France and Spain 2017 - Foreign Trip

Trip Report

We departed on the 30th March at 11.30pm from Kingdoms Yard. Crossing by Euro Tunnel to France early the next morning. We arrived at Chalon Sur Saone mid afternoon for our overnight stop at Ibis Europe. The boys played football with some local French children on a mugger before going to a Buffalo Grill for evening meal a short distance away. Up the next morning before heading to Marseille down a beautiful river valley. When we arrived at Marseille our route took us right along the sea front past the cruise ships and the area where the Russians and English clashed at the Euros. Our hotel was the 4* Mercure Prado Velodrome. We settled in and then made the short walk to Marseille very impressive stadium for their match against Dijon settled in Marseille's favour by Payet. On the way back to the hotel the boys went into a local cafe for a very nice pizza for evening meal. Back to the hotel were the excellent facilities meant the lads were quiet. The next morning we walked to the local park where the boys and parents enjoyed a lengthy game of football before a short stroll to the beach where the boys played beach football. The parents were to tired and went for a beer while most of the lads went in the sea. After a very enjoyable day we strolled back to the hotel before tea in a local cafe. The next morning before leaving we walked round the corner to Marseille superstore where a lot of purchases were made before an ice cream on a hot sunny morning at a local cafe. We then boarded the bus and headed out of Marseille and were soon across France travelling the short distance to our hotel in Callella, Spain. The Hotel Les Palmeres, close to the sea, was an excellent hotel in a nice town. Good food and accomodation. Plenty of choice at breakfast and evening meal and the boys certainly tuck in during our four day stay here. The lads also tested the outside and in door pools. On the Tuesday morning in gorgeous sunshine we headed to Barcelona for a tour of the Nou Camp. Certainly setting the scene for our matchday visit later in the week. After visiting the club superstore we traveled upto the Barcelona district of Sant Fost for our first matches. Twyford younger boys found themselves 6-0 down at half time despite hitting the woodwork three times. Taylor Stansfield 3 and Daniel Cole 3 scored but the final score was 7-6 to the host. This match was played in what would have been a hot day in England's summer. The older boys had a hard first half but led 2-0. This platform allowed for further goals and a 6-0 victory. Goalscorers were Jakub Wojtowicz,  Tobias Jefferson, Troy Frost, Harrison Welsh, Will Tomlin and a worldie from James Baker. Our Spanish contact sent us home a shorter way. This was through the mountains and in the dark give some spectacular views of Barcelona and the coastline. The decent was steep and we were please to reach the bottom. Spent Wednesday in Callella using the hotel's facilities and explored our base. In the afternoon we set out for the Nou Camp again for Barcelona's match against Seville. This was a memorable with the Barcelona stars in superb form for a 3-0 win. Seeing Messi live was excellent. We didnot lose anybody in the massive crowds even meeting Joel Foster and his dad. Everybody was in good spirits on the way home and for the first time at 11.45 McDonald's was our only food option. On Thursday the hotel gave the boys free lollies before we departed for the sight's of Barcelona. We visited the Cathedral that will never be finished, followed by lovely big squares and then strolled down the Les Ramblos to the statue of Christopher Columbus pointing the wrong way for America. Then off to our second matches. The younger boys played CF Vladecavalls and despite goals from Fred Verrier, Daniel Cole and Connor Pearce lost 4-3 to a last minute goal. James Baker snatched a kiss from a local girl while his team mates roared. Playing before a big crowd the older team looked tired and struggled against a good passing side. It was 1-1 at helf time. As it cool a bit goals from Will Tomlin 3, Harrison Welsh and Jakub Wojtowicz give Twyford a 5-1 win. We then travelled back to Barcelona and onto Callella where we got our evening meal from an English pub. The boys played darts and enjoyed their night. Next morning we traveled to Madrid via Zaragoza including stopping at a old fashioned Spanish village where the only thing open at siesta time was two cafes. All the boys enjoyed this small village. We then arrived in the north of Madrid at our 5* hotel the Eurosuites Mirasierra. The hotel were not pleased to see us and were grumpy. Evening meal was at a packed Spanish restaurent down the road where a young Spanish women translated the menu for us only after eating finding they had an English menu. On the Saturday morning our Spanish contact Altair took us to the Real Madrid training complex for four hours training with Real Madrid split by lunch in the Real Madrid players cafetaire. The training was taken by Carlos and his training method's certainly worked. The sun was out and even the Spanish were moaning it was too hot. After this we returned to the hotel before visiting the same Spanish restaurent for evening meal. Sunday brought a visit to the Real Madrid stadium for a tour. Excellent stadium which is the best i have been to. We returned to the hotel before catching the local service bus 12 stops to the center of Madrid. Before looking round we had KFC. We then visited the  bear emblem for the city statue. Found the mark for the center of Spain. got entertained by a street artist and then visiting a very atmospheric square where the boys were allowed to go round in groups. We then caught the service bus back. Both trips on the bus were packed with at least 60 people on board. After breakfast on the Monday we left Madrid and headed to Girona for our next stop. The hotel Costabella was good and we walked from the hotel to the city center for evening meal in a nice restaurent before walking round the old city taking in the squares and historical buildings. We also had a Rocca ice cream which are supposed to be the best in the world. The boys and myself certainly enjoyed them. We then caught the local service bus back to the hotel. Girona is certainly a lovely city. The next morning we headed back into France passed the snow covered Pyrenees to Lyon and the hotel Grand Est. Before reaching the hotel we had a tour of Lyon's Euro hosting stadium. The guide and the tour were good.  Food was hard to get at the hotel because all the restaurents were heaving. So we had 25 pizza delivered to the hotel. The boys said they were good. The next morning we headed north to our last stop. The city of Lens stopping at the hotel Bolleart next to Lens Euro hosting stadium. Lens is a bit runned down and food was even harder to find. Luckily on the way up we stopped at Tours and the boys had McDomald's. After walking for a while we made do with Domino . We departed for the Euro tunnel the next morning but not before an excellent tour of Lens stadium. Lastly the behaviour of the boys on the trip was excellent and i think they all enjoyed the trip.