Day 43 – Left Morocco

The morning started with a quick service of the Van … filled with water, empty waste and cassette. We are heading for Asilah before getting the boat. However close to our destination Tina suggests that we go straight to the port as we were short on cash.

During our drive through Rabat I failed to notice a traffic light was flashing amber (or at least thats what I told the policeman). I was immediately flagged down and pulled to the side of the road by the local police office. He tried to explain what I had done wrong in arabic and french but I failed to understand … I really did know! The instant fine was 700dh (about £55) and I then proceeded to try and explain that I did not have any money and that we were on our way back to Spain. I showed him my wallet with just about enough for the tolls and a little more. He finally took out of his breast pocket 100dh and exchanged it for my only 200dh note left. This was now my fine. No paperwork but I was grateful for a reduced penalty payment of £8.

We stopped for lunch at some services just before reaching the port. We finally arrived at the port at about 2:30pm and was told that we might get on the 4pm boat but then an official told us to come back at 5pm for our ticket. After getting our ticket at the allotted time we proceeded through a mobile x-ray scanner, sniffer dogs, police checks for our vehicle export and passport checks before finally arriving at the dockside. The 7pm boat arrived a few minutes late but we didm’t get loaded until nearer 8:30pm and it sailed about 30mins later.

In the cafe we met Richard, a biker on holiday with his friend Yves, and returning to Perpignan after a two week holiday. He has lived in france for 20+ years and spoke perfect french. We also met a Moroccan truck driver who wanted to practice his english. He treated us with the cost of one meal with a voucher he had. During the voyage he gave me the best directions through Spain to France and even gave me an old copy of a map for me to use. At around 10:45 pm european time we landed at Algeciras.

The next part of the journey was again torturous as we had to wait in line whilst the police search all the vehicles. Finally we got through the port which was a great relief because of the concern of bringing the dogs back into Europe. The officials neither noticed or cared so I was not about to be castrated by Tina for losing the dogs. Next challenge will be Calais.

We made our way back to Algeciras Lidl where it all started and once again there were 40+ vans on the car park. We finally rolled into bed at 11:45pm (European time) exhausted.