“Damn this GPS!!”
This was all I could say for about half an hour.
We had left Nurburg around 19:00, and we had booked a night in Reims (around 300kms) but in Belgium the GPS made us do some sort of detour by some awful, filled with potholes B-road.
The car just shivered and jiggled and slowly, really slowly we moved on (there were parts were we did less than 20Km/h for fear of the damage caused to the car).
Initially we had joined a Porsche 968CS complete with roll cage for the journey back, but then we followed the GPS’s directions and got lost….
When we did arrive in Reims, all we could think of was food, being starved enough to consider eating the padding of our seats….
The night was short but Ok.
Reims is a fairly small city, with a lot of road work being done and personally I just wanted to get out of there and get home.
I get like this all the time when I travel: after the highlight of the journey has been reached I seem to be unable to enjoy the rest of it, only thinking about returning home.
This was about to change though..
We charged through France relentlessly, stopping only for fuel and food.
We did do a bigger stop at some service station when we met up with a really nice Frenchman in his Lotus Seven.
A frenchman's Sportscar: They don't all drive 2CVs
He wore an aviation jacket and goggles to drive the thing, and he was really pationate (being French and all….) about his cars and driving.
He showed us pics of his other car: a proper racing car much like a Radical or Westfield XTR.
He was having some problems with the carburetor and took the cover of the engine out (much like taking my hardtop) to check it out!
It’s so simple to build a fun-car really.
You looked at that car and it was no more than a chassis, a simple 4-pot engine, two seats and a small windshield.
We parted but the moment was really enjoyable.
People gathered around to chat about our cars, ask questions, give friendly advice and the “thumbs up”.
On the road again, it was Fred’s time with the car, I took a few pictures and dosed off for a few moments.
When I opened my eyes and saw that direction sign pointing to: Le Mans I just felt so melancholical.
The beautiful eyed girl from the museum store, the race track. I should just move there and spend the rest of my days enjoying the city!
But I still had one more place to go to: Hossegor!
I don’t know how many of you are into surfing, but living in a country like Portugal does this to you: you can’t be too far away from the Ocean for too long, otherwise you skin will fall off.
And Hossegor is one of those places you just have to go one day.
It’s where the European leg of the ASP World Championship Tour takes place, and it’s known because it provides big waves that are more common in the Tahitian and Hawaiian beaches.
I admit that I didn’t know quite what to expect.
In Portugal the most famous beaches are all invaded with tall buildings that ruin the landscape, and crowd is not just a word, but an epidemic that spreads through the waves.
The first part of Hossegor is a small town, with the usual surf shops, beautiful homes, not that much traffic and really nice people.
The “second part” of Hossegor… Is California!
Seriously!
You know those TV series where you see Malibu, Orange County, all the surfers and surfer girls, skaters on the sidewalks, people just “hangin’” not really doing anything, just enjoying themselves and the sunset?
That’s Hossegor!
And I loved it!
Fred knew nothing about it, to my amazement, and I gave him a quick brief of what goes on in that little city every year.
Our hotel was really nice, beach front, but luckily my room had a “city view” which was worst for everybody else, but perfect for me, as this allowed me to check my car :)
I think the pictures speak for themselves, but in case they don’t: I loved the place!
I’ve said this a couple of times now, but really I could live here!
It’s just so…. Me!
It’s like my hometown but with world class surfers and waves!
Oh, and smaller houses :)
We dined at a local restaurant and even rooted for Barcelona on the Champions Football final!
Personally I couldn’t care less about who won, but everybody was a Barcelona fan so….
After dinner we took a stroll down the beach and found…. Kelly Slater!
Ok, only Kelly Slater’s cemented footprint but still…. It’s Kelly’s!!!!
Quick question: do you know who Kelly is?
I’m just asking ‘cause, again, Fred was oblivious to him, and so he just stared at me with amazement in his face as to why I was almost freaking out over this foot print.
Kelly’s a living legend!
He’s the guy that’s set the bar so high in Surfing that I don’t think no one will ever beat him.
As I write this, he just won the Brazilian leg of the 2009 tour! Go Kelly!
Think Michael Schumacher of Surfing plus two.
Two you ask?
Two I say! Because Michael, being the freak of nature of a pilot that he his, only managed to win 7 times the World Title, and Kelly, absurdly had the guts to win it NINE, that’s 9 times!
He took the liberty of quitting professional surfing after his 5th or 6th title and then came back for more!
Rumor has it that when he won the 7th title, Lance Armstrong, the cycling champ who won the Tour de France seven times already went up to him and said: welcome to the seven club!
Now Lance, you have two to go if you want to keep up with Kelly there…. :)
Yeah, I’m a fan…. :)
Anyway, next morning the sun was shining, and the waves were pumping but no boards and a desperate urge to return home meant it was mounting the puzzle at the boot with all the stuff in and just take a few more pictures.
Take a good look at that wave..
(When I came home I took a closer look on one of the pictures and my jaw dropped.. See for yourself..)
Now take a better look!
Au revour France, Holla España!
To a Portuguese Spain feels like home already!
We may have some rivalries but it’s all in good fun, and the Bask country is a much different thing, beautiful anyway you look, smelly with flowers and trees perfuming the roads, nice helpful people, oh, and delicious food!
Bask country: beautiful!
We passed a truck that remind me of work, seems I can’t get too far away from it, it comes to haunt me wherever I am. But I still had a few days left :)
The Spanish “Carreteras” – roads; are all very good and most importantly: free and not very controlled with some speed cameras here and there.
We entered Portugal at about 16:00 and I had to stop and get out of the car.
MY country!
I travel quite a lot, and I meet people that bash on their countries, and people that stand up for them.
I know mine is just a small one, on the corner of Europe, and palles in comparison with mammoth economies and civilizations like Germany and France, but still, I love it, I love my country!
I could live abroad, I could really.
I loved Italy and Denmark, and the south of France is also really appealing, but my heart would always beat faster for Portugal.
Now only 2 hours where separating us from my city!
Ah, open windows, clear skies, warm rays of sunlight in our skin….
Suddenly I could see it, far away: the Ocean! MY Ocean!
I was home!
Kilometers where dispatched at a “I’m-sorry-officer-the-car-just-went-for-it-and-i-lost-control-of-the-speed-i-was-going” rate, and soon enough we were on the main straight to my little beach paradise.
It was funny though, that, being Portuguese and warm blooded, some guy in a Audi A3 TDI still thought he could keep up with us and so started accelerating like a maniac to pass us.
He did, for about 4 seconds..
Honor was at stake here!
We took the stuff out of the boot, drank a bottle of water each, and I was off again to take Fred home.
Staring at the Ocean I felt my heart warm up and beat just a bit faster.
I had done it.
We had done it.
The Journey to the ‘Ring was now over, and all was well.
Time for a swim..
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