Caledonian Canals 2019
My first stab at video editing, on a rowing trip to Scotland.
Boris Biking en Francais, Flat Car Batteries & Surfing SanSeb
This summer had to be different. This year needed we needed to up the standard of holidaying.
It started at 1am at my house. Cali and Rick turned up with a car saturated with surf gear, sleeping bags and crisps. Soon enough we were on our way, first stop Dover crossing to stock up on Gin. Before long we found ourselves negotiating a busy Paris city centre and after casually nearly dying a few times we arrived at our hostel. After many hours with car cabin fever we were keen to get out and explore the city so we grabbed some bikes from the nearest hire stand and got amongst it. After an inordinate amount of soft cheese, French bread and Space Spice energy drink it was time for a night drive down to the South for some surf.
After awaking bleary eyed from an extraordinarily sound night sleep in the driver’s seat of a Vauxhall Astra we set about pitching some tents in a nearby campsite. Only a stone’s throw from the campsite was one of the best surfing beaches in the world. Suited up and leashed up, we jumped in and began paddling out to the perfectly clean waves. The campsite shop was extortionate so some innovative food buying and culinary techniques were employed to ensure that our shoestring budget didn’t lead to malnourishment. After a serious lardon-to-ground incident, lashings of €3 wine and getting the Astra jumped started by a legendary Dutch family it was time to continue our journey down the coast. Next stop was just over the Spanish border – San Sebastian.
San Sebastian was like a tasteful Spanish Newquay on steroids – full of beautiful architecture, a bustling nightlife and a great surfing beach just minutes from the high street. We traded camping and hostels for a private apartment ran by some incredibly laid back surfers that loved getting in the water early, and waking all the residents up to invite them along with 80’s power ballads. After some top class sightseeing and a couple of nights out with the newly formed Team Sexy we were on the road once more, navigating the breadth of Spain to Barcelona.
And so to the last stop on our journey, the capital of the County of Catalonia. We used our time mainly to sample the local sangria, walk around the city with thick heads and talk shelter from the monsoons in burrito bars. Top work chaps.
Pork Knuckles, Smelly Canals & Life In Prison
This would be my second time travelling Europe by train. The first gave me such a great insight into how landscapes and cultures can be so similar and yet so different, despite only being across a busy shipping lane. This time we were to throw in a large Croatian dance music festival which would feature mid-way through the trip.
First port of call was Prague, and once again it didn’t disappoint. I love the city, I want to live there one day. Its beautiful architecture, its liberal attitude and its dark past appeal to me – which brings me back for a 3RD time in as many years. Despite being in the city alone for the first night, I somehow became aquatinted with a lovesick German in a local bar, the fantastic Prague Beer Museum. Christophe had gone on a lone roadtrip from Berlin after getting dumped by his girlfriend of several years and was on the surface fairly positive on the matter. As more tasty Czech beers (Pivo) rolled in my position seemed to morph into some sort of councillor – a strange start to a holiday to say the least.
The next day I found a free tour which enlightened me into such facts as 90% of the Czech’s are atheist, the Týn Church in the old town square has one tower slightly bigger than the other and Prague’s history of defenestration is horrendous. I also met up with the other two lads who were a bit worse for wear after a big birthday night out in Berlin. Obviously the best cure for them was roasted knuckle of pork which, needless to say, worked a treat. After seeing all the sites, eating our bodyweight in Goulash, drinking our bodyweight in Pivo and getting emotional in the Jewish Quarter it was time to move on to Italy. Venice to be exact.
Venice has a distinct lack of sites to be sightseen. The whole city is truly one big unique site and is a simply breath-taking place. I mean breath-taking in two senses; it’s beautiful and it’s very smelly. Highlights in this floating city included the tourist’s favourite: a gondola taxi, a fantastic jazz band playing on a canal boat and scaling a 60m tower to gain a panoramic birds-eye view of the incredible city. Our living quarters had a lot to be desired… We are not allowed out or into the hotel after a certain time, even in a fire! With its lack of amenities and unpleasant staff it was come to be known affectionately as ‘The Prison’.
Despite Venice being a last minute venture, there was method in the madness. It allowed us to get to Croatia with relative ease for Outlook Festival in Pula. We arrived at the festival to a sense of distinct air of hopelessness. For years I had been to British festivals, such as Reading and IOW and completely taken the organisation of it all for granted. It took hours to get in and unexplained charges had to be paid. Once inside the amazing beach fronted grounds and bass blaring, what an experience. I would certainly recommend this festival to all.
On to Budapest via Ljubljana and Zagreb. Another of my favourite cities, the Hungarian capital has a wealth of excellent scenery, intense nightlife and brutal history along with some great thermal spas for when things just get too much. Our hostel, a sister to one of the bigger hostels in Budapest provided us with some great nights out, homemade Goulash and a night on a party boat that toured the Duna. Oh, and I must recommend to ANYONE going to Budapest, go on one of the organised caving tours in the multilevel Palvolgyi-Matyashegyi labyrinth system. Although a bit of a faff navigating across the city to get to, they are simply amazing.
And so to our last stop on our trip, Kraków via Bratislava. Since watching the critically acclaimed Band of Brothers TV Series, I’ve always wanted to experience the raw emotion that I felt when first watching episode 9, ‘Why We Fight’, in which Easy Company enters a concentration camp to find the most appalling scenes. We spent the morning at Auschwitz & Birkenau which was truly gripping, burning images into my memory that I don’t think will ever be removed. The trip came to an end in a souvenir shop where my buddy and I bought a chess set that we will keep forever – a reminder of a great holiday.
A highly successful time away. Would recommend to all. 1521 miles of adventure with great pals.
