Spain / Morocco 2014

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Week 1

Tuesday 25th February – Week 1



The reality of setting off to Spain a month earlier than we had originally planned dawned today. I never thought I would be taking a 24 hour ferry trip crossing the Bay of Biscay in February with force 8 – 9 gales forecast! All was sunny and calm when we arrived in Portsmouth but it didn't last long. We actually survived the crossing thanks to some travel sickness tablets and even managed to eat an evening meal and finally get some sleep even though the ship was really rocking and rolling through the night.



On arrival in Spain we decided to head straight for Salamanca where we stayed for 2 nights. The campsite was fairly basic but there was a bus into town handily placed at the entrance and the lady in reception must have been working for the spanish tourist board as she was particularly friendly and helpful. The old town was much as I remembered it from our visit about 35 years ago but there was a lot of new development around the outskirts. It was freezing cold so we didn't browse for too long but it is about 3000 feet above sea level.



On Friday we drove to Caceres where we stayed on a very handily placed Aire, a 10 minutes walk from the historic centre. There is a remarkably preserved old town within original fortifications with a very impressive Plaza Mayor nearby and it was warm enough to sit in the square with a cup of coffee!



From Caceres we headed down to the coast near Cadiz. In both the towns we have visited so far and alongside the motorway we have seen nesting storks on rooftops, bell towers, electricity plyons and in purpose built baskets on stands which have been placed beside the roads. It gave me something to look out for on was was quite a long journey but the road system is excellent and we travelled on a nearly empty motorway all the way.



The site by the coast is very good – lots of Brits staying over the winter here – but we arrived on a spanish holiday weekend so there was a lot of noise last night as we were surrounded by spanish families in caravans but we managed to sleep regardless. This must be one of the few parts of the coastline that has not been developed in Spain. Today we walked along the beach to the lighthouse which is the nearest point to where the battle of Trafalgar took place, according to the information board. Tomorrow we meet up with our fellow travellers for the next 3 weeks before we set off to Morocco on Tuesday. Should be interesting!

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Comments

[Margot]

Yes saw the forecast about gales and thought of you both!

[maureen]

I cannot deal with rough seas so even the thought of your journey distresses me but somehow it seems quite an auspicious start to a real adventure. It continues to rain here, the skies today have been so dramatic. Caught in a huge black tunnel that was throwing rain down in bucketfuls we could still see a glimpse of light blue sky across the road. A seminar on Arts for wellbeing at Winchester Uni on Thursday was so uplifting, after we had sung a group of people from Brighton who are all aged 60+ performed a contemporary dance, very emotional and very inspiring. Looking forward to your travelblog. Have fun. We are all going to Jane\'s tomorrow. Our walk is likely to be rained out so I will think of you in the sunny climes of Northern Africa. love Maureen x

[elaine]

enjoy!
Looks great, hope Chris doesn't trade you in for a camel Jack! x