We stopped the night before at a lovely little pub stop, the Claycutters Arms, at Chudleigh Knighton, just outside Newton Abbot. The owner has campers himself and it's free if you have a beer or two and/or food in the pub. Decent pub grub at a reasonable price. Less than an hour into Plymouth next day. https://www.claycuttersarms.com/ There is a paid car park at the port that we used whilst we had a look around Plymouth in the morning but not sure if you can stay overnight.
The old town area of Granada was buzzing. I tried to get tickets to the Alhambra a few days before but the earliest ones available were 21st June (no way we could be certain of so we made do with a walk around the buzzing Albaicin district opposite to take photos from the outside ... Lovely all the same We then headed up the 'Castles & Battlegrounds' route through beautiful Andalusia and felt much more at home here than on the touristy coast. We stopped off at a pretty fortified hill town called Moclin for a drink in the bar next to 'Alan & Amanda's B&B Then on to a massive fortress called La Mota at Alcala La Real. This was an amazing ancient complex with an old Alcazaba and a later Abbey fought over and changed hands several times over the centuries between the Moors and the Christians. An afternoon we'll spent. We then found a brilliant wild camper stop just below the fortress of Alcaudete. The access was steep and narrow so the MonsterHomers couldn't get there and we had it all to ourselves Then into Cordoba, one of our favourite places so far. The camper stop was just a carpark but the old town was just amazing And we even managed to get tickets for a look around the Royal Stables and an Andalusian Horse Dressage Show...... Absolutely brilliant
It's hit 43 degrees here though the last couple of days so we are having to do shorter hops between stops to let the bus cool. Strangely, Morocco is 10-15 degrees cooler at the minute so we'll try to get over there mid week
Onwards and off the beaten track on B roads, we called in at some amazing little hill towns. We climbed up to the main square in Aguilar de la Frontera where a local in a top floor flat explained from his balcony that it was illegal to park there but he was invited up to his roof terrace for coffee so we could take pictures. Priceless moments that you wouldn't get unless you were in an old classic bus
We stayed on an amazing wild camping spot above Antequer and it's 13th century fortress .... And had a Hoopoe bird visit us a few times
Another massive hill climb to our next point of call (where at one particularly steep point we had a hair raising moment where I managed to do a schoolboy stall in second but got the handbrake on and got away again in first... Phew ... Lesson learnt.... Use those gears) But it was well worth it to get to the point where we could do this 4 hour hike through the Cominita del Rey (The King's Pathway). Originally built in 1901-1905 as a maintenance path for a hydroelectric power plant, it was later named after King Alfonso XIII who inaugurated it in 1921. It then fell into disrepair and used to be one of the most dangerous hikes in the world (several hikers fell into the river 150ft below) before they installed the new walkway above it. Absolutely amazing
We stayed a couple of nights in another fantastic campsite just outside Ronda, a beautiful little hill town and another one of our favourites so far....... @PIE .. you must include this place I'm don't agree with any blood sport but I can sort of appreciate the old traditions and the bullfighting museum here, housed in an antique bull ring dating back to 1857 was amazing (& they have phased out the 'sport' here now)
Right, we've spent the day winding around the 'White Towns Route' driving through stunning scenery and calling into towns of white cubes clinging to rocky outcrops such as Gaucin and Casares. And we've finally arrived at Costas travel agency to get our open return tickets to Morocco for a cut price £229. What a brilliant friendly service this is ..... Maria spoke perfect English, explained everything in full and gave us our tickets for the 10am sailing in the morning...... With nice passport wallets and a complimentary bottle of wine! Morocco here we come!!
Our first day in Morocco and it already feels like an adventure. The crossing was straight forward and we were able to do Immigration and the Customs Vehicle Import formalities on the ferry. The Customs Officers at Tangier were more interested in the bus than searching for contraband. On our way in no time, we stopped in a small village with a roadside cafe for mint tea. First impressions are really good, the people are friendly and helpful and we haven't been hassled at all so far. Then we made it to our first proper stop, the blue city of Chefchaouen which was amazing.
We made our way south through stunning scenery in the foothills of the Rif mountain range We got to Fez and stopped in a new carpark with friendly security and decent toilets, just outside the Medina walls. Fez was amazing and the souk was buzzing. We also visited the tanneries which have changed little since the 11th Century (a pong like no other!) We then headed up into the hills again to Moulay Idris but couldn't find anywhere to park up but we did visit Volubilis near there, an extensive excavation of a Roman city from the 2nd century AD.
Hi Purple...... Surprisingly few Brits actually, even in Spain and only one family in Morocco who were actually Iranian but living in London, travelling in a massive MoHo. We've seen a couple of T25s on the road and one German Couple in a Late Bay in Spain. No Brits, even in MoHos and no T2s in Morocco so far. We found it was early season in Spain with stuff only just starting to get into gear. And apparently, it's now the off season in Morocco as even the French and Dutch mostly only come October to March ...... Most of the campsites and camper stops in both countries have been near empty.
After the 43 Degree heat in Spain the temperatures in Morocco have been much more comfortable, 26 to 29 so far
Mad dogs and Englishmen head towards the equator at the height of summer. Well done for keeping up the tradition.
The Iranian geyser was very friendly but a bit weird ....... We were the only 2 vans in the grotty Guardian Parking lot in Chefchaouen so we ended up sitting outside the vans with them one night drinking mint tea. He told us he was a carpenter and he was visited by a devine soul most nights. He was writing the teachings down into a book which would become very important to the world in the future. He had long grey hair and beard and he even had a staff that he'd carved. We left before the donkey got there.
