2025 Morocco

This morning we wanted to try and get to the train early to see if we could get back home earlier so we were up and leaving the site by 8:30am. We needed to make a phone call to allow us to get out and they gave us a code to open the barrier. Now we were on our way to Pet reception about 15 minutes drive.

After scanning Tucker for his chip and checking his passport we were soon driving around to checkin. We were given the option for the 9:53am train at no additional cost so we accepted this. Our booked time was 11:53am. On to the French border control followed by UK border control and then around to wait for our train. Arriving in the car park it showed that we should go immediately onward to the loading lanes.

We were given our lane and to our surprise we found it was open so straight round to the train which was the 9:35am. We were going to be back in the UK before 9am local UK time. No issues now just straight onto the motorway and home arriving at midday. So strange driving again on the left and so much more traffic.

On arrival we emptied the van of foodstuff and washing leaving things like our bedding to be washed another day. I reviewed the cost of the tolls coming home through France and we have spent €165 which together with fuel, campsite fees and Le Shuttle you wonder whether it was better to take the ferry from Santander if we could. No pet cabins were available for the return journey when I booked the initial crossing from Plymouth.

Final thoughts: It was good to see our Friendfamily in the high Atlas Mountains but was are glad we aren’t there now as Morocco is suffering with floods and snow. Moha has a metre of snow outside his front door in the road.

A little later getting going today as we attempted to service the van however our code didn’t work for the borne so I was unable to get any water. We then drove around to the exit but again the code didn’t work so eventually I called Customer services and the staff at Campingcar Park opened the barrier. We were now on our way to Calais…. an approx 4 hours drive.

Duel carriageway and tolls most of the way and we were then in Calais. I wanted to fill the diesel tank before we left France so drove around to Auchan. The price per litre was not dissimilar to UK pump prices.

Now the drive to the overnight Campingcar park site and on arrival we learnt that the in barrier was not working so we were helped with getting us in the out barrier. However we might need to make a call in the morning. We are due to travel on the midday train but hopefully there might be space if we arrive at the terminal a little earlier.

Tomorrow we will be home sleeping in our bigger bed!!

Today was another day of getting closer to Calais and our return to the UK on Tuesday. The journey was expected to be around 3 hours but first we needed some fuel so before getting back on the toll road we went searching for somewhere to fill up. Luckily the price was about 30 cents a litre cheaper than the diesel on the motorway.

We arrived at yet another Campingcar park site but the barrier wouldn’t open when entering our code. We were debating whether we should move and find somewhere else for tonight but I thought I would try and use WhatsApp to contact customer services. We don’t have roaming on the phone so a call was not possible. Louise, the customer service agent sorted the issue and we were soon parked up.

More TV darts and YouTube watched and we settle down for the evening.

Our planned journey today was to a municipal campsite about 100 miles further north however when we arrived we found reception all locked up and was unable to gain entry.

We then made a decision to go 10 minutes down the road to another Campingcar Park site which I am liking. We have about 8 vans here at present.

Watched the football this afternoon to be disappointed with a draw as Burnley scored a 90th minute equaliser. Continuing watching the darts tonight.

The journey over the coming 2 days are likely to be about 3 hours in duration which will get us in the vicinity of Eurotunnel for Tuesday morning.

We knew we had a long drive planned for today so we awoke an hour earlier. Had an issue with the 12v power brick for my CPAP machine last night so I had to use the 240v cable and plug it into the Jackory power bank as we were not on electric hookup. Will need to explore what I need to do about this situation when we get home.

We were on the road by about 9:30am with an estimated finish time of 2:30pm. I wanted to fill our fuel tank before we left Spain as I was anticipating the cost per litre would be more. So around San Sebastián I pulled in and filled the tank… hopefully it will get us most of the way to Calais.

We stopped in an Aire in France for some lunch at around 2pm and arrived at the Campingcar park site at 3:45pm. We have never used this network of sites before but found it was very easy to add credit and use a unique code identifying it as us to gain access. Not sure how we leave in the morning but we will cross that bridge then.

All services are here including 6amp power so no problem with keeping warm or running my machine.

Relaxing day today as we have only a 90 minute journey to complete. First we needed to get some provisions so on the outskirts of the town we came across a Mercadona. We gathered some meals and started our journey proper around 11:30am.

I set the navigation to the Vet we intend to use for Tucker tape worm treatment. I wanted to ensure we knew where it was. At around 1pm we pulled up outside and we would never have spotted it if we didn’t know it was there. We then moved 5 minutes down the road for the free parking where there were many motorhomes / campers already parked. We spent the afternoon waiting for our 5pm appointment.

At the agreed time we parked the van just along from the surgery and the vet administered the treatment and also gave us some tooth paste for Tuckers teeth. The cost was €64.

We then decided to not use the city park up but to travel to a carpark out in the countryside. We are completely on our own.

We woke up as usual around 9am and had some breakfast followed by packing the van ready to travel to Burgos. We emptied the grey tank and left the site at around 10:30am.

The journey was around 2.5 – 3 hours arriving at around 1:30pm. We travelled almost exclusively on dual carriageways / Motorways. We have travelled from Algeciras using these type of roads…. makes for easy driving when the cruise control is set but is boring to drive.

Now in Burgos on another ACSI site mainly because we are on electric hookup as we are expecting it to be cold tonight. Tomorrow we drive a short distance to the Vet where we will get the Worming treatment for Tucker to allow him to re-enter the UK. Its then a dash for Calais over the coming days.

Nothing planned to do today except relax and get ourselves ready for the trip home.

On the journey here we had the AdBlue light come up on the dash. I had been expecting it for a while now so today I dug out from under the bed the second of the 10 litre containers I brought with us from home. Tina helped me pour all the contents in and this should ensure we don’t have this warning light come again. Once the warning light appears you have around 500 miles before the engine will stop working so it was essential to get this added.

Before we leave in the morning for Burgos we will service the van.

No urgency today as the journey time was around 90 minutes. We needed to find fuel and do some shopping for basic needs.

Filled the fuel tank shortly after joining the auto via and paid €1.53 per litre which is on a par with the cost of diesel at home so its not significantly cheaper in Spain unlike the price we paid in Morocco.

On the outskirts of Salamanca we stopped at a E.Leclerc and picked up enough food for the next few days. We didn’t realise the campsite was only 5 minutes from where we stopped. We checked in and are here for 2 nights and it certainly looks very nice but we haven’t explored yet.

Bournemouth are playing Manchester United tonight and I hope for a decent result but don’t hold out a lot of hope.

We were warm again last night as we were able to use the electric heating during the night. We had a good nights sleep.

Today we saw ourselves having a chat to our neighbours who had broken down and were awaiting parts to be delivered to the repairers. They will find out tomorrow if these had been delivered. They own a caravan site on the west coast of Ireland but are English.

Tina made use of the washing machine to ensure we had clothes to last us until we now get home. We put up a temporary line and got everything dry this afternoon.

More darts this afternoon and evening. we caught up with friends from the north east using Teams which is the replacement app for Skype. They are planning to travel to Europe after the new year.

Moving tomorrow to Salamanca.