travels in a motorhome: Alcala De Los Gazules ( and Tangiers)

We are parked tonight on an excellent campsite at Alcala De Los Gazules, about 45 minutes north of Algeciras and in the middle of the Los Alcornocales nature park. We arrived yesterday and it's a relief to be somewhere we can chill out after our nightmare departure from Morocco. I'll get the departure saga out of the way eh?

So, we departed Chefchaouen two days ago at midday and arrived at Tangier Med at about 14.15. The journey was uneventful until we climbed up just outside Sebta to an exposed section of road where for a couple of miles we were blown all over the place. It's the first time I was really concerned or, to be honest, plain scared that we would be blown over by the high winds. But we survived and dropped down into the port. The signage on entry is useless and more by luck than good judgement we arrived at our entry point and visited the ticket office where we were given boarding cards,a departure time of 18.00 and instructions to proceed to bay7. The departure process from Morocco is as chaotic as it is on arrival but eventually after showing our passports half a dozen times, clearing our van for "export", as we had "imported" it five weeks ago, and then having the van x-rayed we drove off to bay 7. In the process we had become separated from Paul and Chris but they were waiting for us at the departure point, guided us in and then we settled down in our vans for a sandwich whilst we waited on the arrival of our ferry. As anticipated it turned up late but after unloading the passengers from Spain it started loading again but.... from bay 6. Paul and Chris who were at the front of bay 7 jumped out to see the dopes in the hi-vis jackets and barriers were removed to allow them to drive on, we waited patiently. Twenty minutes later we saw them on the rear deck of the ferry and Paul sent me a text suggesting I should let the hi-vis dopes know that I was on the same ferry. I went down with my ticket, found a guy who spoke English and explained that I was a little concerned. "No problem" he said, "You'll all get on, don't worry." Ten minutes later we watched the loading ramps on our ferry get raised prior to sailing!! I ran down, again, to the high-vis dopes knowing there was nothing that could be done but......I lost it. We'd had a great five weeks in Morocco and although there had been a couple of occasions when things maybe went a bit wrong I'd not let it bother me. Carpet salesmen - just say no and keep smiling. Shop owners in the Souks hassling - keep smiling. Guys who wanted to "guide" us - non merci and keep smiling. But this fiasco was just too much. Our boarding pass said bay 7, the illuminated signs said bay 7, everybody who checked our boarding passes said bay 7 and yet here we were, watching our friends sail away knowing we should have been in bay 6 all along. I lost it with the high-vis dopes, I lost it with the police and it's probably just as well that their English language skills didn't cover the colloquialisms I was using although I suspect they got the gist from my body language. But, nothing to do than wait for the ferry to sail to Algeciras, unload, re-load and return to Tangier. We finally arrived back at the Lidl car park in Algeciras at 5.30am, found Paul and Chris and, as quietly as possible, parked up a couple of bays in front of them.

Yesterday morning we woke at 11,30 poked our heads outside and in a moment Paul arrived bearing croissants and bacon. What a star! We had a cup of coffee with them before they departed for Madrid to meet up with their godson and then had a tearful farewell. We've had a great time with them and, hopefully, we'll meet up again. We couldn't have met a better couple to travel with.

After a Lidl and Carrefour shop we set off for the campsite we are on now. In a day and a half Phil has done four loads of washing, we've cleaned the van, inside and out, and we're enjoying a campsite with excellent, clean, facilities. We are surrounded by the usual menagerie (dogs, goats, sheep, cows, cats) with the addition of frogs, croaking over the hedge and horses from the ranch next door which seem to wander freely about the site. It's lovely. Chris, you'd love it! We went to the restaurant this evening and had a delicious meal of salad, mixed grill, frittes, bread, a bottle of Rioja and coffee for €22. Paul, you'd love it! There were a couple of locals playing pool and I asked if I could play. I lost the first game, not quite understanding "Spanish" rules, but won the second after potting the black in the pocket my opponent chose. An outstanding shot, playing the black off the cushion into the pocket at the other end of the table!

We think we'll stay here for a few days. We're heading for Seville next and then we'll make our way up to Bilbao slowly for our ferry back to the UK on the 18th. But first I think there may be a rematch tomorrow on the pool table :)

Driving to Tangier, that big mountain in front was the one that scared me