We wondered whether the ferry from Tánger Med to Algeciras would have to be suspended due to the stormy weather but everything was running smoothly at the port and we passed through Customs and Passport Control without any holdups. The ferry was on time and a couple of hours after leaving Africa, we disembarked in Spain.
It was a warm and sunny afternoon but more storms were forecast as we travelled slowly northwards through Jerez, Mérida, Salamanca and Burgos towards the Santander / Portsmouth ferry. When we reached Salamanca we realised that, not only was the weather wet and windy – it was also very cold with a maximum daytime temperature of 6°. We met lots of unhappy travellers who were heading home having been confined to the inside of their vehicles for weeks due to the bad weather. We were warm and cosy in our truck.
On line, we booked an overnight stay at an unmanned camping stopover. We were allotted parking bay number 22 but we couldn’t get into that spot due to the size of our truck, so we decided to use Bay 24 which was same size but more accessible. Several hours later there was a knock at our door and we were confronted by a very angry little Frenchman who demanded we move out of HIS bay. We explained our problem and that we were unable to move and suggested he could use our Bay 22 – or any of the other twenty or so available bays. He continued his ranting and, as we were just about to have supper, we eventually shut our door and ignored him. Finally, he parked elsewhere. When you are living in close proximity with other campers, everyone goes out of their way to respect their neighbours, confrontation is deeply upsetting. We did feel guilty because we had taken his space; BUT – had we been the ones to arrive to find “our” space taken, we would have quietly parked elsewhere. I rest my case m’Lord!
