From Tangier we started the trip home. This began with a taxi to the Tangier ferry port for the ferry across to Tarifa. This is the same ferry which we should have got a day earlier, but was cancelled due to the weather in the Straits of Gibraltar. We turned up fairly early, but it seems there was little point in doing this. We queued for security and then border control and then sat and sat and sat …. Eventually we were allowed on the ferry and then sat and sat and sat …. About an hour and a half late the ferry finally (without a single announcement or anything) headed off. The ferry itself was not inspiring. Lots of the seats had been taped off with red and white tape as if marking a crime scene and a lot of the seats which hadn’t been taped off had buckets on them. The reason for this became evident as soon as the ferry rolled and water poured through the ceiling – not exactly reassuring.
Still, we made it to Tarifa and walked up towards the bus station, stopping for a nice lunch at a local café. Then we headed to the bus station and following the theme of the day, waited and waited and …. The bus to Cadiz eventually arrived around 50 minutes late.
A night in Cadiz and then the train to Zaragosa. Because of all the changes in our schedule, compounded by the impact of the Spanish train crash near Cordoba, this meant a train from Cadiz to Seville (30 minutes late), then a change and train from Seville to Madrid with a one and a half hour replacement bus service from Cordoba to Villanueva de Cordoba and then a train from Madrid to Zaragoza (35 minutes late) and then a taxi ride to the hotel. It was something of a relief to finally get there …..