The next post in this blog is Monterosso, Italy.

Travel : Running With The Bulls

Day 1 (Sunday): The Trip We left the bus station at 10:30am on Sunday 4th and prepared ourselves for a long trip. The trip was expected to last about 22 hours so it was going to be a long trip. After a few introductory announcements, the bus guides announced that the bar was open - perhaps it wouldn't be such a long trip after all!
Our group consisted of Shaun Chelin, Nicola Purbrick Dave Watson and me. On the bus we met up with a group of Zimbabwean guys some of whom I know from Durban days. They are a great bunch of guys and true to form they were impressive consumers of beer - of which there was plenty. We arrived at Dover and passed through customs with no delay - much to my disappointment I didn't receive that stamp in my passport I was hoping for! We boarded the ferry and went to one of the restaurants for some lunch. The channel was fairly misty on the way across so we didn't get to see too much, but we did get a great view of the cliffs of Dover - Quite impressive from the sea!

Day 2 (Monday): Sand, Sea and Sun We continued through the night and passed through France into Spain with no hassles - and again no stamp - We stopped at a garage for some breakfast and when we were leaving we managed to leave one of the Zim guys behind. We were only about 11/2 hours away from Zauruz(sic) and we couldn't turn around so we radioed one of the other busses to pick him up. To cut a long story short, somehow he was left by the other bus and spent about 4 hours trying to find out where he was and how to get to where he was going. He eventually found "Bills School of English" in San Sabastian and from there he was told how to get to our campsite. Once we were at the camp, we all unpacked and headed off to the beach for a swim and some much-needed sun. The plan for that day was just to relax at the beach and prepare ourselves for the opening ceremony the next day.

Day 3 (Tuesday): Opening Ceremony We wake up with slight hangovers and after breakfast depart to Pamplona at about 9:00am. As we arrive in Pamplona we can already see people all dressed in White with there red scarves tied around their waists - It is traditional only to tie scarves around your neck after the opening ceremony at 12:00am. We arrived at the city at about 10:30am and set off to find some Sangria and position ourselves in the main square. There were thousands of people in the square and in front of the town hall, all in red and white and all by this stage covered in egg, flour and champagne. I can honestly say that this is the biggest party I have ever attended or been involved in. By this stage we were all covered in egg and flour and wet with Champagne - you needn't worry about the waste of Champagne as it was really cheap stuff and tasted like @$%&! We took up positions in the main square and waited for the firing of the canon which signifies the opening of the San Fermin festivals. When the canon went off, the crowd erupted into all sorts of Spanish chants and started jumping up and down in unison - it was awesome to be involved! There was, as you can imagine, a cloud of champagne that fell over everyone and this hysteria lasted for about 1/2 an hour before the party followed the numerous bands off into the streets and into the many tapas bars. We all went to the famed "Mussel Bar" where people jump of the famed statue. I saw a few people falling and they were all hurt pretty seriously - I think two people died from jumping during the week!!! We spent most of the afternoon in tapas bars and wondering around the streets dancing to the brass bands that played everywhere. Any street you wondered down invariably contained another party and another couple of hundred partiers. It was absolutely amazing! We returned back to the campsite at about 6:00pm and headed off to the bars on the beach for dinner and drinks and more partying.

Day 4 (Wednesday):The First Attempt We got up at 5:30am - a big ask after the night before - and headed of into Pamplona for the first "Running of The Bulls". The procedure is as follows. 1)The people who are aiming to run all enter the cordoned off area in front of the town hall. 2) At 8:00am a canon goes off that indicates the runners that they can start moving/walking/running. 3) 5 minutes later, the second cannon goes off indicating that the bulls have just been released into the streets. 4) Run like hell to get away from the Bulls - There is actually a mixture off fighting bulls and cows. The cows are there to keep the bulls running as when the fighting bulls stop, they just look for people to go and butt!!! 5) Enter the stadium and dodge the bulls for awhile. The Bulls are taken out the stadium fairly quickly and then they release smaller steers - not that small mind you - into the stadium to run around and knock over as many hapless saps as they can. 6) After about 4 steers, they let you out the stadium again. We arrived at Pamplona at about 7:45 so there was a mad rush to try and get into the run. The streets were absolutely packed with people and as we had arrived late, the Spanish police were reluctant to allow us into the start area. We had to abandon the run and we made our way to the stadium to see the bulls in the stadium. The stadium was absolutely jam packed with people and when they released the steers it is like watching the seas part. People move pretty quickly when they have to get out of the way of a 350-400kg bull running at full speed. A few unlucky people got hit fairly hard and were thrown over the bull or under it but everybody managed to get up and didn't look too badly hurt. We return to Zauruz and spend the rest of the day on the beach before returning to Pamplona in the evening for another party.

Day 5 (Thursday): Relaxing Managed to sleep through the wake up call for the Running of the Bulls so just spent the day at the beach and relaxing. Went into Pamps again that night for another party.

Day 6 (Friday): The Run & Biarritz The morning of the fateful day finally arrives and I'm up at about 5:30am in the bus eating bananas for energy!!! We arrived at Pamps earlier this time so we have plenty of time to get into position for the run. (That is meant to sound like a good thing!!!!) The streets were absolutely packed with people - reminded me of being back in London on the Tubes, unpleasant thought!! We waited, packed together, for about 15 minutes until the first canon went off. Instinct is to start running like hell but the crowds won't let you, after about a minute or two the crowds have moved along the road a bit and you have a bit of space to move around in and find a spot to wait until you can see the bulls. (The idea is to wait until you can see them before you head off into the stadium. The run is not very long, only about 4 minutes, so you don't have that far to run, especially if you have already walked closer to the stadium before the second canon goes off.) When the second canon goes off there is a wave of excitement through the crowd. Questions start running through your mind, Should I start running? Should I dive over/under the barricades? Should I climb up a drainpipe and wait until this whole thing is over then go for beer? Eventually insanity prevails and I decide to wait for the bulls to round the corner before heading off - at top speed - into the stadium. When the crowd eventually hears the bulls hooves thundering down the road towards them, you have no friends!! All sense of decency and courtesy are forgotten and it is each man (or should that be mouse) for himself. I managed to get myself thumped against the barricades a few times by the crowd before entering the stadium with some big (550-600kg) thundering close behind. The last bit of the run just before you enter the stadium is known as the "Tunnel of Death" as there is absolutely no place to hide, As you can imagine, most people who ran through there in front of the herd did so extremely quickly!!!!! After the navigating "Tunnel of Death" safely we entered the stadium and the bulls left through the far exit. We then waited for the small steers to come careening around the stadium and after dodging them for a while we left the stadium to go for a well earned beer! Unfortunately a girl - I don't know what she was doing in the ring - was hit pretty badly during the time I was in the stadium. I saw the bull hit her squarely in the chest and she was unconscious before she hit the ground. I still don't know the exact details but rumours are that she may have died from her injuries!! After that we headed back to the Camp site and after a quick breakfast boarded the buses for a trip to Biarritz (on the French coast). Biarritz was stunning. Very clean and possibly the best beach I have seen. (And no, the multitudes of beautiful girls tanning topless did not influence my judgement in the slightest) We spent the day the and then returned to the Camp site for our last night of partying.

Day 7 (Saturday): San Sebastian On Saturday we woke up late and packed all our bags and put them on the bus. We then caught the train to San Sebastian for a relaxing day before we headed back to the busses to begin our trip back home. San Sebastian was a beautiful beach with awesome old architecture all around, but it was absolutely packed, I didn't venture into the sea as it was just too full. Much like New Years Day, but whiter. We all had a good lunch before heading back to the train. Day 8 (Sunday): The trip back We left on Saturday evening at 6:00pm and drove through the night to reach Calais by 10:00am the next morning. We sailed through customs on the French side but unfortunately someone had tipped the customs officials off that we were carrying drugs so we were pulled over and although there didn't search any of us, they did give the bus a good search. We eventually left Dover about 21/2 hours later! Anyway, aside from that incident, the trip went smoothly and we arrived back in London at about 2 o'clock. After lunch and a few more drinks at the Firkin Brewery to round off the trip I headed home. I was in bed by 8 o' clock and woke the next morning at 6:30am felling like a needed a weeks sleep!!

ALL IN ALL IT WAS AN EXCELLENT TRIP, PROBABLY ONE OF THE BIGGEST PARTIES I HAVE BEEN ON, AND I WILL BE GOING BACK TO SPAIN AT SOME STAGE TO DO A BIT MORE SIGHT SEEING AS THE COUNTRYSIDE, ESPECIALLY THE MOUNTAINS, IS BEAUTIFUL.