Main Diary Page.  France Days 3 - 6.   Morocco Day 18 - 45.
Mauritania Day 46 - 55.  Senegal Days 56 - 60.
Gambia Days 61- 79.  Mali Days 80 - 89
Burkina Faso Days 90 - 93  Ghana Days 94 - 138
South Africa Page 1 Days 139 - 168  South Africa Page 2 Days 169 -190  Namibia Days 191 - 214  Botswana Days 215 - 242   Zambia Days 243 - 259   Malawi Days 260 - 266   Tanzania Days 267 - 281   Kenya Day 282 - 292   Uganda Days 293 - 313   Tanzania Days 314 - 326   most recent entry

Day 7 18.01.2005

Drove all day in appalling weather. Torrential rain eventually stopped as we reached the snowline on the mountain plains north of Madrid. It was freezing cold up there. (over 1500m above sea level. The best bit of the journey was the sunset over the mountains, especially the purple phase. It looked a bit experimental but in that landscape it worked!!

We stayed at a (cheap) Hostal with marble staircases and not much heating. The receptionist had her coat on buttoned to the neck. She was extremely cheerful. We thought a hot meal would be good but in true Spanish tradition she happily announced that the 'restaurant' didn't open until 8.30 pm.

Day 8 19.01.2005

For the first part of the journey we thought it was a bit misty but as we descended we realised we were in the clouds. The scenery was bleak. We descended down towards Madrid, which we circumnavigated without incident and continued across the flat plains of Spain with occasional descents to another bit of flat plain. The only interesting bit was when we descended from a mountain and the dual carriageway completely separated with one direction going round the side of the mountain and through tunnels and the other going along the valley floor.

When we reached Jaen we made for the Castillo up on a hill overlooking the town. The Jaen Parador is also up there. Steve enquired the price of a nights stay and discovered that they had a special offer on and that for the equivalent of the price of B&B in York we could have a luxurious warm room, bathroom with loads of fluffy towels and a balcony with amazing view all in. Being the rough tough campers we are we said yes please. A bit of a contrast to the previous night except that of course the restaurant didn't open until 8.30!

Day 9 20.01.2005

Left our luxurious room behind and set off for Granada. The Alhambra palace, with 2 million visitors a year is well signposted. Having said we would spend an hour there we were surprised to find 3 hours had gone by. Thanks for the recommendation Sue. The gardens were lovely despite it being the middle of winter.

Carried on down to the coast and surprised to find suddenly it is hot. Found a campsite just off the road for the night. Other campers watched as we clambered about on the roof unfolding the tent. One chap said 'you're the most exciting thing that has happened here for the last month. It's like last of the summer wine here!'

As we unfolded the tent we discovered that we didn't have the struts for the window flaps. This necessitated phone calls home to hope that somehow they can be got to Debbie and Martin before they leave the country!

Temporary update.
Days 10(21 Jan) 11 12 13.

Moved along the coast to a campsite at Estepona just along the coast from Marbella. Steve very busy doing things to the Wanderer so we are not able to go to Africa yet! Campsite is very friendly with lots of long term residents. We have hung up a piece of plastic tarpaulin like everyone else so we blend in nicely!

Day 10 21.01.2005

Travelled along the coast, which is one long building site with lots of apartment blocks for all the sensible northern Europeans who are fleeing those long cold winters.
Campsite has good facilities so we will probably stay for a couple of days to sort out more things we want to adjust on the Wanderer.

Days 11,12,13 & 14 22.01.2005 - 25.01.2005

Stayed at Camping Parc Tropicale

The weather has become decidedly less tropical and very British. Today it is chilly!

Martin and Debbie (Big Skies website see link) are making very good progress through France and Spain so we are waiting here for them so we will travel across to Morocco together.

Steve extremely busy doing yet more things to improve our comfort. I have been trying to sort out the photos onto a disc in emailable format. Getting an apple Mac computer seemed a good idea but there are some differences in formats etc, which cause some problems, which take along time to sort out. I think I am getting the hang of it although I have lost the captions along the way.

Caught the bus into Estepona to wander round and do some shopping. Foreign buses are good fun. First find the bus stop and try to establish from the other person waiting if it is the right bus stop. We can get by in French but our Spanish is appalling which isn't much help at a Spanish bus stop. Espotina? I enquire. Puzzled look then 'AH Estepona - Si! He holds up one finger and says 'uno -one'. One bus? One minute until its arrival? One hour? 'oh oh'. He gets some money out. He is telling us the fare is one Euro (an o) which we must have ready as the bus driver will be in a hurry. The bus is full of locals looking bored and foreign tourists who look around anxiously as the bus gets into town wondering where to get off. Most go for the option of getting off where most locals get off which can be successful depending on the locals motives for visiting town. On the way back the driver is again in a hurry and screeches off as soon as we have handed over the fare and the passengers all bob and duck as we lurch down the aisle with several carrier bags of groceries and a spade. (don't ask!)

Day 15 26.01.2005

Have just heard from Martin and Debbie who are about 150 k north of Granada. It is snowing so hard it's total whiteout! (We were lucky to have such good weather for Alhambra). So don't know if they will make it today. We had some bad weather coming down but no snow on the road.
It is cold here today and was cold last night. Slightly encouraged by the fact that the campsite true to its name has got a lot of tropical plants so surely it can't get much colder? Time to move on further south. Have now met quite a few people who have travelled over with vehicles to Morocco so have got some good tips about campsites etc.

Update:
Heard while we were out from Martin and Debbie they had made it to the campsite despite the weather! Great to see them and to start planning the onward journey.

Day 16 27.01.05

Still at same campsite. Had a trip into Puerto Banus for some shopping and for Martin to update their website. Other residents of the campsite telling us this was the coldest they had known it in Spain for 30 years!

Day 17 28.01.05

We went to Gibraltar on the way to Algerians. Our impression was that it was overcrowded with chaotic traffic, which of course we were adding to. We had fish, chips and mushy peas and then attempted to leave. The road crosses the runway and we had timed our trip to coincide with both the closing of the road for planes landing and the Gibraltar rush hour. We drove out through the border in a sea of mopeds. There didn't seem to be much in the way of campsites near by and by now the weather was bitterly cold. We wanted to be near Algerians for the ferry next day.

We got directions to a youth hostel and ended up driving past it twice as it looked like some kind of juvenile prison with big iron gates and railings! With just a microwave for cooking our meal and cold rooms it wasn't great but it was better than camping! There was a radiator but despite it being on all night the room was still cold in the morning.

to Morocco