We completed the appointments which had taken us back to the UK after our Austria trip enduring the cold, wet and generally miserable weather. However, we were keen to get out on the road for a proper trip and not just to do do more truck jobs. We had been wanting to get to Morocco to try out the capabilities of our truck properly but weren’t quite sure we would get a long enough window to get there. After not a small amount of faff though, we managed to complete our online forms for our US visas for next year which meant we have to be back by late March 2024 for our interview. Therefore, we concluded we had just enough time to dash south to the sun.
However, having just been away for a month, we obviously had to catch up with friends again and celebrate Xmas early at home. We were lucky to coincide with Guy and Claire, friends from Lagrasse, France on a visit home to the UK so were able to combine a night out with Pete and Cheryl too. We also managed to fit in a Xmas dinner out and the new Napoleon film after our recent visit to Waterloo. So despite an unexpected tyre swap out due to a crack in the side wall 😰, we still managed to get away by 7th December.
We were trundling up the M5 and Kev said that someone in a white van had passed and were waving at us. We do attract quite a bit of attention in our truck and this was not necessarily unexpected. However, this time, it turned out to be Claire and Guy also heading east, not only that but then when we pulled in at Taunton service for a coffee, we bumped into them again. Finally Guy passed us again after dropping off Claire at Bristol airport and our fun game of tag was over and we headed off alone toward to Folkestone.
We ended up going via the Eurotunnel again due to lack of dog friendly cabins on the Roscoff ferry and a late parcel delivery. Although it was a bit of a detour to Algeciras for our Morocco ferry, it was worth it for the pure ease of the crossing and not stressing out our doggie travel companions who cope so well with the journeys we make. When we parked up near Folkestone on Wednesday night, the sunset at 15:55, and sunrise would not be until 07:50. In Marrakesh, where we were headed, there were 2 more hours of daylight that day and compared to the 4 degrees C where we were it was 21 degrees at 4pm, a full 16 degrees warmer!
After an early crossing on Thursday morning, we had the entire length of France and Spain to cross. We decided to push on through and get there to maximise our time in Morocco, perhaps slowing down a bit when it got warmer and drier. So despite a bright start on our journey across France, the torrential rain started after lunch and did not stop. We finally decided to stop for the night at our familiar stop of Saint-Jean-d’Angély, for our fourth visit there over all of our travels, as it is a handy stop off. However, despite a massive 727 km driving day, there were no Belgian beers in our usual bar as the rain was so heavy. So an early night before heading to Spain the next day.
We opted for the route to the west of the Pyrenees, having long hoped to visit the culinary capital of San Sebastián. We have turned right out of the Santander ferry before, but never left so this little corner of Spain has eluded us so far. Amazingly, in San Sebastián and surrounds there are restaurants holding 16 Michelin stars, 3 restaurants with three stars each and the rest across a number of restaurants with 1 or 2 stars a piece. Only Kyoto in Japan has such a high concentration of Michelin stars. Also being in Basque Country, San Sebastián is also famous for pintxos (tapas) and we were really excited to go…. However, it seems that pleasure will be withheld a while longer, as we arrived to find the only Aire absolutely full to bursting and two other motorhomes looking for spaces in the 5 mins we were there.
We looked and found alternate places to park, however, several people within the last month had posted on the Park4Night app reporting break ins of their motorhomes across the surrounding area, even in broad daylight. There were also reports from the police of gangs operating and targeting motorhomes. Needless to say, even despite our better security in our truck, we did not want our trip ruined so early on by a smashed cab window for example and all the hassles of replacement. We decided we could not enjoy an evening out leaving the truck in an area like that.
However, as it was getting later and we had driven nearly 400km already that day, we did not want to go too far. We thankfully found a Cider Barn / restaurant on the outskirts of San Sebastián which allowed overnight parking for motorhomes. We arrived around 4-5pm to find just one other motorhome parked up and many very happy revellers apparently just departing from lunch. We booked a table for dinner at the shop and retired back to the van.
We were not sure what to expect that evening, but it turned out to be a great night, with a three course menu which included unlimited cider refills! The food was amazing, grilled in the open kitchen the hake was cooked to a fluffy perfection and T-Bone steak was apparently delicious too. To obtain your cider and subsequent refills, you had to follow the crowds to find the cider man in amongst rows of barrels, he opens the barrel tap and in Galician style you have to have hold your glass away for a long pour into your glass to create a slightly frizzante taste to the lovely dry cider. The place was packed with what seemed to be lots of locals and it was a great atmosphere for a fun evening. We could just about get in the truck when we got back due, not due to cider intake but due to the very close parking of our neighbours. Luckily by the morning though, it was just us and another couple of vans so we got off early.
We decided we needed a bit of a driving respite the next day and certainly we wanted to stretch our legs after all that food, so we opted for a short hop along the north coast of Spain on Saturday morning. We found a perfect looking park up near Deba on a clifftop overlooking the sea on one side and the mountains on the other. It was the starting point for hiking and also popular for surfers.
We had a lovely day in some very mild weather walking the dogs and even finding a vineyard in the neighbouring hamlet for a bottle of wine with dinner. The owner was saying, via translations with the help of a nice guy also visiting at the time from Barcelona that the vineyard was for sale as their sons were not interested to continue the business. It seemed an absolutely idyllic spot and thankfully we have plans for the next couple of years otherwise it’s just the sort of crazy idea that might have tempted us!
Sunday was a good day to push on further with quiet roads and we completed another 400km or so. We are taking the inland route to the west of Madrid which we had been really keen to travel and see what inland Spain was like, being the majority of the land mass of Spain, rather than the coast which is more usually visited and publicised. The first leg to Villamuriel de Cerrato was pretty industrial, with abandoned graffitied buildings and wide flat plains. We visited the local free Aire and thought we should contribute locally as a result, so popped in a little tapas bar up the street for a late lunch, buzzing with lots of locals apparently popping in a drink or a coffee before family dinners.
The next couple of days the landscape changed again, the next day to rolling hills and mist, with occasional small low rise honey coloured stone villages with terracotta tiled roofs, but mostly vast empty land. There were many black kites scanning the countryside and various other hawks, we also saw what we think was a Iberian Imperial eagle soaring overhead.
We enjoyed the big landscapes and long views of distant hills, which was all surprising green and lush. There was later Arable land and then vast vineyards, interspersed with occasional clusters of commercial buildings both in use and deserted. Another free park up in Aldea del Cano and another 400km took us to within another day’s drive of the Mediterranean. We travel slow and stop fairly frequently to walk the dogs and had settled into a routine of 400km being as far as we wanted to go in a day.
The final leg of our journey gave way to oak woodlands with the black pigs grazing the acorns below, unwittingly preparing themselves to produce Iberian ham. Then there were cattle grazing and the ubiquitous black bull roadside silhouettes, then onto more mountainous regions. We were amused by frequent road signs for what to do in snowy weather which looked most unlikely in the mild sunny 20 degrees C weather, but then we saw a sign for ski resort which was apparently due to be open soon for the season! We certainly saw no signs of snow caps but clearly there is so much more to explore.
We fished our final ascents over the large hills of Andalusia and then suddenly the Mediterranean was in front of us, with the familiar but incongruous rock of Gibraltar standing tall amongst the high rise, compact and densely populated coastal region. After days of relaxed empty roads and steady driving with countryside views (excepting the Seville ring road) and an audiobook for entertainment the traffic onslaught after Jerez de la Frontera was a shock.
It was 23 degrees on the dashboard readout and the sun was shining though, so after a week of driving we decided to get somewhere nice to park for a couple of days whilst we completed a full service before embarking to a new continent just 8 miles across the Straits of Gibraltar at its narrowest point. We chose the marina park up at La Linea de la Conception with its on site laundry facilities overlooking Gibraltar.
We got a beer in the sunshine and enjoyed some tapas in the evening when we arrived before a day of laundry, pharmacies, blog writing etc and a day off driving. Today we drive 20mins round the coast to Algeciras for a final shop and ferry ticket before we cross to Tangier West and onto Africa!
In for a Penney 