Day 72 - Home again

The day has arrived where we return home to the UK. Up early so that we can make the 20 minutes journey to the Eurotunnel pet reception. We get to check in the 'boys' at around 8:30am hoping that we will get the opportunity to get an earlier train. The girl behind the desk takes a really good look at the pet passports and I start to think that we may have a problem. Thankfully it was all OK and we were soon driving around to check ourselves in.

On approaching the barrier the van number plate is recognised and it gives us our booked departure time but with no other choices. On checking through the intercom we find out that we are unable to go any earlier. Disappointment that we have to wait an hour but maybe I should have booked an earlier train. I always seem to do this.

Soon we were driving around to load onto the 09:50 train. Its strange to arrive back in the UK 30 mins before we left... due to the hours difference between Europe and the UK summer time. No issues either side of the channel with customs or passport control so we are soon on our way straight out onto the motorway and the 150 mile journey home. First impressions are that the volume of traffic is so much more than we have been experiencing throughout the last 10+ weeks. It is also strange but comforting to be driving once again on the left and not have to keep looking across the van at the passenger wing mirror. It doesn't take long to get back into the groove again.

We get home around 12:00 and luckily we are able to park up right outside our flat. The 'boys' were so excited when they realised where we were. They went rushing into the flat and then we got on with the job of emptying out the food, clothes and all the other things we had been carrying. You then start to realise how much stuff we did take with us. We will have to be a little more ruthless on our next trip I think to myself.

Mid afternoon and Stacie, our daughter, arrives with her children and they did not realise we were home until they walked through the door. They gushed with happiness to see us...

Home again and relaxing with familiar things around us. Now its time to start to sort out the mountain of post and deal with any issues. Good to be back but I know it won't be long before we look forward to our next expedition.

Thank you all for following our journey which was 5336 miles from start to finish... until next time!!

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Day 71 - Wissant

After recent mornings we had a lie in as we didn’t have too far to go today compared to the past few days. We left the Aire at around 10:30am and had 150 miles to travel.

Nothing exciting on the journey except it was certainly getting colder and a great deal more wind. We soon arrived at Auchan in Boulogne, a hypermarket we had not visited before. We took the opportunity to have lunch and do some shopping. We needed to buy some drink for the two weddings we are attending this year namely, Tina’s sister and our son.

Once everything was stowed away again we moved on to our overnight stop. We had decided to use Wissant where we had started our trip and had met Terry & Brenda on 2 January.

Now sat watching the soaps and trying to pick up the latest plots. Tina is enjoying herself…..

Early start tomorrow so that we can get the ‘boys’ checked in and the van checked in ready for a 09:50am crossing. Maybe if we get there early we will be given an earlier slot. Lets hope that when we get home there will be somewhere to park the van….time will tell...

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Day 70 - Pont De L'arche

Today was always going to be a long days drive and so it turned out to be.

We left soon after 9am and took the toll motorway so that we could save some time. We had around 300 miles to travel. Keeping a steady 70 mph we stopped after 2 hours for a drink and biscuits which the ‘boys’ always enjoy. They get to have a sniff round and cock their legs. the toilet block on the motorway even had piped music… certainly one of the best I have seen on French motorways.

We continued to travel on for the rest of the journey and duly arrived at around 3:30pm. The cost of the tolls was around €50…. expensive but it did save some time and therefore some fuel I guess.

Planned where we will go tomorrow which will be the Auchan at Boulogne rather than Calais and then back to Wissant where it all started 2 months ago when we met Terry & Brenda on our first day in France. How ironic!! We have so enjoyed their company and look forward to meeting them again over the coming months at a couple of show rallies when they return to the UK. Tomorrow is deliberately a shorter drive giving us some time to shop for the few things we want to take back to the UK.

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Day 69 - Riom

Good nights sleep and we are up and refreshed ready for the day ahead. We leave as planned around 9am.

First we travel to Leucate so that we can get some basic essentials in the supermarket. Our next task was to travel to the other end of the village and park up. Our appointment was 10:30am but we are a little early but we were greeted without any fuss. Straight into the examining room. It was Woody who was going to have to take the worming tablet first. The Vet has to do this herself but Woddy had other ideas. Eventually after trying many times we give up on our tablets we supplied and used those supplied be her…. success without fuss. Result. Next time we are to tell her that they can have an injection instead of a tablet … much better idea. After the pet passports are signed and we pay over the fee we walk out and get under way. We paid less this year than last year…. €7.20…. Cant believe it as we paid over €60 in Germany in the summer last year.

We travelled the 400km on the toll roads crossing the Millau bridge. What an impressive piece if engineering. After our stop for lunch we completed the four hour journey around 3:30pm. We are the only van here.

Changed our booking for the crossing to Saturday morning so we could be home by lunchtime. This evening we tried putting the satellite dish up and we have been watching UK television. After not seeing anything for such a long time you come to realise what rubbish is offered up to the general public.

Tomorrow will again be a long day as we are going to try and get more than half way back to Calais so that we can have some time on Friday afternoon to do some final shopping before boarding the train on Saturday. We hope to get back to a place we used last year and also stopped for lunch this year on the way to Spain. Lets hope they have space when we get there….

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Day 68 - Salses Le Chateau

Up early again today. We were on the road at 9am. The mist had come in and we departed through the flat landscape with our headlights on. I decided that we would use the toll roads to travel the 400km today… this is not something I would normally contemplate but the difference in time warranted the decision. The cost was around €30. The drive was certainly easier and we were able to keep a steady 100 k.p.h speed.

I headed for a free parking place we haven’t used before near the Vet we will visit tomorrow. It will be a 20 minute run so we will probable get a few bits of shopping before we meet the 10:30 appointment time. I spent some time this afternoon planning our stops over the coming few days   and if all goes to plan we should cross back in to the UK on Saturday morning.

The remaining part of the afternoon was spent updating our blog web site for the past three days and updating the apps and software on our Tablets, phone and laptop. Hope that we should be in range of the Astra 2 satellite tomorrow so that we can maybe see some television….something we haven’t done since the beginning of January.

Another english couple in a caravan are also overnighting here with us. They work for Eurocamp and are on route to Corsica. They look after the needs of guests staying in 25 static caravans. Not sure that is a job I would fancy...

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Day 67 - Delta de l'Ebre

Today was going to be a little shorter to drive… only 400km. We were up and gone by 9am after first servicing the van.

The EU has spent billions of euros subsidising the road network in Spain and plainly you can see why. We travelled virtually all the way today and all the way yesterday on dual carriageway motorway standard. The roads are fast and the network is good.

We arrived at around 2pm after a 45 min lunch stop. We came to this private aire last year and it was quite full on arrival but many more vans came in during the afternoon. Tina acquired the WIFI code from the cafe and so we were able to catch up with news on Facebook and emails. A bonus as it was not expected that we would get any internet after we left Morocco until we get to France.

Our journey tomorrow is another 400 km drive and we will be in France in readiness for the visit to the Vet on Wednesday morning after which we immediately turn north and start for Calais.

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Day 66 - San Fulgencio

Long way to go today so it was an early wake up call for Tina. We had breakfast, packed the van for travelling and said our good byes to our travelling companions for the past few weeks, Terry & Brenda, and then we left at 9am as planned.

We travelled the 586km (364 miles) in around 7 hours after taking an hour for some lunch half way through. We travelled some of the distance on toll roads which certainly helped to maintain our average speed. The cost around €15 which is much better than the cost of french motorway tolls.

The site her is very much like the sosta we stayed at in Italy back in the summer. EHU is only 5 watts so not able to boil the electric kettle but will keep the batteries topped up and hot water for the morning. The included WIFI is not up to much but we did get a quick call into Stacie but with very little video which wasn’t two way. Have to wait until we get to France before we can update the blog.

Tomorrow we have around 400 km to travel so still a full day but maybe an earlier finish….

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Day 65 - Algeciras

Up early this morning in preparation for the run up to the port. Serviced the van, breakfasted, showered and said our good byes all by 9am. Then it was the two hours drive to the boat and fill with fuel on the way. 30km from Tangier med we pulled into the motorway services to fill with diesel. Thought I would use my credit card…. No credit cards here we were told. I had to borrow some cash from Terry… fortunately he had more than enough and was hoping to change some dirhams back to euros. Arrived at the toll and we just about had enough. Left with around 40 dirhams (£3) to hang on to if we return next year.

Arrived at the port and went through the police check, customs etc with no real issue. The portable x-ray machine was not working. Got to the dock side at around midday and the boat was already there. We left the dock just after 1pm. Much better than we had expected.

Our next hurdle was getting through the Spanish authorities. No problem here either … just a cursory look at our passports. There was no recognition that we had the ‘boys’ and so we did not need to present the pet passports. Next stop was gas. Short drive up the motorway and filled with 23 litres of gas…. much less than I had expected. We have either been more frugal or the bottles didn’t fill completely. No matter the gas did survive the time we had been in Morocco.

Now it was time to go back to Lidl where it had started some seven or so weeks earlier. Shopping done we were now looking for a restaurant to enjoy a meal together. Nothing open so we settled for McDonalds. Not what we hoped but hey ho we did eat and chat together.

Our final evening together before we say good bye tomorrow until we see them again in just over a months time. Its going to be hard as we have been with Terry & Brenda since 2nd January but we know that we need to go east whilst they are likely to head into Portugal.

We will do it again I feel sure. We have thoroughly enjoyed their company and the whole experience has been a delight. Cant wait now until we start to plan next year…..

Tomorrow we have a full day of driving ahead of us as we try to get across to the Alicante area of Spain before pushing on over the following 2 days to France. We plan to leave at around 9am so an early start is required and early to bed is a must. Until tomorrow ….

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Day 64 - Moulay Bousselham

Hot and madness ...

The temperatures soared today. This afternoon we saw mid 30’s and needed to sit in the shade. So different to the UK and feel so lucky.

The morning started with the usual run around trying to get the electrics back on. They had been working all night but then as everyone started to emerge more appliances came on and the electric went off.

We had a party of 11 french vans which seem to be on a guided tour. They all decided to park around the area we occupied and poked into any spot available. The clincher was when alarge american RV pulling a box car trailer which made in about sixty feet long decided her wanted to join the others. He has had to stop near the cafe and service area as it was the only place he could get into. He’s going to have to reverse out in the morning when they leave.

The guy in charge then decided that all of the vans would hook up to our existing overloaded electric point where the trip keeps going. He contracted the trip by placing a wire past it thus negating the trip completely. He reckons that he was an electrician. I do hope he know what he’s doing. We now have 15+ vans all running of the same supply. Worrying !!!!

Watched the live match on Sky TV tonight between AFCB and Fulham. I have had to fool Sky by changing my Internet address using a VPN. It gets around the need to have to be in the UK to get Sky. We won 5-1 which is the main thing and we are top of the championship again … at least until tomorrow.

Leaving early in the morning to drive to the port to get the 1pm ferry back to Spain. Wont have any internet until we get back into France around Tuesday evening so this blog will get updated then.

Its been great again this year… not so hot as last year but enjoyed the company of Terry & Brenda for the past 2 months. We will be leaving them on Sunday morning. Everyone we have come across has been friendly and helpful and the trip has been most enjoyable. Seen more of the country this time.

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Day 63 - Moulay Bousselham

Lovely warm day relaxing with some good company and not doing a lot.

As the sun got up this morning the temperature began to rise and certainly by mid afternoon it had to be in the high 20’s. Lovely.

Late morning and we had an interloper… it was Colin & Sandra a.k.a. Armytwowheels. We had been with them in the last couple of days at Taghazout. They have been wandering around the country much like us. Their intentions are to have a week here and use their kayaks in the lagoon before heading for the port like us.

Later in the afternoon they joined us for a drink and we chatted… most enjoyable.

The highlight of the day was trying to get the electric working this morning and then keeping them working throughout the morning. Some woman was trying to use her hairdryer and kept tripping the circuit for all of us. This evening we had a repeat performance before it finally settled down for the night. This IS Morocco so we must expect these things.

Tomorrow will be much the same I am sure…..

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Day 62 - Moulay Bousselham

Our day to continue our journey up to the port and then our trek home...

We had the usual start, serviced the van and paid our fees. It cost us 180 MAD for three nights which works out at around £4.20 per night including electric. Silly prices but that is why it is cheap  to live here just expensive due the mileage to get here.

We made our way to Marjane, the large supermarket chain owned by the King. I told Tina it was likely to be her last chance to buy anything from Morocco before departing for Spain on Saturday. She took the opportunity to buy one or two things she had been looking at over the weeks. Next we were on the toll motorway the 100k up the road to the next campsite.

We arrived and found ourselves a couple of pitches but struggled to find two electric points that actually worked. A UK electrician would have fits worrying about the state of the wiring in Morocco. None of the points were in original condition. Wires hanging out and you have to be really careful not to touch anything. Other vans came in after us and struggled to find a supply and eventually sharing started to occur.

Evening came and everyone started to turn on lights, TV’s etc and the power couldn’t cope so it gave up. No more electric tonight… sort it out in the morning I think.

The site is on the sides of a natural lagoon with pink flamingoes and other birds. Lovely scenery if only people wouldn’t park in the way!! Still we are only here for a short time.

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Day 61 - Kenitra

Today was going to be our final day here so we took the chance to have showers and have a relaxing morning getting things sorted out. After midday we took a walk to the Souk. Our first attempt we ended up at a second hand clothes market…. definitely not the souk. After asking some locals for directions we then found the souk which was more like street stalls and not like anything we have been to before in Morocco.

We got back to the van late afternoon. It was very warm whilst we were out … 28°C. Somewhat warmer than at home in the UK. Our remaining part of the afternoon was relaxing.

After dinner I listened to the Bournemouth match with Wolves which we won 2-1. Hooray. Yesterday I tweeted the Commentator for him to give us a shout out during the game. Surprise, surprise he came through in the second half. Even got a cheer from Tina.

Tomorrow we are moving on up the coast another 100k to a site that a number of people have been recommending. We are looking forward to spending a few days by the water.

On our journey up to this site we saw many Renault 4 cars that had been competing in the 4l trophy which left Biaritz on 19th Feb and completed on 1st March at Marrakesh after visiting various places around the country. We saw them returning back to the port on Sunday. There were 2400 vehicles in this rally. The featured image is one of those participants taken by Brenda as it passed us.

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Day 60 - Kenitra

Today was washing day. The weather has been hot and sunny just right for drying the clothes.

We had breakfast and late morning I dragged the washing machine out of the garage. It has been really useful to carry it. We have been able to keep on top of the dirty laundry and able to change the bedding when needed. Brenda has also made use of the machine when we have finished with it for our session.

After lunch Tina had a rest on the bed while I tried to unlock an old MIFI I have carried with us. In order to check how much data allowance we have left it is necessary to send a text. Unfortunately my Netgear MIFI doesn’t allow me to send texts so I have been borrowing Terry’s old phone. After some research and following some confusing instructions I was able to find the unlock code and send a text using the Huawei MIFI. Disappointing to find I have only just over 1GB of data left and I want to stream the commentary of the Bournemouth match tomorrow and also watch the live match on Friday so I will have to buy a recharge tomorrow. The cost is 50 MAD (£3.50) for 4GB of data so it won’t break the bank.

I also have found a better way of securing the Tyrepal monitor in the cab. This is a device for monitoring our tyre pressures and temperatures constantly as we move along. It sounds an alarm if the pressure and / or temperature falls outside of the limits that I have set. Lets hope that it doesn’t go off any more on our journey home.

Decided that tomorrow we are going to try and find the Souk. We had some difficulty trying to locate it on the map but eventually did so. If it is too far to walk for either Tina or myself we will hail a taxi. The journey would only be a few pence in a Petite Taxi.

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Day 59 - Kenitra

After a slow start this morning we had breakfast and proceeded to pack up for the journey up the coast to a campsite that had been recommended to us on the MotorhomeFun forum. We paid the 95 MAD ( £7.30) site fee which included electric and was expensive by Moroccan standards.

We decided to travel by the toll motorways and paid around 100 MAD in tolls to cover over 100 miles on good roads. You can’t say that about the ring road around Rabat. The road is as bad as I remember it from last year. The one good thing is that I didn’t get stopped by the police for jumping and lights.

We arrived on site and found a spot over the far side away from most of the other vans and should get some sunshine and warmth over the next few days.

Tina has informed me that we are going to do our weekly washing tomorrow. I told her that this was probably going to be the last time before we get home. We will have to use all of the clothes we have brought. I am sure we brought enough fro 4 people not two.

Bring on the sunshine for tomorrow….

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