Ravi – Frankfurt is a slick, modern city that outdid itself on the drive in the night before. Its gleaming skyscrapers disguise the age and history of the city – none of which we were able to explore as we slept through the alarm. I stumbled out of bed first and headed down to breakfast to start writing up a blog post (not sure which one, to be honest). As I finished up, Harvey came down and we ate with Charlotte, an Aussie who we’d chatted to the night before. [Harvey: I absolutely loved Charlotte – she was from Adelaide and we had a chat about the bars and beaches of Adelaide – people from Adelaide are the best people…in the world]  Charlotte was finishing up a marathon six month tour of Europe, as Australians are prone to do, and was giving us advice on some of our future European stops. Hostels are great for this kind of thing – travellers who chat with anyone and everyone, sharing stories and warnings. Because of a small cock up with timings, we had an extra day in a few days and we were looking to fill it. Between my previous visit on a stag do, and Charlotte’s rave review, we settled on Budapest with a full itinerary and a hostel recommendation. Thanks, Charlotte!

Ben eventually surfaced (that man sleeps a LOT [Harvey: and with plenty of his boxers showing]) and while eating breakfast, he and I made up some sandwiches for the journey from the assorted breakfast foods (ham, cheese, rolls). Harvey was genuinely surprised by this as he’d never done that before; Ben, Charlotte and I were genuinely surprised at him! [Harvey: I have to admit – they were amazing – they were loving wrapped in tissue paper with rubber bands wrapped around] After discussing the ethics of taking breakfast food for lunch, we got up with sandwiches in hand, said ‘bye to Charlotte and went down to pack up the car. We’re getting better at packing up the roof rack and car, and were nearly done when Suzanne and her mother walked over from the other side of the street to ask what exactly we were doing in our tiny little purple [Harvey: It’s actually blue] car. Telling them didn’t seem to help, really – they were still pretty unbelieving (a look we’ve all become used to) and offered us good luck for our mission!

We’d arranged to convoy with Team Birdstock to Heidelberg but the boys were feeling it a little after the night before so decided to meet us at Czechout, the huge European launch party in the Czech Republic that everyone was heading to. And with that, we left Frankfurt (far too soon) and were bound for Heidelberg, the “most German city you will ever see” according to Harvey. And, actually, he might have been right – of the two German cities I’ve now seen, it’s certainly the more German! Heidelberg is a university town with a castle set in a forested hillside, and houses that look like they belong in a snow globe. It is very picturesque and, according to our resident Heidelberg expert [Harvey: me], has the “best kebap shop in the world” – can you see a theme developing?

In Heidelberg, we walked around the streets and took in the glorious afternoon sunshine while wolfing down a (Turkish) kebab from the aforementioned best-kebab-shop-in-the-world. Harvey rated it 10/10, naturally. Ben said it was 8.5/10 but would do better to call itself a burrito. I was mildly impressed after all the hype (7/10) [Harvey: I should add that Ravi only had one bite – the cabbagy bit – it wasn’t representative] but I can conclusively say the best kebab shop in the world is the Shahi Kebab House on Soho Road in Birmingham [Harvey:  Agreed]. Get the chicken kebab (not doner) – you won’t regret it! On the way back to the car, we picked up some cigarettes (because apparently trading a cigarette can get you far in Central Asia) and…some bruschetta dipping oil. We’re really not going to be rushed out of the comfortable Grand Tour of Europe portion of our trip! Now, we just need a quick stop off in Italy to pick up some bruschetta…

Klatovy was a four hour drive away but with a bit of confusion and keeping to 60mph, we didn’t get there until after 11pm. I should, at this point, explain what’s about to come. The UK launch at Goodwood on Saturday was family friendly, in the daylight and an awesome emotional send off. Czechout was in the dark, in an old Czech castle in the middle of nowhere with meat, drink, no families and 300 lunatic teams of Ralliers. You can guess what’s coming. The theme for the festivities was Carnival of the Macabre, and the three of us got into the spirit of the night (but we were in the minority).

Harvey – We were quite obviously the last people to arrive. For some reason everyone on the rally seemed to be quicker than us – and for me personally, I was a little disappointed that we had arrived so late and got so lost. We managed to find a spare bit of field (which was on a slope) and pitched our tents using the rally lights on the car to illuminate the pitch. Right now – it’s day 7 and I feel quite perky and energetic – but back then we were all tired as none of us were used to the dodgy beds and long days in the car. So to relax, we thought we would crack open some beers – but quickly realised – we had no bottle opener. Ben used some side cutters and managed not to open the bottle top – but crack the bottle instead.

After a quick celebration drink at getting to the campsite, we ascended to the castle and got ready to party (which you can read about in its own post)