I’m back alone heading to Spain.

It’s been a while since I have blogged. A lot has happened, and I will try to bring you up to date. I met up with Gayle at Casablanca airport the day after I arrived. As it was still raining, I arranged for a car to pick us up and take us into the city to our hotel. It was close to an hour, so fifty dollars well spent. For the next two days, we checked out Casablanca. As Morrocco is a Muslim country,licensed bars are not easy to find. We were fortunate to find a bottle shop only two hundred metres from the hotel,and a shop selling ice, the drinking problem in Casablanca was solved. After two days, at an arranged meeting,we met our tour guide Samir and our other fourteen travelling companions. Two canadians,six Americans,seven Australians, and one lady from Scotland. The Scottish lady was a girl friend to one of the Aussie blokes, who catch up twice a year. Sounds like the perfect connection. We had the perfect crew, everyone got along, and I think we have made life long friendships. After two weeks of travelling through Morrocco, we reluctantly had to say goodbye to our morroccon family. We had a wonderful time, which included riding camels and sleeping in the desert. Our tour guide was the best, he always helped us find beer and wine. The food and culture is completely different to our way of life. The call to prayer, which starts early in the morning,is echoed across the country, happening five times a day. There are more mosques than we have pubs. I found the people to be friendly, although there are a lot of touts, and I try to keep away from them. After Morrocco, Gayle and I flew to Florence in Italy. Hired a car and spent ten days driving around the north of Italy called Tuscany. Another great experience. The scenery incredible. The ancient ruins of fortresses, churches and villages never seemed to stop amazing us. Also lots of snow capped mountains. For three days we were fortunate that Emily, our daughter studying in Belgium was able to join us. Gayle and I spent our last couple of days in Milan. Today, Gayle will go back home to Australia, and I will travel on to Spain for another Camino. The weather we experienced across Italy and Morrocco was excellent travelling weather. Little rain, not too hot in the day , cool nights. I’m hoping by the time I get to Spain, the weather will be warm in the day and cool at night.

A long day’s travel

One of my pregnant devils

Thaw out?

I woke up in Casablanca this morning, expecting to open the curtains and let the sunshine in. It was raining 🌧. Definitely warmer than Scotland, but the only person I saw, was wearing a rain jacket and walking along the path picking up rubbish and placing it in a black rubbish bag. Even Glasgow looked brighter than that when I left, although my head was pretty fuzzy. Yeah,looking back on the last few days, I chilled out, literally, in Fort William and happily called the Crofter my local inn. It was about a km walk from the Cruachen hotel, where I was staying.I met some really lovely people. I gave one of my tassie devils to Leah, a lovely lass who served me my drinks. In case I missed to inform you,I always bring lots of small pieces of Australia with me to hand out to adults or kids just as appreciation for spending a special moment with me. Before I left, I noticed I still had about fifty tassie devils, made from huon pine, which were professionally crafted by my good friend, Keith Holliday, when we lived in Tasmania. So I gave Leah one on Sunday evening and asked her to nurture this pregnant little girl, and hopefully we could populate the highlands with this nasty little creature, as the living conditions would suit her and help stop them from extinction. Leah said she would build her a cage and feed her, and spread the babies across the mountains and valleys. Well,on Tuesday night, I’m sharing a pint with this old Scotsman, dressed to the nines on his way to a free masons meeting. Looked fancy enough to be a barrister in my eyes. Anyway, he told me,without mentioning tassie devils, he saw a documentary on them. Not five minutes later, Leah walks in with her partner, and strikes up a conversation with the look a like barrister. At that point, I interupt the conversation, and ask Leah, how the cage build is progressing, and she informs me, that with three jobs, it will have to wait till the weekend. So now, old mate’s ears prick up and he believes I have smuggled a tasmanian devil into scotland, but sighs with relief when Leah produces it from her handbag. We laughed like hell. The coincidence of Leah turning up when she did, and played along, cemented one of the funniest moments of my trip. Fort William seems like the cross road for hiking. Everyone you see has a back pack and walking poles. Also for what looks a small population, there must be five large camping and hiking stores. It is also at the base of Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the UK, the one I was hoping to summit. I’ll probably be too old if and when I find my way back here. I explored Fort William at my leisure, till it was time to catch a train back to Glasgow. As I was to catch a train to the airport early the next morning, I decided to check out the horse shoe bar, as it had been recommended by Connal as a friendly bar. I walked in, bought a pint, and rang Emily. When I finished my pint, I waved good night to Em, as we spoke on Skype, and asked the bartender where I would get some grub. After he worked out what I was saying, he made some suggestions. As I was about to leave, a couple of guys had some questions about Australia, and I ended joining them for more and more pints. When I realised I was wearing wobbly boots, I decided I needed to find my hotel. Luckily I found a fish shop still open on my struggle back to the hotel. I munched away on my battered fish, hoping I wouldn’t sleep in. My plane trip to Morrocco was five hours. Normally a piece of piss. Unfortunately,three separate flights. Glasgow to London, London to Madrid, and Madrid to Casablanca. So that totalled six times through security and passport inspection, walked many miles, fifteen minutes on the bus at Heathrow, to go from one terminal to the next. A lot of waiting to get on and off planes, and then finally reaching my hotel, arguing with a taxi driver,which I knew would happen, about ripping me off. Seeing it was almost ten pm,and I had left before six am,I decided to put up little fight. At last, I was in the hotel bar having a coldie and on my way to bed. Today I will go back to the airport via a free shuttle service provided by my hotel, and wait for my beloved wife Gayle, and together we shall conquer all Morrocco has to offer.