rab rab at

Believe it or not still in rabat! Picking up visa for Mauritania at 3 (if the lazy consulate man has been bothered to press a stamp in our passports) To casablanca then the western sahara. Cannot stress enough how sick of this city we are.

RAB AT

Found a little internet place in a weird market place in rabat. Getting very confused by this foreign keyboard. Texts earlier didnt work properlly so heres whats been happening. We boarded the ferry from Algericas to Tanger with a sum total of 80 english pence and a few european cents. The credit card we are using was blocked in spain so we couldnt withdraw any cash before we left. Of course we knew immediately how ridiculous this was but we risked it anyway in a hurry to get to africa. Turns out visa isnt very big in morocco and we failed to find anybody who would accept it or even any bank that would let us withdraw any.

After crawling through customs, evading numerous tips from officials, we encountered a very strange man who literally boarded the van, trying to give us some vitally important local advice (for a fee, I'm sure). Eventually we managed to dislodge him before he took us away to probably murder us for our 80p.

After the Fracas of Tanger city centre (there dn't appear to be any traffic laws as such, other than driving like a complete madman and constantly sounding your horn for no apparent reason) we settled in for a night in a parking area at some services guessing something would probably turn up the following day. With about 1/5 of a tank we set off for a town called Asylliah and eventually managed to get some dirhams and fill up the tank to then eat our first meal for over 24 hours. Now we're in rabat about to look for the mali, mauritania, and nigerian (harhar) embassies. So morocco has greeted us in style, clearly.

The web browser is rubbish and I took a blind guess with the location on this one. The dodgy texts are spot on with where we are.

Peace

SMS Update

On motorway to rabat. Not had any cash at all since arriving yesterday because there was a problem with our card in spain. Finally found a ba ** some text is missing **

SMS Update

On motorway to rabat. Not had any cash at all since arriving yesterday because there was a problem with our card in spain. Finally found a bank which would let us withdraw cash. Resultantly we have been dodging tips and even a toll charge. No idea how we managed to get into the country without ** some text is missing **

SMS Update

actually passed through malaga last night. Getting the 3.00 ferry from algericas to tanger. (after a spot of shopping for supplies) It actually looks probable we will at least make it to africa! Having a few problems with the rascal overheating, but that is to be expected. benidorm was awesome. Finally got a proper shower and had some theme park madness fun at terra mitica. Roughly on schedule. Slow and steady wins the race, i say. To morocco!

lost in barcelona

Arrived in Barcelona at about 2 this afternoon, spent about an hour looking for parking. It´s the most mental and hectic city we´ve come across yet (even more so than London) Been wandering around the streets, absent mindedly, had lunch, and now we are in a slightly dodgy area, and tom tom can´t seem to help us. ( we are far too reliant on technology). Barcelona is lovely, if not a little too large to take in all at once. Brilliant archetecture spoiled by the usual commercialism one finds in all major cities. Weather is bloody hot. but I suppose we can expect much worse to come.

We haven´t had a shower since Vienna, on Saturday morning, and have no idea when we will shower next (I don´t think bathing in the sea counts as a proper bath).

If we manage to find the van at some point, we are heading down the coast for a wonderfully cheesy time at BENIDORM!

Adios

SMS Update

relaxing in the sunshine of monaco. Heading down the coast for nice in a little while. Sleeping in the rascal is the hottest experience ever, throughout the morning some kind of greenhouse effect occurs and hot air rises to the top (our sleeping bunk) in the morning the air feels like a jungle, thick with vapour. Still, mustn't grumble.

SMS Update

Heading for monoco, racking up the miles after our breakdown delay. Discovered it is impossible to find parking in venice and james might have lost his wallet somewhere in austria. Rascal is running well after his engine transplant. He fears not the great africa! X

 PS we do realise we have detracted from the route somewhat, and have actually been constantly travelling in the opposite direction to Africa. It's all good, though.

lost in vienna

In an internet cafe in Vienna someplace.

We can elaborate on the events of fixing our poor rascal. We blew up the engine, something about it burng the oil too fast. So we consequently spent about 20 hours in Parkplatz Russenberg, making numerous phone calls to German taxi firms and mechanic garages who spoke little if any English. Eventually we managed to facilitate a Ford garage in Kirchberg. After some kind of weird argument with Heir Krafft (some kind of weird German mechanic), and having the police sent over to the factory, we finally managed to fit a new engine kindly brought over from the bedfordrascal.com place near london. Thank you Martin!

Aaron has managed to find out where we are with a Tom Tom, so we shall be off in search of an art gallery called Albertina. Just going to chill in Vienna today, and see some sights, then head across the Alps to Italy later today.

 signing off for now

 james & aaron