Europe to Africa

Well folks - a chance at last to get a blog loaded up (courtesy of Editor, Tracy, now back in the UK and therefore with access to high speed internet). This first blog at least will be mostly made up of diary extracts, with gaps filled where necessary so that it hopefully all makes sense.

As Tracy writes, I am heading South into Western Sahara. In one or 2 days I will be on the border to cross into Mauritania - aiming to take only 2 days to hot foot it across and over into Senegal.

So in the meantime, sit back and enjoy this blog which deals with the European phase of the journey to reach the African continent. A second blog will follow in a day or 2 to cover the Moroccan part of the journey.

Hopefully the photos link is working, but Tracy will check this out and resolve any problems there - but if you look on our flickr site (same as for Bike Asia: http://www.flickr.com/photos/asiabybike/ ) you will see the latest photos. Some folk have already had difficulties posting comments, so Tracy will take a look at that and publish instructions if need be.

Andrew


29th December - Day 10, Mid Spain, South of Salamanca.
Knowing that the ferry we were going to take was delayed going across the Bay of Biscay should have been the hint to how bad the seas were going to be. Most of the day was a gale force 8 which was way beyond the capabilities of the ship's stabilizers. Both Cactus and I threw up and we all stayed in bed most of the day. We had planned a fun-filled day of movies and coffees, with the odd break for whale watching - no chance with the breaking waves all around. There was more of a chance of seeing human whales in the "international buffet", even if they were a little grey in the face from the 'light swell'.

Off the boat this morning we made the required stop at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. I'm sure most people, like us, take photos without ever stepping inside.

The rain today was definitely in Spain. Terrible road conditions which made for very wet and cold biking, even though the temperature is much higher than in the UK. Tonight we are staying in a suitably bad trucker's hotel/service station, with dodgy shower, door, heating, lighting and staff. We did see the news tonight which showed huge floods all over Spain - no news to us!!

30th December - Day 11, Gibraltar.
"That was hard work today" (Cactus). We left our meagre hotel this morning before light, to be welcomed to a day of heavy rain storms and strong winds. At times it was dangerous, being blown hard from side to side down the motorway. Halfway through the day the weather improved slightly as we passed areas ravaged by flood waters that we had seen on TV the night before. Houses changed to stereotypical Spanish white-washed, perched on hill tops with lofty spires.

The rock of Gibraltar appeared on the horizon like an apparition late in the afternoon ...

... we arrived in British Gibraltar, that apart from the pie and chips, looks alot like Spain. One more 'last supper' of, well, pie and chips actually, before heading back to our youth hostel dorm (in the rain, naturally). Africa next!

31st December - Day 12, Near Tetouan, Morocco.
Well, we made it to Africa! ... only 2 miles brought us to a one mile traffic jam to the border for Morocco (the ferry arrives in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta on the African continent - from there you drive the short distance to the border into Morocco) - possibly one of the most disorganized on the planet. Henry Ford would have been appalled at the system in place for getting a visa. The process involved a temporary import document for the motorbike, getting visa and import document checked, getting passport checked, but mainly sitting in a traffic jam. A friendly 'fixer' for 5 euros helped us through the madness. Less than 2 hours later we popped out the other side of customs, slightly bewildered, to a very wet Morocco. It's hard to believe the Sahara is only a couple of hundred miles away. The highlight of the day though was the Moroccan guys wearing an outfit half way between a dressing gown and a Star Wars Ewok outfit. Bring on Morocco!