DOVER TO MOROCCO: STARTED JAN 2010

DOVER TO MOROCCO JOURNEY STARTING 9TH JANUARY 2010 

Photos to follow 

Saturday, 9th Jan 2010 Dover. Snow, met Bob (The New Companions Club) on site, had dinner, did quick resume of trip and some emails.

Sunday, 10th January 2010 Dover. Snowed some more, they didn't clean track so we did a bit of digging and then had an early night for early start in morning.

Monday, 11th January 2010 Dover. Ready for 7am then I couldn't get off because the snow was so deep and the warden's still hadn't cleared the snow. Bob wore himself out digging me out, eventually the man in the next door caravan to me very kindly towed me out with his 4x4! Thank you to Lisa Osborne's husband of the Caravan Club who was going to La Manga in Spain with a Club Rally. Short journey to Calais. Stopped off at Laon (Aire) that night, all tucked up very early as my cough was getting worse and I felt very tired. Bob couldn't understand it. He went for a walk. Snowed again.

Tuesday 12th January 2010. Laon. Started off at 8am. Good journey throughout day, stopped off at Givny. Walked town, ready for bed at 5.00. Nights getting lighter already, heading further south.

Wednesday 13th January, 2010. Givny (Aire). Lost sight of Bob but knew we were going to Roemillion, nr Avingnon. Took a long time to catch him up. Now raining. Stopped on car park near river bridge.

Thursday 14th January 2010. Roemillion (Bridge Car Park). Arrived L'Estatit. Windy, raining. Didn't have electric saved 4.50e about 15e each night.

Friday 15th January 2010. L'Estatit (Camp site). Went for bike ride around town. Deserted. Sea very choppy, not a lot open found a bank for some money. Sunny but windy, noisy French and dogs. Good showers, cycle ride, did washing had some beers in evening. We decided to leave in morning Tony Stephens (The New Companions Club) not leaving UK until 19th Jan. Off side brake light messing about.

Saturday 16th January 2010. Benicassim (in road up from Camp site). Bob's thermostat playing up he went to garage, nothing serious. Texted Brian and Barbara (The New Companions Club), they invited us to BBQ evening. We wild camped in Benicasm for the night, there was a fiesta on, a bit noisy but I didn't hear it after a while.

Sunday 17th January 2010. Benicassim. Started off about 11 after calling in to Brian and Barbara, saw Shirley Barton (NC) and a few others. Message from Tony saying he would be getting tunnel on 19th and then see us later on. Had lunch in Alcudia. Stayed at Alcoy in the mountains. Wild camp. Started to see all the black plastic glass houses as we proceeded along the coast, what a dreadful site. Coast road absolutely spoilt.

Monday 18th January 2010. Alcoy (Wild camp) . Travelled to Guardamar de Segura, wild camped.

Tuesday 19th January 2010. Guardamar de Segura (Lorry car park). Started early and got to Benalmadena. Met others and went for breakfast in local British café down on the front.

Wednesday 20th January 2010. Benalmadena (Market sq). Went to Library and managed to get on internet, sat in with students, free access, sorted emails. Stayed up on the terrace rather than in the market square at night. Didn't get moved on by police. Met John T and Mary W, John P and Kath R (all New Companions).

Thursday 21st January 2010. Benalmadena. Others going to Malaga. I needed rest, didn't particularly want to go to town. It was getting warm, but we were having a lot of rain.

Friday 22nd January 2010. Benalmadena. Library again. A friend said she would not be meeting us at Algeciras. Bit disappointed after I had made a special trip whilst in England in the snow to get her wool and animal stuffing and carted it all the way down!

Saturday 23rd January 2010. Benalmadena. Eunice C arrived. Tony S arrived too (Both NC's). For some reason didn't sleep all night.

Sunday 24th January 2010. Gibraltar (Car park nr border post). Said goodbye to John Poole who had decided not to come with us to Morocco. He would continue up the coast and meet up with any other friends along way. Saw old camp site at Cala Mijas just big complex of houses now, still looked better than it did with the skeleton buildings around the site, not finished when I was there in 1994/98. Travelled along coast and eventually caught up with John and Mary who had taken their car to Bill Hartley's place in Mijas. Met the others on the car park outside Gibraltar, raining again. Parked in car park with a lot of other people and at least had one night free.

Monday 25th January 2010. Santa Margarita (In road nr sea, not far from camp site). Left vehicles in car park, everything seemed ok. Trip into Gibraltar, got bus into town, walked around quite a pleasant place. Did a deal with taxi driver (20€ each) who turned out to be a Gibraltarian with a lot of political history and it was quite useful being driven around by him. Took loads of pictures of the apes, Pillars of Hercules (most westerly point of Europe), WWII tunnels, caves, Kings Chapel next to garrison. Most interesting. Rained at first then it grew brighter and we had a very good trip. Food 8.70€, Coke £1.70 Bus 60p. Got bus back to customs post and walked the rest. Unfortunately we were going to celebrate Eunice's birthday but a very nice policeman came and told us we had to move off the car park, so that's what we did. We had quick tea in our vans, as the policeman said we had to move right away. It was raining heavily. We went back along the coast a bit and eventually stopped at Santa Margarita; all pulled up in parking places adjacent to beach and stopped for the night. It didn't stop raining.

Tuesday 26th January 2010. Algeciras (Furniture store car park, Lidl car park also). Started quite early, although still raining and made our way to Algeciras. We tried several agencies in order to get best price and eventually got trip supposed to be by fast ferry (ha ha) I paid 107€ for return trip, the couples paid 113€ return. We parked at the local furniture store after having shopped till we dropped in the local supermarket. We also had dinner in McDonalds, what a treat!

Wednesday 27th January 2010. Early start 7am all following in convoy. Bit of puzzle at docks I don't know what went wrong but they didn't let us on fast ferry, we landed up on the 3hr one to Tangier. No problem. The boat didn't take off until 10.15a.m. So it was a long wait queuing. It was a good trip, not rough. Whilst on the boat we had to queue for a long while in order to get our passports stamped with the entrance number and fill in the forms about our vehicle, which had to be handed in as we were going through the port. We arrived at Tangier at 1.15pm. The port at Tangier was a farce. First of all we had to queue in an orderly fashion then, all these men kept coming up asking for our passports in order to get them stamped. I decided I wasn't going to give mine to anyone and certainly wasn't going to let it out of my sight. We ate whilst queuing, wondering how long it was going to take, kept the walkie talkies going, letting each other know exactly what was happening. We had to go on to the 1st floor of the Customs House in order to get our passports checked against the number that we were given on the boat. It was entered into the computer for future reference. It was 4.15 pm when I got off the dock. I was the last one, waiting all that time for my documents and getting really fed up with the men trying to get money from me, for something or other. When I got outside I changed up Euros for Dirham got a good rate of exchange, 3,314 dh for 300€ about 10dh to £1. We had all parked up outside port, so there was a quick conflab and Bob decided to go east to Martil for acclimatization! I went to bed early 6.30pm really bushed.

Thursday 28th January 2010. Tangier/Martil. Journey to Martil showed how much rain they had had there. Lots of places were flooded, lots of plastic carrier bags around. It rained all night. Did usual jobs in the morning and at 1.00 pm we toured the town. Squalid, smelly, unkempt, big building site, but people happy, smiley. Me not! Coffee, this was to become a habit with the group so most of us joined in with a coffee kitty, (about 10 dh a cup, very milky). The sea was very rough. I took a long time putting photos onto my laptop from my phone, not good when you do them one by one! Played solitaire, bed at 10pm. Noise at 12.30 am other campers on site, a bunch of young hippies with dreadlocks, singing and playing; turned over went back to sleep.

Friday 29th January 2010. Martil. Woke to noise of Arman! Hells bells. How can any religion raise supporters with that noise. The sun came out, yippee! We got the bus to Tetuan. Did the medina. Hustle and bustle, lots of guides trying to do their job and being a pain. Eventually chose one who inevitably took us to his cousin in the carpet shop! And wanted huge tip at the end of the tour! Bob haggled. Smelly tannery, did the carpet store, went up to the lookout, cemetery; but we were not allowed in. The bus was fascinating. We had dinner in the camp restaurant, my first taste of a Tagine, very nice, 85 dh. Bed 10 pm. 210dh for camp site for two nights.

Saturday 30th January 2010. Larache/Aire . (No charge, but tip for guardians.) Journeyed across country as we missed the right road. Well it was a bit bumpy and full of lots of holes. Young lads were shovelling dirt and grit into the holes for us. There had obviously been a lot of rain too. The countryside was undulating, no big mountains. We got eventually to Larache which was the Comarit site. It was packed but we managed to get parked up quite close to each other, that is within 2 ft! Only 10 dh for the parking attendant. Don't know what the showers were like, didn't even use the toilets there, however the others said it was clean. We went for a walk into town. Didn't know where we were going but eventually landed up going across a wide expanse which turned out to be land-fill. They were building houses on it. The smell was horrendous. Me with my catarrh and cough still. Didn't like it one little bit. We did eventually get to the sea front, having passed through the shopping area which again was smelly and very dirty, no tidiness at all, everybody looking at us Europeans, thinking we were millionaires. We got to the sea, had an ice cream and coffee in a café and then took a taxi back, 10dh each about £1.

Sunday 31st January 2010. Moulay Bousselham. Journey down coast and found camp site right next to beach. We went for a boat ride across the lake and were charged about 20€ each for the 1 hour trip. Didn't really see a lot of birds, but it was quiet pleasant. At night they were having some sort of festival in the market square high up above us. Couldn't rouse myself to go up there as I was still unhappy about walking about on my own. Just listened until I fell asleep. On reflection, with hindsight, I would probably have been OK and actually enjoyed the music, mainly drums.

Monday 1st February 2010. Moulay Bousselham. Walked on the beach, emailed at night walked up with John and Mary. A bit dark. Slept well, medicine not doing at lot. 120 dh for 2 nights.

Tuesday 2nd February 2010. Sale. Went on motorway to Ketira to the Merjana. Spent 179 dh on food. We headed for the local camp site but guess what, it wasn't there. Just a bare space. We all pulled up in a parking space and the local guardian said that if we hung around until 7pm then the night guardian would take us to a secure parking space in Sale. So, off we went and did the usual walk; saw a very big cemetery and the usual wall around the Medina. However, the guardian didn't turn up until 7.30pm and he said he would take us to a parking space which was actually a public parking space in front of the Sale Medina wall. A lot of the people visiting the various café’s behind the parking spot moved their cars so that we could all get near together. It was quite fascinating watching everybody sort themselves out so that us Europeans could park in their spaces! We went in Kath's van, drank and talked about the day. Went to bed at 10pm, woke at 5.30 am and dozed until 8.

Wednesday 3^rd February 2010 Rabat. Did the usual Medina, wasn't quite so smelly as the others more upmarket. Did the Kasbah, got taken into carpet shop. Lots of men trying to act as our guide. But Bob saw them off. We heard that Linda was coming to Marrakesh on 15^th February which meant that we would have to alter our schedule to accommodate her.

Thursday 4^th February 2010. Casablanca. Quite a nice day today. Tony had a puncture along the road. Almost immediately there was a tow truck pulling up to help. He charged 200 dh for changing the tyre. We went to the Mosque in Casablanca paid about 10dh for the guardian. Amazing mosque, however, too much splendid refinery when there was so much poverty out there. Saw a lady completely covered in black, found it a bit intimidating. We went on to a camp site called International Oasis, along the coast.

Friday 5^th February 2010. International Oasis. Tony got 2 new tyres the camp manager/owner took Tony into Casablanca to find tyre place it cost him just about the same 3840 dh for the tyres. Unfortunately whilst they were out I started to clean my van and found mouse droppings! Hells bells. I couldn't find the mouse. However that started a very stressful time. I think I brought some shoes from the garage of the van and a shrew was hibernating. It woke up and naturally started to look for food. My potatoes, Ryvita. We had drinks in John's van. Then went to bed early. John and Mary went off down south to get a look at Atlantic Park for John to stay next winter. 150 dh 2 nights.

Saturday 6^th February 2010 El Jadida. That bloody mouse (shrew actually, seen later on) ate what I put out for him. We stopped off at Azemur in order to get a mouse trap. Well the only one we could find was really for a Rat or a very, very large mouse. They can't have small mice in Morocco, no small traps at all. I had a very bad headache. Stress from the mouse, thought it might eat my electric wiring. Had heard some awful horror stories.

Sunday 7^th February 2010 El-Jadida. We went for a cycle ride along the beach and Kath had a puncture straight away. Had anyone brought a puncture outfit, yes, but no pump for her particular tyres. In the afternoon we went to the Portuguese City, the cavern which held the water and a souk which we had found earlier in the day, hustle bustle, quite different to the other markets. We had a good taxi ride back 10 dh each. 118.80 dh for the site for 2 nights.

Monday 8^th February 2010. Safi. Still had dreadful headache and vertigo. Stress. The road to Safi wasn't bad. Got to site had no phone signal. Four of us went by little unofficial taxi van to local Marjane 70 dh for all of us. Did Barclaycall which eventually cost me £10.

Tuesday 9^th February 2010. Essaouira. We went along the coast, very industrial and smelly (as usual). Site was a bit unusual had to park in amongst the trees it was a bit crowded. Never once used their facilities. We went to the port on bikes and they were trying to move a boat, which was very amusing and absolutely no safety precautions at all. We had coffee, rode back and there was a little cat outside my van. 94 dh for two nights.

Wednesday 10^th February 2010 I was very fed up with my cough, felt really bad and dizzy. Kath bought me some medication which I started to take, didn't do a lot. Texted Linda (Kath's sister also NC) to ask if she could bring a small mouse trap for me, cos I finally saw it was a shrew. It kept waking me up chewing things, sounded as though it was rattling around in the roof. It was really driving me mad. I stayed by myself and rested all day whilst the others did the usual Medina etc. They said it was the best so far, very much for the Europeans. Fine if that's what you want. I'm afraid I was utterly fed up with Medina, souks etc. I'd seen enough already!

Thursday 11^th February 2010. Left Essaouira and drove 20 k to next camp site. Will have to look it up. Did washing by hand. Everybody else was using the machines, finished it by the time it was ready for me. Still coughing.

Friday 12^th February 2010. Still at same camp site. Cleaned side and back of van very dirty looked like oil spray. Young Moroccan asking me if I'd like to go promenading! I wanted to play cards that evening, however, it didn't happen, just went into Kath's van for a few drinks. 190 dh for 2 nights.

Saturday 13^th Sunday 14^th February 2010 Went to new camp-site will have to look it up. Phoned Simon with phone card took the plunge and went outside by myself to pay phones. Moroccan man was very impatient to get on the phone even though I had to wait for another man to get off. 100 dh for 2 nights. Left for Marrakesh 154 km. Ready to meet Linda from plane the next day.

Monday 15^th February 2010. Marrakech. Sally texted to say she had letter from Housing Association regarding tenant. Day in Marrakech. I couldn't see what was going on in a particular situation and raised my camera to take a picture. Man dashed out and demanded money for the picture. I gave him some coins and he demanded paper. I caused a bit of a scene because I felt threatened, and a gentleman told the other fellow to leave me alone and stop demanding payment. We picked up Lynda from airport and she gave me the humane mousetraps straight away which Bill  H (NC) had managed to get for me and could be put in her on board luggage.

Tuesday 16^th February 2010. Marrakech again. This was the day when I went for a kebab and I was verbally assaulted by nasty man who must have been a bit loopy, whilst waiting for my lunch. I had an early night as we left for Cascades in the morning.

Wednesday 17^th February 2010. Cascades des Ouzes Lovely drive up gorges, lovely scenery. Pity it was raining yet again. We walked down the Cascades, nearly dark. I caught the shrew and thought it could stay until morning, however, I was laying in bed I could hear it chewing the mouse trap, so again it was raining, I went outside and let it go on the rubbish heap, about 2,500 miles from home!

Thursday 18^th February 2010. At 11.00 am, we walked down the Cascades. We couldn't go on the boat because there was too much water coming down the waterfall, so we just walked back the same way. Jalal, our guide was messing about with me, apart from this he did give us a very good tour and also took us to an olive press with a very unfortunate donkey working the press in the pitch darkness. We had a lovely meal, tagine again, in the evening and there was an almighty storm, very windy, things (tin roofing) blowing about. Electric went out, as usual, just don't rely on it. Bought Kaftan for 120 dh and the 2 nights and the meal was 160 dh, about £16, not bad.

Friday 19^th February 2010 – my birthday. Ben el Ouidane. Reservoir, old guardian with a lovely dog. Walked up to the hotel very opulent, gallery inside, lovely photos. Had birthday cake in John's van.

Saturday 20^th February 2010 back to Marrakech, by different route. Azlil. We went into Marrakesh again and dined out in café above market square, back very late.

Sunday 21^st February 2010 absolutely awful weather, went to Palace Bahia. Electric out yet again and we had a meal out again.

Monday 22^nd February 2010 Went to the Jardins Majorelle. Yves St Laurent's place which he gave to the people of Morocco. Linda went back to UK today. Did a load of emails 168 dh for the nights spent here.

Tuesday 23^rd February 2010 Atlantic Park. On our way to Agidir, long drive over the mountainous route. Heard an almighty crash in rear, as I hit a very bad hole in the road. When we stopped I surveyed the scene in the shower room. The curved plastic door had jumped the rail and it's fastening and low and behold had jammed its corner into the groove in the show tray. I lifted the door into the main living area, mended the hole with hopefully waterproof duck tape as quickly as I could and put the shower door back on. Gave it some extra sealing tape to keep door in place. Boy,was it heavy! Bed early yet again. Arrived at Atlantic Park, huge site 95 dh per night.

Wednesday 24^th February 2010. Washing, talking, sleeping, up late, back ached, stress. 95 dh.

Thursday 25^th February 2010. Walked to beach, coffee on roof café. Bought stove for top of camping gaz. 70 dh. Another 95 dh for the night. Did washing.

Friday 26^th February 2010. Left Atlantic Park to go to Agidir. Half way there my oil light came on. Checked it and there was no oil in the engine. Panic set in. Bought oil, filled engine, headed for marjane. I left the others and went to what we thought was a Fiat agent. They tried to get me another filter, and showed me that there was a hole in mine. The couldn't get one, so they mended it with some resin, don't know quite what. Went back to Atlantic Park, Agidir to phone for mechanic in the morning. Felt very guilty holding everyone up, but they were all very pleasant about it. Kath said she needed a rest anyway.

Saturday 27^th February 2010. New mechanic charged me 950 dh for new filter. In England at next service, new filter was £11.95 plus VAT.

Sunday 28^th February 2010. Kath got flu. Tried to get into Tiznit but it was full, so we went to Aglou Plague for 60 dh.

Monday 1^st March 2010. Left coast went inland. Rained after coffee. Checked oil constantly filled up with oil and went to Abaylou. 15 dh for a lovely HOT swim, took me a long time to get in. Had a really good nights sleep felt really cosy after the swim in the very warm water!

Tuesday 2^nd March 2010. Drive to Guelomin, Bouizakarne, Tiznit. Rained all the way couldn't see the scenery, but I'm sure it would have been wonderful. Went and stayed at Tafraoute. 215 km.

Wednesday 3^rd March 2010. The owner of the camp site was a little strange! He put his hand into his T shirt and pulled out a rather large fleshy boob! I thought it was disgusting and I turned round quickly so as not to see what else he was doing and I fell off the pavement and twisted my ankle. The usual Moroccan was on site touting for business, this time a 4x4 trip the next day. Just looked round, had lunch, had sleep, got ready for 4x4 drive in the morning. Eunice and Bob went on exploratory walk around local area.

Thursday 4^th March 2010. 400 dh with lunch. 130 dh for site. We went to Gorges Ait Mansour, Souk Had Issi, Tiwadou for lunch, to Tanrante and back. The trip was very interesting we saw lots of prehistoric cave paintings, somewhere in the middle of the desert, I did have the GPS settings, but lost them along the way somewhere. Lunch was in café in Tiwadou, another tagine, very tasty with lovely bread. I recognised the local landscape as having a lot of iron ore in the rocks and said it reminded me of my gold prospecting days in Australia. Our guide said I was right and there was a very large open caste mine not 20 kms away! Some of the group were impressed, I was, with myself, anyway!

Friday 5^th March 2010. Journey to Igheim across gold looking country. Road to Taliouline. The bridges crossing the roads were gone! Eunice's best announcement for the whole trip “Great road except for the bits that were missing”. 60 dh camp.

Saturday 6^th March 2010. Lovely drive over mountains. 360 dh diesel. 18952 miles.

Sunday 7th March 2010 Ait Benhaddou. Bob took us up here in his van. Camels sitting around just waiting for some tourist who wanted a ride. Warm and windy, did emails.

Monday 8^th March 2010. Left for Quazazate. Did Supermarche, expensive. Vegetable stop. 49 dh. Going to Agdz. Slipped fell over yet again, getting really tired. 3000 dh bank.

Tuesday 9^th March 2010. Good day along valley to Zagora. JP had email to say he was back in Club, well about time. What a relief too.

Wednesday 10^th March 2010. To Mhgamid. As we approached the river to cross to our camp site we were met by hoards of guides wanting us to follow them to their camp sites. We set off to try and get to another site on our own, but decided against it. We turned round and were being followed by a 4x4 being driven erratically by a Moroccan in full desert gear, he turned out to be Mohammed. He flagged down Bob who negotiated space in the camp site, 4 km outside town.

Thursday 11^th March 2010. 4x4 ride to Erg Chigaga. Hassan Ali, 23 yr old. Good Tagine at lunch time. Poisonous plants acacia trees for the camels. Flies that bite. Hassan got closer and closer to me whilst seated in the back seat of the 4x4. What did he want, wine and cigarettes, having neither I couldn't accommodate him!

Friday 12^th March 2010. Off on the road again, Tony's suspension strut fell down, 158 miles to Quazazate bank. 19314 miles 400 dh diesel, I spent 450dh on jewellery for me and Sally. Kath and Eunice spent a small fortune on several articles because they both liked the colour of the pottery. 184 miles.

Saturday 13^th March 2010. Awake most of the night. Exhausted waiting for the others. Tenerhir 83 miles 4509 ft.

Sunday 14^th March 2010. Mother's Day had lovely phone call from Simon and Sally, caught up with kids, lovely to talk to them. Felt really home sick after their call, but it did do me good.

140 dh for camp. Emails.

Monday 15^th March 2010. Gorge du Todra. Erfoud. Erg Chebbi – Merzouga 500 dh for the site.

Tuesday 17^th March 2010. Camel ride for 30 minutes included in the price. Trip out in 4x4. Went and saw the flamingoes on the lake. Also saw the fossils which looked like tortoise shells. Very near, within 15 kms of Algerian border. Went and saw some men working a mine, but can't remember what exactly they were looking for! Guide didn't really speak much English, but we were in relatively safe hands.

Wednesday 17^th March 20e hill from10. Source de Meski, crowded. Walked up aquifer, emailed the committee.

Thursday 18^th March 2010. Got stuck coming up the hill, very slippery and couldn't get any traction. Had to get people to push me up the hill. Sign at beginning says big vehicles may find it difficult to get into site, but it’s the getting out that is important. Going to Gorges du Ziz and Midelt. 20 dh for night.

Friday 19^th March 2010. Midelt 14 dh for night.

Saturday 20^th March 2010. To Fez. Still not good weather. Big puddles in the camp site. At least the electric was working. Really fed up with the weather, really wanted some sun shine whilst in Morocco and I didn't get very much at all.

Sunday 21^st March 2010. Trip into Fez with guide. Good day 100 dh. 400 dh diesel. 140 dh for camp site.

Monday 22^nd March 2010. Marjane Meknes. Went to Meknes camp site but it was closed. Went to Moulay Idriss, good site, new pitches. Meet in Kath's.

Tuesday 23^rd March 2010. Volubillis great day. Good taxi there and back. We left about 5.30.

Wednesday 24^th March 2010. Moulay Idriss by bus 5 dh. Had a good look round, had coffee again! On way back Eunice slipped getting off bus, hit her back on the bus step right in front of me. She was very white, shocked and in a great deal of pain. Did some emails in town.

Thursday 25^th March 2010. Eunice not good, I walked up to Sidi Ali, quite warm and pleasant. Souk with live animals, smelled foul as usual. Sal flew to Thailand.

Friday 26^th March 2010. Trip in Bob's van up to Sidi Ali just to see whether Eunice could cope with the journey.

Saturday 27^th March 2010. Just had a day of rest. 6 x 40 dh = 240 dh.

Sunday 28^th March 2010. On the road again to Comarit Larache for a free night. I had a puncture on the way. 50 dh to change tyre, 50 dh for the repair at a garage later on.

Monday 29^th March 2010. Tangier Got the ferry took such a long time yet again to get through the port, had the vehicle x rayed. They are so disorganised. Anyway once we got on ferry it was dark when we landed at Algeciras. Stayed at the furniture store again, did some shopping next morning.

Tuesday 30^th March 2010. Went to Gibraltar. Left others and Kath and I went to Rhonda stayed in the Sol Supermarche for the night.

Wednesday 31^st March 2010. Cordoba. Did Mesquite/cathedral, don't think Kath was too impressed, but second time for me. Walked to Eroski. Camped in large free car park, well bulldozed land for the night. We were ok. 166 km.

Thursday 1^st April 2010 El Greco for the night 22€. Toledo. 343 km. Did washing and generally relaxed.

Friday 2^nd April 2010 Easter, Camped outside Burgos, quite little lay-by did 327 km. Left Kath as she was going on to the port for the ferry back to UK.

Saturday 3^rd April 2010. I landed up doing 376 km St Sever Aire 20800 miles.

Sunday 4^th April 2010. Perigueux by river 220 km. Free. However at 1.30 am. Had fright that the river was rising I just had to leave and go elsewhere. Salliac sur I'isle. Free.

Monday 5^th April 2010. Long drive to Vernon 21119 miles. Stayed Vernon on little site for 9.80€. Went next day to Monet's garden, had a wonderful day, really glad I managed to park in the Monet's Friends Car Park, up behind the gardens; the one that I couldn't get into last time, at least the hedges had been cut and I didn't get my van scratched.

Tuesday 6^th April 2010. Berck Plage 5€ Blowing a gale, sand in all the windows, just rested, tidied van and generally chilled out.

Wednesday 7^th April 2010. Berck Plage again 5€. The car park attendants actually came quite early before anyone could skip off. People really are very mean minded, especially when it comes to paying their fees.

Thursday 8^th April 2010. Municipal Calais, checked lights again. 6.80€ for night. 21740 miles at Calais.

Friday 9^th April 2010. Managed to get earlier ferry, however lights still not working, got off and drove to nearest lorry park on the A2 and waited for the morning, not good night at all. Went to Simon and Kate’s. Girls were excited to see me. “Why had I stayed in Morocco for so long?” Rosanna asked. Martyn arrived, felt very tired didn't sleep too well last night. Went up to Sandy CL, fell asleep almost immediately, saw Sally later on, she'd just got back from Thailand, did washing and glad to be back to normality.

Conclusions: Very tiring. Being used to travelling alone I felt travelling with others was very difficult. We all have our own rhythms and mine didn't match other peoples and I tried to keep up with them. I since learnt that January, February, and March were not good months to travel. This tip from a couple who had been down to the Sahara 5 times. I think I would have spent less time on the coast. I didn't like all the begging with the children. I found it quite horrendous following people who had thrown out sweets for the children, who then proceeded to fight amongst themselves right there in front of me. We were asked both in the travel book and people along the way not to give the children sweets, because we did find they got quite nasty. In the end we were all prepared to move on quickly, or just ignore them. If you want to give something go the local schools and give some dirham for the school fund. Apparently, in one locality a child had been killed by a motor homer because they had stopped to give children sweets.

24th November 2010 Ann Speirs