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The "Road to Morocco" Click
on picture for a larger view |
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Ferry Portsmouth to Bilbao The P&O ferry ‘Pride
of Bilbao’ left Portsmouth on time at 8 pm on Friday 26 February and was due to
arrive in Bilbao on Sunday at 8 am. However, we were warned of force 10 gales
in the Bay of Biscay and the captain took the decision to steer west away from
the gale before turning south towards La Coruna and then along the coast to Bilbao,
an extra 180 miles but it avoided the storm. |
In Sopelano We
finally arrived at 3 pm and made our way to Camping Sopelana a few miles from
the port and a 10 minute walk from a sandy beach.
The site on a slope overlooking
the sea was mainly statics but well maintained and clean. We booked in for 2 nights.   
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In Bilbao In the morning took a walk to the beach
and saw that there are good walks on the hills overlooking the sea. After lunch
drove to the Guggenheim Museum on the banks of the River Nervion which flows through
Bilbao. It was a bright sunny day and the temperature reached 21°. The Guggenheim,
an amazing structure of aluminium (or stainless steel) and stone similar to Travertine
marble, is closed on Mondays and the area around is being developed with lovely
walkways and gardens as well as new office and apartment blocks. We drove almost
to the top of a hill overlooking the town (there is a cog railway) from where
there were great views. We returned to the old town which is almost exclusively
pedestrianised, the streets are narrow and lead to large squares. We visited the
cathedral which has been beautifully renovated with a great combination of ancient
and modern, the cloister is very peaceful considering it is in the centre of town
with buildings all around. Bilbao is definitely worth a visit. |
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| Bilbao
to La Cabrera Left Bilbao at 9.45 am and arrived
at Camping Pico de la Miel just off the motorway by 3 pm. The site is mainly statics
but there is a dedicated area for touring vans with a clean well laid out facilities
block. There is a spectacular mountain range just behind the site but we could
not find any areas where walking was permitted and the small town is very run
down but building work was in progress. |
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La Cabrera to Santa Elena Left
La Cabrera in heavy rain just after 9.30 am. The motorway around Madrid was horrendous
but the gorge of Despenaperros was spectacular from a viewpoint with parking on
the motorway. Major road works are in progress around the gorge and we had to
backtrack for Camping Despenaperros on the north edge of Santa Elena in a pine
grove. Excellent facilities but the site was waterlogged in places as it was raining.
We drove through the national park and then to La Carolina for shopping but it
continued to rain all afternoon and evening. |  |
We got away by 9.30
am, it was still raining and there was dense mist. Once the road descended to
under 2500 ft the mist cleared and by the time we reached Camping Parque Tropical
around 2 pm there was bright sunshine. The site is on a slope, pitches are tight
and divided by trees, the facilities are clean and the staff friendly and helpful.
We walked to the beach which definitely needed cleaning, there was even a dead
goat. | |
Around Estepona
After a
leisurely morning drove to Algeciras to recce ferry port and after checking with
various companies who all had their own counter finally bought a ticket to Tangier
for Sunday. We then drove to Gibraltar and took the road to the upper rock for
which there was a charge of £10 per person to include the impressive St Michael’s
cave, the apes den, various military sites and a Moorish castle. Return from there
in the late afternoon was exceedingly slow, it took 90 minutes to get to the frontier.
Diesel in Gib is much cheaper then in Spain at 69.9 p per litre (prices are in
Sterling). |
In Estepona
It rained all night
and all day. We ventured out in the morning to shop at Carrefour, a huge supermarket
on the outskirts of Estepona but apart from that had a very leisurely day in the
van.
Spain to Morocco
It was still raining but the wind had dropped when we got away at 10.30 am. The
official check-in time at Algeciras port was 11.30 and we got there well before
for the ‘Balearia’ fast ferry due to depart at 13.30 hrs. There was no problem
with check-in and we were first in the queue. To our horror and consternation
we were refused boarding, the excuse ‘too long’ so had to walk back to where we
had purchased the ticket 2 days earlier and were issued with a new ticket for
the slower ‘Comarit’ service which looked like a converted old cross-channel ferry
bought by Morocco and used primarily for lorries and cheap Moroccan coach tours
to Spain. The journey took 3 hours and we arrived in Tangier at 5 pm local time
(6 pm Spanish time). |
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