We've made it !

Yes, we are finally here in Morocco.The ferry across the Straits enabled us to get terrific views of the rugged, mountainous coastline of North Africa as Morocco grew ever larger before us. The paper work to import a vehicle temporarily, took for ever. There was much arm waving by men in uniform .... police, customs and port authority, until we finally cleared the last hurdle and were waved on with a " you are free to leave, enjoy your travels"
So here we are parked up at Camping Alboustane in the resort town of Martil, with temperatures hovering around 28*C, accompanied by a gentle breeze from the sea.
The journey here gave us our first experience of driving on Moroccan roads where one has to be very vigilant  as people stand in the central reservations on motorways, leap into the road in front of you, herd their excitable goats along the hard shoulder and after all of that, the pot holes in the roads are the size of black holes in places. We had a heart thumping experience when the road that we were on around the town, came to an abrupt end, followed by a twenty foot drop to the road below. No barrier, no warning...nothing. Phew, shades of things to come eh!
Important warning folks. Please don't text or phone because the cost is astronomical. We will do our best to post as often as possible until we get back to France.


Herding cattle on the motorway!

We climbed up form the coast, through the clouds, and these weren't even the Atlas mountains.

A man making chairs on the roadside

Martil, a small seaside resort on the north coast where we are staying tonight.

 

Lidl Aljeciras

Arrived here this morning after a scenic journey from the campsite,

through a National Park landscape of deep gorges, folded mountains and endless ridges covered with wind turbines. We headed out of Aljeciras looking for a specific Repsol Garage which is legendary amongst motorhomers as the place to refill ones gas bottles. Most of our gas goes on the freezer, keeping the meat alive.
Eventually we drove to the north of this sprawling city, which is overshadowed by the Rock of Gibralter, and located the Lidl carpark where we will stay the night before, embarking on the 10 am ferry in the morning.
Andrew arrived a little while later and we went off to Carlos's office to book the crossing. It is a new office with air-con, attatched to Lidl. Once all the paperwork was completed, we were presented with a bottle of wine and a slab of sponge cake " for a present ".
  Now sat in McDonalds using gratis Wifi or as the Spanish say "whiffy" to send today's post. I have to say that Sat Nav Sue has been amazing, sat in the suicide seat all this way and using co-ordinates to find us our locations.

Here she is, mouth open as usual, getting a tan from the heat rising from the tarmac!

The Rock of Gibralter .

Beach combing

 Looking very pink, but not sore!

It's a hard life here in Spain but somebody has to live it, so why not us?
We have had a long lazy day roaming the beach, first one way and then the other. Sue has been in snap happy mode with the camera, flowers, rocks, shells, me. Nothing has escaped her long lens.
This morning we did a little spring clean and I was delegated washing a few clothes and towels. I should never be left to use my own initiative. Thinking hot water would be good and not wishing to use our water, because we had just topped up the tank, I ventured to the shower block believing that I could fill my bowl there. Foolish woman! I failed to look at the direction that the nozzle was pointing, yes you've got it, I was drenched,fully clothed.
We are sat here, as evening approaches, supping a very nice white grape, £1-35 a bottle. Eating loads of healthy salad crops and veg but chips and beer from the beach bar tonight!

Beach bar

The Lone Ranger

Some of the day's collection, along with mother of pearl and a posy of wild flowers.


We are not moving !

Good morning. Today the wheels on the bus are not turning even an inch. After 1,780 miles, we are having some R and R. Fresh bread has been ordered and the coffee is on the hob.
Just been for an early morning stroll around the site as the sun's rays are filtering through the pine trees and the dawn chorus is clearing its throat!
From the beach we can look across the Straits of Gibralter to the coastline of North Africa. Morocco is within touching distance. I can hardly believe that we are a mere  two hour ferry crossing from experiencing a whole new culture.
But for now, a little normality as we potter about here until Friday morning. Sue has already got the longest clothes line on the site and has filled it with a weeks worth of washing
By this afternoon the weather had really warmed up. Red knees and noses, dry washing and a bbq for tea. We christened the new stove which still had all the bubble wrap around its various parts The whole episode became a spectator sport for the large Spanish family next door, as we endeavoured to fit the bits together. All went well until the moment of ignition, silence descended, then....no gas came through the pipe from the van!! We shouted "Boom", they laughed and before you knew it we had a handsome young man sorting the problem. I hadn't turned the gas on. Embarrassment was disguised beneath red from the sun. Lots of " muchos graziases" and soon we really were cooking on gas!
Todays picture offerings are; Sun blinds and shade trees and the shell seeker on Tarifa beach.

Catch up time.

Finally, here we are with a wifi connection!! Life has been quite hectic since we were last in touch. The drive has been long but these Spanish free motorways are amazing, so we have been able to zip along from one stop over to the next with relative ease. There have been storks on their nests high up on electricity pylons, goats at the side of the road  (one almost became kebab meat ) and beautiful horses with foals everywhere. The wild flowers fill the embankments with colour and birds of prey are frequently seen circling overhead.
Last night we reached the coast at Sanlucar and found a great parking spot on the front row, facing the sea. As we set off for a walk, we noticed a van just like Andrew's, who by the way we are meeting on Friday on Lidl car park at Aljeciras, and whom we presumed was still in Portugal. Well talk of the devil, and there he was, the old rogue, beer in hand, waving us into his motorhome. Being a couple of Tarts on Tour, we didn't need asking twice We were simply stunned, that out of all the places to rest our heads, we had all ended up at the same location. Several beers and red faces later, we stumbled back to Delfin.
We waved him off this morning as he was going to see friends in Malaga before we meet up for our departure to foreign shores even further afield.
Unfortunately, we also had leave early as the local community workforce were preparing the area for a May day festival, so we set off to follow the coast towards Rota, having been told of a quiet campsite by the sea. Could we find it ? No! The sat nav took us up and down the same narrow road approaching it from several different directions 5 times. We did a bit of bumpy off- roading, then stopped in a lay by to see over the dunes  what we were missing. It was a magnificent sandy beach, totally deserted and glowing golden, in glorious sunshine. But we were not destined to reach it today, so back to the main road in search of Tarifa, which is where we are tonight.
Time for a well earned break. So as the sun sets on this view from our door, it's adios from me and adios from her.
Buenos Noches Amigos!

The water saga.

The night was a cold one so we rose early to make a brew. No water in the tank? We have such a clever motorhome, that she knows when the temperature falls below freezing,so she empties herself to avoid burst pipes.Plenty of exercise back and forth to the fresh water tap. A 100 litre tank takes some filling!!
There was thick frost on the roof so it's as well it happened.
Prior to that, yesterday I killed our small bucket by reversing over it before putting it away.
The last watery saga can be seen in the picture. Yes, Sue has finally had an opportunity to wash some knickers!! We are parked up at Caceres for the rest of the day and the sun has finally come to stay.
Lastly, we have been trying to learn Spanish pronounciation from the Kindle dictionary, and it strikes me that a person with a lisp would do well speaking this language!

50 Shades Of Grey

Those 50 shades of grey refer to the skies above us today.The weather has been as changeable as a chamelion's jumper! We have driven through rain,sleet,sun,hail,snow twice and now as we park up in Palencia, glorious evening sunshine. The jagged silhouettes of the Pyreneese, the patchwork colours of the fields along the N1and the pink-beige tones of the building stone in the small, isolated villages have been in sharp contrast to the tourist routes in the north of Spain.
We have plenty of company at this city centre Aire
and as long as the sun is out, the solar panel will charge our batteries. Off for a short walk before dinner. Adios.

Pic shows our first bit of blue today through the branches of a tamarisk tree.