Having waved ‘au revoir’ to Big Bertha on the dockside at Sheerness Port on a blustery July day, we have just been very happily reunited 34 days later in a hot and sunny Walvis Bay, Namibia. BB was shipped here on the Glovis Summit, a so-called RoRo (roll on roll off) vessel. The ship called in at a number of […]
(A shorter recreation of our post from 2019 which was mysteriously deleted…) Francine has always wanted to skydive and the clear skies of Swakopmund in Namibia provided an excellent opportunity to fulfil her ambition (although David was very happy to watch proceedings from terraferma). Ruud, Francine’s South African ‘co-pilot’ took very good care of her, and she returned to planet […]
We have been busy readying Big Bertha for the next leg of our adventure: Southern Africa. Several companies have helped us and we would like to say a big ‘thank you’ here. MAN Truck and Bus, Exeter A big thank you to Alastair, Leah, Stuart, Sam and Matt for looking after BB whilst in the workshop for its service. BB’s […]
We needed a place to park up in the UK upon our return from North Africa and before starting our Southern African adventure. We contacted Darts Farm in Topsham and the owners very kindly agreed to us staying on their property in return for a donation to the local air ambulance trust. Big Bertha is now on its way to […]
Distance: 7,453 miles / 11,994 kmTime: 223 daysFuel Consumption: 13.2 mpg / 21.4 l/100kmCountries: UK / Spain / Morocco / Portugal It was always our intention to have a shakedown trip before setting off on our African adventure. And we have learned a lot: about ourselves, about Big Bertha, and about overlanding. On reflection, BB is too big from an […]
Our ferry, the Pont Aven, broke down again and we found ourselves with six ‘extra’ days in Northern Spain. Inspired by the magical film ‘The Way’, we visited Santiago de Compestella and Cabo Fisterra – significant parts of the ‘Camino de Santiago’. We parked up in a town 7km outside Santiago, joined the many pilgrims and walked the Camino to […]
We pushed on through Portugal, spending only thirteen nights there before emerging into Northern Spain. Not much to say except:
We were lucky to be in Jerez visiting friends at the time of the annual Jerez Feria del Caballo. It lasts a week and is very Spanish. We joined our friends, Douglas and Carol, at Carrefour’s caseta to watch people, fireworks and the ceremonial switching on of the illuminations. It was a late night! The next day we visited during […]
Mark White, an old Moroccan hand, whom we met whilst camping in Tinghir, advised us that, should we ever get the chance, we should attend a Moroccan Tbourida (or Fantasia). We did our research and saw that an inter-regional competition was scheduled for April 27 & 28 in Meknes. We were camping nearby in Azrou and so we arranged for […]
Rather than taking the conventional ‘Route National’ between the Dades and Todra gorges, we decided instead to take the long way around and head up the Dades gorge, into the mountains, visit Agoudal, and then back down the Todra gorge. It turned out to be a spectacular journey with some magnificent wild camping at high altitude with stunning views. Our […]