2024 Morocco

After a very windy and rainy night we are moving on today and saying goodbye to our friends. They are staying an additional night before moving further around the coast to stay on a campsite for 5 nights.

We serviced the van as we were unsure of where we would be tonight…. but I did have an idea. We left at around 11am after paying nearly £27 per night which is far more than we usually choose to pay but we did have company and all the services.

We made our way east along the initial toll road and then on to the free motorway and we stopped at one of Tina’s favourite sites in Almeria. I have a very happy wife and a very happy dog as we are only a few yards from the beach and sea. It is a delight to hear the sea and the waves rolling in.

We have decided to stay an extra night before travelling further east towards France by the end of the week. We have to visit a vet and get Tucker wormed and his passport updated…. a requirement for us to get hime back into the UK.

What a horrible day for the weather. It has been raining most of the day and the ground is very wet and muddy. It has meant that we have had to find all of the old towels we have been carrying in order to clean and dry Tucker every time he is taken for a walk or let out on his lead. The van is going to need a deep clean when we get back to the UK.

I tried watching the match today but the internet speed was not good enough and there was a lot of buffering so I Mae do with the commentary from the AFC Bournemouth website. We drew with Sheffield United 2-2.

Moving tomorrow and travelling east and leaving our friends whilst they continue their holiday in this part of Spain.

We have decided to spend a couple more days in the company of our friends Terry & Brenda before we make our way back to Calais and Blighty. We agreed a 10:30am departure after Brenda had visited the local Chinese store and bought some bread for us from Lidl.

We made the 45 min journey west to Tarifa after picking out an ACSI site. I had been in touch via email checking whether they had space and that was confirmed but they said to come and check the state of the wet and muddy pitches. We arrived at our chosen site after driving through the rain. We had a walk around  the site and we were concerned that we might get stuck if we had driven on to any of the pitches. The receptionist was understanding and we said our goodbyes.

There were a couple more campsites along the same stretch of road and we finally walked around Camping Tarifa and chose adjacent pitches that were wet but had considerably better ground to drive on. We serviced the vans before positioning ourselves on the pitches.

The WIFI is restricted to the bar which is disappointing but the mobile signal is strong. The site is expensive at €31 per night. We intend to stay 2 nights and leave on Sunday and travel east along the southern coast of Spain.

Changing plans ….

We planned to wait whilst Terry had his front off side brake pads change at Norauto which is like Kwik Fit at home. He pulled around to the service centre at the agreed time of 2pm. He had been quoted a time of 1 hour to complete the job. However, we decided to go and replenish our LPG gas tank and Brenda rode along with us. Not surprisingly we only filled the tank with 9 litres of gas so it was just over half full. The gauge was showing us on empty.

We got back to Norauto just as they were taking Terry’s van into the service centre. It was approximately 2:40pm. We parked up outside and waited expecting it would be a further hour even though it was late being seen. It transpires the parts they ordered yesterday were the wrong parts so expect further delays whilst new parts are ordered and delivered.

Another roughly 2 hours later and they find that these new ordered parts were also wrong so we were no questioning whether we would make our way to the campsite today as it would be dark. A decision was made that we would stay a further night and make our way to Tarifa in the morning.

The service centre suggested they could make a temporary but safe fix to the brakes but in doing so they struggled with fitting them. We went back around to the parking by the supermarket at around 7pm and waited for Terry to return. Tina cooked a meal for all 4 of us which was welcomed by everyone. Terry finally drove up next to us at around 8:30pm.

It had been along day for everyone but the brakes are fixed and the van is safe to drive. Off to Tarifa tomorrow.

We are due to meet up with friends Terry & Brenda today. They are travelling west towards us and the 2 hour estimated time took more like 3+ hours. It was good to see them again since their aborted trip earlier in the year. It was about 3pm

We needed some provisions so we went and did a big shopping spree in Mercadona. Tucker was left in the van but was pleased to know we had bought some treats and food for him at last. We stocked up on meat, vegetables, bread and cake. We packed it all away finding space where we could.

In the afternoon we joined our friends for afternoon refreshments and they persuaded us to join them for a couple of days on a campsite near Cadiz. I was planning on going east from our current location and not going west but a couple of days won’t harm.

We had also decided to have dinner at the “All you can eat” Chinese restaurant so drove the van a few minutes and sat down at 7:30pm. The food was plentiful and lots of variety so we made plenty of journeys back to fill our plates. We enjoyed the chatting and catching up with the news we each had from our respective journeys to Algeciras.

Terry has a problem with the off side brake pads and he has made arrangements for the Spanish equivalent of Kwik Fit to fit new pads tomorrow afternoon before we travel along the coast.

Moving day today and getting back to Spain. I have been working about this day and crossing the border with Tucker for a couple of weeks.

We serviced the van and paid our 300MAD for the 3 nights camping which included electric (£8.50 per night) and we were on our way around 10:45am knowing that we would hope to get the ferry early afternoon.

We travelled up to Tangier Med via the toll road and paid 71MAD for the privilege. I stopped to top up the fuel tank as it is substantially cheaper in Morocco at £1.10 per litre.

We got to the port at just gone midday and then queued for the return ferry ticket. We got booked on to the 4pm ferry after waiting in the queue for over an hour. Next we changed our Dirhams for Euros and then on to the lengthy formalities of passport control and Customs. As usual it took an age getting through that and then the X-ray machine. We were sitting on the quayside at around 2pm expecting along wait.

It was after 5pm before they started to load us. The boat was not a roll on roll off as you expect across the English Channel. Instead you drive on and turn around on the car deck ready to exit when we get to our destination. We expected that the boat would leave soon after we got aboard as we were one of the last however it must have been at least 45 minutes before we left port at around 6:30pm.

The crossing took approximately 90 minutes and we were disembarking the boat and yet again going through Customs and Police Passport control. It always seems to take longer than you expect. We finally exited the port and no notice was taken of Tucker so I needn’t have worried. Relief!!

I took a grab of the milage when we were sitting on the quayside in Tangier Med and it read 20788. When we left home the milage was 17067 so we have travelled to date 3721 miles and still have the 1500 miles return journey to the UK.

Now parked up close to the travel agent where we bought our ticket at the beginning of January and in readiness to visit Mercadona to replenish our supplies tomorrow

Slow start today as we didn’t have too much h to do.

At around midday we strolled up to the cafe / bread shop to get a baguette however there were none to be seen. We ended up with the local round flat bread variety thinking that would do for lunch. We are practically devoid of food in the fridge but we do have a chicken Tagine purchased yesterday.

I ordered some coffees and also some cheese omelettes. They were quickly served with bread and water accompaniments. The omelettes were delicious albeit a little small but I do have a happy Tina because there is no cooking today!! We paid 60MAD for the coffees and omelettes which is £5. Very good value. Where would you get that in the UK.

I watched the Monday night football before going off to bed.

Not as dramatic as yesterday. Now I am over the self annoyance I can think about getting the van fixed when we get home.

We strolled up to the cafe about 100m up the road to buy some bread and whilst we were there we enjoyed a coffee and sat and watched the world go by. Very pleasant and probably repeat tomorrow.

This afternoon I streamed the Bournemouth away match at Burnley. Not the most exciting game but we did get our first win of the year which is helping us to be assured of premiership football next season. We won 2-0.

Later in the afternoon we realised we had no food for our evening meal however the restauranteur across the road came and paid us a visit and we ordered 2 takeaway meals…. one for tonight and the other for tomorrow. We will do a big shop in Spain when we cross on Tuesday and buy things like dog food and treats.

Moving day has arrived today. We left site at around 11am and I noticed I had a quarter of a tank of fuel so filling up was needed.

On our way out of town I pulled into a filling station and whilst the tank was being filled a truck came and parked across my exit leaving me a narrow path to get out of the station. I drove slowly through the gap but didn’t realise there was a low level guard made of steel pipe protecting the pump and I ended up hitting this guard doing the damage in the photo. I should have asked the lorry driver to move or get one of the attendants to see me through the gap…. hindsight is a wonderful thing.

The damage doesn’t stop us driving and we will get it fixed back in the UK where will can allow the paint shop time to make the repairs.

We spent the next 3 hours on the toll road driving north getting ever closer to Tangier Med and the port to exit Morocco. We are now camped on the same site we used at the start of our Morocco trip. Our daughter made a video call and we were able to talk to some of the grandchildren. They wanted to know when we would be home.

The weather has definitely changed since driving north. It is cooler and we had a shower which we haven’t experienced for many weeks.

Another day of doing not a lot….

It was a little colder this morning but did warm up as the day progressed but still wasn’t as warm as yesterday.

Tina walked the dog in the morning and bought our baguettes from reception so we can indulge in our regular lunch of bread & cheese. I have been using Kindle unlimited to listen to an audio book which is part of a series. I have read the first 2 books and I am now on the third. Not sure how many in the series.

Streamed a movie tonight … The Bee keeper. Really enjoyed it and the site wifi held up so there was very little buffering.

We move on tomorrow for Assilah for 3 nights with a view to cross to Spain on Tuesday.