Carrefour Car Park, Palmones,
Cadiz, Andalucia
11379
Spain
2 Nights
We said goodbye to Chefchaouen and made our way down a very steep road that went on forever. Our next stop was the city of Tetouan where there is a large Carrefour so we could stock up on a few bits before our departure tomorrow.
Tetouan is a large and modern city with car showrooms, Ikea and Burger King. Grass verges smartly cut and edged. We did our shop which really only consisted of bits to see us through the departure process tomorrow, which could be painfully slow . Then bought a burger and fries for lunch and sat in the van in Carrefour car park and devoured the lot.
We were staying at Fnideq, in a parking area right on the sea front, for the night and leaving early for a morning ferry but that was until a man on a scooter told us we couldn’t as it wasn’t safe, so we left.
This is when things can go wrong, unplanned quick moves like this and it did. First off we left the skylight wide open and we were moving. Jo got up to quickly close it but it wouldn’t so I pulled over to have a go and something went snap. We were in a cycle lane so decided to leave it open and sort it when we stopped. We didn’t really know where we were heading and pulled in to a car park with an attendant. The car park was small, and very full. He waved us in and I squeezed through the parked cars to the back where there was a tiny spot. We then asked if it was ok to stay the night and he said no. We were now stuck in this small car park and couldn’t turn around. With tensions rising we managed to reverse out somehow, and mutual smiles shared between us and the attendant.
It was manic, so busy and we had to stop somewhere to look at this skylight. We drove out the town a bit and pulled over in a quiet spot to check it out. There was a broken part but we managed to get it almost shut.
Without knowing where to go next and as we were so close we decided to drive to Tanger Med port and get the ferry to Algeciras.
The drive from Fnideq to Tanger Med is a very scenic one ove the mountains and only a few miles. Then we had to find where to go once we arrived at the port. With only one wrong turn we found our way following the picture of a boat with a car in it. We arrived at 17.30. First off we had to park up and get the tickets, which was for 7pm ferry. Once we had tickets there was a couple of passport checks. Then we queued in what was 3 lanes that ended up going into one, for this huge x-ray machine. Basically a lorry with a gantry that went over about 6 cars at a time x-raying them. You have to get out, then it drives along over the vehicles. Next check is sniffer dogs but we wern’t sniffed. Then we drove a fair way and waited a while as they backed lorries on the boat. Soon after we were directed on up the ramp to the upper deck. It was very empty unlike when we came out.
1 1/2 hours later and we were in Algeciras, disembarking and on our way to the Carrefour car park where we left from almost exactly 6 weeks ago.
Now for a well earned beer and wine 🍺🍷
