Day 460 23rd October
At sea to Tangier Med
5 miles (Tangier Med) Average speed 8 mph Top speed 20 mph
I was up at 9.30 and had brekkie of tea and a croissant as I was too late for the restaurant after a shower. I read my book in the morning sun and relaxed on deck – once I’d got a chair! Then at the restaurant for lunch I got six rolls and a water to have with my cheese and horse meat salami. One of my room mates from Senegal was rather unfortunate in the restaurant as I saw him and a waiter going through all the bins. They had somehow cleared his table and thrown all his docs away. His passport and id cards were covered in waste food.
It was a good afternoon but after the sun I decided to watch a kids film in the cinema called Vianna. Then I went back outside to read again and wait to arrive. It seemed to drag and turned into a 50 hour ferry ride. Most of the areas on board were closed and the staff were not as bad as the last time I went across, but once in Morocco there were lots of friendly people again. As we unloaded from the ferry it seemed very odd that we all had to turn around before leaving. I’m not sure why they couldn’t have moored the boat the right way around, but that’s Italians for you???
Sunset, nearly there
I came out into darkness and neither of my lights were working. I went straight through customs and passport control while they were checking nearly all cars and bikes. The police waved me through and I was out onto the main road in no time. I was concerned about the lack of lights but when I stopped at a cash machine the back light came to life. Then as I rode into the pitch black I realised that all other motor bikes and bikes had no lights on anyway. Something I had forgotten since last time I was here!
Tangier Med in darkness
I went to the apartment I stayed at last time with Kamal but the owner had left and there were no rooms available. So I went back to the main road and checked into the Petit Poisson for 100 dirham and walked across the road for chicken kebabs and chips with bread and olives, which was lovely and much better than anything on the ferry. I returned to the hotel for coffee and in came Wolfgang who I shared a cabin with on board. It must have taken him at least an hour to get through customs! Two coffees and the end of three footy matches and the FIFA player of the year awards later and I retired to bed.
Hotel le Petit Poisson. 100 dirham.