October 26th

October 25^th. Algeciras to El Puerto  de Santa Maria (near Cadiz).

We were on the road from Algeciras by just after 9, on our way out of the car park we were stopped by a couple of African blokes wearing high-viz jackets with some company name on. We had noticed them (and a few others) directing traffic around the parking lot over the last couple of days, so I wound down the window so we could “chat”. They of course had noticed our French plates and burst forth in fluent (to my ear) French. When I told them I spoke English, without batting an eye they changed to very fluent English. One in particular had all the patter sorted, “oh you are beautiful, where are you going? Will I see you again?”, “can I marry you”…..  At which point I told him he was full of it, and how much money did he want for the privilege of parking in the “free” car park. To which he replied, “Whatever you want to give us”. We gave him 5 euro which is nothing for 2 night’s accommodation, and probably a bit stingy but really apart from providing me with a bit of entertainment they hadn’t done much for their money!!

We drove south to the southernmost point of Spain, Tarifa. We could clearly see Africa across the Straits of Gibraltar, not sure how far it is, but you could make out small towns on the other side as well as I presume Tangier, a much bigger city. The fast ferry only takes 35 minutes so it isn’t far. Tarifa is boundered by beautiful golden beaches which we admired from the road as we flashed (that’s an exaggeration in the truck) past. This area is known as a surfing area, and the surf rolling in looked quite suited to that, though it was quite gentle today. We didn’t stop in Tarifa, we had been going to go to Morocco but had decided against it, partly because of cost of the ferry because we hadn’t booked in advance, but also because of insurance on the truck, as I’m pretty sure our policy wouldn’t cover that area and we aren’t supposed to be out of France for more than 3 months. We were headed for Cadiz, but on the way we were to make a couple of detours which I had read about in a DK “off the beaten track” which I had borrowed from a British couple at Gorrifa, and marked on our map a few weeks ago. The first was to a white village called Verjer la de  Fronterra which towered above the main road on a lump of a hill, making a very pretty sight. It turned out to be a very enjoyable detour, Di quickly became enamoured and said it was probably her favourite town yet, and I must admit is was nice, and clean, and not too over-run by tourists. It was great to see the little (I was taller than many of them) old men sitting around on benches/walls/at cafes chatting with their mates in loud Spanish voices. We got a map with suggested walking itinerary on it from the information centre and had a very pleasant meander through the town, past a gorgeous square and then down to a café. 

Verjer street scenes

I bought the coffees and then we sat outside in the sunshine and wrote a postcard each. We decided we didn’t have enough postcards so I went off to get some more, and Hilary joined me. It was a bit further than we had remembered back up to one of the shops that sold cards, so Di thinking it was taking a long time headed back to the truck thinking maybe we had gone straight back there. When I saw her back at the truck I had a wee inkling and asked if she had paid for our coffees, “No”, said she! I felt terrible, so bustled back to pay. The guy looked pleased, but not unduely concerned when I fronted up, I’m sure he realised we had done a bunk without paying, but maybe he also realised we weren’t the types to do a runner, and that we would be back. I wonder how many times that happens? It is the custom here to pay when you leave, I guess in case you want two rounds or whatever so you only pay once, but it does mean we have to remind ourselves that we need to pay before we leave!

We took another detour off the main road, the scenery was a bit different, great wind turbines and a large group of solar panels (I guess a farm?) plus golden fields of newly mown hay. 

A small section of solar panels

There were some more villages that had been mentioned in the DK book, and probably would have been interesting but we had been so pleased with Verjer that we didn’t feel the need to stop again, so we re-joined the main highway towards Cadiz. We didn’t go directly to Cadiz as there didn’t appear to be a camping ground and after 4 nights without facilities we needed water and a toilet emptying spot. Our map book indicated there should have been one at Puerto Real, but after driving up and down we couldn’t find it and instead we headed a few extra kms north to El Peurto de Santa Maria to a definite campground I had found with a Google search, and whose location I had also found on the internet.

We booked into the Las Dunas Camping ground, just over 25 euro, OK for a camping ground but still quite a lot of money when you consider what you actually get for that, a warm (needs to go up a few degrees in this weather) shower, fresh water, a place to empty your chemical toilet, and power. I know they have upkeep of the grounds and facilities but really, excuse me!!!   Di and I had two showers each (night and morning) to get our money’s worth and to make up for the last five days without flowing water (we do wash, just not shower), we did a whole lot of washing (by hand as the machine wasn’t available that night (and would have cost 4.75 euro for one load (excuse me!!!!)), filled our water bottles, powered up all our batteries, and made as many cups of tea with our electric jug that we could drink (rather than boiling water on our gas stove which we do when there isn’t electricity available). Hilary entertained herself biking around and doing chores for us, like biking to the reception and asking about the ferry across to Cadiz, and getting bread in the morning etc.

We had a relatively early night and slept quite well despite the bad band playing late into the night in the distance (not quite as bad as the dance party in Jaen!!! But about as musical).