Ceuta

We drove from the campsite outside La Linea around the bay to the major Spanish port at Algeciras on the far side of the bay from Gibraltar. Here we caught a ferry to Ceuta, a Spanish enclave on the north Africa coast.

 There was a large passenger departure hall and several large ferries in port. We bordered ours and we set off. Being November it is the low season and the ferry could not have had more than 10% occupancy. And some areas were roped off completely but this is a picture of one of the open areas devoid of passengers.

 We cruised out of the bay and beyond the last bit if Europe that I would see for nine months.

 It is less than an hour to cross the straits between Europe and Africa and we were entering the harbour at Ceuta.

 It was a shot drive along the coast to get to the Spanish Morocco border and then I was in the first African country, the first of over thirty that I would be crossing in the net nine months.

We drove into the Rif Mountains with some beautiful views.

 There is enough rainfall for the hills to be quite green in places.

 And the particular road we were following passed three reservoirs created for drinking water, irrigation and to produce HEP.

 One side was the river and on the other side of the road were distant views of one the peaks of the mountain range.

 And in the late afternoon we arrived at our first African campsite at Chefchaouen.