After two days we left Moulay Boussselham and drove up the coast for an hour an a half to the port of Tanger Med – only to be told that our ferry did not leave Morocco until 6pm that evening. We could have spent the day perfectly comfortably on the quay as we had everything we needed in the camper van – but we had the sniff of Europe and wanted to be there as soon as possible. We chose to purchase a new ticket with another ferry company (cost £140, cash only, if you please) and we were soon crossing the Straits of Gibraltar, arriving about 2pm GMT (Morocco time) – Spain was two hours ahead so it was almost 5 pm before we arrived at the campsite La Bella Vista.
It was quite a culture shock arriving at the busy port of Algeciras and dodging traffic on the busy dual carriageway. Everything seemed so crowded, cars rushing here and there, horns blaring. It was the same on the campsite, we were packed like sardines in neat rows with very little privacy. But the weather was warm, a breezy 28°, the site was on a long sandy beach and we managed to console ourselves at the local beach bar with a bottle of wine and a delicious, perfectly cooked turbot.
