Apologies, Part 2 has been a VERY long time coming!

We are at the half point stage of our hitchhike adventure from London to Morocco – catch up on Part One.

Day 4

The Lowdown and Drivers 

After a nights stay at my friend Jay’s house from a previous ski season, we were back on the road again!

Hitch #20: Jay takes us out of Blaye to catch a ride towards the motorway

Hitch #21: Pauline / Blaye – Autoroute

Hitch #22: Laticia / Autoroute – Bordeaux outskirts

And then it began to rain. And pour as we hovered at the entrance of the motorway…

Hitch #23: Vince. Heavy metal blaring from his car! // Bordeaux Autoroute – Road to Spain!

Hanging out at the service station, we grabbed a coffee and tried to make ourselves look slightly less drowned rat-ish.

At the service station, we struck gold!

Hitch #24: Fernando the slightly OCD tidy Portuguese truck driver. Never did we see such a clean, organised truck. He agreed to take us all the way to Valladolid, Northern Spain. Now, the truck only had one seat – so we alternated with one us sitting on the floor!

The trucking life

We rode in Fernando’s truck for a mammoth 8 hours! He spoke little English so we had to entertain ourselves with idle chit chat and the single magazine I’d bothered to bring…

Crossing into country number 3 – Spain!

The plan was to ride with Fernando to Valladolid in Northern Spain where we had managed to arrange a couch surf but unfortunately plans changed as he ran out of trucking hours…

….now we found ourselves stranded 70km from Valladolid at dusk….cue…

Hitch #25 (another Portuguese trucker), who unfortunately took as right past Valladolid and to a random service station (this was the slightly dodgy hitch and we regretted taking this ride).

The Nights Accommodation 

Instead of sleeping rough to save money, we found a basic hotel and tried our luck on. With the help of the trusty Google translate, we tried to beg a free hotel room for our charity mission. The girl, unfortunately, wasn’t having any of it as there was not a manager of authorities on site.

We were bitterly divided but in the end, coughed up and bought a room. A little part of us felt like we’d failed – but I just hoped that this had happened for some sort of reason….

Day 5

The Lowdown and Drivers

Feelings of flatness still lingered a bit in the morning but at least we got a beauty of a sunrise

And a quick first hitch..

Hitch #26: Joseph from Romania took us to Salamanca and en route gave us his life story (ex-wife pain included) and opinions on the UK and US as well as a Tibetan music soundtrack. Life on the road is never dull! Got to love that 80’s jumper too….

Joseph left us on the far side of Salamanca to where we needed to be to head south, so we decided to go for a good old walk seeing as we’d been cooped up in cars for days.

We bumped into a Dutch couple walking the famous Camino de Santiago. They warned us they had struggled to get any hitch rides in southern Spain. Not the first time we heard this.

Made it!

Salamanca was an unexpected beauty of a town…

After a quick wander around the town, it was time to hit the hitch again and we were praying for someone slightly more normal or talkative after the last few hitches…(Note how cold it is now, Fran has got ALL her clothes on!).

Our prayers were answered in the most glorious fashion – step forward…

Hitch #27 Salamanca  – Plasencia. Rosa and Gregorio, a senior couple from Plasencia.

Despite speaking very little Spanish, we muddled through and they took us to this amazing local jamon (cured ham) bar far out of town and treated us to amazing jamon sandwiches and chilled red wine – legends!

In their unbelievable kindness, Rosa and Gregorio also offered us a place to stay for the night in their home in Plasencia. Their son spoke English and they were keen to show us there town!

Despite needing to cover a distance, we decided this would be too good an opportunity to miss, so we accepted their offer to come and stay with them instead of pressing on to Merida.

The night’s accommodation

Arriving in Plasencia, we were given a tour of the local peacock park and the main town square, before going to the supermarket with Rosa, who cooked a delicious meatloaf, accompanied by their son, Sergio and his girlfriend, Rebecca – it was one of those truly surreal travel moments of kindness. In a twist of fate, we also found out Rosa was in Salamanca for a checkup after recently recovering from breast cancer.

We also absolutely loved their table – which had a heater underneath – genius!

Day 6

The Lowdown and Drivers

In the morning, Rosa treated us to her homemade pear and blackberry jam on toast, before driving us to a suitable hitch spot to head south.

Hitch #28 / Alfonso //Plasencia – Merdia

One of the most interesting rides of the trip, an organic farmer in central Spain who had volunteered all over South America.

Hitch #29 Pedro, Pablo and Belen  // Merida – edge of Sevilla

 

Dirty lunch just outside Sevilla – the only option on the industrial estate! Desperate times lead to desperate measures. The only reason was to nick free wifi….honest…

Hitch #30 Rafael // Helpful lift around the Sevilla ring road

Hitch #31 Antonio // Ringroad – middle of nowhere where only strip clubs dot the roadside.

Hitch #32 Antonio 2 // Lift further down the road of strip clubs.

Hitch #33 Rafael & Svetlana, a Spanish & Hungarian couple on their way to a swimming competition. They convinced us to continue on to a little village called Arcos de la Frontera and take in the sights along the way. Good choice all around.

The night’s accommodation

Once we arrived in Arcos, we decided to try B&B’s to see if they would give us a free room/cupboard for the night. Our Spanish, however, was rusty. Another twist of fate…The incredible Gabriella from Venezuela.

This wonderful woman did a fantastic job translating our plea for a roof for the night and ended up scoring us a plush bed in this wonderful B&B (which hadn’t been cleaned from the day before, not that we care!). We later found out her mother is currently receiving treatment for Leukaemia made even harder by the tough situation in Venezuela at the moment. 

This is Neevas the owner of the B&B. We were so incredibly thankful for her super-generous act of kindness. If anybody visits this beautiful village check out her B&B (its the cheapest in town too)…

That evening, we went for tapas with Gabriella and caught an amazing flamenco show!

The old boys at the local bar

Day 7 – the last day!

The Lowdown and Drivers

We rise early, and head to the outskirts of the town to hit the road again.

Hitch #34 Jose // Arcos de la Frontera – Jerez

Hitch #35 Victoria & Francis // Jerez – Conil coastal road

Hitch #36 Jose 2 & Meribella // Conil – Tarifa

After a failed attempt to negotiate/hitch at the port of Tarifa its decided to try our luck in Algeciras.

Hitch #37  Our final hitch! Tarifa – Algeciras. Time for the ferry!

Negotiations. After several hours and really helpful officials going above and beyond to get us on board, we decide to buy each other’s tickets as our contribution to the trip. Strict border crossing laws enforced the end of last year means each person must pay – something to do with visa stamps. The information booth lady even offered to help pay. No lack of generosity from these guys, its time for us to contribute to the cause!

It’s been a tiring week…

On the ferry to Morocco!

We arrived in Tangiers in Morocco late in the day and made our way to a hostel, where we shared our tale with fellow travellers. We were also thrilled to hit our £1,000 fundraising target for Leukaemia and Lymphoma!

On the roof terrace of our hostel in Tangier, having hitchhiked to Morocco in 7 days!

Conclusion

When I announced I was going to hitchhike from London to Morocco, it was met by disbelief and a slight panic – but, surely it’s not safe now to do that?

But sometimes, life is about taking calculated risks. In return, we were met by the most incredible acts of kindness and generosity. I am so grateful to each and every person we met on our insane journey.

I hope this inspires you to go on and take a bit of an adventurous risk. This journey took 7 days of my annual leave but left me with newfound gratitude and a belief that the world isn’t quite as scary as we are made to believe.