Draa Valley - Morocco

A very long journey has come to an end. We have finally arrived home after the rather boring and eventless ferry journey from Bilbao. Although we both return to work tomorrow, it will still take quite a few days to get everything unpacked and placed back where it belongs. At the moment we are back with the situation that we had at the start of this trip, where we have unpacked a few items from the Landrover, and can now barely move around the house due to all the clutter (I am still baffeled as to how it all fits in!).
After having spent most of my free time for the last 12 months planning and preparing for this trip, I am not sure what I am going to do now. We will have to start planning another adventure.....the artic circle looks interesting!

Breakfast this morning was interesting. As advertised, it started at precisely 10am. When we saw the spread that was laid out for us, the reason for the late sitting became clear. A few slices of toasted french stick and a small bowl of jam. The preparation must have taken hours. I believe that lunch is a real treat, with a selection of 2 jams!

After our hearty breakfast, we departed for the remaining leg of our journey to Bilbao. The route took us over an amazing mountain passes and through some spectacular scenery. I have been really surprised by Spain. I have never had a desire to visit, but after this short trip, I feel sure that I will return to explore further.

We arrived at our hotel in Bilbao at about 17:30. Our ferry departs at 12:30 tomorrow.
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Tonight we are spending the night in a really beautiful little country bed and breakfast style hotel, somewhere in the mountains of Spain. We are approximately half way to Bilbao on the return journey.

The hotel has a rather unique New Age theme, with strange rocks hanging on strings, and large Gongs suspended from wooden poles in the gardens, which are set among the natural rock formations of the mountainside. The place is completely self sufficient, with its own water supply and power from solar panels. All very Zen and peaceful, so peaceful and laid back, that they don't start breakfast until 10am! No early risers here then.

The drive up here from Malaga was pretty un-eventful for me, although my bank seems to disagree. They have put a stop on my debit card. Buying carpets and paying for dodgy hotels in Morocco seems to be fine with them, but buying Diesel at a Spanish fuel station, that seems to have set the alarm bells off. Hopefully I can get that rectified in the morning, otherwise paying for the remainder of the trip could be a problem.

Tomorrow, debit card willing, we travel to Bilbao and spend our last night in Spain at a hotel there.
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Rather sadly we now find ourselves back in Europe and on the very final leg of our journey, with just 1000km to drive through Spain and 2 days on the ferry before we arrive back in the UK.

The last 48 hours have seen most of the group go down with some sort of stomach bug, John believes it came from watered down orange juice. Fortunately I seem to have escaped it, but Lorraine has caught it, with fever, headaches and frequent trips to the toilet. Hopefully it will pass soon.

Last night was spent at a lovely, but very noisy campsite near a very beautiful lagoon. The noise problem seems to be related to the abundance of farm animals at all these locations, and last night almost seemed like a culmination. From about 2 am, it went something like Moooooo, eeeeeeaawwwww, woof woof, croaaak (yes, even a frog!), coc-a-doodle-doo, woof, yelp, mooooooo, meow, woof......repeat. At one stage it seemed so ridiculous I just had to laugh. Not much sleep.

Today was a very early start, with a 3 hour drive to catch the ferry back to Spain, which passed without event. On arriving back in Europe after the 2 weeks away, the first thing to strike us was the traffic. After the quiet roads of Morocco, the sheer volume of cars seems almost overwhelming. The second thing is how slow our vehicles are. In Morocco we are kings of the road, steaming past all the slow local traffic, old russian trucks and donkey carts. Here though, we are slow, with much light flashing and hooting as we pull out into the traffic to overtake slow moving trucks, only to find ourselves travelling at the same speed and holding up the traffic behind.

We have said our goodbyes to the other members of the group, who have all now gone their own way. Tomorrow we plan to start making our way back to Bilbao, stopping for the night near to Madrid.
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After so many nights of wild camping, I half expected to awaken yesterday morning and see Hugh, Pete, Jimmy and Brian wandering around the manicured lawns of the Ibis with a shovel and toilet roll looking for a suitable spot for their "morning ablutions". Fortunately for everyone, the lawns still appeared pristine and undisturbed when I rose.

We passed the day in a very pleasant and relaxed fashion, which made for a nice change. Lorraine and I wandered the small streets and alleys of the old town, looking for gifts for people back home. Sometime mid morning we joined Hugh, Jimmy and Brian for coffee, overlooking the battlements and later joined Paul and Terry for lunch at a local restaurant.

The afternoon was spent riding on the beach.... well, more accurately, Lorraine spent the afternoon riding on the beach. I spent it hanging on to the back of a horse while it tore around the beach scaring the life out of me and amusing the locals (I can't ride!).

Today we continued our journey further up the coast, stopping at an interesting cafe for a coffee break. The cafe was presented a little bit like a Moroccan "Costa Coffee", but with the added twist of large, fly covered meaty carcasses hanging next to the tables. This added the exciting possibility of a large side of beef falling on your head during your morning "Nos Nos"

Tonight we are camping.
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