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.

London 18/6

Today we went into central London for a bit of a wander around. We had lunch at an Italian place in Islington after which we went to High Street Kensington. Kirsten and I used to work along there as part of one of our many working holiday jobs so it was interesting to see a few changes, though not as many as I was expecting.

Traffic Hell 17/6

The M25 is rubbish! We spent ages on this ring road heading out of London to our campsite. Thankfully the Duke drives well enough and is large enough to intimidate lesser vehicles on roundabouts. We arrived at the campsite (ably assisted by our new GPS purchase and UK Campsite Guidebook) and spent our first quiet evening in the van. It needs a solid clean inside and some serious organisation of the cupboards and all our luggage and crap but we will get there. The campsite is quiet, very clean and has a surprising number of vistors. People are simply camping, caravanning or in motorhomes (we already have van envy as ours is one of the oldest).

Van Action

We checked out a few vans over a couple of days whilst in London and while we had the use of our hirecar. The first being a huge old Rover or Leyland goods van, the second being an ex-ambulance Renault. Both had some positives but were ultimately too large to drive comfortably, they also had a few faults. We are happy to report that we bought the third van we went to see from a chap over near Brixton named Luca. He and his wife had done a bit of travelling in the van a couple of years ago but had not used it for touring since then. It’s a Talbot Express Camelot, 2.5L diesel. Supposedly based on the Fiat Ducato truck body, we have named it The Fat White Duke (for reasons that will become apparent once you see the pictures to be posted soon. Driving it back from Luca’s across town to Hounslow was a bit hairy because when we drove over I was driving and Kirsten was navigating. On the way back we were in separate vehicles, one following the other and I managed to lead us splendidly off course (no map in the van), however, after a couple of false starts we got the van back to Hounslow where we were able to load up our stuff the next day and return the hire car.

London

The flight to London was pretty good, we fitted a few movies in which was quite good. I watched Gran Torino (excellent) while Kirsten used the opportunity to catch up on her chick flicks and watched Bride Wars which she said wasn’t bad. We both watched In the Loop, a political comedy set in the lead up in the Iraq war which was quite funny, full of outrageous swearing and much double dealing. Once we landed I went through a medium grilling from the border security guy but it wasn’t too bad. He seemed quite perplexed as to where we were going to live when we returned to Australia (we had to explain how we were funding the trip) but we got him onto talking about festivals and that seemed to relax him a bit. We had a hire car (sadly with no GPS - for shame Qantas car hire!) and a hotel booked, so with the trusty aid of our nine year old London A-Z we found our hotel without too much difficulty.

Leaving Delhi

We have spent the last couple of days taking it pretty easy, the trip as a whole has been quite tiring but ultimately worth doing. The first day back in Delhi we just relaxed in the hotel, our extra night ended up being covered by the train ticket refund. Raj, our shady tour operator tried to play it off like he was doing us a favour but we are well aware he is still comfortably ahead. We didn’t end up catching up with Pal for dinner in the end, we were just happy to leave it as it was. On our last day in Delhi we went into the city to Connaught Place for a bit of a wander around. It’s the centre of New Delhi and a bit of a showcase for western style stores and some upmarket local ones. We had some lunch at the United Coffee House, a restaurant that’s been around since the 40’s, it looked like little had changed in the interior but that made it quite charming. The air-con was cold, the food pretty good and the service excellent (plain soda, yes please - kaj). After that we got a new book each as we have gone through a few whilst being on the road. We also had some afternoon tea at a Costa Coffee an international coffee chain. All the caffeine played havoc with us getting to sleep later as we are so desensitised to it... it was worth it though. Our flight left Delhi at 8.55am, we had to be there three hours before and made it in plenty of time as we had an airport transfer organised through our tour.

Varanasi to Delhi 11/6

We couldn’t quite face the train ride tonight so we’ve ended up flying from Varanasi to Delhi this afternoon. One and a half hours instead of overnight wins hands down really. We ended up getting a 75% refund on the train ticket so that should cover the extra night at the hotel.

Agra and the Taj Mahal 8/6

We arrived in Agra yesterday, fairly late in the afternoon after a long drive. Pal wanted to cook some fish for us so spent a couple of hours at the hotel while he went to get and prepare the fish after which he picked us up and took us to a local restaurant. He referred to this as a proper Indian restaurant, somewhere where all the locals eat. It was very busy with a lot of people coming and going from the small tables. All the cooking is done at the front of the shop, so anyone waiting can see their food being prepared. The fish was really very nice and we just had it with some dahl, mixed veg curry and some chapati and rice. Simple but good. We were up at 6am to see the Taj Mahal this morning, we were dropped off about a kilometre down the road as there is a limit on vehicle emissions near to the monument (doesn’t seem to be a serious deterrent to locals driving and setting fire to rubbish though) and we got a ride on an electric bus down the road. Once through the security check (Kirsten’s iPod had to be put in the cloakroom) we set off to see the Taj Mahal just as the sun was striking the east side. For once, all the guidebooks and everything that you read about it is absolutely true, it is stunning. I won’t waste words trying to describe it, it’s simply beautiful. We spent almost three hours sitting to admire the view from various angles, as well as having a look inside the mausoleum. Agra itself isn’t terribly interesting by comparison, it’s a modern, dirty and dusty Indian city. We had some lunch in the afternoon with Pal as it’s our last day with him, after which we had a bit of a wander around a local mall. Our train departed Agra for Varanasi at 8.50pm so Pal dropped us off about 7pm. We have mixed feelings about him, we really appreciated him as a safe driver and as a good guide (and a friendly one at that) but we are fairly certain we’ve been scammed a bit by him, we are just not sure by how much. However, he reckons we’ll get an invite to his house for dinner when we are back in Delhi so we’ll see how we go. We had a porter to help us get all our crap on the train, we are lugging a bit around as trying to get some stuff posted at the post office this afternoon was a bit of a failure, seemed the staff were looking for a bit of an additional handout to get the job done. We met a Swedish girl on the train who was telling us it took an hour to get a parcel wrapped and sent recently - we are glad we didn’t persist despite the weight we are carrying. It seems that our perspective on the Vietnamese train system has changed a bit after riding on the Indian version. The sleeper carriage has three bunks each side in each ‘room’, with about five or six ‘rooms’ in all, as well as additional bunks out in the corridor. The entire carriage is open so our main concern was theft (we’ve heard mixed reports) as well as all the racket of people crammed in together. The Swedish girl reckoned it was her last train trip for a while, she’d been in India for two months travelling around. I reckon one train trip was enough for me to decide! We do have tickets on the train back to Delhi though. After that I don’t think we’ll do it again.

Rathambore National Park 5/6 - 6/6

We’ve spent a couple of nights a town adjacent Rathambore National Park. There’s not much happening within the town apart from a few shops for tourists and other hotels so we’ve spent a bit of time catching up on rest in our room. The first night we went to a small showroom that houses work from some of the local women, they sell it as a collective. We got to see some hand stitching being done and had a bit of a chat to some of the staff about how the collective helps support the community. Yesterday morning we headed out on our first safari at 6am, we were in a little Suzuki Sierra set up with a couple of bench seats on the back raised slightly for viewing. We were sharing these with two other couples, a pair from the UK and a pair from the US (both of whom were working in their respective embassies in Delhi). We were out for about three and a half hours and saw a fair bit of wildlife - birds, deer, monkeys and lizards but no sign of the tiger, the main reason for going on the safari. The park is pretty dry at the moment (as is everywhere in Rajasthan) although there are still quite a few waterholes (some artificial). Our guide was saying that the whole park will return to greenery within a few days of the monsoon starting. We came back to the hotel for some breakfast and a bit of rest, the next safari was scheduled for 3pm that afternoon. Kirsten wasn’t feeling up to it (the ride was very bumpy) so I headed out to reception only to be informed it was cancelled due to the heat. I accepted this without question as it was pretty hot, only we found out later that the staff had been lying (we’re still not really that clear on their motive - perhaps just to avoid having to run an extra jeep). We only found out as Pal asked me why I didn’t go - I was pretty annoyed so Pal sorted out everything with the staff, we were due to go again for another run in the morning and drive to Agra a little later than we planned. So I headed out this morning, Kirsten’s back was still too sore from yesterday, so that made four of us in the jeep - quite comfortable. We went on a different run around the park, only 40% is open to the public and there’s only a few main areas accessible by jeep. We had been out for a couple of hours, not seeing anything different from yesterday apart from a vulture and a monitor lizard. We had headed back to a base in the park and were going to finish for the morning when our guide decided to give it another go, apparently there were some new tiger tracks found that morning. As we headed around a bend, our guide pointed out the fresh tracks - we sped off with him standing up out of the jeep following the tracks. About a kilometre further down the track, two jeeps were parked on the road, the tiger was resting in some shade by a waterhole. We were able to park within four or five metres, it was fantastic. I think I took about a dozen photos, the camera died after that but I didn’t mind too much, it was great just to sit and watch (and one of the couples said she’d email some of hers to me). We were there for about ten or fifteen minutes when some more jeeps and a couple of really large trucks rocked up, the trucks carry about 20 people and make a hell of a racket. This part of the safari was poorly organised as all the noise and commotion spooked the tiger and she got up, looking like she would leave but after everyone managed to shut up for a while she settled down and rested again. We headed off ten minutes after that, leaving the hordes too it. Despite this small issue, it was amazing to see the tiger in person, it’s a rare thing so I’m really chuffed. We headed to Agra after that, a very long drive but worth it as we go to see the Taj Mahal tomorrow morning.

Jaipur 4/6

We arrived in Jaipur yesterday afternoon after a long drive. As there was a highway most of the way, Pal drove pretty much without stopping so we got here reasonably quickly. We headed out to a gem merchant (Jaipur is famous for precious and semi precious stones) to view some local stones. There are some very nice stones and settings, with prices to match of course. We went to a restaurant after that, a friend of Pal’s who he knew from driving cars in Delhi. Pal didn’t end up having much to eat with us the other night as it was too early for him but we had more of a meal with him last night which was good and the food was excellent. It wasn’t especially cheap but Pal secured us 25% off the bill so it worked out to be reasonable in the end. This morning we went had a look at the Amber Fort (pronounced Amer) and the nearby Jaigarh Fort. We had intended to go inside but it was pretty hot this morning even by local standards so we’ve given it a miss (after taking some photos from the outside) to have a bit of a rest day instead. There was also the opportunity to ride an elephant up to the Fort gates but we elected not to do that either as there the guidebook mentioned questionable practices relating to the care of the elephants. We drove into the old town (or the ‘pink city’) to have a look around, it was very crowded so we didn’t have too much of a chance to stop and look around. We needed caffeine though so we had morning tea at an Indian coffee chain named Mr Bean’s which was excellent, after which Pal took us to see a carpet being weaved by hand at a local carpet shop. There were three main types of carpet - Rajasthan wool, Kashmir wool and silk. For a standard six by four foot silk carpet, it takes about nine months to weave as there are 600 knots per sqaure inch. We had a run through of the prices (as you get everywhere you visit here) and they were incredibly reasonable compared to home considering the workmanship - but there’s something about not having a house to come back to that makes you question that kind of purchase. We are back at the hotel this afternoon to beat the heat and we’ll meet Pal on the rooftop at eight to have a beer which sounds pretty good.

Udaipur 2/6

Today Pal (our driver) promised us a good sightseeing and shopping day and we set off at the very civilised time of 10am. We headed to Udaipur’s gardens and fountain first, which was quite nice. The city has a few lakes, some just scenic and a main one for drinking water but unfortunately all are quite depleted. The monsoon hasn’t seriously filled the lakes since 2006 and Pal thinks it’s been about ten years since he’s seen them at capacity. The water shortage hasn’t affected the tropical lushness of the gardens though, so it was a bit of a cooler place to wander around and check them out. We went to a shop after that which had a whole heap of different craft for sale, such as hand stitched wall hangings, cushion covers, stonecraft and painting. We won’t list what we bought here as there’s the odd gift but we are very happy with the prices and craftsmanship. The business is supposedly run as a cooperative so hopefully the villagers that slave away making the stuff are actually paid a reasonable wage for their work. We visited the City Palace after that, a popular spot with lots of Indian tourists there as well. It is Rajasthan’s largest Palace and we spent a few hours negotiating never ending sets of stairs going up and down all over the place. The views, displays and artworks were well worth seeing. We made it back to the hotel just before three to beat the heat and are due to have dinner with Pal tonight, he’s taking us to somewhere small and local which should be good.

Jodhpur 1/6

Today we stayed in a good hotel, worth mentioning as the other ones have been average. There is a bit of a courtyard and garden setting, a rooftop restaurant (with good food) and a great view of the Meherangarh Fort. We set off at 9am to the fort to make a start before it got too hot. Our guide book recommends the audio tour specifically so we decided to give it a go. Well worth it, both in the history of the fort and historical events as well as being very well narrated with some music and effects thrown in too. We spent about three hours walking around, the fort is very well preserved and apparently didn’t require huge amounts of restoration. The audio guide mentioned that initial restorers had to remove a large volume of bat guano from sections of the fort, but its sale to local farmers helped to kick start the restoration funds. It’s now a major tourist draw card and deservedly so. Jodhpur is known as the Blue City and it becomes more apparent when viewed from a higher vantage point. On ground level it’s difficult to tell but when we viewed the city from various points around the fort, you can see why it has this name. Whole pockets of the city are painted in similar hues of blue and it’s quite pretty. After we finished at the fort, we were back in the car for the drive to Udaipur where we are staying for two nights so it will be a chance to relax a little as the pace has been brisk. On the way, after a few hours we stopped at the Jain Temple complex Ranakpur, where the main temple Chaumukha Mandir (four faced temple) is the oldest Jain Temple in India. There were also two smaller temples to look at while we were there. We got into Udaipur just before 7pm and we had dinner in the rooftop restaurant with a nice view out over the normally flooded lake area and Udaipur’s Lake Palace. It was used as a set piece in Octopussy but due to Roger Moore being a crap Bond I've not seen it recently enough to remember. I watched For Your Eyes Only somewhere on the road recently and it was rubbish!

Stay tuned!

Hi all - just to let you know we are both well and still enjoying our trip. As we've just done Glastonbury and Roskilde Festivals back to back we've not had a lot of time or internet access to update the blog lately.

Stick with us and we'll be back as soon as we can.