Football Fiesta 2004 - Ole! Many thanks to Rick Statham for the Photos, and Tommy for the Itinerary And Dan Hopwood for the Video Clip |
Football Fiesta 2004 - Ole! Many thanks to Rick Statham for the Photos, and Tommy for the Itinerary And Dan Hopwood for the Video Clip |
Itinerary Tuesday 8th June 2004 (Marple-Coventry-Malaga-Estepona) Left Marple to go to Coventry airport/air-hangar. Arrive Malaga. Get Car. Shop. Break Radio. Back to Airport. Fix Radio. Drive to Estepona. Find Campsite not allowed to camp. Spanish Chinese. Hunt for beach. Warded off by Police. Drive on. Find road to camp alongside. No angles & Pegs. Drink. Sleep in car. Wednesday 9th June 2004 (Estepona-Gibraltar-Tarifa-Tangiers-Tarifa) Wake. Eat. Drive to Gibraltar. Queue to get in. Monkeys very expensive. Go to Lookout instead. Drive through town. Leave Gibraltar. Drive to Tarifa. Next bus 4pm. Find orange gas in petrol station. Find campismo (The one next to a beach). Buy pegs. Ian and Adi shop for food. Walk down beach. Head to Tarifa for Ferry. Ferry to Tanger. "Forget" to get Visa stamped. Get Visa stamped. Attack of the pikeys. Back to port-building. Walk to town. Pikey. Coca-cola. Walk back to port. Walk to town. Pikey. Walk back to port. Decide to wait for next ferry. One last walk to town. Walk round town. Pikey. Walk back to port. How paranoid are we? Wait in port. Ferry late. Back to Tarifa. Never want to go to Tanger again. Back to camp. Pasta & sauce meal. Drink wine under street-light. Bed. Thursday 10th June 2004 (Tarifa-Albufeira) Wake late. Sausages. Shower. Drive to Albufeira. Meet one hour early doh! Walk round Albufeira. Free football adapter. Meet Dan's mates in local pub. Nice Villa. Nice Pool. Taxi to Albufeira. Meal. Piri-piri. Hot. Organise football with waiters. Offer to pay full bill. Denied. Pay for girls drinks in 3 bars afterwards. Including Rockers bar, and Cocktails. Girls boring not going to strip. Taxi back. Pool. Adi collapses somewhere. Their celebrity game thing. Bed. Friday 11th June 2004 (Albufeira-Ourique) Wake late. Sit round pool. Adi not well (And Rick). Croissants & Dry Bread. Pack up. Say goodbye's. Head to beach. Pay Pikey for parking space. Buy water. Beach. Tommy Fantasy Football. Rick wandering. Adi still ill. Ian & Dan shopping. Buy water. Buy lunch & Frisbee. Lunch on dockside. Rick trendy flip-flops. Tommy and Adi cheap flip-flops. Buy water. Change beaches. Frisbee in sea. Football hurts feet. Move to shade. Crossword. Back to Villa. Drive to "Ourique". Directed by old man to "Barragem da monte Santo" (Ish). No campismo. Only grotty motel. Strange. "League of Gentlemen" like place. Pitch tent in Gypsy area. Rat-bags for the dogs. Big Pig. Pasta & sauce meal. Big debate-stay or go. Dan "Go", Ian "Stay", Rest "Unsure". Decide to stay. Head to bar for drinks. Hearts. Adi dumps on loser. Closing time. Leave generous tip to make sure no pikeys come after us. Sleep. Cramped. Hot. Bitten. But FREE. Saturday 12th June 2004 (Ourique-Lisbon) Stive alive. Phew. Leave early-ish. Drive to Lisbon. Big tolls for roads. Stumble across Campismo. Big queue. Get on. Pitch tent. Brunch at campismo café. Dan & Tommy Shopping. D&T lost. D&T head for Ikea. D&T shop. D&T try to pay. Fail. Use wrong PIN 3 times. Card invalidated. Ring for PIN. Try. Card fails. Roads mean lost on way back to camp. Portugueso helps. Get Cash. Back to Supermarket. Trolley still there-thanks! Pay for food. Back to camp. Attempt to watch first half of opening game at Camp. Leave at half-time. Bus to Lisbon. End up on Avenida de Liberdidade. Bar. Sangria. Interview for Reuters. Match 2 on TV. Lisbon procession. Meet Mascot. Taxi back with 2 English students & 1 drunk. Pasta & sauce meal. Drinks. Bed. Ian sleeps in car. Sunday 13th June 2004 (Lisbon) Wake. Sausages. Queue for showers. Bus to Belem. Ice cream. Monastery & Tower. Tram to Lisbon. Main square full of England fans. Try to buy drink. Too busy. Give up. Taxi back. Make Watermelon helmets. Face-paints. Flags. Start walking to Estadio Luz. Taxi to Luz. Dan & Adi sell ticket. Ian meets Goodliffe. Rick & Tommy pose for several photo's with both sets of fans. Queue. Over-zealous stewards. 2 helmets don't get through. Queue for programmes. Queue for drinks (See Coronation street people). Knock-over drinks. Match. Dan & Tommy near French. Adi, Ian & Rick in any old seats. Lampard header. Half-time. Beckham missed pen. Plan party in Lisbon. 89.55mins - Foul. Zidane free-kick. Zidane penalty. Devastation. Hang around. Metro to town. Hunt for table. Litre glasses of beer. Eventually order. Wait for taxi. Still waiting. Eventually get Taxi back 3am. Bed. Monday 14th June 2004 (Lisbon-Guimaraes-Braga) Sausages. Queue to check out of Campismo. Drive to Guimaraes. Arrive just in time. Adi & Dan sell ticket. Rick, Ian & Tommy park car. Impossible parking space. Meet in stands. Queue for drinks. Adi & Tommy next to Italian. Ian, Dan & Rick in corner of Estadio. No goals. Poor referee. Exit Estadio. Local Supermarket. Beer & mini-croissants. & bottle-opener. Sit in park. Rick, Tommy & Adi shop. Drive to Braga. Struggle to find Campismo. Head for Estadio. Follow kind local. Deliberately lose kind local. Head in wrong direction. Head in wrong direction. Find Estadio. Told off for playing football. Meet local pikeys. Drive to campismo via underground road network. Drive straight in. Pitch tent. Pasta & sauce meal. Beer, wine & sangria. Sort kitty. Bed. Tuesday 15th June 2004 (Braga-Porto-Faro) Wake up early for some, and late for others. Showers. Breakfast. Football. Chat to random Danish people. Pack up. Leave site without paying. Tut-tut. Get lost on drive to Bom-Jesus-do-Monte (Church with big staircase). Football at Braga Estadio again. Drive down to Porto. Park on road intersection. Pay a pikey 2 euros. Walk round local neighbourhood and stadium shouting Olé . Bus to town. Walk round town. Find posh restaurant. Ian and Dan brought wrong meal. Pay. Barclays shut. Try and find Metro station. Catch a metro to the Estadio. Hang around trying to sell tickets. Ian, Rick & Tommy go to stadium, but are cruelly split by a metal fence. Adi & Dan sell ticket. Thorsten Frings free-kick bounces across area and into far side of goal. Van Nistelrooy equalises in 81st minute, latching onto a Van Der Meyde cross. Ian, Dan & Rick spotted car from within Estadio. Interview for Portuguese TV. Walk to car, holding onto wigs, etc.. to stop local pikey's getting them. Dan "Van Nistelrooy" gets no response. Start long drive to Seville via Lisbon & Faro. Sleep/Drive/Pay extortionate road tolls. Wednesday 16th June 2004 (Faro-Seville-Faro-Olhaõ) Still driving through the night. Arrive Seville at 6:30 am. Find coach station, but not railway station. Drive round Seville. Eventually get directions to railway station. Dan leaves on 7:30 train "Ruud van Nistelrooy, Tra-la-la-la-la" on platform. Start drive back to Faro. Ian (All) very tired. Stop at services for sleep. I was still asleep so not sure how we got to Faro, but we did. Tourist Information is late opening. Head to nearest campismo in Olhaõ. Set up tent. Ian sleeps. Tommy, Adi & Rick get ice-cream, water & food from camp-shop, read a little, then sleep too. Wake up at 16:00ish. Shower. Walk to town alongside train tracks. Head to "Fun Zone". Watch second half of Spain game with cokes. Cross road to eat at seemingly famous Olhaõ restaurant. Lots of chicken & meat for few Euro's. Sporting Lisbon youth team turn up at same restaurant. Watch Portugal/the drunk bloke with beers. Portugal win. Stay in seats till just before the big Olhaõ concert kicks off. Doughnuts on coastal walk home. Scary dogs. Don't show passes on the way into campismo. Drink remaining wine. Bed. Thursday 17th June 2004 (Olhaõ-Faro-Olhaõ) Wake up. Shower. Head to Faro by train. Tommy & Adi in England costume. Ian & Rick in England shirts. Walk round Faro, hunting souvenirs. Buy scarves, flags, etc. Lunch in McDonalds. Tommy hung-over. Ian, Adi & Rick find Gypsy shop for water & beer, and find post office for stamps (Though we never send any postcards). Find shady spot to watch England game in at 17:00. Rooney scores from distance. Haas sent off. Rooney scores again shot hits post but bounces in off keeper. Gary Neville lays ball off to Gerrard for the third. Rick buys more beer. Watch France game. France win. Go to Pizzeria. Watch children's fashion show. Race for late train home. Train is delayed by half-an-hour. Walk home. Drink all remaining alcohol. Bed. Friday 18th June 2004 (Olhaõ-Faro-Malaga-Coventry-Marple) Wake up early-ish. Swimming pool. Showers. Pack-up. Drive to Faro to buy souvenirs. But Post Office sold out. Buy all remaining stock. Drive from Faro to Malaga. Hunt for signs to aeropuerto or big supermarkets. Find none. Find supermarket, but decide to try to find Mcdonalds instead. Find half-built Mcdonalds. Eventually Rick spots air control tower nearby. Car wash. Hand in Rental Car. Check-in for flight. Eat at airport Pizza & Frites. Fly to Coventry while Italy can only draw with Sweden. Arrive Coventry. Very cold for those wearing shorts, t-shirts & sandals. Lose way around Coventry, but find right road & head back to Marple. Arrive home. |
Download 14 second clip here by Right-clicking and clicking "Save Target as", or simply left-click here for the clip to run in your Media Player. |
