Goodbye Europe – Hello Africa

The journey begins………………………………

Ferry from Algeciras to Ceuta

on 8th November, 2012 we woke up bright and early and got to the port at 8am to meet with Sheelah and Oyvind, whom we met in Gibraltar. They are also driving to South Africa (but taking a lot longer then we are) they were already in the queue, we were 5 mins behind, but paid for this, were told that we could not get on the 9 o’clock sailing. Noel was about to do  battle with the officials but they were not having this, and promptly got in their car and drove off, leaving a whole queue of trucks, cars and our van in the port area.

At 12md, were told that we could possibly sail at 2, maybe 3pm, at 2.30, it was possibly going to be boarding at 4pm and sailing at 5.30, when nothing happened at 6.30, I decided to make dinner where promptly a woman came along and said were moving. We drove a 100metres up the road and came to a stop and waited a further hour. We were told that the rear ferry gates were not working, so all the vehicles had to reverse into the ferry.

The boat finally left at 7.30pm exactly 11½ hours after we arrive. It all seems like such a long time ago, all in all very good training for what’s to come. Finally arrived in Ceuta at 10pm, don’t know why as it is supposed to be a 50 minute crossing!

Drove out of the port and immediately got lost and what do you do when you get lost? Ask a policeman of course! The local police were very helpful, they stopped the traffic, so that we could do a U turn in order to follow them, they took us to a posh marina and told us to park overnight there where we fell into a hard earned but great night sleep.

Ceuta is another strange place it is part of Morocco but is actually Spanish. Rather like Gibraltar is British territory.  Very odd.  So we had a half hour drive the next morning to cross the border into Morocco.  At the border there are ‘helpers who just come up and take over the paper work and tell you exactly what to do. They give you very little option but to use their services but in fact they do a very useful service working for ‘tips’ no coins please. Our helper used a very strange method to introduce himself. He established that we speak English and to show his proficiency He said  ‘Oh yes English how’s it going,lubbly jubbly,Manchester United !’

Once through customs we entered Morocco and it all changed we quickly came to realise that we were most definitely out of Europe.

So here we are in (Morocco)Africa. Has it stopped raining ? Oh no It bloody hasn’t!

 Our vans electrical problems became progressively worse with our spotlights permanently on and the windscreen wipers behaving very badly when ever it rained. I came to the conclusion that these faults might be cured by getting dried out.

 We shall see!

 

The worry of the electrics and the oppressive weather is making it all quite heavy going. We are travelling with Oyvind aand Sheelah,  for a short while, we are off  tomorrow to explore the mountains and more remote  parts of this country.  

                                         Don't you just love the mountains!

Oyvin has promised that after we cross the mountains it will become warmer and dry. We will see. 

 

 I have spent the day working through some of the faults on the van and we intend to move out tomorrow.

                                                         Doing mending!

Rain, rain go away, come again another day!

Oh yes it came  again and again!  In two weeks crossing Europe we have not had a dry day. Since we left Holland.  sometimes very intense rain. I am not complaining but it has been difficult to manage. 

There have bee a couple of repairs to do on the van it was difficult to pick a dry time to do them.

In the last week or so we have visited the Alhambra  and the Mesquita in Cordoba, both very impressive  and well worth the visit  though I think we both agree that the Mesquita  was far and away the most exciting and interesting.  A vast  and impressive Cathedral as beautiful as I have ever seen. some of the chapels are extraordinary.  What is so surprising is that the building started life as a huge Moorish Mosque That was reclaimed after the Catholic Spanish retrieved it and overlaid the Catholic cathedral  Which remains one of the most important churches in Spain.

We had a visit to Gibraltar but  this had to be curtailed due to very intense rain.  This is a shame as It is certainly a very interesting place with a most peculiar history and culture.  Would have very much liked to have seen more but we get the boat to Morocco tomorrow in the morning. As I write it is a beautiful evening and we are camped on the Atlantic end near to Algeciras of the Gibraltar Strait  watching the waves .  

Lets see what Morocco has in store for us.

P+ N

30^th October 2012

‘Movin, movin,movin’!

Well, here we are we have just crossed the fantastic Pyrenees into Spain. It has been a very long drive but through some of the most diverse and picturesque countryside.  Sparkling turquoise blue rivers rushing down magnificent mountainsides. Driving over the mountains and then out into the Desert of the Sierra de Guarra. Flat desert lands rimmed by huge mountains wow! And we have only just left France.  Really the last few days has been such a surprise.

 

 

                          The night boat to Hoek Van Holland

 

We left South Harrow about 10 days ago where a lot of friends and neighbours turned out to see us off.  It was really lovely and we so appreciated such a send off.  We had a lovely time visiting our dear friends Pete and Stella Parnell in Essex then onto take the night boat to Holland where we spent a couple of days visiting our Dutch friends Susan and Arnold with Eric, Anneke, Sylvia and Theo who are old friends that we met when we last travelled overland all those years ago in Asia.

We then set off across France, drizzle fog and driving rain were a feature of the first three days. Then it turned cold!  If truth be told I feel that we had seriously underestimated what was involved in this leg of the journey. It is about 2000Km and that is not including the Paris Ring Road, we spent several days on that until eventually we just jumped off (escaping with only minor injuries). The Perifique interieur is the most bizarre and alarming experience. I have heard of people dying of old age because they were unable to get off!  I now know where the inspiration for the Magic Roundabout must have come from. We barely survived the experience. We had several interesting nights, one parked on a main road on an industrial estate outside Paris, actually I had a great nights sleep,though I dont think the boss did.  The next night was in a municipal campsite which was so basic it was no more than a car park with a barrier. Here we already started practicing surviving in difficult conditions. Using our portable shower in cold harsh winds and pouring rain was not a success.

                The truly magnificent  Millau Bridge

We had a further desperately cold night during which we found thick hard frost on the inside of the windows in the morning. We also discovered there is a fairly serious problem with our reserve battery not holding a charge. As luck would have it I received an email that very day from Rich Clafton who is our Iveco Guru who just casually mentioned that there is a specialist overland company in Gibralta if we have any problems we should contact them.  Well we did have a problem, so we did contact them, and Kevin from Tugs4x4.com was very helpful and we will be calling on him very soon.

Well that’s about it for now  we will drive to Granada tomorrow to meet our friends Bob, Arul and Saul who are on holiday there.

I forgot to mention amid all the tales of woe that I am writing from a really nice campsite, we are the only people here the weather is nearly perfect the showers are hot and the lady in charge is very nice, abit scary but very nice.  I am reminded of Alan Mellville's song  ‘Hello Mudder,Hello Farder".  Now it has stopped raining we are starting to have some fun!

 

Cheers all

 Love from Ping and Noel

22nd October 2012

 

It was an quite a party  on the night before we left - the Big Band and the Soul Band from the Harrow Young Musicians really did us proud! 

We are so priviledged to have such amazing friends who not only provided the music, the food and drinks but also helped with the clearing up afterwards.  So many came from far and wide to wish us well. Thank you for all the presents and thoughtful gifts!

Aaaaargh! I think we're going to need a bigger Van!

20th October 2012

Ping has tesselated till she is blue in the face and it is looking like we may have so much essential equipment that we have to leave some things behind . Oh! wait a minute she has just got it all in.
Well now here we are just one day to go. closing down our home of 26 years , movin out and packing the van ready for the opportunity of a lifetime which will probably result in us gettin eaten by Lions and Tigers!

As you may imagine its bit touchy , tempers most definately getting frayed.  Oh did I forget to mention we have a big party to organise for tonight.

I have a feeling it was my idea to leave the next day as a kind of dramatic gesture. I am not so sure now it was such a good idea .
Well we leave tomorrow (sun) at midday.

We both know how lucky we are and our profound thanks go to all our friends every one has supported us in some way, you may may not even know it your self.

So there we are leave at midday  next stop Frinton on Sea then on to Harwich take the night boat to Holland to meet our Dutch Friends who we have known since the last overland trip in Asia some 30 years ago.

Thanks everyone!

16/10/12         Our last milk delivery.................5 days to go!

11/10/12  - (9 days and counting)

We went to the overland show in Daventry last weekend where we were able to look over the vehicles of others who either have, or are about to embark on similar travels. We got lots of advice from others and attended a couple of incredibly valuable seminars; one was given by Chris Scott who has written some highly valued books on overland travel. Most important we met a group of others who have similar, Iveco, vehicles. Rich Clafton was there, he is the oganiser of an Iveco traveller internet group. He was incredibly helpful with information and personal support.  We were so buoyed up with positive comments about our van, but , 'pride comes before a fall'. Our van was the only vehicle at the show to break down. A problem in the tranmission. So the show ended with us being trailered home at midnight.  While we waited for the recovery truck our super clever sophisticated heater broke, down bloody freezing! 

                Not the greatest start to a trans-Africa odyssy!

The axle, it seems was easily fixed but it was revealed that we urgently needed to fit a new clutch. We are waiting for that work to be completed. We tell ourselves that it's better that the van broke down in Northampton rather then in North Mali .

So we are anxiously waiting for the van and packing up all our worldly goods ready for storage.
 
Trash or treasure:

There is great merit to the exploitation of pensioners!

 

Packing up the house is a big problem, with Noel continously accumulating all the rubbish around the house and saying " you can't take that to the charity shop, it's sentimental". We've got several sentimental boxes of 'treasures' that Fred , our friend, has lovingly washed and clean, wrapped in bubble wrap and ready for storage.
Nevertheless despite all the stress we remain really optimistic about what lies before us.We have many friends to catch up with before we set off to be eaten by lions and tigers.  

Noels swansong!

 

Noel sang at his very last choir concert, which is sad but it was a very enjoyable show.  

We are looking forward to seeing all our friends and supporters at the party on the 20th before setting off at midday on the 21st!

We know just how lucky we are to be so well supported !