“36:08.08N 5:21.309W”

1,659 Miles since leaving Sandwich

It all went a bit wrong so and we are back in Gibraltar 1^st December 2022

I left you last time as we were about to go to Sam’s bar in Casablanca for a night out. After getting all dressed up, we hailed a cab and headed out. Sam’s bar was the best night out we have had in a long time. Great music in a great location, the service was very and the food excellent. What more can I say, we had a really good night out and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Getting into the whole mood Norma had a gin before the meal and I had a Ricard, after a bottle of wine and a couple of drinks after we ate it was a very merry pair that found their way back to our corner suite at the Odyssey Boutique hotel for a good night’s sleep. 

Our table is the one with the wine cooler closest to the band

Ricks café.

The next morning, we were up bright and early to check out and catch the train to Marrakesh for a meet up with the Rooks and the Fosters who had arrived the night before. Feeling a bit dehydrated I polished off the bottled water by the bedside and then after cleaning my teeth drank a couple of glasses of water from the tap in the bathroom. At this point I fully opened my eyes and saw the very large sign saying, “Do not drink the water”, Oops, and more on that subject later. As has been the case so far in Morocco the train was clean, cheap and left spot-on time. Just over two hours later, spot-on time, we pulled into Marrakesh station and headed out into the hustle and bustle of the town. First impressions weren’t good as we were bombarded by quite aggressive taxi drivers touting seriously inflated prices and grabbing the handles of our suitcases which is really not what you want when you are beginning to get an iffy belly. A very nice young lady stepping out of another cab told her driver that we were going to pay on the meter ‘compteur’ which wasn’t to his liking at all, but it is actually the law in Morocco and we piled in anyway. After a 5-minute drive he demanded quite aggressively 100 MAD while the meter read 12. He got 12 and had a proper sulk. This left us standing by the gates of the medina with no idea where to go next. We knew the hotel was inside and girding our loins we headed in. 10 minutes later, hopelessly lost a very kind shopkeeper showed us the way to the Riad and even refused to take a tip which was very nice of him and in sharp contrast to the experience thus far. We were soon being greeted warmly by the hotel staff and chatting away to Tommy, Sue, Chris and Julie on the lovely roof terrace, all was good with the world and it must be said the interior of the Riad was lovely.

Everyone outside of the medina getting some clean air in Marrakesh

That night we had a meal inside the medina on a rooftop in order to watch the sun go down over the Atlas mountains which was an experience. The owner had procured wine and beer for us but without a license he was very nervous about being seen to serve it. Red wine came in coke cans while the white came in Fanta cans of course. The food was typical Moroccan fair with a mixture of Tagine dishes and kebabs of various kinds which allowed us to play the,” what meat is that game”? Unfortunately, I started to get stomach cramps as the meal progressed and the hot sweats I had been having all afternoon got a whole lot worse.

Waiter I think my wine is ring pulled

By the time we had got back to the Riad I was feeling very rough and went straight to bed feeling very sorry for myself.  I can’t really say much more about Marrakesh, I spent 4 days in bed either being sick or vomiting violently. Norma went out in the daytime with the Rooks and the Fosters, and I joined them briefly on our roof terrace each evening, but they didn’t seem to be having a good time. Life in the medina was very claustrophobic, dusty and frankly smelly as mopeds buzzed up and down the narrow alleys all day long weaving in and out of the throngs of people while creating clouds of two stroke exhaust emissions. On the second day of my confinement, I started to pass quite a bit of blood which the internet informed me when combined with all of the other symptoms was a strong indication of dysentery. It also said that I should keep hydrated and the nasty beast would go away on its own within 4 to 7 days. Norma started making noises about taking me to the doctors or hospital but with only three days of the ‘holiday’ left to run the Moroccan health system just didn’t appeal to me one bit and so I kept quiet about the blood loss. What I did agree with wholeheartedly was changing our travel plans. Instead of an overnight train back to Tangiers, long taxi ride, ferry, and then another taxi ride, we would fly direct to Malaga and get the bus to La Linea. Still having regular shaking fits, I was a bit concerned that I would be grabbed from the line for health checks, but I held it together and we were soon in the air. To be honest I can’t remember an awful lot about the journey home but once back aboard Spectra all was well with the world.

We have been back for three days now, and I am finally feeling normal enough to start looking forward to the next stage of our adventures. Chris and Shaun have now both booked their flights, Chris will join us on the 24^th December in Gibraltar while Shaun will join us in Tenerife on the 30^th, all we have to do now is get Spectra down there on time. Actually, Spectra is more or less ready, I have two new electronic charts to pick up in the UK and I need to activate the Iridium Go satellite hotspot and get the weather routing software working. Simon on the boat next door has the same system and has offered to give me a hand getting it all working which is a huge bonus. I need to top up the main fuel tanks and the on-deck petrol containers for the generator which will mean a short sail around to the fuel berth. We have started stocking the boat with non- perishable food for the trip and even booked a diver (another Simon) to give the old girls bottom a good polish. I have dropped all of the sails and shortened all of the Halliards to move any pulley wear points along. Tomorrow we are flying back to the Uk to see the kids before Christmas and then returning on the 14^th December which will give us ten days to get everything ready for the off. Finally, we have been in contact with the San Miguel marina in the South of Tenerife and sent them all of the requested documentation, hopefully we will have that confirmed before the end of today. Norma has even had a cross Atlantic/going home to the UK haircut and is looking very swish……All very exciting.