pyramid Stage (unfortunately we didn’t make it in time to see Eagles of Death Metal but we will catch them at Roskilde). They were in good form, on their reunion tour ‘Back from the Dead’ so there were some new songs in amongst the old classics. Jarvis Cocker joined them on stage playing bass for ‘Big Bottom’ which was suitably sleazy and magnificent. We heard a bit of Dizzee Rascal after that as we were heading up to an ATM on the top of a hill near the Pyramid Stage. He had a pretty enthusiastic crowd response and he sounded pretty good. After that we wandered over to the Other Stage, a walk made a bit easier by this time as some of the mud was drying out. Still hard work though as we both had sore legs and I had a nasty blister on my heel from sliding around in my wellies. Pete Doherty (formerly of the Libertines and Babyshambles) was doing a bit of a solo effort, playing some songs from both of those bands as well as some newer solo stuff. He has a pretty loyal following over here and despite the tabloid fever of his life, he sounded better than we expected. Next stop was one of the dance tents to see La Roux, an eighties inspired synth outfit, heavily hyped by BBC Radio 1. As a consequence, the tent was jam packed so we sat outside and listened as best we could. It sounded ok but there were too many punters talking crap around us to get a real appreciation. We stuck around after that to hear a bit of Pete Tong’s DJ set as we hadn’t heard much doof doof during our time here. Kasabian kicked off on the Pyramid Stage at 8pm, they played a great set to an enthusiastic crowd. I last saw them on a small stage at the Big Day Out so it was great to see them rocking a headline slot. Last act of the night on the Pyramid Stage was Bruce Springsteen, we heard a few songs before we decided to head back to the van. We had been waiting for ‘Dancing in the Dark’ so I could call someone who appreciates this song (but may not admit it) but the Boss didn’t end up playing it for an hour after we’d been back in the van, I still managed to hear it quite well as the wind direction was favourable.

GLASTONBURY!!

Thankfully the van wasn’t in too much trouble. Turns out we needed a little bit more work than just the basic filter change, we needed some new belts too as one had snapped just while we where driving around Grimsby and Cleethorpes. Someone had fitted the wrong size previously and it was a major belt powering the brakes, alternator and water pump. All sorted we drove down south with the minimum of fuss, stopping on the way to do some laundry. About 15 miles out or so from Glastonbury we ran into traffic, pretty banked up and not moving in a great hurry. After an hour or so we came through one of many small villages on the way to the Glasto site where a local offered to show us a back route to the campsite. We took her up on her offer and she took us about five or six miles along almost single lane back roads to Glastonbury village where we parted ways. After that, we followed a van that looked like it knew where it was going (seriously) through to the campervan site. It took a couple of hours but we a pretty sure our good samaritan saved us a few hours in the nightmare queue. We tried to sleep in a bit on the Thursday to get some rest before heading in through the extensive security arrangement to enter Worthy Farm for the second time (the first being in 2000). We spent the day heading to a few out of the way areas that we didn’t have time to check out during our first visit, such as the Healing Fields, Shangri La and some of the extensive market areas. We headed back to the van in the evening after seeing some sights and having some food (the stalls are many and varied, far more than when we visited nine years ago). We were a fair distance from the van just as the heavens opened meaning we became pretty wet before we even had a chance to put on our wet weather gear. It rained steadily through the night and well into the next morning so Kirsten bravely volunteered to go and buy some wellies for us. No mean feat as, due to the mud, it was a one and a half hour walk there and back. Once we were decked out in our wellies and wet weather ponchos we headed out to see Regina Spektor on the Pyramid Stage. We’d not seen her before and she played a pretty good set, praising the crowd who had come to see her under less than favourable conditions. We went and had a bit of lunch after that and while we were eating we heard a few songs by the Maccabees, a band who I hadn't heard anything of previously but whom cranked out a pleasant enough noise. After that we wandered far away from the main stages up to The Park stage where we watched Emiliana Torrini. She was excellent. She was clearly excited to be playing at Glasto. Lots of fun. Almost as good were the two guys in rubber rings throwing themselves into each other with abandon before Emiliana’s set, they drew a pretty decent response form the crowd, as did a whole crew of people dressed as characters from Alice in Wonderland. This included various people on stilts chasing the rabbit, who conveniently had a megaphone. After that we saw the Dead Weather, a bit of a ‘secret’ or unpublicised show of Jack White’s new band featuring Alison Mossheart from the Kills on vocal duties. I was pretty impressed although the mix needed a bit of work. Later in the evening we headed back to to the Pyramid Stage to check out the Specials (excellent form!) after which we saw some of Jamie T and then Doves on the John Peel Stage. Didn’t see all of Doves set as we were pretty knackered by this stage and returned to our van through the sludge and mud of a torrential Glasto.

Up North 21-22/6

We’ve headed up north for a couple of days to Grimsby to visit Kirsten’s great aunt, whom we know as Aunty Anne. It was a nice drive up from London on Saturday the 21st, we stopped at a town named Stamford for lunch, sadly it wasn’t the Stamford made famous in the film Hot Fuzz although it did have a lot of charm and some really nice food at the local pub and bakery. Thanks to the mighty GPS we reached our campsite in Tetney (just outside of Grimsby) with the minimum of fuss where we were met by the campsite owner, a nice gentleman who puttered up to our campsite in a classic old Morris Minor van, the ones with wood all around the windows at the back. We were pretty tired on arrival so we made camp at the site for the evening. It is quite small, just half a dozen pitches with limited facilities. We caught up with Aunty Anne and Kirsten’s second cousin Helen and her husband Jason (whom we met in 2000 when we visited) around at Aunty Anne’s for lunch on Sunday. We had a nice lunch enjoying the summer sunshine (amazing for England we realise) in Aunty Anne's lovely back yard. Today we did a bit of shopping for the van, we needed a couple of storage containers and other bits and pieces. We’ve also been learning how to use all the appliences and accessories in the van. We’ve got the fridge going on gas which is good so we can keep everything cool when we camp. I’ve also had the dubious honour of emptying out the Porta-Potti for the first time, thankfully we were able to look up how to do it on the net as we didn’t get any instructions with the van. Delightful. Anyway, I’ll move onto a much more pleasant subject... We went out to dinner at a Cleethorpes (town near Grimsby) institution this evening, the Steele’s Corner House where they serve up some pretty amazing fish and chips. The house special is the jumbo Haddock and chips which yours truly polished off with some delight while Kirsten the lightweight only managed a small portion. Sensational stuff. Tomorrow we are taking the van for an oil and filter change as we have some serious miles ahead, we are hopeful it won’t cost too much. We also need to address the driver’s side windscreen wiper which is a bit rusty and not terribly flash in the performance department but the mechanic said it’s a major job and we’ve not enough time up here before Glasto kicks off. Glasto wins in this instance, we’ll get it sorted out on the road.