The Postcard Trail

Antony has been sending postcards and some photographs back from the stops along the road. Here they are:

	Tuesday 25th April: Bayeux, Normandy Bayeux, in the Calvados region of Normandy. Card posted 25th April 2006, postmarked "14 Caen Mondeville". Famous for the Bayeux tapestry depicting the Norman conquest of England in 1066 AD (one of only two memorable dates in English history: the other is supposed to be 55 BC). En route for the D-Day beaches, Cherbourg and Mont St Michel. Back to top
	Tuesday 25th April: Cherbourg, Normandy Cherbourg, in the Cotentin region of Normandy. Card posted 27th April 2006, postmarked "5 Cotentin Manche". Antony arrived at 16:50 after having found 70 litres of waste oil en route. Weather wet and misty. Distance from start 523 miles. Back to top
	Tuesday 25th April: Mont-Saint-Michel, Normandy Mont Saint Michel, on the border of Brittany. Card posted 27th April 2006, postmark unreadable. A late start today because of difficulty in filtering contaminated oil. Heading for Brest. Back to top
	Thursday 27th April: Saint-Nazaire, Brittany Crossing Loire-Atlantique in the morning. Card posted 27th April 2006. Stopped at Saint Nazaire to look for oil then off south over the Saint Nazaire bridge into the Vendée, past La Rochelle and south towards Bordeaux. Concerned about contamination in the oil, changing filtering strategy. Back to top
	Friday 28th April: 15:00: Arcachon, Acquitaine Stopped in La Teste de Buch, Arcachon, Les Landes ("La Teste de Buch" = Blockhead??). Slow progress, lots of traffic on the coastwise roads. On towards the Basque country.... Back to top
	Saturday 29th April: 18:00: St Jean de Luz, Basque Country Stopped for coffee in St Jean de Luz, Pays Basque, France, before crossing the Spanish border into the Pais Vasco - same Basque country, different state! Drove through Biarritz in rush hour, didn't stop. Back to top
	Monday 1st May: 18:00 : Luarca, Asturias Arrived in Luarca, a wee fishing port like a warmer version of Kirkcudbright, just in time for morning coffee. Luarca is in the Asturias region of North Spain, west of Cantabria and east of Galicia. On to Coruna and Santiago de Compostella..... Back to top
	Saturday 6th May: Algarve, S. Portugal Crossing the Algarve en route for Gibraltar after several days in Lisbon doing interviews. Nice to be on the road again. Stopped off in Faro, but it was closed! Another stop in Tavira, nearer the Spanish border. Carried on back into Spain. The weather is now very hot and the engine is starting easily on vegetable oil without having to use diesel on starting. Managed to find 8 litres of vegetable oil in Cadiz. Whoopee! Back to top
	Sunday 7th May: evening: Gibraltar Filtering problems 20 miles out of Gibraltar caused a bit of a delay, but made it eventually. A postcard and three photos of Gibraltar taking while driving into the town on the leg from Portugal. Would like to take the cannon home for the garden, but the van's suspension might not cope! Back to top
	Thursday 11th May: Tossa de MAr, Catalonia Tossa de Mar, north of Barcelona, approaching French border again. Stopped for a swim, Med lovely. Went hunting for a waste oil repository of which rumour speaks, didn't find it. France before nightfall. Back to top
	Friday 12th May: Fréjus, Provence, France Fréjus, France. Nearing the Italian border and looking forward to a proper pizza and a bottle of real Italian red wine. Travelled by Arles, Aix-en-Provence, St Raphael and Cannes, then took the motorway to Italy. Went on the hill road over Cannes past the Roman viaduct and amphitheatre. Driving is slow as its Friday. Back to top
	Friday 12th May, evening: Sori, Liguria Sori, Liguria, Italy. A lazy day, catching up on emails and downloading images from camera flash cards. Nice to relax and take in the atmosphere. Left late in the afternoon, went down the coast road for a short distance, but it was very slow so went onto the motorway shortly thereafter. Heading for Barga in Tuscany. Back to top
	Saturday 13th May: Barga, Tuscany Arrived late in the evening in Barga, Tuscany, Italy after a frustrating day of minor mechanical niggles like loose battery terminals and a flooded engine. Tuscany, however, is a sort of home from home - even a bit of rain to make it feel like Scotland! Back to top
	Saturday 20th May: Puglia, near Brindisi A traditional country farmstead in Puglia, Italy, on the way north after finishing the outward run. Puglia's countryside is fantastic and the local folk are lovely. Postmarked 22.05.06. Back to top
	Sunday 21st May: San Marino Heading back to Tuscany on the homeward leg, looked in on the Republic of San Marino (population 30,000), in the Eastern Appenines south-west of Rimini on the Adriatic coast, famous for its Grand Prix. The third smallest state in Europe, it also claims to be the world's oldest republic. It was founded, allegedly, by a Christian stonemason named Marino in 301 A.D., making it over 1,700 years old. Interesting idea that, because the Roman Empire was going strong just about then, and I can't see Constantine the Great enjoying the thought of an independent republic emerging in the Italian heartland of the empire ... San Marino's foreign policy is aligned with that of Italy, which is just as well for it because the tiny state is landlocked and all commerce has to pass through Italy. The tourist population outnumbers the citizens 100 times, especially in the Grand Prix weekend! Back to top
	Monday 22nd May: Arezzo, Tuscany Back in Tuscany on the homeward leg, close to the ancient medieval city of Arezzo, founded on the site of an Etruscan town of the 2nd century BC. Press interviews this morning, then off to Firenze (that's Florence to you and me, by the way...). It's a tough old job, but somebody has to do it!
	This photo is of me, in Tuscany, at the back of the van, showing a friend an example of the Park J-cloth prefilter for the cleaning up of waste oil. Everbody is gobsmacked at just how low-tech this procedure is. Back to top
	Tuesday 23rd May: Verona, Tuscany, Italy Last stop in Italy before heading into Austria. Back to top
	Sunday 28th May: Bad Bergzabern, Rheinpfalz, Germany Arrived in Bad Bergzabern to find an alternative energy rally in progress. Joined in, of course! Back to top