Monday, March 20, 2023

Omar's sister and family gave us a warm good-bye, with hugs and smiles and all the best wishes.  It was really nice to be here, they are wonderful people.

We took off at about 08 am. The ferry was about to leave at 10 am. As it was Monday morning, start of the week, time to drive to school and to work, Tangier was packed full with cars again. To drive through this chaos with two bikes, without loosing each other is a bit of a piece of work. But we managed well. I was really relaxed and felt safe on my bike. If you see or feel that other drivers and their vehicles are attempting funny moves, like bumping into you from the side, ignoring your right of way or nudging you off your lane, just blow your horn and - as Omar sometimes does - shout at the stupid drivers or pretend to run over them. That usually works out well. If in Rome, do as the Romans - so, I adjusted. Driving becomes much more relaxed. Omars Google navigator showed all sorts of funny directions, so that Omar decided to drive from his memory and gut feeling. That worked out quite well. Soon we saw the harbour, we found the right entrance and in we were, being checked by police, customs, drug sniffing dogs and all that. All parties involved were very friendly, no stress.

Finally, we were allowed to drive into the ferry. Also, no sweat this time. All easy. Since I reduced the dosage of my anti depression drugs, I slowly become the old myself again. What a pleasure!

Here you see the fastening belts that are used to fasten the bikes at the yellow knobs on the floor. The sea was a bit rough, about Beaufort 6, so, it was good to fasten the bikes well.

Omar, giving you a view of the latest motorbike clothing fashion. Please note the attractive bra-like camera holster around the chest, and the stylish little antenna-like camera holder on top of the helmet. These very useful camera applications were probably the reason why we were never stopped at the frequent police controls. The special biker jeans from the fashion house Louis (no, not Vuitton) had proven to be of extraordinary quality. Omar performed the "slide on the road" test without any complaints., neiter from him nor from the jeans.

Here you see the attractive young man from the side ...

... and here from the front, sceptical, but very convincing.

There are people even more mad than we are. This guy from Bielefeld did the Morocco tour on bike, alone, in exactly the outfit you see here on the picture. No protectors whatsoever. He wants to look nice.

Well, he actually is a very nice person. On his bike, he carries one minute tent and a sleeping bag, two t-shirts, and some medicine. That's it.

Not my cup of tea, if you ask me.

As mentioned, we had quite a bit of wind. The ferry is a 60 meter catamaran though, (built in Norway, 24 years old), so, Some rougher sea is not really an issue.

When we left the ferry and entered Spain again, the weather was beautiful, blue sky, lots of wind. I remembered when we arrived here two weeks ago, in pouring rain and dense fog. What a difference now!

I was in a really hyped up mood, "happy like a pig in mud" as a New Zealander would say. We took the highway. The streets were in good condition, there were long-stretched curves, no mad drivers, the traffic was pretty civilized, the landscape was beautiful and life was great.

Omar was hungry, so, we took an exit and drove to a Spanish supermarket, the Mercadona. I love these markets. We bought ourselves Hamburgers and fresh strawberries, and I finally got an alcohol-free beer again, a Cerveza Sin 0,0. I don't know why this stuff is not available in Morocco. There you usually have the sugar-loaded drinks, or plain water (which is fine of course).

Later on we stopped again at a petrol station. Omar suggested that we don't drive through to Montesinos. That was OK with me. We checked out a hotel nearby, where we are right now. We had a really good, hot shower and in a minute, we will have some tapas.

Our last destination for today: the Las Pedrizas Hotel. A bit off the beaten track, but still OK to reach.

The starlight sky is just about to develop. It is a beautiful night.

Our bikes will sleep outside today, on the carpark. We attached our security alarm locks at the front wheel brakes. If someone tempers with the bikes, a nerve-wrecking alarm goes off.

Here they are, our beauties. Tomorrow we will be home.

My boots, at the end of the journey. They were brand-new when I started. They lived trough accidents, through deep water river crossings, through the desert dust. Now they look a bit like me: pretty much used, bruised, mature and experienced.

This is (nearly) the end ...