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Harben Globetrotters, Gloucester (2026)

07/01/2026

Well… we’ve officially earned ourselves a certificate 🥇😅

After leaving Camping Mehdia, we set off on a relaxed 2.5-hour drive south to El Jadida. Everything was going speedily - perhaps a little too speedily, 🚐💨

Cue the Gendarmerie Royale flagging us down. Oops. We’d missed one of Morocco’s sneaky revised speed limits and were cruising at 89kph on a freshly reduced 80kph stretch (down from 120kph).

Okay okay… not quite a certificate - a speeding ticket 😬
Documents checked, a very polite on-the-spot fine of 150 dirhams (£12), and then proudly presented with our official “award”. All smiles, lots of friendliness, and within minutes we were waved off with a safe-journey wish.

Lesson learned: in Morocco, speed limits change faster than the scenery 🇲🇦✨

🚐💛

07/01/2026

Fueling up in Morocco for just £53! 🚐💨 With diesel at only 9.99 MAD/litre (about 81p), road trips don’t get cheaper than this! 🛣️⛽

07/01/2026

Moroccan road signs are a history lesson at speed 🛣️🇲🇦

This one shows the two layers of Morocco’s identity on a single sign:
• Arabic at the top - the official language
• Amazigh (Berber) in Tifinagh at the bottom - an ancient language spoken here for thousands of years and officially recognised in 2011

I believe the signs translate to the local towns of Jorf Lasfar and Moulay Abdallah? 🤷‍♀️

It’s pretty special seeing modern roads carrying such deep cultural roots.

Thank goodness for Google Maps! Imagine trying to find those names on your A-Z road map 😅
I think we’d still be parked on the hard shoulder, confidently lost and pretending it was all part of the plan.

Morocco: beautiful, historic, and guaranteed to keep us on our toes 💙

06/01/2026

🌊 Mud, Detours & Moving On South

After our night in Asilah and waking up with an unexpected lakeside view - we felt ready to push further south. The storms had left the roads muddy, but credit where it’s due, the road crews were out in force and doing a cracking job.

Moulay Bousselham was high on our list for birdlife and lagoon views, but after picking our way through rocks, mud and debris, we discovered the once-idyllic setting had turned into a full-on mud bath. Plans changed (again), and a quick message to saved them from tackling the track too.

So onwards to Kenitra and Camping International Mehdia. For 120 dirhams a night (£9.75), you get a poolside motorhome pitch, hot powerful showers and proper toilets. No design awards here, but clean, functional and exactly what we needed. We booked two nights to fit around our Monday workday - which we knew would be a busy one being the first day back after Christmas.

Beach walks with the dogs were less relaxed this time, due to a territorial pack of stray dogs that were barking and not looking too friendly. It felt pretty intimidating, so we played it safe and turned back.

The day ended on a high though, with a great evening spent with Greg and Angela - good company, some games, a few drinks (of course) and lots of laughter.

This morning we’ve woken up refreshed and ready to continue exploring further down the coast 🚐✨

03/01/2026

A rough crossing… that went surprisingly smoothly!

With the stress of Friday behind us, Saturday started very early. We left our park-up at 4am, bound for Algeciras and our 6am ferry to Tangier Med.

We’d been warned ferries rarely run on time, so imagine our surprise when it was bang on schedule. A pretty good omen that we were back on track 🙌

With Storm Francis lurking, the sailing was a little rough, but the process itself couldn’t have gone smoother 😊
Boarding was problem-free and we met up with the lovely Angela and Greg who followed us on so we tackled our onboard chores together as we were all “Morocco Virgins” 😇

First stop: passport control.
Forms filled, stamps stamped, and an all-important number scribbled above the stamp (you’ll need this for campsites).

Next up was the temporary vehicle import D16 ter.
Passport and V5 in hand, paperwork stamped and the most important bit: a little white card, to be guarded with your life. Lose it and you’re in for a world of pain when leaving Morocco - and we’ve had quite enough stress lately, thank you 😅

Just enough time for a coffee before docking at Tangier Med.

Then came the usual ferry exit chaos - a chicane of traffic resembling Wacky Races. There was a heart-stopping moment when the car in front started rolling backwards downhill towards us (Dick Distardly maybe?) - swiftly saved by a very alert security guard. Crisis averted 😮‍💨

Following advice from kiwisflythecoop we parked by the kiosks to complete “Mission Morocco”.

First task: cash.
ATMs were straightforward, 3000 MAD with 39 MAD fee (just over £3). Easy and worth it.

Armed with dirhams, we headed to the insurance kiosk for third-party cover (our insurance doesn’t cover Morocco).
Simple process, about 970 MAD for up to a month (around £79). Cash payment only - euros or dirhams.

And just like that… all boxes ticked.
This time, calmly. Smoothly. Successfully.

Hello Africa 🌍
It’s amazing to finally be here - a new country not just for us, but for Moby, Winnie, and of course Billy, our trusty steed 👍🏻🤩 We can’t wait to see what you have in store.

See our comment below for a handy bullet point guide to entering Morocco 🇲🇦

03/01/2026

The day of chaos continues… Part 2 🤯

After the major stress at the vets, we gave ourselves a quick breather before diving straight into the next task on the checklist.

We’d already booked our ferry crossings with DFDS FRS at the bargain price of €130 return, but with a 6am sailing ahead of us we really wanted to get hold of some Moroccan dirhams for toll booths - and, for some inexplicable reason, we also thought we could sort our vehicle insurance at Carlos’ office 🤷‍♀️

So off we went to visit the infamous Carlos, just a few minutes’ drive from the vet we’d chosen… only to find a queue winding its way right down the road 😳 Naturally, in true British fashion, we joined the back and started chatting to everyone around us.

About 20 minutes in, a man appeared pushing his way through the crowd with a table balanced over his head. Odd, we thought 🤣 Then out came the stethoscope! Had someone had a medical emergency in the queue? 😳 Nope. He was actually a vet, casually setting up a street-side surgery on the corner outside Carlos’ shop 🙄😂

After 45 minutes, Carlos started handing out leftover Christmas chocolates to keep the peace. An hour later, another round. After an hour and a half… it was finally our turn! 🎉

Front-row seats secured, we explained we needed dirhams and asked about vehicle insurance.
“Oh no sorry, we’ve run out of dirhams for today… and we don’t do insurance.”
“Oh. I see.”
“But have a bottle of wine and a Swiss roll anyway.” 🤦‍♀️

That didn’t quite go to plan 😆

Deciding we’d had enough excitement for one day, we headed off to Park4Night number 480675 - only to find it completely full. Final nail in the coffin. So we did the only sensible thing: bought more wine and beers (because that always fixes everything 🍷🍺) and ended up overnighting in Mercadona’s car park, ready for our brutal 3:30am alarm.

Surprisingly quiet night… just far too short 😴
What a day. Definitely one we won’t forget in a hurry.

02/01/2026

Near disaster strikes… Part One 😩

What a day! 🤦‍♀️🇲🇦
With a 6am ferry booked for tomorrow, we thought today would be busy but manageable. We’d done our research, read all the advice… what could possibly go wrong?

Quite a lot, as it turns out 😬

After a smooth drive to Algeciras, we headed to Centro Veterinario Brulina to collect the dogs’ Fit to Travel certificates. Health checks? Perfect. Passports? Fully up to date. Rabies and titre tests? All in order… or so we thought.

Then came the curveball. They asked for the original titre certificates - fine - until it turned out the laboratory that processed the titre tests had mistaken a 7 for a 1 and entered Moby’s microchip number incorrectly 😳

Cue frantic phone calls between Spain, Belgium and the laboratory, plus a very tense 2 hour wait while we imagined missing the ferry and crawling back along the Spanish coast with our Schengen days running out 😢

Finally… the best news 🙌
The lab admitted the error, corrected it and emailed the updated certificate straight to the vet.

Crisis averted, dogs approved, €90 lighter - and massively relieved to have fixed a problem we didn’t even know we had 😅

02/01/2026

Last night we parked up in a lovely quiet spot on the outskirts of Aljucén. Very peaceful. Very serene. We spent the evening watching a bit of TV, very rock and roll, living our wildest lives, when I kept saying, “What’s that noise?”

The volume went down. We listened intently. Nothing.
TV back up.

“What’s that noise?”
Volume down again. More listening. Still nothing.

Anyway, overnight the wind picked up just enough to reveal the culprit: despite not looking like we were under a tree, the very end of a rogue branch was gently scritch-scritch-scritching across our roof. Subtle. Persistent. Maddening.

We heroically put up with it all night until 6am, when Tim finally snapped. With me dozing in the back, the front blind shot up, the engine started, and we moved… approximately one foot forward.

Silence.
Instant peace.
Immediate regret that we hadn’t done that about eight hours earlier 😂

01/01/2026

Night 3 of our quick dash south and we’ve landed in Aljucén 🇪🇸
A long haul down from Tardajos today, but we’re not complaining - this makes three free nights in a row… France and Spain really know how to look after motorhomers 😂

Aljucén is a wee village just north of Mérida, surrounded by wide-open countryside and olive groves. We’re parked on the edge of town: handy for the E803, yet far enough away to promise a quiet night. Even better, there’s free water and waste disposal, which always feels like winning the park-up lottery 🙌

We wandered the entire village - all 15 minutes of it 😂 - but when you’re covering miles, convenience is king. This spot is exactly what we needed for a simple, stress-free overnight pause. Tomorrow we roll into Algeciras, checklist in hand and chores to tick off as we get Morocco-ready, ahead of our booked ferry early Saturday morning… although the forecast for the crossing is looking decidedly iffy 😬🌊

📍 Park4Night #68802

📌 What3Words
///packers.interpolated.mining

30/12/2025

It was a long day on the road, but thankfully a smooth and trouble-free one. After an early start - thanks to the overnight ferry from Portsmouth to Caen - we eased into the day with a much-needed mid-morning coffee, followed by a more leisurely lunch stop. By mid afternoon , we were happily settled in for the night.

The next few days are all about covering the miles, with conveniently spaced stopovers along the way. No scenic detours this time - we’re just cracking on south. Still, driving beneath blue skies and sunshine feels like an absolute treat… a very welcome change after the recent UK weather ☀️

Now it’s time to relax, unwind, and get ready for the adventure to unfold.

📍 Overnight stop:
park4night #10161 Supposedly €5 per night but the machines not working so we’ll pop back later as it mentions something about after 5pm? A lovely, quiet spot beside a small copse, which the dogs are very happy to call their back garden for the night 🐾

W3W ///unconvinced.hydrates.momentous

🚐✨

Harben Globetrotters

07/01/2026

07/01/2026

07/01/2026

06/01/2026

03/01/2026

03/01/2026

02/01/2026

02/01/2026

01/01/2026

30/12/2025

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