Morocco

I'm sorry, I don't have a full journal for this trip - I've tried to re-create what I was doing on certain days by the use of receipts and credit card bills. If only I had total recall!

Itinerary - Oct 1997

Sat 11 Oct 1997
France - Via Le Shuttle. Started making our way down through France - overnighted in a little B&B by the side of the road.

Sun 12 Oct 1997
France - Brionne (overnight). Continued down France, and I think we stayed in a B&B on a farm with lots of horses and wooden shutters on the windows.

Mon 13 Oct 1997
France - Foix (overnight), Made it to the bottom of France and stayed over night in a little motel on the edge of town.

Tue 14 Oct 1997
Andorra. As we left Foix to cross the Pyrenees at the bottom of the mountain road there was an illuminated sign saying that snow chains were needed. I didn't take too much notice as it was a beautiful sunny day. However as the road climbed higher snow started to come down. Eventually the snow covered the road and the traffic came to a halt. The plan was to head for Barcelona, but that's where the blockage was. The road to Andorra was empty, but snow bound. I decided to take the road. A little Renault 5 tried to follow me, but having four wheel drive does has it's advantages. The only thing that I really remember about Andorra is that petrol was cheap so I filled up!

Tue 15 Oct 1997
Zaragoza - Segovia. There was one night in Spain that we couldn't find a hotel, and we were forced to sleep in the car, in the car park of a service station. It was far from pleasant, and very cold. I had to keep starting the engine to run the heater in the car. Never again!

Tue 16 Oct 1997
Toledo (overnight) - I remember parking the car right outside the cathedral in the city, and walking around the corner to find someplace to stay.

Wed 17 Oct 1997
Granada, Malaga / La Linea - Tried to meet up with a friends mother who lives on Gibraltar, but she wasn't there so headed back to Spain to find someplace to stay. End up in a less than nice place, but needs must when the devil drives.

Thr 18 Oct 1997
Gibraltar

Fri 19 Oct 1997
Gibraltar

Sat 20 Oct 1997
Ferry to Tangier (overnight). Took the ferry over to Morocco. Popped into the station to get a ticket for the train tomorrow.

Sun 21 Oct 1997
Marrakech - Don't really remember a great deal, but found a hotel overlooking the main square.

Mon 22 Oct 1997
Meknes ?

Tue 23 Oct 1997
Fes - tried to by a fes in the markets here, but failed as there were not to be found!

Wed 24 Oct 1997
Gibraltar - Had enough of Morocco, so headed back to Tangier and got the ferry back to Gibraltar

Thr 25 Oct 1997
Sevilla - again rather vague, know visited Sevilla, but unsure if we stayed there!

Fri 26 Oct 1997
Lisboa - Sintra. Found a B&B to stay just outside Sintra in a big old house. Remember opening up the French doors and lighting up the camping stove to make up some food. The bed in the room was huge, you could stretch out in all directions and not touch the sides. The bad news was that I managed to shred a tyre here, and couldn't find a replacement. Got the guy to put a tube in the tyre (even though you shouldn't).

Sat 27 Oct 1997
Obidos (overnight). Obidos is very popular with day trippers but we decided to stay overnight, so when they had left we had the whole place to ourselves. Managed to stay in a B&B

Sun 28 Oct 1997
???

Mon 29 Oct 1997
Santander -> French Border-> Tyre blowout. Due to the damaged tyre the plan was to head to Santander to catch a ferry, but the bad news was that the ferry wasn't due for a couple of day. So decided to try and make it into France.

Tue 30 Oct 1997
Got into France and then another tyre on the car gets a puncture. Gave up and rang Green Flag to get them to recover the car as no replacement tyre could be located. Overnight in a lovely countryside Hotel all arranged via Green Flag.

Wed 31 Oct 1997
Le Harve - Portsmouth.

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