There's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That- that's about it.

The next morning, we found ourselves faced with more shameless animal interest in our supplies. The raccoons had clearly realised who we were from their Pennsylvania cousins, and consequently, were hiding in the woods. The ring-leading Cat of the previous night however was on a solo mission; within a few minutes of us finishing breakfast he had stalked out of the shadows to steal our bread (this time caught on camera!). Will, in a state of anger, was already dousing a piece of wood in kerosene, but on the basis the little critter was pretty cute we called off the Midlands’ Hitman.

sneaky little bugger

We returned to Highway 1 on a twisty 100 mile stretch of Big Sur. Tom, who had been relegated to the back of the van was doing everything in his power to not vomit. With blacked out windows and therefore no point of reference, trying to keep orientation in Spot's cargo bay is frankly no picnic along the winding roads of the California cliffs. We popped into Monterray to visit a highly recommended Aquarium where we spent the afternoon feeding the fish/eels in the kelp tank, viewing amazing UV jellyfish exhibitions, perusing sea lions lazing about in their personal pools and watching/filming steamy penguin sex scenes (really).

a consensual act? You decide

Will, eager for sloppy seconds.

Having been forcefully sold sea life conservation all afternoon by the Gestapo-esque aquarium staff, naturally, our first impulse on leaving was to get some sea-food! Having previously entered into deep discussions about the source of the “Bubba Gump” shrimp house’s name, we were desperate to find out whether the Forrest Gump film was inspired by the company or vice versa.

We were welcomed by the hostess who was gobsmacked by our request for a table for 3. She waved us through and as she radioed her colleagues we could see why: "3 hot English guys coming through”! Our excitement / hope that our accents were a VIP ticket to hot American girls salivating over us was short lived. We stomped proudly through to the restaurant area, practising forms of English only used by Prince Charles, where we came to the realisation that the previous girl was the only female employee in the place. We were seated by our male host who we suspect might have had a thing for Will. We promptly ordered, ate and left without even asking about Forrest Gump which we decided was a dumb question having seen every available surface in the restaurant covered in quotes from the film.

Big Sur Baby

Camping was going to be the scene for the night, so we stopped into a camping supply shop for the only necessities “men of the wild” (us) require: a pan and firewood! We signed in and parked up in pitch 19, next to a burbling river. Unexpectedly, the site hosted a basketball court, so we played basketball/keep ups then cooked a cous-cous concoction in our stunning new pan. Somewhat predictably at this point on the trip, we then continued to drink our remaining stock of PBR's and hit the sack. We will try and come up with a more exciting ending for our viewing public in the future.