We ended up in Morocco for 3 months after discovering that Morocco was everything that Europe in the winter wasn't - hot, cheap, friendly (they are in Europe too), full of waves (for Adam not me as I am still a surf retard), easy camping and exotic - medinas, mosques, the Sahara desert, gorges, surf, deserted beaches, spices, donkeys, camels, goats...

Of course there was the other side of the coin:-

· Getting stuck in the sand in the desert and having to have a Berber show us a Berber trick for free which involved getting a couple of mates to push us out and then demanding 20 quid for the pleasure.

· When us savvy travelers of three months experience sauntered into the medina in Fez only to be harangued to the point by "Charlie Brown" and his friends that after some pushing and shoving the only option was retreat and return with an official guide the next day.

But for every shark there were 20 fish that fed us and watered us with so much mint tea that it was a miracle that our teeth weren't as brown as theirs by the time we left.

We had lots of fun meeting up with Dan and Vic and the merry band in the dodge. Shame that the sea turned its back at that point, but after the desert it came right and we spent an idyllic week in Sidi Kaouki, long beautiful sandy beach and a hefty hike to the surf spot so I could take pictures of the boy who seemed to get day after day of waves only running into bother once with the locals (used in the loosest sense as they all came from casa) when a jeep of 6 surfers turned up.

So on to Spain through the gauntlet of Spanish and Moroccan customs that shoved a variety of dogs (Alsaces and Spaniels) into the van to discover whether we had succumbed and even thought the direct approach could work....have you got hashish?

Why yes officer it is over here fancy a smoke?

MARBELLA
So after the exotic it was time to get back down to earth with a week in ...Marbella.

Yes we're flash we know we are, but we met up with an Aussie and before I knew it I was in an antipodean gang (plus Spanish friends of Dave's) partying it up with the rich and glam, sporting hangovers and car park looks. Adam made up for the lack of waves with an interest in every football match on television and I had to suffer the agony of seeing that lemon team Spurs beaten in the FA by that scummy team Arsenal.

GRANADA
So onto Granada for the Semana Santa celebrations - the KKK have got nothing on this gang, hoods so high they could have been the Sierra Nevada entrants to the fancy dress parade.

Saying that it was very exciting and awesome seeing these huge statues of the stations of the cross being carried by up to 40 men and women swaying in time to big bands and companies of drummers.

ALCOY
We also went to Alcoy to see the Moors and Christians Festival where we were made very welcome by the people in the parade who feed us prawns and beans, gave us their hats and badges and we drank far to much beer....

The costumes were fantastic with the Christians parade first - dressed as crusaders right down to the babies in all in ones knitted like chain mail; smoking cigars and being cheered through the streets, then the moors all with Koran bags of leather and colourful baggy pants and the girls in beautiful costumes with big headdresses and looking like harem dwellers. We need to book seats really because it was so crowded it was difficult to see, so we didn't stay for the battle 2 days later. Maybe next time.

After so much excitement we had some down time by the beach in Valencia before arriving in Barcelona and the first of the rain which has plagued us ever since. Barca was cool and we managed one very expensive night on the town and a monumental hangover the next day, but fitted in many gaudy etc.

PAIS VASCO
We are now in Pais Vasco (hurrah despite the rain and 10 degrees temp) after a whistle-stop tour of the Pyrenees and Dalis teatre museu (a must ), taking in parts of Aragon and Navarra.



So depending on the weather we may be here for a week or a month maybe more. Well your eyes must all be hurting by now so adios from a once bronzed beauty of morocco and now a pale northern Euro with dirty clothes and a leaky van but still having fun.

Contact: tanker@btinternet.com