Banjul Challenge – Tarifa – 1/15/23
Jan 18th, 2023 by rallyadmin
We leave Salamanca with Clemo driving. Clemo didn’t shut off the engine when he arrived and parked in a car park next to the railroad station. He’s going to drive out of town and then hand the driving over to me. He’s driven solo for over 600 miles and he needs a break.
We stop at a truck stop on the Aotuvia for some fuel and lunch (they hadn’t had lunch yet.) We leave the car running, lock the car and get a spot at the front of the cafe so that we can keep an eye on the car.
Lunch over, we start on again with me driving now. The Freeloader drives fine and is quite comfortable. We still have about 400 kms to go to our stop for the night in Tarifa in the shadow of Gibraltar. We have plenty of time to discuss the upcoming trip and t0 try and analyze the car issue.
It’s great to be on the road again and it’s great to meet up with Clemo again. He’s somewhat nervous about getting the trip started with so many teams. We talk through what needs to be done and spitball his upcoming welcome speech. But he’s so thorough I think he’s just doing this to rehearse and hear what he plans to say out load.
It’s just after 5PM when we get to the hotel, Meson de Sancho. It’s quite nice, has it’s own restaurant and bar and has secure parking. It’s probably the best hotel we’ll see for the rest of the trip.
Some teams have already arrived and more teams start rolling in behind us. The teams are a collection of old Clemo lunatics, Clemo friends, Julian’s old-timers and rank newbies. Everyone is eager to meet and introduce themselves. Soon the beer starts to flow and the noise level rises.
Tonight is Special Dress night, a tradition that Clemo has on all his trips. For Specisal dress night, everyone must dress as outrageously as possible. My dress is a collections of parts from other trips: my WWI flying helmet and goggles from the Sri Lanka tuktuk trip, My waistcoat and sheriff’s badge from the Laos trip over the Hawaiian shirt from the Grecian 3000 trip over a Got Cats? T-shirt from Diamond Jim Brazeale, a strap on bow tie from my grandson Mika, some loose fitting cotton pants from years ago in Greece and some sandals. It was well received.
Dinner started a bit after 8 and Clemo I were seated with Hillary, her son Dan and a couple of other friends. The food was pretty good, the wine flowed pretty freely and the talk was very enjoyable. Being the only American in this most British crowd is always a treat for me. I love to hear the views, opinions and humer of these wonderful people from across the ponder. I usually they are as interested in my take as I am in theirs.
Some time after 10P I finally run out of gas and start to get too close to too much wine. I make my farewells and head back to the room. It’s been a very long but wonderfully fun day.
Obi
