And Breathe … Tangier

Posted on October 15, 2024 by Clunegapyears

Thursday 10th 2024

I’d pinned some sights in Tangier. Off we set with Brian and Zoa. the Hungarian Vislar. He (Zoa!) got sooo much attention from the men … cos he looks butch. Little do they know that he is a girl’s blouse. Most women and kids seem to be terrified of all dogs, even our puss, Corrie. And it’s obviously very unusual for Moroccans to see hounds out with their owners.

Tangier was a good intro to Morocco. Walked the medina and old walls. This side of Morocco is much more European due to proximity to Europe and occupation. Spoke to some young ladies during our coffee stop. “This is Morocco, so women are liberated and we wear what we want”. These ladies worked in expensive restaurants and wore Western clothes. One displayed her midriff!! When pressed … married women tend to cover heads. And in the country, women are scared not too. It’s shameful not to comply.

*So many British,* that an Anglican Church was built. Garden very much in the style on an English country garden with Mediterranean plants. Entrance gate guarded by a seriously viscious cat who wanted to take chunks out of our dogs.

*Hotel Continental top left. The place to partei, during French occupation*

Carrefour hypermarche on the way home. Booze in a separate section. A bottle of mediocre red €14. A young chap ahead of me needed a thick blue bag to conceal his bottle of vodka! But I do like the prices here for veggies.

*Two large tomatoes equivalent to €0.27*

Friday 11th

Do not trust any weather forecast. Weather here seems to be totally contrary. Parc Perdicaris called us for a walk. Interesting drive up along Rue de la Montagne. Super sized walled and gated villas. Security guards on many. I googled … min price >€2m. Rebat is the capital, so presumably the Ambassadors live there? So who lives here?

*About 30 street sweepers along millionaire’s row*

*Lots of locals out too … including* *solo runners* *and walkers of* *both* (*main)* *genders*

Walk was progressing well. Nice paths. Nice scenery. Till we felt the first drops of rain. Rain that wasn’t forecast till late pm. It turned into a monsoon. Having set out in sunshine, we’d no jackets. Suffice to say, we drive carefully back through standing water to the apartment … stripped off every soaked garment and had hot showers!

After lunch the sun came out. Forecast was rain! Back up past the huge houses to Cape Spartel. Every place we go has “officials” who “help” you park. But for a euro or so, we’re happy to have the car watched.

*Not much there other* *than* *where Med meets Atlantic. But busy with locals.*

The next stop was the Caves of Hercules, where he is reputed to have stayed before accomplishing his 11th labour. And the Barbary Apes are said to have navigated underground passages to inhabit the Rock of Gibraltar. Super busy with locals, and another €1 private car park.

At €8 pp entry, they were a little disappointing, except for the patterns where the rocks had been carved out

Last stop of the day was Asilah. Two brothers had a vision of lifting the town out of depression. In the 70’s, they invited artists to paint the town. It now has an annual mural (graffiti!) festival.

*To be honest, all this geometric stuff ain’t to our taste. Bristol has a graffiti festival and that is art!*

*The walled old city was worth wandering. However, there seemed to be only 2 gates. How on earth would folk evacuate if a fire, let alone fire tenders get in?*

Having eventually found a gate to exit the old town, we walked to the Jewish cemetary. Closed sadly. Retraced our steps for refreshment. I had a milk shake … a novel version as it was whipped cream, two ice cubes and smothered in caramel sauce … I coped!

The rush hour drive home was like being in a video game, but with higher stakes. No rules and nerves of steel! Clare and I have cancelled the hire cars when the family comes over to celebrate my 60th in Marrakesh we’ll get taxis!!!

Another oops!

Posted on October 11, 2024 by Clunegapyears

6-7th October 2024

Slainte folks – my first blog for some years (J here)….. on the sandy Spanish campsite of San Jose we met Karen and David – friends from Turkey Sundance Camping in lock down 2020 – but originally met on a boozy day in Espana 2016 – fellow motorhomers. They know this area very well – we perambulated along lovely beaches for 20km over the two days. Coffee and vino tinto we forced ourselves to imbibe – no difficulty there.

*Cape Trafalgar, no battle whilst we there*

*Snails* *attached to every twig and br*anch

*Surfer beach … lots of schools and lots of falling off. Super long sandy beach.*

On the second night we supped in a local hostelry – pizza, lasagne and excellent tuna…do I need to say vinlyrinto, oops, it was good !

On the walk home David did a good impersonation of Indiana Jones by leaping backwards through a timber fence into an eight foot deep drainage channel! Not intended but spectacular to see his feet disappearing ! Only a grazed elbow resulted… and all he did was lean on the top bar.

We drove to Veger with K and D – a spectacular town with all white buildings – a good walk and a little wine…

8th October 2024

It rained on our new tent overnight – what a cheek! Dismantling and packing away was better – the second time. K and D sent us on our way with beakers of tea and coffee – we hope to see them in December – hasta pronto friends…..

We met Brian and Zoa for a long day in Algeciras centre – ferry tickets and Corrie vet visit. An anomaly with her rabies vaccination (K: I was 18 days late with one rabies vaccination which invalidates her titer tests) led to more time in the port – another vet appointment tomorrow to see if we can actually travel to Morocco! The lovely vet had communicated with the Spanish Defra in the evening, and we were told to get another titer test done, which they will email to us. Appointment at 10.00 with the vet.

A late (8:00 pm) drive to our booked hotel – very smart and quite retro. The restaurant initially looked expensive but K’s dish of cod and my salmon were both reasonably priced and delicious. Bedtime in a large bed brought quite a few noisy little feckers – mozzies! Not the best sleep but an excellent hotel.

9th October

Being anxious, we were super early. Vet confirmed that there was absolutely no chance of Corrie having insufficient antibodies given years of vaccinations. She showed me a thick wad of titer tests done and emailed for other travellers. We could travel to Morocco!

We bolted to catch the 11.00 ferry, but gates shut at 10.50. So a long wait for the 2.00, which was 1.5 hrs late. Ho hum.

All very confusing on arrival. But Brian had travelled at 0800 and sent us descriptions of what to expect: through a scanner, customs, then sim card and car insurance. On being asked to open the boot, I explained we had camping equipment and that I had packed it. He sent us off, to the chagrin of the cars in front of us having to completely empty everything. Took us just over 2 hours, which I believe is quick.

We arrived in rain and wind at the Tangier campsite where Brian was installed. The chap wanted to charge €40 to pitch with Brian or €30 up a bit with no electric!!! All immaterial as we couldn’t get a single peg into the hard-core under the manicured shingle. Abort! Found an apt nearby for not much more. And we are dry!

Oops. I broke the motorhome!

Posted on October 6, 2024 by Clunegapyears

We set off on 20th September to get close to Dover for an 0740 crossing the next morning. J was following me in the Aging Merc to drop it at Maddy’s on the way. He watched me leave the tarmac and flattened a cone. There had been 5; 4 had already been crushed by other vehicles. Cones had been placed there to warn drivers of the drop into the verge. To be honest, we’ve been over much worse potholes. Enough of a drop for me to hear an almighty bang. The automatic fuel cut-off did just that, which stopped the power steering. I struggled to get Jez back on the road and cruised gently off the road with hazards on. A visual (quick) showed no damage. YouTube told us how to reset the fuel cut-off switch. On we went.

But I could hear a noise. On arrival at Farnham Sainsburys, I got under Jez. Quickly spotted a rear tyre was rubbing on metal and slowly being shredded. Luckily, it hadn’t blown. I spoke to a tyre shop … the informed chap said that I sounded like a bent chassis and to call the insurance.

We waited 4 nights in Sainsburys car park for a low loader! At least wine and ice cream readily on hand. By day 3, after hourly phone calls, we had been escalated to the insurance company’s nominated repairer’s Techical Manager. Rick is a man with a brain who uses it. There is no point taking the moho to the standard car repair place in Portsmouth. And no point calling a low loader until a specialist repairer could be found. Greenfields in Camberley thought they might affect a repair until they saw it. At this point, Rick was talking a right off. We were totally belly punched.

A member of wildcamping.co.uk suggested Fraser Brown for a repair. He asked for pix. I asked Rick to send me the loss adjuster pix to forward on. In the meantime, Rick (the man with a brain) had been asking around and been led to Fraser Brown too. Ageas, the insurers, have previously used a firm near Rochdale, which is somewhat closer than Inverness. But it’s all up North when you’re from Surrey Hampshire borders!

So we’ve held various wakes thinking Jez had died and then a resurrection party. We can’t tell you how delighted we are that Jez will be restored to us.

Having no home available to us in the UK, we planned to descend on my Aged Ps. But whilst camping in Sainsburys Farnham, I felt poorly. Tested positive. So we ended up booking a salubrious static in sunny Selsey for a week. Incredibly poorly (static not me, I felt fine) laid out with no storage compared to a motorhome. Having thought that a some point buying a static as our UK base might be a good move, we are now totally against. Cheek by jowl … we could hear a neighbours TV as such thin walls.

We had to wait for 2 weeks for recovery and a final decision. In that time, we moved from reviewing what we might buy, UK or Greece, getting sale values on Jez to argue with insurers value, and a quick decision to continue with our trip to Morocco. Other options, drive the Merc to Greece and lack our wounds. Then get Merc back sometime. Or rent in UK till Jez returned to us. Very expensive. I’m affected by lack of blue skies.

So we have bought a new tent, airbeds a 2nd hand electric coolbox and gas cooker. We have all this kit already! In Crete, which is as much use as a motorhlme with bent chassis rails. Decision not to camp on one nighters. If it gets cold and some places just don’t have tent pitches.

We set off at 0500 from the Aged Ps house for the 0910 DFDS ferry on 3rd October. Comfortable in the premium lounge az as had a credit changing from Jez to a normal car. Two nights en route. We are now ensconced on a campsite between Cadiz and Algeciras for 3 nights. A no driving day after days of 12 hrs, 12 hrs / 1000k, and 10 hrs / 900k. David and Karen are arriving today.

*So warm that* *only* *needed* *our* 4.5 *tog* *duvet.* *Have another 10.5* *for* *the Sahara.*

UK & Dublin, wedding and cottage troubles!

Posted on October 5, 2024 by Clunegapyears

We left Crete on 15th August. We flew with 2 packed cases. Thank you Lin for taking another suitcase and some olive oil in your motorhome. Corrie travelled overland with a Pet Taxi. She’s used to long driving days and we felt this was preferable to her going in a noisy plane hold. Probably cheaper too, as €680 Chania to Slough. Collection from Brussles would have been £500!

*No slumming it:* *aircon, soft music, cctv to drivers.* *Most of the pups were rescues meeting new owners for the first time. ❤️*

We collected Jez and stayed one night at Stonehenge to check all systems go. They weren’t! Despite paying the service centre / storage place in Andover to check everything worked. They got it all working by mid morning!

We pretty much based ourselves in Chichester at Woodlands Farm, still £10 pn. Great friends Mick and Sue and later David and Karen stayed in their motorhomes. Walking, eating and drinking, of course! We spent time with my Aged Ps and Maddy and Jordan.

*David didn’t bring a jumper … this is Britain brrr!*

*My Pat Butcher fleece made an appearance*

A side 2 nights to our holiday rental house in N Devon. We are selling this as it just doesn’t generate much revenue and is a general pain in the butt. Since putting it on the market, our housekeeper, having assured us, he would continue to offer his services, had some kind of breakdown, and handed in his notice, and his eye went off the ball. He knew we were coming down but omitted leaving us any clean bed linen. Then, he lied about how many sets he had. Plonker! Whilst there we appointed a new housekeeper, who so far, is lovely. And we worked super hard on the middle day to clear the large shed. Stuff to the charity shop, most to the dump and some to Maddy’s small spare shed near Farnham.

*Car probably over laden as the interior was rammed. The roof has a decorating table, ladder, jet wash etc*

Maddy and Jordan got married on 7th September. It was a fabulous event. So busy chatting we didn’t take any pix of us all dolled up. Hoping for some in the professional’s pix. J’s suit was a win … charity shop £35!

*Got to have hair and make up* *done.* *And* *had* *fake eyelashes!!!*

We house sat the mad menace Kevin the Cocker whilst MandJ abused our Crete house for 6 nights. We then left Corrie with them for 3 nights, whilst we went to Dublin. 6 to see 3 of J’s 5 siblings, but the highlight for me was going out on Liam’s rib in Dublin Bay. Calm, so he cranked it up flat out at 45 knots! I then drove it back and right up into centre Dublin, where we alighted! Awesome way to arrive in the city.