Hi Dean, me and the family are also driving down to spain at the end of July. It will be a slow meander through france and into the pyrenees to catalunya, across to cantabria/asturias, then down to castilla la mancha.

After much deliberation (and a hefty 3k bill for the latest repairs - don''t ask!) we've decided to take our uk car down with us. We're going to re-register it in spain eventually, but for now we're gonna just 'cruise' it for a while. I just find that if I'm going to leave the country I love and have lived all my life and move on then flying is such a crude way of traveling in these circumstances - much better to know where I've been than to know where I'm going. Thats my view anyhow.

We havent mapped out the route yet as we're so busy packing, but I guess we'll take a mixture of toll roads and get side tracked now and again.

Xose - thanks for that advice! Its good to know. We'll have european breakdown cover for a while, but it still wouldn't prevent over zealous tow truck blokes getting in the way if we have a misfortune. Here's praying that we dont. :-)

Sorry, as for the total costs we dont know, but we've gotten quotes for the ferry from Plymouth to Roscoff at around 300 quid (car with roof rack and bikes). Then petrol is around £60/64eur per 400 miles (eek!), then there are tolls which I havent got the foggiest. Also we're hoping to buy a tent (big enough for 2 adults & a 1 yr old) and camp our way down with the odd break now and again at a hotel. We originally wanted to campervan it down but too expensive to purchase and insure.

Regards, Steve