So im down in Gibraltar, have been here about 8 days or something, looking for a boat that needs crew, going to the Canaries or across the Atlantic, I found a boat some days ago, a canadian couple and their daughter. We will leave tomorrow for Morocco and then arriving to the Canaries probably around 13th December.
The hitchhike down here
Me and Kalle arrived to the port of Fredrikshavn around 12 o clock and started by walking for some hours, trying to find a good hitching spot, the start was slow, many short rides on the way towards Germany, after it got dark we got a ride with a polish truckdriver that took us for a couple of hours down to Germany, somewhere 100 km form Hamburg, continued the hitching, germany is so easy, even in the middle of the night. Got a couple of other long rides and in 7 in the morning we arrive to a gasstation outside Frankfurt and set up the tent in some bushes for a couple of hours sleep in the morning light.
Slow start again from that gasstation but finally we get a ride with an Iranian buisnessman that takes us to the border of France, Strasbourg. We walk over the border and end up right in the city with its confusing roads in every direction. We walk around for a while trying to find a good hitching spot and after a guy recomends a spot that looks almost impossible, narrow, fast motorway onramp we get a ride quite fast with a woman, just after picking up her cat in her house takes us toward Mulhouse, leaves us on a quite small road, saying this should be better for hitching towards Lyon. Its quite late, around 12 or 1 and few cars are passing, some cars stop, offering 10 km rides and finally we take one 15 km ride with two guys. We end up in another roundabout and the traffic is about one car each 30 minute. We end up walking, trying to find a place for the tent but instead we find a half demolished abandoned house where we build up a shelter and sleep well.
Next day we continue to go south, a couple of rides to Lyon, a couple of more down to Orange, right by the junction Montpellier - Marseille. We arrive at dusk and the cars that stops are not going in our direction. We set up the tent behind some trees right by the paystation for the highway. Next morning we continue in the same spot. It takes time.. Few cars stop and the ones who do is going the wrong direction, another hitchhiker appears behind us. Then another one, a 50 year old guy but he's standing 10 meter in front of us, so we are stuck between two hitchhikers in a complicated hitchhiking spot, then the police sets up a traffic controll behind us. So we're kind of really stuck. But then like always something unexpected happens
an old lady stops, just to tell us that we need a sign with the destination(We had been trying for about 6 hours with and without sign) we ask her where she's going and she agrees to take us, we're happoy to get out of that place. Then a couple of more rides and we reach barcelona in the evening.
In Barcelona we stay two nights, we're staying with friends from Sweden and their landlord turns out to be my very first couchsurfing host, 2 years ago in barcelona. we're both quite surprised to see eachother.
We continue our hitchhiking in the afternoon, taking a commuter train out of Barcelona, then walking around for about 2 hours trying to find that gasstation that were supposed to be somewhere in the area. After some non succcesfull onramp-hitching we find the gasstaion, same gasstation i ended up at 2 years ago hitching towards Zaragoza. Now we're heading south though, we quickly get a ride in the right direction, taking us close to Tarragona, another short ride and then comes my life so far longest wait for a ride. We're trying to get on the Autopista, the pay-highway. But unlike in France we're not allowed to stand in the paystations or around them so all we have is a lousy spot where cars go fast. We stand there for about 6 hours without any luck. Ending up setting up the tent in the forrest, in the morning we wake up with harsh voices
- Policia!
They had seen our tent from the road, checks our passports and after a while say we can continue sleeping. We go back to the useless hitchhing spot again and try for 2 hours or so before we walk instead, trying to find the Autovia, the regular highway. After many hours of walking and waiting we get a couple of shorter rides and right when it gets dark we get an ride with a russian man who had spent the last 4 years in spanish prison and got out 3 weeks ago. He takes us a long way throught the night and we end up in a truckstop outside Murcia. We dont set up the tent here, but use it as a blanket over our sleepingbags, in a place between the olive-trees. Next morning me and Kalle split up to make the hitching easier, Kalle gets quick a ride almost all the way to Malaga while i dont have that much luck but getting a few rides and ending up in the worst ever hiching place Almeria, the last driver didnt want to stop where i wanted to but took me all the way to the harbour. I walk and after some time realize that i cannot walk up again to the highway cause theres a tunel where its not allowed to walk and the roads are narrow, the tunel is the only way up to the highway again. I try to hitch for a while but when it starts raining i give up and take a bus to Malaga. Me and Kalle meet up and we walk around trying to find a place to sleep. The beach seems like an ok place, there are many small fishing boats where we could hide the tent. When we walk down there we find out there are allready about 10 people sleeping, in tents, under blankets and boats. We set up the tent between two boats and wake up from the sound of the fishermen and seagulls.
Now we're close, we get a few rides more, the last one was abit funny, we're in a roundabout close to La linea/Gibraltar and a truck stops, blocking the whole roundabout, and when we quickly climp into the truck the driver see's our backpacks and slowly goes out of the truck opening the container and lets us put the backpacks there in front of the line of cars thats increasing. We arrive in La linea and stays with a swedish couchsurfer and her friends. Kalle left a couple of days ago for Morocco and it took me about 5 days to find a boat going to the Canaries.
