From Portsmouth with love...

To begin, begin. - William Wordsworth

Always loved that line, why? I'm not so sure, the simplicity of it and straight to the pointness (is that a word?) has always hit home hard with me. Being only 3 words makes it more powerful than most, plus it means i can remember it without writing it down umpteen times.

So, we have begun! More specifically we are now on the ferry, left Portsmouth about 15 hours ago now, and are sailing on Britanny ferries finest Pont Aven! Within another 8 hours, and with any luck, we should be docking in Santander, exciting stuffs! Tim's a few decks below me, i tried booking him a cabin but the ferry company wasn't having any of it... Boooo.

I don't think he gets sea sick...?

The run from home to Portsmouth was far from exciting, 100 miles combining the M25 with the A3 got me there from Longfield in 2 hours. Really looking forward to leaving the motorways behind. However, whilst the journey to the port was far from eventful, the last week or so has been rather busy!

The first (of many!) fuel stops for Tim in his home station of Longfield!

Me being the typically well prepared person that i am (I'm not!) most things of any importance were left to the last minute. Last night and this morning i was wiring up roof lights, changing spark plugs, fitting auxiliary power sockets, wrestling the coolbox into position between my seat and the roll cage... Plus not to mention that i didn't start packing until about midday today... So i'm pretty sure i've got everything i need, however i'm bound to of forgotten something... But then again adapting to situations is part of the fun... Right?

Let there be light!

I'm currently typing this out in one of the ships many bars/restaurants... Bugger, laptop batterys knackered. Double bugger. Theres a power point but its an EU socket, guess what i forgot?

Anyway, people keep asking me where i'm going once i get into Santander... 'Whats your intinerary?' 'Where are you staying?' 'How long are you away for?'

Truth is i don't really have an answer to any of them questions, an itinerary is such a strange concept to me that i had to look up what it meant in the dictionary! I know i'll be camping nearly all the time, maybe with the occasional hotel if i really fancy spoiling myself, or it rains a lot. Im basically away for as long as i can afford, so depending on how lavish i fancy being, will massively dictate on how long i can keep plodding around Spain and wherever else Tim decides on taking us!

What i do know though, is that Tim is running well, I have money, I have petrol and I have beer. What more do you need??! Once in Santander i plan on heading west, travelling over the Picos de Europas, doing some climbing, venturing off the beaten track and heading all the way over to Santiago de Compostella, it's just somewhere i've always wanted to visit. After that i'll head south, down into Portgual and that is as far as my lame excuse for a plan has got! I'm open to suggestions!

I'm just so happy to be away and on the way to somewhere new, to be bouncing over the continent in my Mini that i love most, to be meeting new people and to be seeing new sights... I was even smiling on the way down to Portsmouth!

Tadaa for now England!

Travel as much and far as you can and for as long as you can get away with, for life is not meant to be lived in one place! - Someone thats better with words than me!

Jheesh, i dont know whats going on with the quotes today,.. I'm going to go back to people watching, and see if i can get some travel adaptors from somewhere on board... Grrrr. Mmmm, and breakfast....

Peace, Joe.

P,s. Saw some whales this morning, that was cool.