spain
Spain
Friday 2nd November 2007:
On entering Spain, Duzi2 was scrutinised and checked for cigarettes, alcohol and fuel. Luckily we didn't have a clue what the customs guy was wanting and we were probably questioned less as his English was non-existant and our Spanish was even less, other than to smile and say Hola and Gracias to everything.
This made us think that Andorra may be tax-free as it is so cheap.
We continued to drive till very late (or early) and eventually "slept" on the side of the road in Duzi2 in a town called Villa Nova de la Marca, just outside Lerida.
Saturday 3rd November 2007: Villa Nova de la Marca, Spain GPS Info: N41°41'25.3" E00°43'49.7"
Miles Today: 457 Total Miles: 2225
"Woke up" after about 3 hours of sleep to try and get to northen Spain to get somewhere to sleep properly.
Drove in the dark of the early morning and both got excited to see "snow" on the roadside and in the fields like in Andorra, crossed over the Meridian line from East to West and then stopped to watch the sunrise, at which point we realised that the "snow" was in fact, disappointingly, light beach sand.
Drove on all day to reach the coast of northen Spain which was steep with cliffs, and reminded us of parts of western Ireland. Saw some beautiful long beaches between Santander and Ribadasella. Arrived at Ribadasella in the late afternoon hoping to find some info about camping in the area, but all was on siesta. This is the town where the Sella Descent canoe race ends. Ross did this race many years ago with a bunch of other paddlers from Natal Canoe Club (Hugh Raw, Kevin White, Adrian Booysen, Nigel Tatham, etc.).
We were told about two campsites so went hunting for them. One was miles out of town and didn't look that great, while the other was ....CLOSED, surprise, surprise.
We decided to carry on to Villaviciosa where Ross remembered camping during the Sella series.
This area seems to build precarious little wooden buildings resembling something out of the Flintstones, built on four pointy rock stilts, which they appear to use as storage units.
The town and campsite seemed closed and the river Ross remembered was far away. It turned out to be low tide. Ross had a hunch and we then headed down a little lane which ended at the river mouth, a blue-gum forest (which Ross remembered camping in before) and a closed campsite. Luckily a lovely Spanish woman called Rosie was kind enough to open it for us for one night, even turning on the hot water for hot showers.
Had tuna bollognaise for dinner as the local restaurant was closed and then walked down onto the wooden pier to listen to the waves coming in.
Sunday 4th November 2007: Villaviciosa, Spain GPS Info: N43°31'56.6" W05°22'39.8"
Miles Today: 429 Total Miles: 2654
Both woke up feeling well rested and ready for the long drive ahead. Ross tried to find the cause of an oil leak he had noticed on the gearbox/transfer-box, checked transfer box levels but couldn't check gearbox levels because it appears we don't have the right piece to remove the gearbox filler plug. Need to get one urgently.
Driving down through Spain we passed through a lunar looking area with strange rock formations and beautiful dams.
Today our plan was to drive to the Algarve in southern Portugal. After many hours of driving and darkness descending, we realised the distance was unrealistic and decided to head across to central Portugal and camp along the coast somewhere (Aviero). Thank goodness for the yoghurt covered peanuts which kept our spirits and natural sugar levels up Karl. Bet you never thought they'd last this long, neither did we, but they've been hidden in the back so were very welcomed.
Thursday 8th November 2007:
The route down took us past the outskirts of Sevilla, which meant that we were initially able to see fields upon fields of oranges and then as we got closer to the city we started seeing cultivated forests of Olive groves, which we hadn't immediately associated with this part of Spain. Something else we noticed was that even though we were far inland, there were big container ships being loaded and unloaded in a port in Sevilla. They had all travelled up a long deep river from the Spanish West coast. By now nightfall was upon us, and we were still just plodding on south, hoping this didn't mean another cramped cold night spent hunched over in the front of Duzi2 trying to catch fourty winks.
We drove through Algeciras on the way to Tarifa, in search of a campsite. There are none in Algeciras. We went to each of the five campsites in Tarifa. Pricing varied quite a lot and some of them were closed for the night by the time we arrived. We chose to stay at Camping Paloma (N36 04'34.1" W05 41'37.9") costing €13.00 (€5 each & €3 for the car), which was half the price of some of the others and they were very accomodating.
Getting to Tarifa is along a rather high coastal road and we think we saw African lights shining from across the Straits. The stars are incredible as there were no city lights to hide them. Popped the tent up and drifted off to sleep to the sound of owls hooting, goats' bells somewhere nearby and all sorts of other muffled animal sounds in the fields next door.
Friday 9th November 2007: Camping Paloma, Tarifa, Spain GPS Info: N36°04'34.1" W05°41'37.9"
Miles Today: Total Miles:
Today we planned to post some parcels, buy our ferry ticket from Algeciras to Ceuta and fill up with cheap diesel from Gibraltar. When we were here a few weeks earlier with Ross' family we had noticed the price of diesel in Gibraltar is almost half that in the UK, 55p/litre (we paid €0.83/l).
After being told at the campsite that ferry prices are pretty much the same all over, we drove to near the ferry terminus in Algeciras, parked Duzi2, and went into one of the first ticket shops we saw. As luck would have it, we managed to get a brilliant special offer on EuroFerries for a one way ticket for €37. We had priced tickets online, and it looked like a return ticket (forfeiting the return) would work out cheaper than a single ticket. We managed to buy a ticket for Duzi2, 3m high, classed as a normal car. We were warned that ferry tickets for vehicles with a height exceeding 1.85m would be charged more to stop Moroccans traveling with more than their car height on their roof, so we scored.
We then set off to Gibraltar, this time the Rock of Gibraltar was perfectly clear and the town seemed to be more full of locals rather than tourists as it was a few weeks ago. Unfortunately we missed the post office, but filled Duzi2 up, including the 2 jerries on the roof, and got her/him ready for the big trip home. We then joined the long queue exiting Gibraltar and had a South African run up to the car very envious of our trip, something his dad had done in the 70's, and something he hoped to do too.
We stopped in Tarifa for dinner and found a quaint, yummy pizzeria, filled with locals, in the old cobbled part of town. Tarifa is the Costa del Windsurf of Spain and seems to have beautiful beaches.
Off to sleep for our last night in Europe. Filled Duzi2 up with clean drinking water as we don't know when we'll have this again in Africa. Can't wait to cross over tomorrow.
Saturday 10th November 2007: Camping Paloma, Tarifa, Spain GPS Info: N36°04'34.1" W05°41'37.9"
Miles Today: Total Miles:
Today we crossed over to Africa and our dream has at last begun. We got up early to leave the campsite and see Tarifa's beaches at sunrise. The wind howled all night and it was very cold when we woke up. The postcards we saw last night of calm blue beaches were living up to the wind and kite surfers dream this morning. We saw the bright red ball of fire rise over the sand dunes before we drove the 45minute stretch from Tarifa to Algeciras port to catch our 9am ferry. We loaded with no fuss and were on our way to Ceuta, with African mountains clearly visible on the horizon.