I'm escaping the cold!!!

Hi y'all ... Just back last night from Spain, which in turn was directly after the Adventure Overland Show at Stratford-upon-Avon Racecourse, then Adventure Northside in NW Germany - roughly 6 week's worth of shows and travelling; knackered!!!

Both events a great success, "this time next year Rodney ... "

The big news is that Ralf (my German business partner) & I liked the Pyrenees so much, we've decided to move there permanently! We've already found a rental property (5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, big garden, storage - big enough to bring his wife & kids down from Frankfurt) just west of Girona. Here we'll use this as a 'mild winter base' for running three shows - Adventure Overland Show, Adventure Northside and Adventure Southside - our next big venture to be announced soon. This will pull off Switzerland, Austria, Italy and of course South Germany. Ralf's looking at a venue near Munich as we speak, so should be able to announce this very soon.

We can also run "Pyrenees 4x4 Tours" from our new base. For those who weren't aware, I ran tours across the Spanish Pyrenees up to a about three years ago. So you know where to go for your hols next year folks!!! Either stay a while as a base for a few days exploring Catalonia from Andorra down to Barcelona or simply call in en route and stay overnight. Another option is to fly into Girona or Barcelona (cheap flights to both destinations), hire a car (very cheap in Spain), get to our place where thereafter we can go exploring in our 4x4's. Ralf has a Disco, I have an off-road prepared RR (naturally) as well as the Orangemobile RR Camper. It's an idea.

Another chapter turns ...

Tom Mc

Sounds great Tom, wishing you well in your move, very stressful we know after just moving, God luck with every thing,
Will definitely be down some time next year, if things go to plan, last two years have been useting for us missing two
overland shows and Germany.
We are just taking one day at a time.

Bit early but wishing both of you and Ralf's family a Merychristms and Happy new year.

Cheers mate, welcome anytime. It's a good place to 'de-stress'.

mate....good move. ..just got back from the pyrenees a couple of weeks ago and we did some exploring it was realy good and i have decided i want to go back and explore some more so looks like you might get a visit.. ...send me an email of your location......be carefull down there....

Sounds good Tom------still a bit cool in the winter though ---BUT a fantastic area-----when do you anticipate the move ??
Nigel & Pamala

In the next couple of weeks N&P, no point hanging about. Yes, realise it's hardly going to be balmy, but even in January and February which are the coldest two months, average temperature is 7 or 8 degrees. Also have to think about the summer, as it's no good having it too sweaty either.

Just looked at the temperatures for this week, Should be around 17 degrees, it is in fact around 22 degrees at the moment; nice!

See http://www.yr.no/place/Spain/Catalonia/Girona/statistics.html This is a great website for world temperatures.

You're welcome anytime Tuggy, I'll let you know when it's all finalised.

Sant Boi de Lluçanès is the village - www.google.co.uk/maps/place/St+Boi+de+Llu%C3%A7an%C3%A8s,+Barcelona,+Spain/@42.0482283,2.1132837,11042m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x12a522ad25f02ead:0xc13eac9fd33d22d9!6m1!1e1

Population 556!

Don't blame you Tom, I've thought about moving there all be it further south and east.
Driving back from Morocco I've stopped in a little town about 40 miles north of Malaga spent about a month down there eating fresh fruit and veg with locally caught sardines. The food is good and cheap and the locals are friendly although on bank holiday weekends it does get a bit lively with the locals tiring one on and the carnival.

Can't wait to get back there next year !,

Good luck and keep safe !!

Tom Mc wrote:

Sant Boi de Lluçanès is the village - www.google.co.uk/maps/place/St+Boi+de+Llu%C3%A7an%C3%A8s,+Barcelona,+Spain/@42.0482283,2.1132837,11042m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x12a522ad25f02ead:0xc13eac9fd33d22d9!6m1!1e1

Population 556!

yea your not far from andora.....some good lanes there.....

Well, took a while but I'm back. No, not dank, dreary England, but back online here in sunny Espania! Having a phone line installed and therefore an internet connection seemed to take forever, but all's well now with 10mb connection. Not the fastest around granted, but adequate.

It's been well frosty at night, but daytime it's been around the 17 degree mark - I can live with that. Besides, at night you're indoors with the central heating up full blast, so who cares if it's frosty! So far we've had two cloudy days, so waking up to beautiful blue skies is a real fillip.

Big plans afoot folks. Can't tell you what at the mo, but all will be revealed soon. It's connected with 4x4's and the like, so it will definitely be of interest.

crack on.......

waiting to here the news, 

Soooooooooooooooooo pleased to have internet again, my gawd we've become reliant on it!

Haven't managed to sort out my TV package yet, working on it, but this is nothing compared to no internet.

Tom, I would be disappointed if you didn't have a cunning plan for world domination...or at least a 4x4 event of some kind. It would be like Dr. Evil telling Austin Powers he wanted to retire and just sit around drinking latte's.

Glad your settled and staying kind of warm. Look forward to hearing how the Spanish adventure goes...

Merry Xmas to you both!

Cheers mate! As I say, big stuff to be announced soon (not world domination but certainly European domination ... no kidding!) so you lot will just have to wait and see.

WATCH THIS SPACE!

Sounds good,

good luck with the tours, I know you used to do them.

one of my routes pass's just above you, from Gosol heading east.

Absolutely a great area, with some great trails from there to the Med.

Hi Gary,

As it happens a couple of days ago I did a little jaunt around my village - 49 miles of tracks!!! In fact they were so good, kept stopping to take photos (you know how it is), then darkness descended before we even got halfway! Incredible, time literally ran away from us!! Lucky to find a tarmac road back, as for miles all you could see were village lights in the distance, but they never seemed to get nearer. A little night driving is okay, but it can be dangerous and let's face it, it's the scenery that we all love - a tad difficult with just a tunnel of light! Next time we'll start early doors.

All moderate routes, but they included most things - wonderful views, uphill and downhill descents, some mud, rock climbs, even a river crossing ... which I have to say was very tame, just to the hubs on a solid rock base. But to the first-timer ...

Gósol - yep, in the Cadí-Moixeró Park - mountainous terrain which is stunning. Bet that was a great tour!

If passing, by all means call in. Tea/coffee/local wine costs nowt, so don't hesitate. Basically it's an open house. I will obviously only start charging if folk call in as a stopover for the night, or base themselves here for a 1/2/3/4 day tour. All other are welcome to drop by for a beverage and a chat!

Also, although I've just got here, I already know of local garage that's 4x4 savvy, something that's always useful to know if any of your party have problems.

I also met another mechanic who owns a local garage just west of Figueres. Got chatting about the old Series Santana out front - as you do - next thing he's taking me around the back to see his two Santanas he uses for competitions and general off-roading. Land Rover and 4x4 enthusiasts are everywhere!

BTW, although at night it can drop to 5 degrees with frost some nights, it's still 14-18 degrees here daytime; amazing!

Okay, it's Christmas Day here in the workhouse and all's well. Just to make everyone in dank, miserable Britain feel pissed off on this special day in the calendar, here's a couple of photos that I just took of the casa here in Spain. But bear in mind I'm not down south in the mild all-year-around temperatures of Malaga and the south, I'm 800m up in the mountains of the Midi-Pyrenees - copy & paste Sant Boi de Lluçanès 08589 into Google Maps, you'll soon see.

The thermometer is actually designed for the fridge, but I know it's accurate as it matches the central heating's thermometer. I placed it in on the logs this morning, now at 1pm it reads over 30°c !!! No I didn't doctor it and heat it in the oven, it's a true reading. Mind you, the air temperature means that in reality it's more like 22°c in the garden, but let's face it, it ain't bad! I've panned out so you can see the front of the house too, plus a couple indoors. With 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, it means that as mentioned, in 2016 "Pyrenees 4x4 Tours" will be back in business.

I'll run 3-day, 5-day and even 7-day off-road tours into Andorra and beyond from here. HAPPY DAYS!

nice pad tom.....have a great day.....see you next year....

Cheers mate. As you say, see you in 2016.

That fridge thermometer I showed in the photo, today it went off the scale showing 45 degrees in the sun. Air temperature in the shade around 20 degrees I'd guess. February could be cold I'm told, we'll see.

It's open house here, so if anybody should be passing this way - driving across the Pyrenees or north to south through France and the North of Spain heading down to the ferry for Morocco, by all means drop in for a cuppa. Naturally always plenty of beer and wine too, so again you're welcome.

If you do, simply send me a PM in advance to make certain we're in on that particular date. I may even ask you to do a quick shop for leaving Blighty. Not surprisingly, things like decent tea, Coleman's mustard, Marmite, thick cut orange peel marmalade, etc. are a tad difficult to get hold of around here! Brought loads with me, but of course supplies have to be replenished at some point.

Wonder if marmalade is okay in hand luggage on the plane? Must find out!

All excited! Incredibly, saw this amazing looking bird in the back garden today (located north of Barcelona, south of Andorra). Apparently it's called a Hoopoe and in Spring it flies up from Africa to the hotter parts of Central and Eastern Europe to mate/nest/raise it's young. Never seen one before, hence the post!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=18w2Mli-APw

Incredible! Since arriving here in Catalunya (can't call it Spain, the locals would string me up!!!) I've been visited by six separate groups pf off-road/overland folk. Have to say as I arrived only in November, but since then from the New Year it's been every other month.

It's been ace I have to say, as there is very little English spoken in the village, so a good 'session' with your own kind ain't a bad thing.

Again, anybody want to drop in 'en route' as it weere, you're most welcome.

Address is:-

8 Carrer Maragall
Sant Boi de Lluçanès 08589
Catalunya
Spain

Open house here, just email/PM me to know when you'll be arriving.