Debbie writes... It was a long and arduous trip to Marbella as the road to Granada had been closed due to heavy snow. We found the campsite, set up camp and Steve and Michele popped the champagne to officially toast the start of our expedition!
They had been camping at 'Camping Parque Tropicale' (between Marbella & Estepona) for a few days already and had enjoyed glorious sunshine with warm temperatures. Sadly, we had brought the cold weather from Europe with us to the south of Spain - and it was very cold.
Steve & Michele are very well equipped with all the correct overlanding/camping gear - they have a shower-skirt and side panels which makes the whole camping experience that much more 'comfortable'. The downside of course is having to set it all up and then rig it all down afterwards. Obviously being new canvas it is all very stiff, which makes everything that much more difficult. Hopefully in time the weather will help soften the canvas which will help tremendously.
CONNED BY A BRIT
Our first experience of being 'conned' was totally unexpected. Michele had met a fellow Brit at the campsite and started chatting. This lady (also Debbie) had been living in Spain for a few years and was as good as a local. On first glance she looked a little flaky (possible addition to drugs) but she appeared friendly and helpful. Michele had asked for directions to a camping shop - but 'Debbie' kindly offered to go to the shop for her instead. “Difficult to explain directions... blah, blah…” On the surface it appeared like a good idea - so Steve & Michele placed their orders and handed her €50. 'Debbie' reappeared later that night at 8.30 pm (vs 6.30pm) with only a couple of things on the list. She said that she needed to go out first thing in the morning and would collect the rest - back at 10am. We waited ...
GIBRALTAR ROCKS
By 12pm we had enough and headed off to Gibraltar. It was a toss-up of whether we should go or not, but we decided that since we wouldn't be in this part of the world again, we should at least 'pop in'. Well ... it was grim!! The only good thing about Gibraltar is that Martin convinced Michele that she really needed a digital-SLR Nikon D70. It is truly gorgeous and Martin is now green with envy…
Still freezing cold, we dismissed the idea of camping (although Martin was very keen to bush camp) and opted for a night in a youth hostel in Algeciras. Algeciras is the port from which we would depart to Cueta (pronounced Soweto) the next morning. The youth hostel had bunk beds and a portable oil heater - result, someone was looking after us! This was switched on to the highest level and left on for the entire evening ... we still froze!
AFRICAN SOIL
Docking the ferry in the morning was very smooth and we arrived at Cueta with no fuss. Cueta is still a Spanish enclave, so in many ways it appeared similar to Gibraltar. Next stop, the border crossing. The landys were directed to a certain spot and Martin/Steve gathered the relevant documentation and headed off armed with Chris Scott's step-by-step instructions from his Sahara book.
We had been warned that we would be bombarded by locals offering their assistance – this is very true and also very overwhelming. One guy with an official 'helper badge' assisted with pointing out the various booths, so he was enlisted as our helper. After much fuss of to'ing and fro'ing they managed to get all the documentation approved and we were off.
SECRET AGENTS?
Not quite yet, an official had spotted our walkie-talkies! They waved us down and asked if we had a radio - like our friends behind us. No doubt they had spotted Michele and I in conversation, so we could not deny it. We handed them our walkie-talkies and after some deliberation they handed them back to us - phew, a stroke of luck! (Lesson learnt)
Parts of Morocco have become booming tourist locations - e.g. Mediterranean coastline. There are many huge hotel chains along the coast, with many more being built. As with any location that offers spectacular beauty, this is always spoilt by the huge concrete buildings.
WELSH HOSPITALITY
We stumbled on our campsite in Larache – thanks to the GPS. There were many locals milling around near the entrance, but we were beckoned in and directed to the side of the campsite to join a multitude of campervans (many from France) and other travellers. We had parked up our landy’s with a space between us so that we could use this as the ‘social area’ – however a campervan from Wales politely parked up between us <gr>. Actually he was a jovial old chap from Wales and was very chatty. He and his wife had been traveling to Morocco for the past 5 years so had a lot of experience of which places and routes to visit. We decided our next port of call was Sale – nr Rabat – seeking some sunshine.
