Flights? There are no international flights to Pamplona (they only have a little airport), so most people fly to either Madrid or Barcelona. We like the no frills approach to travel and opted for the cheapest route we could find. We flew EasyJet from Liverpool direct to Barcelona. www.EasyJet.com is cool and flights can be booked on the web. Our fllight (one way) from England to Barcelona for cost 48 pounds (GB).

Hire car: We also booked a Mercedes A Class from www.EasyCar.com which cost about 10 pounds a day (bargain). As usual we exceeded the milage allowance but the penalty costs were not too bad.

Spain is a fantastic country and if you don't believe us just ask any one of the 45 million tourists that visit the place every year. We flew into Barcelona and spent a couple of days there before heading west. Barcelona is a great city with a friendly laid back feel. It also has some cool architecture, a great nightlife and the weather is superb.

This is a photo of one of Antoni Gaudi's creations. Its the Temple de la Sagrada Familia which started construction in 1882. Its well worth a visit and you can travel up each windy staircase.

Ahhh... Fresh Air: Northern Spain has some fantastic mountains.

Accommodation: there is plenty of top quality camping on offer. Bring a tent, sleeping bag, mountainbike, climbing gear and a woman who does not have hairy legs.

Carparking its a nightmare: there are parking restrictions during the festival. We thought our hire car was legally parked but it still got towed away. The impound charges were pretty pricey.

Accommodation: if you haven't sorted your accommodation in advance you are really chancing it. The tourist information office (town centre) have a list of what is available. Prices are at a premium during the festival.

Left luggage: the tourist information office has info on the places offering luggage storage facilities.

Burned out? After several days in Pamplona with averaging about 2 hours sleep a night, we really needed a rest. We made our way to the west coast for some surfing. Mundaka (near Bilbao) has a great reputation for surfing but when we arrived it was flat as a pancake - pooh.. It gave is time to check out the Mundaka Surf Shop where I got a good deal on a used Billabong wetsuit.