You Only Die Once - live everyday

23/03/2024

REVIEW OF MOROCCO
Well life’s certainly been busy in the 12 days we’ve been back from our travels - see previous post. Finally we have time to sit and review our trip to Morocco
Here we did 3400km/2200miles in 4 weeks once again adapting our itinerary because of weather conditions and exhaustion from the last 5 months. It’s the first time I think either of us have been content to relax and chill on a beach (all be it several different beaches) for 2 weeks. Morocco was certainly different from what we expected. Dave particularly was concerned about safety but all we can say is what a lovely country with lovely people. We especially enjoyed travelling through the Atlas mountains through back mountain roads.
I don’t think it’s easy to compare Morocco with modern countries like Australia and New Zealand as their way of life is much more basic so perhaps it’s better to compare with Indonesia although again they were very different and the way we travelled around the 2 countries was completely different too.

The highlights were :
* Lixus archeological ruins near Meknes
* volubis ruins - WOW !!
* The beautiful medinas full of historical buildings
* Stumbling across the Barbary Apes in the incredible cedar forests
* The fantastic friendly reception we got at every town and campsite - however basic
* Fantastic roads through the gorges from Amellagou to Todra
* visiting Ait Ben Hadou
* Amazing surfy beaches - especially at Taghazout- our favourite beach resort. We will definitely go back here but not for valentines night 😂
* Amazing sea food - cooked by the local fisherman straight from the sea
* The extremely cheap cost of living - from shopping to campsites to speeding fines lol. Shopping was 1/3 of the price it is here

The downside:
* The long drive to get to Morocco from the UK especially when the French Farmers are striking
* The varying climate in the mountains made planning and driving tricky - we narrowly missed a big snow storm which meant we didn’t see half of what we planned and got caught in a bad sand storm
*. The need to plan ahead for alcohol supplies - Dave nearly ran out of beer twice !! It’s available but not everywhere.
*. The basic standard of living meant the camp sites were not up to European standards - they work, are very cheap and we were self contained anyway.

23/03/2024

So after coming back down to earth (well Wales) with a bang, we are finally coming up for breath !!
The last 2 weeks have been totally crazy - we arrived home on the 11th a 2am before moving back into our home which had been left in a state by the tenants. This was just 2 days before Dave’s operation - which was unsuccessful 😩.
While we were getting the house straight, Dave was coming to terms with his prognosis and I was getting ready to start our new venture -South Wales Animal Services. It already feels as if we need a holiday 🙈. We still haven’t done our review of Morocco- see next post

14/03/2024

Well I’m still alive 😬, thanks for all the well wishes, although not a good result , the op failed ! Apparently they could not find the broken tendon that had sprung off ?? Now a bit of hard work building the muscles back up to get it working as much as possible 💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪

12/03/2024

After 6 months travelling through Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia,Tasmania,New Zealand, America,France , Spain and Morocco we are now back in sunny Wales 🥴in our own home . Not looking forward to my op tomorrow but was nice to be in our own bed last night .
Review of Morocco to follow shortly once we’ve finished unpacking 🤣🤣

09/03/2024

Well if you have to spend 31hrs on a ferry, there could be worse things than spending some of them in the bar watching the rugby 🏉

08/03/2024

Well what to say about today …… the plan went out the window when we woke up to snow !! We decided not to stop in Avila as planned as it was sleeting and would not have made a nice walk. On the way there, the thick snow made driving conditions pretty difficult so we needed a break for a snowball fight. I won of course !!
We carried in towards Bilbao and are now spending the night about an hour from the ferry port ready to start our 2 day crossing tomorrow.

08/03/2024

Rather appropriate after yesterday!!!!!!

07/03/2024

We spent the afternoon driving up towards Bilbao the plan being to visit Avila tomorrow. We passed some lovely rainbows, a great sunset then, 6 hours later, as we travelled through the mountains, we hit flash lightening and localised hail storms. We passed 3 bad crashes and got really late. The campsite we were heading to had decided only to open on weekends but finally we found somewhere with very bad reviews but we really don’t care ! We have a fairly level
Pitch with electricity so the storms can come - we are warm - it’s 4 degrees which is as big shock to us now 🙈
FOOTNOTE: I wasn’t allowed to post this video until Dave had checked it for swearing - he was concerned he’d be banned from FB and, if they heard what I did he probably would be 😂

07/03/2024

Well today started off really well - we took a little detour to Setenile de las Bordegas - an old town built into the rock with rows of cave houses, shops, restaurants etc.

06/03/2024

Views from Ronda 🥰

06/03/2024

We spent today wandering around Ronda old town and it was lovely ! I can’t believe we’ve never been before. Lots of history, plazas and views - absolutely stunning !! It’s right up in the mountains so the hills and steps were incredible - Dave was obviously delighted 😂. Another lovely day 🥰

05/03/2024

So although we left the apartment yesterday to make our way slowly back up through Spain, we didn’t get very far! Our old haunts were calling us so we stayed in Estepona for an extra day. We love the vibe here and of course had tapas in a nice 20degree heat in the plaza

Tomorrow we head for Ronda - again fairly local (1.5hrs) to the apartment but somehow we’ve never visited so will tick this off the list.

02/03/2024

Last nights little drive from Monda Castle back to Manilva. The views 🥰

02/03/2024

What a lovely night out with 2 old friends that I hadn’t seen in well over a year !! And what a beautiful place to meet. I did have a little adventure on my way back home having got lost on my way out of beautiful Monda and ending up on a dirt track. Still, it’s all part of the adventure 🚎

29/02/2024

So we’ve now had a couple of days relaxing at our Spain apartment before Dave flys back to the Uk for his pre-op later. He’s back Saturday ready to start our journey up through Spain - taking our time to visit some interesting places on the way. The last part of this stage of our travels 😞.

We have some dates available for rent at the apartment - check out the link and get in touch if interested 😊

https://www.booking.com/Share-WDcX7Z

27/02/2024

Well once again rain changed the plan !!! We were intending to stop another night in Morocco but hit rain storms so headed straight to the port and a ferry to Spain and into a nice comfy bed at our apartment 😬😬and woke up this morning to beautiful sunshine 🌞 😬 but I have to comment of these funny little cars I was overtaking all day (Renault 4’s) all just plodding along then they all ganged up and surrounded my van !!!!! Apparently some rally through Morocco but you had to be under 29 !! Think I’m a little bit to old ???

25/02/2024

Ok ok I know photo overload!! But come on which would you delete?? Sunset at Oualidia , camping Laguna , tomorrow we move north ( into the cold 🥶) heading for Moulay Bousselham .

24/02/2024

Well I’m not sure what’s happened to us ???? Suddenly we’ve slowed right down …… we’ve been at the coast for about 2 weeks. Not like us at all ? Todays view mind 🥰

24/02/2024

20/02/2024

Well what a beach !! One side to wild to surf and the other a calm lagoon. Beautiful 😍. Home for the next couple of days I think 😊

20/02/2024

Yesterday we left Taghazout to travel a bit north aiming for Essaouria but ended up driving another 1 1/2 hours looking for a nice spot ( beach) so ended up late at Oualidia which we haven’t explored yet so we’ll see ?? But on a positive note as we got here late we were offered Lamb tajine so saved starting to cook and bloody lovely it was !!

19/02/2024

Well Sue decided she wanted a little snack ??? Little !! Wtf

18/02/2024

Last night in Taghazout as tomorrow we move North towards Essaouira slowly making our way back towards Spain,,, so a stunning sunset

18/02/2024

Sunday lunch Moroccan style 🥰

18/02/2024

Welcome to Wanda our camperbus, our purpose built camper , fully self contained with solar , battery’s , inverter , 100 litre water tank etc we can be off grid for 3 days at a time no problem, we love her ❤️❤️

17/02/2024

So how do I get my body board to the beach she asks ??

16/02/2024

Fun in the 🌞

16/02/2024

And so, just like that our travel is coming to an abrupt end 🥲.
You may be aware that Dave’s having a shoulder operation on 13th March - date only given a few days ago.
You might also be aware that we rented out our house to fund this adventure. We found out this morning that the tenants have given notice and will be vacating on 14th March. We have mixed emotions about this as …… it means the end of our travels for now but also means Dave has somewhere to recuperate over the months that he will need quite intensive physio therapy. The timing is so spot on it does feel as if it’s meant to be …… FOR NOW AT LEAST. We are not over the wanderlust - in fact what we have done so far has made us keener travellers than ever. We are determined to find a way to continue our adventure once Dave recovers and obviously will share our next month with you.

Now you’re all up to date. We are sad 😞. We are also enjoying a day sitting on a beautiful beach and body boarding ( or trying to!) so we should be grateful for what we’ve done and the memories we’ve made so far 😊

15/02/2024

Our route so far …… about 1000miles

15/02/2024

However before all of that she was spoilt with her usual bowl of fruit in bed and then for lunch we had a Moroccan chap come round selling the fish he’d caught that morning so I cooked her a delicious lunch !!