We hit the road at 7:30 heading West out of Malaga and looking to pickup the toll motorway that circumnavigates the large coastal towns. Within seconds of hitting the main dual carriageway Julian had missed the turning. To be fair Julian realised his mistake quickly and suddenly dived down a slip road.
However, this posed a somewhat trickier conundrum to myself and a couple of guys behind me as we were still in the third lane overtaking an artic! I sliced across the traffic just making the slip road. How the two behind me managed I don't know. I'll have to look in the Touratech catalogue when I get back to see if they've launched some sort of quantum displacement option for the 1200GS!
Settled on the correct road the sun rose in our mirrors lightning the many villa complexes with a soft and hazy rose light as we made good speed towards the port.
As soon as you get to the port at Algeciras you know you're at a place where many cultures, languages, creeds and colours mix, move and (undoubtedly) collide. It's a bit like visiting Phil in Cardiff. Suddenly all the signs are in multiple languages (one of them just a bunch of squiggles) and even when you're being spoken to in English you can't understand. Tidy!
There was very little chop to the waves but there was a reasonable swell and the ferry rolled around quite a lot for a non-nautical man like myself. Twas but a mere ripple to the boys from Guernsey.
We didn't stop at Ceuta other than to fuel some jerry cans on the Landy and grab some water. At the border Nuri, Bill's Morrocan fixer, was waiting for us. These guys earn around 2€ per person to 'ease' their passage through the somewhat complicated immigration procedures.
The last time I visited you were also able to change money and get insurance at the same time. However, you can't now. This caused a problem for Phil and I as our european insurance is not valid. So what's the fix? Well you promise the border official that you'll buy some at a town some 50 miles away. Clearly there's no chance of a problem between the two!
Finding the insurance firm was not to difficult as we picked up a 'helper' on a small motorkike at the outskirts of the town who guided us to a place where we could park the vehicles and then took us on foot to the office. We also changed up some money before he showed us the road we needed to get to Chefchouen some 50 miles further into Morocco.
The new back tyres on the bikes were not scubbed in so we all had a few uneasy moments as we rode the twisty tarmac to the hotel. We're vising during Ramadam so getting food is difficult and it's not polite to eat in front of others who are fasting.
However, the hotel was prepared to cook us a lunch, which was very nice. Having gained 2 hours by moving continents we had time in the afternoon to prepare the bikes for the start of the off road riding tomorrow. Later we jumped into the Landy to go into town. I'd stopped in Chefchouen on my previous visit and had my first Moroccan mint tea. I took the boys to the same place for their first experience!
It was Bill's birthday today. There's not many people that can say their birthday lasted 26 hours and was held in 2 continents. Bill had brought a present from the UK. It was a pair of furry dice for the Landy - classic. Happy birthday Bill!
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