SPAIN & UK: To Estepona and Gibraltar Territory

 Eating  In SPAIN ... Is PLEASURE

foodie

noun

informal

noun: foodie; plural noun: foodies; noun: foody

a person with a particular interest in food; a gourmet

Follow our route by opening TRAVEL MAP 2016/2017 on the right sidebar ([view larger], zoom +/-, pan around). Click on any photo in this post and launch a slideshow gallery of all photos.

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Driving In SPAIN

We've driven about 1400 kms so far, and followed the Mediterranean coastline as closely as possible, from Barcelona to Estepona. The driving has included the areas' major highway, Autovia A7 (also called Autovia del Mediterraneo) and several secondary and municipal highways, through large, medium and small cities. In general, the road system is in excellant condition. The 300 kms or so that we drove between Roquetas de Mar and Estopona is a superbly built, newer highway corridor. We probably passed through 3 dozen tunnels (some were 2 kms or more in length). I would estimate that 65% of the vehicles on the road are small cars, 15% are large tractor trailer trucks (some trailer trains), 10% are medium sized trucks and the remaining 10% include all the rest; medium sized RV's (Class C & Motorhomes, 1 Unimog), vans, SUV's, motorcycles & scooters and a few full sized pick up trucks (I've seen 1 Ford F150 & 1 Nissan Tundra and a few Toyota Hilux's). The only North American built vehicles we've seen, have been Fords (cars, vans) and a single, older Jeep Wagoneer.

SPAIN For Dummies

We remembered the traffic from our previous trip to Europe when we visited France, Germany and Switzerland. On that trip our German friends chauffeured us around tiny, twisty narrow streets and at soaring highway speeds (reaching almost 200 km/hr on the Autobahn and sometimes with "NO HANDS/KNEES INSTEAD"). None of that for us country bumpkins, used to wide open spaces and poking along back country roads in LOAF - we would be prepared.

Calp and Roquetas de Mar

  Small Rocks In The Sea

Follow our route by opening TRAVEL MAP 2016/2017 on the right sidebar ([view larger], zoom +/-, pan around). Click on any photo in this post and launch a slideshow gallery of all photos.

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CALP, ALICANTE will just be an overnighter for us. We followed the N-340 secondary highway as much as possible today and the major highway AP-7 when we had to. It's approxiately, a 375+ km/4.5 hour trip. The secondary route follows the coastline more closely; it's a slower drive and much more picturesque. It can also be prone to closures and accidents and passing through the smaller cities and towns means encountering an endless string of round-abouts.  

Travel Tip: Any hotel in SPAIN, to score a room with a balcony at no extra charge, tell them you smoke.

Coast, Cobblestone & Castles - Altafullo, Tarragona and Peniscola

Following the Mediterranean Coast South ... first FIVE nights

Follow our route by opening TRAVEL MAP 2016/2017 on the right sidebar ([view larger], zoom +/-, pan around). Click on any photo in this post and launch a slideshow gallery of all photos.

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Our driver Daniel, from Welcome Pickups, shuttled us, at 9 am, from the Leonardo Hotel in downtown Barcelona to the Barcelona Airport. ... ' Driving in Barcelona is really best left to the locals '.  

Thoughts about the driving ...

This is our rental Renault with a side-swipped fender ... most rentals look something like this and have damage in several locations around all body panels. Compared to North America, most private vehicles in Spain, are quite small to medium in size. The city and urban streets are usually very narrow, parking everywhere is limited and at a premium. Quite tight, fast,  & skillful driving manoeuvers are mandatory, road & highway intersections are often hidden, turns can be greater than 90 degrees. There is limited incomprehensible International signage and all driving regulations seem to be negotiable. BUT, and most importantly, emergency, service and delivery people drive really BIG trucks very quickly. As a driver ... the good news is that all of this is quite challenging and also UNBELIEVABLY exciting! 

SPAIN: Four Days In Barcelona

 The Most Expensive City In SPAIN  

We had planned on Barcelona being a layover stop; just a place to reset our biological clocks.  

One of us is culturally challenged and neither of us is urban-travel trained. We just didn't anticipate discovering so much interesting stuff to do, nor did we expect, so many intellectually challenging encouters to unfold. We were overwhelmed and thorougly enjoyed ourselves for several days.  

Follow our route by opening TRAVEL MAP 2016/2017 on the right sidebar ([view larger], zoom +/-, pan around). Click on any photo in this post and launch a slideshow gallery of all photos.
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BATH, ONTARIO, CANADA

A few days before our departure. 

The view from an upper floor window in our rental apartment.

We were fortunate with our late Fall weather this year, coolish temperatures, but nothing too alarming! Some light snow today and the weather man is predicting 20 cm of fresh snow for our region of Ontario overnight and tomorrow ... it's time for us to 'get out of town'! 

TRAVEL SNAPSHOT: 215 Days In 2016

We began the year with our annual winter diving/snorkelling excursion to Cozumel MEXICO. In summer, we road tripped (16 plus weeks) from Ontario to the north and western regions of North America in both, CANADA and the USA. 

The map below is interactive; you can expand, zoom, pan and click  for additional detail.

BASECAMP 10.15.16 ... Itinerary for " Five New Countries & Two New Continents "

After much discussion, we've settled on a General Itinerary for the next adventure.

Unfortunately, we'll be short a team member this time. LOAF won't be joining us, but we will be travelling with Van Kiwi, a close cousin of his, when we're in New Zealand. We'll still be LOAFin Around though. I've created a new acronym to suit the title for our next travel map ...  

Life On A Fixed income " Around The World Part 1 "

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Helen wore her Travel Agent hat and spent many hours 'getting us the best deals in the best places ' ... she investigated countless international flight combinations and permutations, poured over maps in search of the best long and short term locations for all the activities we enjoy, scanned Google maps to verify the suitability of accommodation bookings, researched car and camper van rentals and in the end ... made all the final arrangements for us. 


Tip: ensure stressless travel arrangements ... there's that stemless wine glass again, photo lower left.

C U R I O S I T Y ... Explaining This Lifestyle Choice

"Overlanding is about exploration, rather than conquering obstacles. While the roads and trails we travel might be rough or technically challenging, they are the means to an end, not the goal itself. The goal is to see and learn about our world, whether on a weekend trip 100 miles from home or a 10,000-mile expedition across another continent. The vehicle and equipment can be simple or extravagant - they, too, are simply means to an end. History, wildlife, culture, scenery, self-sufficiency - these are the rewards of overlanding."

Overland Journal

WHY   ON   EARTH   WOULD   WE   TRAVEL   THIS   WAY   ?

Sailing the INSIDE PASSAGE

Prince Rupert to Port Hardy

We sailed with BC Ferries on the Northern Expedition. We did the math and compared driving to sailing. 

The marine route covers a distance of approximately 525 kms in 16 hours; the driving route about 1500 kms over a minimum of 4 nights (our average travel day). We ran a budget sheet and compared the cost of driving from this location to Port Hardy on Vancouver Island that included vehicle fuel, camping and food costs plus the time required. BC Ferries charges by the foot and for our 'short' vehicle the costs are not that high. The slight upcharge for us was worth it; and a chance to sail a portion of the Inside Passage was just too difficult to pass up. But, the charges to ferry the longer Class A's, fifth-wheels and travel trailers can get quite expensive, $20/foot in excess of 25 feet ... yet another reason to travel in a truck camper!

South Through BC

This Rainforest Rains! 

CASSIER HIGHWAY

We first drove the Cassier Highway, south through British Columbia, in 1994. The highway (HWY37) begins in Yukon, just west of Watson Lake. In 1994 it was an all gravel, 724 km long road; now it’s fully paved. Driving south, the landscape along the initial 50 kms of the road was heavily damaged by a 30,000 hectare (74,000 acre) forest fire in 2012. 

After that burn zone, the Boreal Forest cover returns and even on a rainy day, like ours was this trip, the scenery is mountainous and memorable ... short grades of 8%, a twisty, narrow roadway, framed by several mountain ranges, intersected by creeks and rivers, peppered with small to large lakes ... and frequented by a few families of Black Bear. 

Six Days In Whitehorse

What Do Two 'Mature' Women Do Alone In The Yukon For Six Days?

I really wanted to title this post Girls Gone Wild In The Yukon , but I once wrote another post about a girls trip to Las Vegas Three Girlfriends Gone Wild that caused our blog visitor location map to go crazy. Suddenly we had dozens of visits from the middle of the South Pacific (hmm ... perhaps a sailor doing random google searches and finding my post about 3 girlfriends turning 60 - how disappointing it must have been).

Despite plans to do a several week tour of the Yukon, Fate Intervened which resulted in my sister-in-law Peggy & I being 'alone' in the Whitehorse area for six days. Well, what's a woman to do but shop, learn and explore!

Fate Intervenes

DRIVING the DEMPSTER HIGHWAY

My brother Tom & his wife Peggy arrived in Whitehorse, from Ottawa on August 8th. They rented a truck camper and were planning on travelling around Yukon with us for a few weeks. That same night, our sister Lianne phoned to tell us that our mother in Ottawa had become critically ill. We were scheduled to be on the Dempster Highway August 11th or 12th. Because of our mother's poor health, we changed our travel plans, stayed near Whitehorse for a couple of days and arranged return flights to Ottawa on August 11th.

Had we begun that Dempster drive as originally intended, we wouldn't have made it back to Ottawa. We would have been stranded and isolated by a series of road closures; all caused by heavy rains and flood conditions that washed the road out in several locations along the first 275 kms or so. And, we would have probably missed our mothers' funeral ...

Sometimes fate intervenes; but in this case, I believe it was ... MOTHER.

Road closures along the Dempster on August 12th ... 

Time With Friends

We left Alaska behind, after two weeks there and settled in at Kluane Lake in Yukon for a few much-needed, layover days. The weather in the State had been mostly favourable for us, but we were tired of the traffic and the busyness there. We were both road weary and planned to mostly just sit and watch views from the St.Elias Mountains unfold along the big lake ... but an opportunity to paddle was just too enticing.  

Lets get those boats offloaded!

Driving the Dalton

" ... anyone embarking on a journey along the Dalton Highway is encouraged to bring survival gear ... "

The highway, which directly parallels the Trans Alaska Pipeline, is one of the most isolated roads in the UNITED STATES. There are only three towns along the route: Coldfoot (pop 10) at Mile 175, Wiseman (pop 22) at Mile 188, and Deadhorse (25 permanent residents, 3,500-5,000 or more seasonal residents depending on oil production) at the end of the highway at Mile 414. Fuel is available at the E. L. Patton Yukon River Bridge (Mile 56), as well as Coldfoot and Deadhorse. Two other settlements, Prospect Creek and Galbraith Lake, are uninhabited except for seasonal residents. The road itself is very primitive in places, and small vehicle and motorcycle traffic carries significant risk. The nearest medical facilities are in Fairbanks and Deadhorse. Anyone embarking on a journey on the Dalton is encouraged to bring survival gear. (Source: Wikipedia)
 

Homer

The sign reads 'Halibut Fishing Capital of the World'.

We spent four nights in the area. We had a mechanical issue with the Ford checked-out to our satisfaction, cycled along the Homer Spit and wandered around the harbour and marine graveyard there. The whole Kenai Peninsula is nick-named Alaska's Playground. If you're a 'Fisher of Any Stripe' you won't be disappointed in this region ... ' It Caters to You '. 
 

Nick & Bobby

' Journeymakers are the good folk who turn your trips into treasured memories. They are the people who elevate your travel experience with the passion and enthusiasm for the place they call home and for the interest and kindness they give you, the traveller. '

Into ALASKA ... New Roads

Our FIRST road trip to Alaska was in 1988. 

THEN, we only completed a short loop out from Dawson City, Yukon to Poker Creek, Alaska to Tok, Alaska then east and back into Canada at Beaver Creek, Yukon. We've wandered into Alaska a couple more times since then and have added some exploration around Valdez into our travels. 

This trip, we are venturing further southwest, then along the Kenai Peninsula to Homer at the southern tip.

  Route in Red

Overland Explorer

" We were super-impressed with these ‘Manufactured In Canada’ Expedition Campers ... "

A couple of years ago we attended Overland Expo East, an event for overland adventurers that included classes, seminars, exhibits and vendors. It was a very interesting couple of days and it peaked our interest in expedition style vehicles. We are currently travelling in the second truck camper rig we have owned. It raised the question ... should we continue to upgrade and maintain this vehicle or, should we investigate the enhanced travel capability that an expedition camper presents?

This past spring Overland Expo West was held in Flagstaff, AZ and a new expedition vehicle, the Overland Explorer; manufactured by a Canadian company LITE Industries, garnered rave reviews. After looking at their website and Facebook pages we realized that a slight detour in our route north would allow us to visit their facilities.

Prince Albert National Park

 A travel goal of ours is to visit National Parks

If you have the time, spend more of it at Prince Albert NP than we did ... you won't be disappointed.

We have been to a few National Parks in Costa Rica and Mexico and to several in the USA. 

We have also been to 23 of the 47 that have been established in Canada.

To ... Riding Mountain National Park

And ... a FIVE night stay
On previous drives along the Trans-Canada Highway, we've had a schedule to meet and always just passed through Manitoba as we headed west. This time, we have the opportunity and the interest, to investigate a part of this province we haven't seen before. 

Along the way ...
We passed several fields with small huts like these and couldn’t quite figure out what they were used for, but finally a Google search and a Wikipedia source revealed the following ...

Here and there across the Canadian countryside you’ll see shelters or huts (sometimes bright blue) placed in patterns in pastures. Their openings all face the same direction and their presence has a rather otherworldy feeling about it. Question: What are these things?

Answer: They are plastic shelters for alfalfa leaf-cutter bees, a native North American bee that has been domesticated. The blue dome is used in western Canada, and variations in other parts of the continent. The shelters, usually found in alfalfa pastures, are needed for their warming ability and as a place for the bees to build their nests out of alfalfa leaves. One shelter for every 4 to 5 acres contains about a dozen nests. 

Dallas Arcand ... Hoop Dancer

North Again: The Boots, Bikes, Boats & Buddies Tour

WE'RE   GONE!  

We don't have a scheduled itinerary (often don't), but we do know of a few places where we want to hike, cycle and paddle, some folks we'd like to see and a few more memories we want to make. 

IF you read our May 14th post, you'll know that we've sold our home and most of our belongings and that we've shed ourselves of the responsibilities ... THAT reality entails.  When we return in the Fall, it won't be to a new BASECAMP, but to a temporary rental unit, with 1.5 rooms filled with long-term storage boxes, some basic furniture requirements (bed, dresser, couch, desk, couple of chairs), some personal living necessities and a highly stream-lined gear & equipment outfit that supports all the outdoor activities we are still pursuing.

ONE From Atlin

ONE of the best things about travelling is the interesting people that you meet. Some are funny, some are kind, some have unusual histories or tales to tell and some are just downright unusual. We call these people Journeymakers because they help to make our journey more interesting, enjoyable and memorable.

There's a very nice, local museum in Atlin, B.C. (which as a point of interest, can only be reached from the Yukon and not from B.C.) that we wandered through on previous trips. Displays feature the towns' history, some local crafts-people present their wares and during our last visit we were given a nice talk by a very knowledgeable and pleasant member of the local historical society.

But, NOT this time! ... things have changed in Atlin! There's a new authority in town!