23.12.14-4.1.15
Of course the theme for the beginning of our journey was „driving south as fast as possible”.
However, we liked driving little Swiss streets with our new truck so much, that we did the little pass from home via Menzigen to Cham twice. As we are really efficient we decided to grab even our passports before we started the same route the second time.
And because it was so beautiful nearby Lucerne we stopped there to exchange the batteries of the cabin. While loading the truck we had detected that the batteries didn’t charge properly even if they were connected to electricity. In the meantime it was 5pm already so we had to speed up (not that easy with a truck) to reach the boarder to France. Done! Late, tired and happy we found a cosy little spot for us to sleep.
Christmas day we found out that our toilet wasn’t waterproof at all, but as good craftsmen we solved the problem immediately. After that we hit the road and drove through to Barcelona. The other day we wanted to meet our colleagues in Almeria for dinner. They found a wonderful overnight place for us, directly at the harbour. The evening and dinner was nice and we slept really well in our harbour spot.
As my tooth pain didn’t disappear and my cheek was bigger than a pillow, I’ve left my dentist phobia behind and went to a dental clinic. The diagnosis was clear: I had to take antibiotics to reduce the infection. If that didn’t help I had to go again to a dentist in Morocco!!!! Luckily the medicals and my fear to go to a dentist again forced the healing and after one week all was good again.
We drove down to Algeciras to get the tickets for the ferry to Tanger the other day. On the huge parking in front of the supermarkets were loads of camping cars who all wanted to stay during winter in Morocco. They were less than in other years as people told us, because the German and the French Government posted a warning to not travel to Morocco.
The ferry didn’t start at 11am as indicated but only at 1pm. However we arrived at Tanger already after 2 hours. Great. And if you – unlike us who had to stay on board – have done your paperwork during the ferry ride you can immediately pass through to the custom. Unfortunately we had to wait instead on the ferry until the customs officer came back after a long lunch rest as we didn’t get the stamp in the passport during the ride. Somehow we missed the information that you have to do the paperwork on the ferry and not in the harbour like in most of the countries. However, we did meet all colleagues from the boat in the customs area again. Obviously it takes time to get through custom. After short 2 hours our truck has been thoroughly examined in about 30 seconds – that was it – and then we could enter Morocco.
After getting gasoline, water and phone cards we drove to Tanger trying to find a campground and to find our way in the dark. We were lucky and managed to even drive through the entry of the campground without bigger damages.
The traffic is amazingly chaotic, which gives us newcomer a bit of a task in terms of concentration and judgment. On the other hand is everybody used to watch for each other and that helps forgive our mistakes and allows us to gain further routine. Talking about routine: we are still getting used to our live in a mini apartment. We need to optimize our procedures to avoid standing on each other’s feet. And unfortunately we cannot use the outdoor living room, as it is really cold as soon as the sun goes down after 6pm. Another interesting chapter in our everyday live the one called “where is a nice and charming overnight place?”. Of course there is room for different perspectives, but we get agreement most of the time like in the European Parliament ;-))
And here our tip for newcomer in the camping world: start searching for a nice overnight place as of 4pm (daylight!) and take a warm down feather jacket with you to Morocco, as it is really bloody cold in the evening. And as there is not heating in the local homes or restaurants – rather they like to have all doors and windows open – it isn’t that cosy going out for dinner without a warm jacket.
That said, we decided to drive even more south with the hope to somehow get warmer temperatures down to Rabat, Casablanca (forget Ricks Café, but the Hassan II Mosque is really nice)
and Agadir along the coastline.
By the way for those of you who like to surf: in this area you will find some super spots, the waves are impressiv. Combined with some beautiful landscapes and scenic beaches. In some of the areas they do build a lot of new houses, apartments for tourists and so on. Really huge constructions, which reminded us of the Spanish Costa del Sol disfigurement and they are all empty and all for sale. But they still build more. We ask ourselves who will buy that?
In Agadir we did let repair some little things – a German couple gave us the tip to go to this mechanist and he did do really a good job. Our last stop at the coast was Tiznit. After that we start our trip inland direction Anti Atlas.