this post is coming from la coruna – city on the north west coast of Spain.  It´s the nearest big city and the in-laws have a flat here so the family is spending one night here before heading back to the village villa and countryside.  It´s not an especially historic or pretty city but it´s nice enough – has mucho tapas and a nice beach plus some interesting bits and pieces.

Have plenty to post about the journey done which on the whole went well and to plan.  we didnt get to the eiffel tower at night on day1, and went in the morning on day 2 instead.  this delayed us slightly but we still made it to one of the researched campsites north of bordeaux.  day 3 was really hot but we got an hour in for a seaside trip and swim once through the border in spain.  I´ll do seperate posts for each day when I get a chance – this is just a quick update for now.

 local fiestas this weekend, and the girls will then be here for the next 3 to 4 weeks while I head home for a bit so will update then and aim for them to post too.

an enjoyed by  all ferry ride, a straight forward drive to paris = only a little traffic and we arrived at 8pm.  The bbq plan was a bit of a disaster and meant we had to abandon the plan for the eiffel tower = so we’re off now!  all slept ok ish and I even had fathers day presents….  a bientot!!!

Update two nights now after the previous post and our practice night in the tent with the little lady.

After the expected lengthy effort required to get her to sleep, her sleeping kind of went ok actually.  She was on her fleece inside the (kids) sleeping bag which had the downside of then curling around her a little so we may have to drop that.  Then she was a little cold as we expected although we meant to get her to sleep in a hoodie so we’ll try that again.

The main problem though was the lack of room in the bedroom section – in the tent we borrowed just exactly the right size for a double airbed, but that didn’t really give enough room for the 2.5 of us with baby.  So uncomfortable for us to make sure we weren’t off the edge or against the tent walls too much, or squishing baby girl.

So on with the invited (this time) nigey-bodgeness.  I’ve tried taking the inner of another dome tent and replacing one of the room sections in the borrowed tent with it.  It obviously doesn’t pitch out totally but with a few spare guy ropes, it looks like it should be fine.  Pics attached:

So plan will now be my lady and baby on the airbed, with me on another camping rollmat next to it.  Loadsa room. Lovely.

Wish us luck again.  On with the packing…

A quick post late at night before I head to ‘bed’.  To try to get the little lady used to camping (tried once last year which was ok but she was only 8 months).  We’ve got the borrowed/intended tent up in the Garden and baby eventually asleep after she played lots, crawled around refusing to lay down and finally crashed on mums boob.

We’ve got a two roomed large dome tent, with just mum/dad/baby tonight in one room on a double airbed.  Our theory was that putting baby straight into the tent for first time (This year) after a drive all day from sussex to paris just was asking for trouble.  So instead we’ve brought on our own trouble early by trying it tonight.  bound to be a disaster!

I’ll let you know in the morning!!  All seems quiet now. Just hoping the other two girls manage a night with us in the garden!

A new blog intended to capture the adventure of a familys travel.  Not a far away round-the-world-epic but a simple holiday to the Spanish parents/in laws/grandparents.  We are a near-28yr old man, a around 30 lady, two teenage girls and a little girl not quite 2.

The plan is to have a greater adventure than the usual stanstead-ryanair flights for the generally annual trip to Galicia.  This year we will take in France as we take 4 days/3 nights to travel from Sussex, UK on the ferry to Calais, through France on the west coast and through the border to Spain for the final push along.  See later post for specific route plans.

The girls have barely seen France (youngest two not at all).  Myself the man used to do similar trips as a boy with my parents and sisters.  I remember hot cars, nice countryside and excellent chips and croissants.  I remember French voices all around, hairy armpits on women, and well equipped campsites.

So here we will be entering some logs and notes.  Some probaly taken at the time and posted retrospectively so we’ll try to keep them in a meaningful order when ready.

Expect crazy kids in car journey epics, tales of strange French men with moustaches, and hopefully a happy memory of the grandparents and mucho chorizo y estrella galicia!! moi bien!! :>