Big Adventures, Little World

On the beach for our pub crawl in Zarautz

After the Running of the Bulls we got on the bus and headed towards Zarautz where we would be staying for the next two days. Zarautz is a small town in Basque country in Spain, not too far from San Sebastian. The bus ride took about two hours from Pamplona and once we got there in the afternoon we headed down to the local supermarket to pick up food and drinks for the night before going out to the main town along the beach for a pub crawl. The bars had beautiful views looking out along the beach and were perfect for watching the sun set over the water. We spent the night getting to know the others on our tour and swapping stories from the bull run while having a number of drinks. Eventually we headed back to the campsite and passed out in our tents after another long day.

The next day after breakfast we boarded the bus into San Sebastian where we tried some of the local tapas of which some of it was delicious, and some not so much. Afterwards we went to check out the beach, which again was beautiful with the sun out and blue skies. There wasn’t much that we really wanted to do so we wandered the city and checked out some of the buildings and did a bit of shopping before sitting down to have some lunch. Then it was back down to the beach to relax for a few hours before we made our way back to Zarautz for the evening. We made on more stop before we got on the bus and that was to get some delicious ice cream.

That night we headed into Zarautz where we had some paella which was one thing we wanted to do. It wasn’t as good as we had hoped though, but was still pretty good. Either way it was nice to be just sitting on the boardwalk looking over the beach and relaxing with some food and a drink on our last night before driving back to London.

Since deciding to go to the San Fermin festival, I had been contemplating whether or not to actually participate in the Running of the Bulls. When it all came down to it though, I think it is one of those things that you just have to do while you are there. It’s not something that just anyone gets to do in their lifetime so on the morning of the first run, I bit the bullet and went out to join the crowd of thousands to run with the bulls!

The Running of the Bulls is a small part of the San Fermin festival and is believed to have originated for the purpose of transporting the bulls from outside the city to the arena for the bull fights at night. It would usually happen early morning and as people were going home from the previous nights celebrations they thought it would be a grand idea to run along with these bulls. Each year more and more people started to participate in it and it became a tradition and part of the festival.

We were up bright and early to get into Pamplona so we had enough chance to actually get into the bull run as once there is too many people in there, the local police will start moving people out of the run, and if you don’t move, they make you move by beating you with their batons until you are out of the way. I went off to the bull run while Elese and Sarah went to the arena at the end of the run where the bulls finish up and the bull fight takes place later in the night. I started around near the town hall which is where most people start from. Our tour guide had taken us on a walk through the course the day before and given us some tips on how best to do it, but given the amount of people around you, you tend to just go with the crowd, or else you’ll end up on the floor getting crushed by the crowd, and then probably the 6 bulls and 6 cows after that.

There was a lot of waiting around and the adrenaline started to get going a bit. More and more people crowded the street and police made their way through to remove people if there were too many people or if they were too drunk or were taking photos. They also stop letting people in, or out once inside the barriers. As it got closer to 8:00AM the tension and excitement got greater and greater until eventually the first cannon went off, signalling that the bulls had been released. It wasn’t long until the thundering of the hooves could be heard and the vibrations could be felt on the streets. The excitement and adrenaline went up tenfold. The crowd began to move as one. I found it hard and struggled just to keep my feet as everyone was pushing and trying to get moving, but I knew I had to keep my feet or else I would trampled. My heart was pounding by this point and I knew it wouldn’t be long before the bulls got to me. The crowd started to disperse slightly and I could begin to move along on my own. I knew I had to get around Dead Man’s Corner (a right angle turn where the bulls tend to slide and crash into the outer barrier). With so many people I could barely even get a slow jog going so I started to weave through people as much as possible, while trying to avoid the centre of the run as much as I could in case the bulls got there sooner than expected. As I got some speed going I kept glancing over my shoulder but also keeping my eyes forward as much as possible to avoid any obstacles (people) in front of me. I made it around Dead Man’s Corner, and I felt slightly better, but my heart started to pump faster. I knew that any second the bulls would be there. I kept running past Dead Man’s Corner keeping to the walls as much as possibly, and found a spot on the wall to push myself into away from the bulls. Within a few seconds the first of the bulls came thundering past, no more than 5 feet away from me. I started to count them as they went past. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. They seemed to all be staying in a group, which was good as they just ran and didn’t get distracted. 8, 9, 10, 11. One more left, or maybe I counted wrong. I thought I must have counted wrong as they were all together and going so fast, and if they were all together, the doors to the arena would be closed as the last one went inside and I wouldn’t get in to see the rest of the action. So I was off again after the bulls chasing after them as fast as I could, while still being wary that there might be another one out there. I kept trying to stay to the walls but everyone just seemed to be enjoying being alive and had no intention of getting into the arena. I had to run in the middle as no one really was there and gave me the best chance to go as fast as I could. I ran and ran and was sure I one point I ran over a pool of blood, but didn’t really have time to stop and make sure. Not only that though, I had to jump over a few people through the run, otherwise I would have ended up on the floor like them, and could have been gored, trampled, or both. I made it to the gates to the arena and there was a bit group of people waiting to go through and within about 20 seconds the crowd started moving as we all rushed into the arena.

You can see the entire run that I actually ran in the below video. I think it was around the 1.06 mark of the video when the bulls ran past me.

The Bull Ring

The arena was a whole other aspect of the show. As people came running in, angry baby bulls with corks on their horns were released into the arena and chased all the people around. I got out of there quickly and watched from behind the wall as people were picked up by the bulls and tossed around. The arena was nearly full of people trying to get close and touch the bulls and it was quite funny watching the entire crowd move as the bull moved.

After the last baby bull was let loose in the arena I started to make my way out and find my way back to the bus and also to let Elese know I was alive. I got back and found her, and I’m pretty sure her heart was pounding as much as mine had been. We got back on the bus and they told me their experience from it all and that the TV screen inside the arena was showing each of the bulls and their weights like a boxing fight with the biggest bull weighing 600kgs! I also found out there was indeed one more bull that was last into the arena which I had completely forgotten about by the time I had reached the arena gates. We spent the bus ride swapping stories with everyone else and it wasn’t until after we got back to the campsite when my heart rate had slowed back to normal, nearly two hours after the run finished!

San Fermin Opening Ceremony

The Spanish sure do have the craziest festivals! Although, this could possibly mainly be because of all the tourists that now go to them and make them that way. After participating in La Tomatina last year though, and now the San Fermin festival, among all the other ones I haven’t been too, it’s quite evident that the Spanish sure do know how to throw some pretty crazy festivals!

After spending 21 hours on a bus we had arrived at our campsite in Estella, Spain, about 40 minutes outside of Pamplona and spent the afternoon sitting around the pool and drinking beers, and spent most of the night doing the same thing. The next morning was the opening ceremony of the festival so we were up early to make our way into the main square in Pamplona where most of the action happens. Basically, everyone wears white, as well as a red scarf tied around their wrist, and about 5 minutes before midday (the official start time) everyone holds up their scarves in the air and waves them around until a big cannon goes off signifying that the festival has begun. Everyone then puts the scarves around their necks and then are not supposed to take them off again until the end of the festival.

Once the cannon goes off then it’s pretty much a free for all covering everyone’s nice white clothes in sangria, champagne, eggs, flour, shaving cream and anything else you have. At the end of it you come out with your clothes stained red from all the sangria, and when you pay about 3 Euros for 2L of it, you can get a few bottles for yourself and a few to drown people in. Elese, Sarah and I covered each other in all the Sangria we could as well as anyone else around us and then finally it all started to settle down as people ran out of sangria and were covered in so much of it that there was nothing left to do.

We made our way out of the main square and headed along some of the streets where all the locals would be hanging out their windows from above pouring buckets of water out to help wash or hydrate or just wet anyone standing below. It was quite refreshing to get hit by the cold water and also removed some of the sticky sangria which was nice, but we later found out it could be quite dangerous as well, as in previous years some people had had their faces sliced by falling buckets! There is no such thing as public liability insurance throughout Europe, I’m sure! We kept wandering the packed streets with everyone in their white clothes with red scarves and sashes until we made our way to a statue known as the Mussel Bar.

Someone jumping from The Mussel Bar fountain

The Mussel Bar is statue/fountain in a small square where during San Fermin one year, a group of Australians decided it would be a good idea to climb to the top, and then jump off into their friend’s arms and have them catch them. Now this statue is about 10-15 feet high in different places and surround by cobblestone streets, so it isn’t really the smartest of things to do, but I guess if some people were stupid enough and had enough sangria in them then it would seem like a good idea. This was the one thing that the tour guides strongly advised against doing and even being in amongst and catching people as they can come down hard on your arms and break arms or wrists in the process. We stood there and watched as a few people climbed up and jumped off and some of them could barely even stand up, yet they were climbing up and jumping off and some even doing flips! It was painful to watch as once people jumped there was always a brief moment as they disappeared into the crowd and you had no idea if they would be getting back up again or not. After a watching a few that was enough and then we walked off again through the city and to the town hall square were we met up with Ryan before we had to get back on the bus and head back to the campsite where we could get cleaned up and relax.

Once we got back to the campsite we did just that and went straight for the showers, put some clean clothes on then went and sat around the pool. We talked with a few other and heard stories of someone jumping from the Mussel Bar, trying to do a back flip and missing the people to below trying to catch him and ending up landing on his head on the ground. The stories we heard told of how because of the amount of people it took 45 minutes for an ambulance to make their way in, but was only 15 minutes after he jumped that someone else had climbed back up and jumped off again. I’m not sure if it is true or not, the person who jumped and back flipped supposedly died later in hospital, which would not surprise me at all. Our tour guide had also told of a story when he was there watching a previous year where he watched someone die. There is actually more deaths and injuries each year from people jumping off the Mussel Bar than during the running of the bulls. The rest of the afternoon/evening we just relaxed by the pool and had some drinks while the music played into the night.

After our bad start to the festival and nearly not even leaving the UK, everything was only going to get better from there. We arrived at Bremen airport early morning then headed into the city centre to grab something to eat and organise some supplies for the festival. We checked out a small part of the city then found a supermarket where we stocked up on mainly booze and snacks, as well as a bit of bread and other stuff as well. After that was done though, there wasn’t much else to do except get on a train to Scheeßol.

The train was packed with everyone going to the festival with all their camping gear. Once we arrived at the station in Scheeßol about half an hour later it was much of the same, but even crazier. There was about a 15 or 20 minute walk from the station out to the festival grounds, which took a probably twice as long with all the stuff we were carrying. The bag containing 5 tents didn’t make it any easier! A lot of people were trudging along with all their gear, and some of the locals even had big trolleys or carts to bring everything along. Young children rode up and down in little pedal go karts with trailers and sold their services to people to help carry their things. I think by the end of it they would have made a killing!

We finally arrived at the festival site to hundreds, or maybe thousands of people waiting around for the wristband tent to open so people could start going in and setting up. It took forever and we were standing out in the hot sun for a couple of hours waiting and barely moving at all. Eventually, as the weather began to deteriorate, Elese went to try sneak her way through the front of the line and within 15 minutes she was back with her wristband. Then the rain started to fall so the rest of us did the same and manage to get in and get our wristband, and get absolutely soaked with rain in the process. It didn’t stop there though. The rain kept pouring down and we go into the campsite to setup up all 5 of our tents when all we wanted was to be dry. We found a spot that looked just about big enough and after some arguments with some Germans trying to save the spot for their friends we setup our tents anyway. The rain started to ease up after a while and we managed to get all the tents up and get into some dry clothes and relax. Then the rain stopped and the sun came out again so we sat around with a few drinks and made up a drinking game with a coin and some cufflinks.

Hurricane Festival Blue Stage

The first act wasn’t until 3.30PM on Friday, and there wasn’t really much we really wanted to see until later in the afternoon, so we went for a wander around the campsite and checked out some of the impressive setups that people had, and envied a lot of them because we couldn’t bring as much stuff as we wanted. We ended up getting some food and checking out the festival area which was full of stalls, bars, and rides. It was quite a small site with 4 stages but 2 of the stages were in tents so the music did travel as much and interfere with the other stages.

We organised for Nick, Sophie and Matt to pick up some more food and drinks seeing as they had hired a car so when they arrived we went and met them to help carry everything back to the campsite. We also got a disposable BBQ and cooked up some sausages they got. After the BBQ and drinks we headed back to the festival grounds where we caught a bit of Glasvegas playing, and a bit of Elbow then we got into the mosh pit for Jimmy Eat World where we got to see the entire set and got suitably crushed as well. It was god fun though then we went and caught some of Arcade Fire’s set and then tried to get into the Red Tent to see Sum 41. Unfortunately, the tent was full and no one seemed to be leaving. We hung around there for a while but it seemed there was absolutely no chance to actually get in there. Most people would have got in there long before and just spent the entire afternoon in the tent! It had been a long day so we called it a night and went back to the tents to at least try and get some sleep.

Me and Jimi wearing our poncho suits

Saturday morning the music started early, though again there wasn’t much on until later in the afternoon that we really wanted to go and see so we chilled out, had some food and had a few drinks. We spent the day walking around the campsite and seeing what else was happening and lapping up the sunshine while we could, and it wasn’t until about 5 when we headed in to go and see some of the music. Friendly Fires were playing ant 5.30 and Elese and I stayed and watched their entire set. They were great and a good start to the rest of the acts we wanted to see for the night. After that we went for a bit of a wander and to see what else was on and caught bits and pieces of some of the acts on the Blue and Green stages until we headed back to the Blue Stage to see Two Door Cinema Club. I was really impressed by them and enjoyed the whole thing greatly. The weather was starting to look ominous so we headed back to the Green Stage and caught the last couple of song from My Chemical Romance, although not the one I really wanted to see them perform, and then decided that we best head back to the tent, put our gumboots on for the night then get a good spot at the Blue Stage for Kasabian, followed by the Kaiser Chiefs. They were two really excellent sets, but Kaiser Chiefs were by far the superior. Both acts brought a lot of energy to and just played to the crowd. It was just so much fun to watch and the weather even held out all night so we didn’t even need to be wearing gumboots, but who doesn’t love gumboots, right?

We woke up on Sunday morning to rain pouring down on the tent and cold weather. There was only one option: making rain coats out of garbage bags and ponchos. We put the ponchos on, and then taped garbage bags around our legs and to our gumboots to keep all the water out. To be honest, it wasn’t as effective as we hoped, but definitely helped. It was really starting to live up to its name as Hurricane Festival as the winds got stronger and people tents started getting blown over as well as gazebos flying through the air. It was quite funny to see, we just hoped that our tents help up. People were beginning to pack up and load their stuff into their cars and as more and more people did this the carnage in the campsite seemed to get worse and worse. The rain didn’t help either and the place started to turn into a mud bowl!

Some of the carnage at Hurricane Festival

There wasn’t much else for us to do except go and enjoy the music and hope our tents stayed up otherwise we could have been headed back to Bremen that night and staying in the train station! We went in early to go and see Tame Impala, thinking we should probably see the only Aussie band on the line up, but they played badly like they didn’t care or want to be there and with no energy whatsoever. We were going to stay around for Darwin Deez but because Tame Impala were so bad we just got some food and went back to the tent relax and get some rest. Besides, the next thing Elese and I really wanted to see wasn’t until after 6:00PM and that was The Wombats. They were great fun to watch and even though it was cold, wet and raining, it didn’t matter. I knew a lot of their songs but didn’t really know a lot of them were by The Wombats which made it even better for me, and Elese absolutely loved it as well being one of her favourite bands. Once they had finished though we made our way over to the Green Stage to see the Arctic Monkeys, followed by Foo Fighters. The Arctic Monkeys were great and gave a great opening to bring out the Foo Fighters for the big finale of the festival. When the Foo Fighters came on stage they just started playing with such energy and intensity. Dave Grohl was all over the stage and after the first couple of songs he said, “We’ve got 16 years of music to get through, so we’re not going to do and encore. Instead we’re just going to play until they tell us to get the fuck off the stage.” And that is exactly what they did. They played and played and was two hours later when they finished their set and headed off the stage. They played so many of their hits, but even then they still could have played even longer. It was just amazing to see how much they enjoyed doing it and love getting involved with the crowd as well. Definitely one of the best acts I have ever seen at a festival, and the two hours they played was phenomenal for a festival set. Absolutely amazing!

We woke up on the Monday morning nice and early to get everything packed up and to make our way back into Bremen for the flight home. The campsite was completely trashed with rubbish everywhere, including destroyed tents and gazebos and everything else people had destroyed and left behind. I certainly didn’t envy the people who had to clean up the place. It was running again and the mud was getting worse so we just wanted to get everything and go. We packed up as quickly as we could and got out of there so we could get back to London and shower and sleep in our own beds after the incredible festival we had just experienced!

The Hurricane Festival in Germany did everything it could to live up to its name. We had wild weather, but also got heat, blue skies, cold, wind, and just about everything the weather could throw at us! We didn’t get off to the greatest start however as when we arrived at Liverpool Street station to get the train to the airport, we realised that I’d forgot the tickets for the festival, then also realised I’d forgot to grab the passports as well! Luckily, my cousin Sam was staying at my house and after much panicking we organised a taxi for him to rush the tickets and passports to us at the station and then got the next train to Stansted Airport while Jimi and West went on ahead to get the bag of tents checked.

We were pushing it to make it in time, and it was one of the most stressful train rides ever! We both kept looking at the time ever minute or so and even resorted to looking up the next available flights to be able to get to Bremen or Hamburg. Our flight was at 6:30AM and the train arrived at the airport at 5:57AM, and the check in gate closed at 6:00AM. Jimi had sent us the details of our check in gate and we already had all our documents ready and as soon as the train doors opened we were running up the escalators to the check in desk. We got there right on 6.00AM and managed to get some nice guys to let us go in front of them to get our passports checked then we ran over to security. At security we were lucky enough to be allowed through the speedy security line as we were running so late and Elese’s amazing ability to look like she is about to cry and plead to be helped. We lined up behind about 4 people, compared to probably 44 in all other lines. We took our jackets and gum boots off and got all our liquids out at the ready went through. No beeping. Bonus! We gathered up our stuff, put our boots under our arms and started running through the airport in our socks. Of course there had to be people everywhere so weaving and dodging was a must and inevitably bumping into a few people here. That wasn’t going to stop us though, a quick ‘sorry’ over our shoulders was enough as we continued on. We were flying RyanAir so our departure gate was right at the end of the airport and it just seemed like it kept going on for ever and ever. We would get to a point and think we were there, but then there would be another set of escalators to go down or up or more stairs, or another corner to go around and see another stretch of corridor. There was only so much more running we could do carrying our boots, and bags, and wearing all the layers we were being cold at 6 in the morning and to save space in our bags.

We still didn’t know if we were going to make it or not but on we went and after much running/jogging/walking all mixed into one we made it to the gate and were out on the tarmac boarding the plane at 6.20AM! Somehow we had managed to get from the train to the plane in just over 20 minutes, which when I have flown from Stansted other times you would normally want to allow yourself at the least an hour, or preferably more. We were both so relieved when we made it onto the plane, but as we were walking down the aisle, we couldn’t see Jimi or West anywhere. We thought we must be on the wrong plane, but how can that happen with all the checks they have? We gave Jimi a call and he was on his way running to the gate to try and make it before it closed. He’d been held up at security but fortunately they got onto the plane just before they closed the doors. We had probably passed them as we went through security but were so set on our task of getting there hadn’t noticed at all. Astonishingly, even getting there about 40 minutes before we did, they were the ones that were closest to missing the plane. After all that though, we all made it which was all that mattered.