Day 18 - Tuesday 14 May, Ouezzane, Morocco to Conil la Frontera, Spain
Badger and I were up for breakfast by 8am. The Rif motel didn't look quite so appealing in daylight - mainly because the pool was drained for maintenance and there were hardly any guests - I only spotted 1 other guest at breakfast, which was quite unusual but substantial and included olives, local cheese and bread. We decided to make a fairly prompt start, but as we were heading back to our rooms to load up, we spotted a bicycle and trailer, so we introduced ourselves and got talking to the other guest at the motel.
Erik's Bicycle and Trailer
He turned out to be a Dutch guy called Erik Sierveld and was on an epic bicycle ride from Madrid to Dhaka. He was just about to set off south to cover similar terrain to our previous day's ride. Naturally Badger got his maps out and started discussing routes with Erik. It turned out that the map Badger was using was much easier to read than Erik's Michelin map but totally inaccurate. The roads we had used were clearly marked as unmetalled on his map and he had already plotted a decent route south. We ended up having a good chat before Erik got back on the road. Badger took some pictures, which I'll upload in due course.
Badger and I checked out and headed into Ouezzane and then turned north-east for Chefchaouen. Badger had double-checked his route with Erik's map and had plotted a route on local roads avoiding the motorway. This turned out to be a fine morning's ride on decent roads and interesting terrain, which we took at a fairly comfortable pace. The climb into Chefchaouen itself was quite testing with some steep gradients and plenty of tight bends, however we got into the outskirts of the town without incident and stopped at a cafe overlooking the town for elevenses.
Elevenses at a Cafe Overlooking Chefchaouen
Badger in Bodger Mode
A Low-Tech Helmet-Cam Alternative
En route we had spotted what might have been our only camel in Morocco, which was lying down in someone's front garden. This was a fleeting glimpse at best and whilst I was adamant it was a camel, Badger refused to count it and put this down as a black mark on the Moroccan leg of our trip. Badger also tried out his home-made low-tech alternative to a helmet cam, which was a sponge with a hole for his camcorder bungeed to his tank-bag. Chefchaouen is famed for it's blue-painted doors and windows and we took some pictures, but to be honest they didn't do the town justice. As we were having our elevenses a shepherd turned up with his flock of goats, which he casually drove across the main road.
Chefchaouen
Goats Crossing the Road
We descended into Chefchaouen, which seemed like a rather nice town in the mountains, then got on with heading north for Ceuta and the ferry. We stuck with local roads until we got to Tetouan, where we filled up and had a coffee before taking the motorway to Ceuta. We got to the border crossing by early afternoon, it was much quieter than it had been on Saturday. We were immediately flagged down by local guides offering to assist us. This time I intervened and said very firmly that we did not need their help. This message had to be repeated many times but eventually they left us on our own and it took about two minutes to show our passports and vehicles forms and were waived through without any problems. I must confess that it felt good to be back in Spain - even if we were still on the African Continent.
Back in Spain
We changed our remaining dirhams into Euros on the Spanish side and headed up to the ferry terminal. We drove straight to the official ticket office and paid €61.00 each for our tickets. Badger almost got stuck in Ceuta, I paid for the tickets but the guy only issued 1 boarding card, luckily I spotted that Badger was stuck before I went through passport control and was able to ride back and get the guy to issue the appropriate document for Badger. The ferry crossing was much quieter for the return trip and Badger and I took the opportunity to have lunch on the ferry so that we could press on as soon as we docked at Algeciras.
We were heading north to meet up with Badger's in-law's in Ayamonte on Thursday evening, so we decided to head for Conil la Frontera, which had been recommended to us by the Tourist Office when we were in Granada. Eddy had warning us about the winds blowing in off the Atlantic in the bottom corner of Spain, but we whilst it was windy we found the ride pretty easy going. The road were excellent and we passed mile after mile of wind turbines reaping the full benefit of the atlantic breezes, I don't know how much electricity is generated by wind power in this part of Spain but it must be a huge percentage as the terrain is absolutely ideal with a chain of mountain ridges situated conveniently close to the ocean. It was nice not to worry about Moroccan radar traps and we were able to keep us a brisk pace. Apart from the wind turbines the only thing I remember about this ride was being overtaken by a huge white Honda Goldwing when we pulled over for a conflab. Once we got back on the road I was particularly keen to get a move on in order to catch up with the Goldwing and have a proper look at it, which we did. I must confess that if I had a spare £25K I might be tempted by a Wing.
Before we knew it we were on the outskirts of Conil, which is quite big. The tourist office was closed so we just followed our noses and found a decent 2-star hotel on the beach - the "Playa Conil". This turned out to be an excellent choice, the rooms were small but well equipped and comfortable so we took a room each and booked in for 2 nights having decided to take a rest day in Conil. We took the chance to catch up on our washing before heading into town for drinks and supper.
Hotel Playa Conil
View of the Beach from the Hotel
We had a beer in a Tapas bar, but decided to look around for another place to eat. We found a bar just around the corner and I persuaded Badger to try a Fino sherry instead of a beer. We got chatting to a German couple who had come down for the week. After a pleasant half hour or so we ended up in the restaurant next door for supper. We then headed off for a reasonably early night.
Conil at Night
Day Summary
| Day - | 18 |
| Miles Covered in Day | 190 approx. |
| Miles Covered in Trip | 2930 approx. |
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