Each year from the 6th to the 14th of July Pamplona becomes the place where you can feel ‘fiesta’ everywhere, in each corner of the city. Everything starts with the setting off the pyrotechnic ‘chupinazo’ from the mayor’s balcony and the festival is to last for the next 209 hours with songs and dances.

But the most famous tradition of the festival however is the Bull Run which takes place at 8am every morning during the festival. Runners must be in the running area by 7.30am. The run stretches from Santo Domingo where the bulls are kept, to the bullring where they will fight that same afternoon. The length of the run is 825 metres and the average time of the run from start to finish is about three minutes. The streets through the old town which make up the bull run are walled off so the bulls can’t escape. Each day six fighting bulls run the route.

As a tourist you may not run with the bulls but just stand and watch the run behind the fence. Another good spot is in front of the museum on Santo Domingo. A great alternative is to get yourself onto a balcony overlooking the bull run. If you want to vist a bullfight be also aware that tickets are usually sold out well in advance, so prepare beforehand.

The history of the bull running in Pamplona is not clear. It has a religious origin associated with the cult of the bull and with the cult of Bacchus, the god of wine – a drink which is no less symbolic, but nowadays the festival is less religious and more traditional. It’s a mixture of the official and the popular, the religious and the profane, for local people and outsiders, the old and the new. As bullfights bull run has also many contradictions but it still is an inevitable part of the Spanish culture.

The festival became really popular in the 20th century thanks to Hemingway who came to Pamplona for the first time in the 6th of July 1923. Its events were central to the plot of the book ‘The Sun Also Rises’ which made Hemingway world-famous as well as the city itself.

On the 14th of July at midnight the mayor of Spanish Pamplona announces the official ending of the festival, but the fun will still continue till the sunrise in order to start again next year.

Robin Hood’s Bay is a small, ancient fishing village which is well worth visiting if you are thinking of a holiday in the Whitby or Scarborough area. Just a few miles from both towns, the Bay is a hidden away gem which is full of unexpected treasures. We have compiled a short list of things to see and do around the village.

1) The Falling Foss Waterfall & Tea Garden is located just outside of the village but is well worth including on your trip. Served by an award-winning cream tea café – which was named as one of Country Living magazine’s 25 favourite tearooms – Falling Foss is an example of Yorkshire’s beautiful scenery at its finest. Buried deep in the enchanting Sneaton Forest, visiting the magnificent waterfall and surrounding woodland is the perfect choice if you are looking to relax in a natural, wholesome environment that the whole family will enjoy.

2) The Old Coastguard Station is perhaps the most informative place in Robin Hood’s Bay. A finely maintained monument to the village’s history, this National Trust-owned visitor centre is the site from where lifeboats were launched to rescue the fishing boats that ran into trouble in the surrounding waters. Run in partnership with the North York Moors National Park, the Coastguard Station holds an exhibition room in which guests can discover how the natural landscape around the village was formed. The upstairs education room, which is used by visiting schools, also doubles as a gallery for local artists.

3) Old St Stephen’sis an example of the way the village has changed little over the centuries. Built in the first decades of the nineteenth century, St Stephen’s has remained almost entirely the same in the many years since its construction. As with the nearby Coastguard Station, the village church is filled with references to the sea. Memorials to the shipwrecks which have taken place on the nearby coast can be seen in and outside of the church, and there is a list of the various rescues which have been carried out by the village’s lifeboats. You can also see another piece of history with some of the centuries-old ‘maiden’s garlands’, which are decorative items formerly used as part of the funeral processions which took place in Robin Hood’s Bay.

Robin Hood’s Bay is a peaceful and traditional place which is the perfect choice for a relaxing and educational day. There is much to see in the village, whether you are travelling alone or with others, and you will struggle to match the natural beauty of the surrounding countryside.

Freight shippers often have to deal with severe weather. No matter the season, there are floods, snowstorms, hurricanes, twisters, and all kinds of problems Mother Nature can present. Dealing with all of these potential natural disasters means that an equipment transport company has to be prepared.

The Rocky Mountains get snow well into May, and winter starts sometimes as early as September. These mountains are serious – they rise out of the continent and intimidate those who want to pass. Sometimes these mountain roads are too treacherous altogether and the interstate can be closed due to severe ice, wind and snow; equipment trucking simply isn’t possible. Other times freight shippers make do with chains and slow speeds. During winter, and even spring and fall, it’s best to avoid these routes if possible, even if means saving half a day of driving.

In the spring of 2011, severe flooding damaged roads throughout the Midwest. The Missouri river forms the fourth largest river system in the world, and is technically the longest river in North America. It was once the route west along the Oregon Trail and even then had long tributaries capable of flooding, such as the Platte and the Yellowstone rivers. Flooding decimates roads and leads to long detours and unforeseen road closures. As such it’s important for a logistics company to have access to a CB radio. Talking on a radio can also alleviate fatigue late at night.

The flat fertile country where dry polar air meets moist warm air from the Gulf of Mexico creates a tornado-prone region in the middle of the United States called Tornado Alley. Predominantly in the panhandle of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska, this region experiences more extreme tornadoes than anywhere else in the world (other tornadoes in the U.S. usually occur as a result of hurricanes). A high-powered twister can decimate a truck as a video from ABC showed last year. While the driver survived, his semi-trailer was shredded into smithereens. Parking on the side of the road may not suffice; again, it’s important to use your radio to stay informed about developing twisters and storm systems, which usually prefigure high winds.

In the southern and western United States, even in the Great Plains, intense heat can also pose a problem to equipment trucking. Concrete expands and buckles in extreme heat, which can cause road damage as well as accidents. Be aware of these pratfalls and prepare for alternate routes, since last-minute road repair can take a long time.