Morocco 2010

MOROCCO 2010

Left home Thur 14^th Jan

Entered Morocco Tue 19^th Jan

We have now arrived safely in Morocco. We did wonder where we would end up at one point! We have previously got the ferry from Algeceras to Ceuta as its quicker and quite a bit cheaper than the alternative to Tangier but the ticket office that all the campervan people go to (owned by Carlos someone operating from a tiny office near a Lidl supermarket where you can stay overnight in their car park) had a special promotion to Tangier which saved about 80 Euro (about £70 these days!) which is not to be sniffed at so we opted for that. The next day when queuing at the port for the ferry with about 20 French campervans a chap drove up gathered the drivers round and said in sort of French (we can only assume this was the famous Carlos who is Spanish) that the ferry to Tangier was 4 hours late but we could all go on the Ceuta ferry “maintenant” for the same price. We understood most of this but one French chap actually bothered to check that we understood that the return trip would still be from Tangier which was good as I wasn’t sure about that bit. The French all seemed happy with this, we assumed at least some of them knew who he was, so we all followed “Carlos” in a convoy round the port area to the other terminal and were put straight on a ferry. It was a bit disconcerting as we had got ourselves geared up for Tangier and then all change. Anyway we were soon across the Straits of Gibraltar and into the usual chaos of the Moroccan border procedures. At least we know what to do now and Mark has all the vehicle import forms downloaded and ready filled in.

We stayed our first night about 2 hours on from Ceuta where there is a free parking area with facilities run by the ferry companies (who knows why but its very handy for ones first or last night) Today we have moved on down the coast to a small beach which has a proper campsite. After 5 days solid driving and the ferry day, we have finally had a day of taking it easy and not driving or travelling all day and also walked into the town for a coffee just to make sure our legs were still working!

Cont 3 days later

We have now moved on to our favourite town of Essouaria. We have been here 2 nights but will prob stay a week to just chill. Also I hoped by now to have internet set up from the lap top but there are some technical difficulties, (aren’t there always!) and we have to wait for the Maroc Telecom office to open on Monday and hopefully we can get sorted. I have a horrid feeling the IT man (Mark) will be once again getting me to try and explain in my crappy French something I hardly understand in English!

We are now at a pleasant 20 degrees but it is a bit breezy here on the coast. There was a some rain in the night but it’s sunny again now. We actually have 2 lots of English camping next to us so yesterday we all sat round having coffee and chatting which was nice.

We have now moved on after a week in Essouaria on the coast. It was nice to have a longer stop after being constantly on the move to get to warmer climes. It’s a nice relaxed place to potter around and the mile or so walk into town along the beach front is good exercise. I definitely need that as I have usually managed to have coffee and buns in town or have been to my favourite doughnut man. He has a tiny shop in the medina, about 3 feet wide counter with just enough space behind to prepare and “fry” the donuts which are then put in a glass cabinet on the counter if not served hot direct from the pan. I noticed him the first time we came as I had never seen such big donuts, about 6ins across and they were only 1.5Dhr, about 10p then, now about 12p with the poorer exchange rate. How could I resist, you see why I need the walking!

In the interests of fitness, I have also been riding twice for an hour each time. I went back to the same stable as last year and rode Prince again, as his legs seem to be holding up well under my weight!! We did some canters on the beach which was exhilarating and not quite so bouncy as last year so my riding must have improved a bit. Mark went for a bike ride while I was riding.

We have just moved on to Marrakech on the way to what are supposed to be scenic waterfalls at Cascades de Ouzoud. Also there is a nice campsite here with good hot showers and a washing machine and we are down to the last undies so we need that!

Tue 2^nd Feb

Yesterday we saw someone ploughing with a pair of camels! I have seen horses, donkeys, mules, cattle and varying miss matched pairs of them but never camels before! Unfortunately the road was too busy to stop for a photo

Saturday we moved on and found a really nice little campsite with fantastic views across a valley 1km from Cascades de Ozoud. It was run by an interesting Dutch couple who had done a lot of travelling in Africa and then decided to settle in Morocco. The site was nicely set out with some tables amongst what was left of the original Almond trees and flowers and small citrus trees planted around about. The almonds were in flower so that contributed to the spring like feel when we arrived on a sunny afternoon. The whole place was spotless with recycling bins for everything and lots of quirky practical things like a mini solar heater made of an old boiler painted black and fitted into a frame which could be turned to face the sun for maximum warmth. We had intended to stay a night, see the waterfalls and move on next day but it was so interesting we stopped another night.

On Sunday we walked down the steep hill to the village and the cascades. It’s quite a tourist attraction for locals as well as foreigners so being Sunday there were quite a lot of people about. The falls were indeed quite spectacular, falling about 150 metres from a curved cliff face. There was quite a lot of spray thrown up so an almost constant rainbow effect when the sun was out. The path back up passed lots of souvenir stalls and cafes. We stopped for a coffee and spent an entertaining half hour watching several groups of young people playing drums, local cymbals and singing and dancing. We were quite taken with the dancing which in spite of the “trendiness” of these young people (you have to be fairly well off here to be having outings like this) seemed to be based on traditional styles vaguely like belly dancing, lots of hip movements and small quick footsteps, and involved boys and girls equally. Anyway it was nice to see them all enjoying themselves.

We then walked on into the village to buy some bread and saw lots of people harvesting olives. Although we have see thousands of olive trees in our travels here we have never encountered harvesting before. This involved the men beating the trees with long poles, sometimes climbing up into the bigger trees and the women collecting the olives from the ground when they fell. Some of the trees were overhanging the road so boys were quickly sweeping the fallen olives off the road before they were crushed by passing vehicles. It seemed to be a family affair with almost festive air about it and people having picnics by the riverside. I asked the Dutch people later who owned the trees in the village as they were dotted about and not in a specific field as it were, and they said different people (we had noticed that some trees had numbers painted on them) but they do a communal harvest. Apparently though if your family don’t send enough helpers it’s very bad for your social standing.

In the afternoon it was the final of the Africa cup which we were invited into the house to watch along with the 3 staff. It turned out to be a very boring match between Ghana and Egypt (Egypt won 1-0) but the conversation was very amusing in Dutch, Arabic, English and French and various combinations thereof. In the evening we went back for coffee with the owners and had an interesting chat about their experiences of trying to set up the camping and getting things built, really it was much like building projects everywhere, always takes longer and costs more than originally planned!

We might have stayed longer and done some more walking in the area but we wanted to get across the mountains while the weather forecast was ok .

Wed 3^rd

Well we made it over the mountains ok, only snow on the very high peaks. We stopped one night actually in the Gorge de Ziz where the river Ziz runs down from the mountain plateau through a spectacular gorge of reddish rock. We arrived at lunchtime and had lunch outside the van admiring the scenery in the sunshine unfortunately by the evening it had clouded over and we had some light rain. Today we have carried on down into the south and what is supposed to be desert but its misty and raining! Well I suppose it will help the sparse vegetation that somehow people use to graze herds of sheep and goats. Regardless of the weather it’s been an interesting day for wild life, we saw a colourful Hoopoe bird and a strange little beige rodent, small rat size with a tail twice its length ending in a sort of furry tassel ran across the road in front of us.

We are now in a brand new campsite in the middle of nowhere between Erfoud and Merzouga. It’s supposed to be very good, the owners say it will be the best in Morocco so we thought we’d check it out and have a hot shower while we’re here. At the moment there are only 3 other vans here, strangely all German, and although it’s stopped raining the weather is still grey so it’s not so exciting. Tomorrow we will move on to the Merzouga and the proper sand dunes and hopefully some sun!

Marks update Thursday 4^th Feb

An eventful night with bursts of very heavy rain all night. Three Italian vans arrived early evening accompanied by the usual increase in shouting and door slamming. They parked in the 3 pitches around us at the side and behind. We awoke to one van trying to move, then the engine stopping quickly, I thought they were just moving their door to avoid a puddle. I stepped out on to the gravelled ground and promptly sank about three inches with each step I took. The van next to us tried to move and ended up getting all 6 wheels stuck in the ground, luckily one of their colleagues managed to tow them out. The van in front was not so lucky even though it was the smallest of them all. The driver just kept digging his wheels further into the soft ground and was completely bogged. A heavy duty 4 wheel drive pickup arrived, it’s bonnet was almost as high as the Italian men’s heads! Because of where the van was parked there was not enough clear space to tow him out straight so they were trying to pull him sideways with a tow rope on his axle as he had no tow bar on the back. This just managed to get him even more bogged. Meanwhile the crowd of onlookers was growing, then another shorter 4wd arrived and put various cloths around the wheels which eventually worked. The poor owner had been getting more and more sweaty and tired and was eventually very relieved to get out of his pitch. It was all very unexpected the ground looked quite firm but the rains seemed to turn the top 3 inches of ground to soft putty. We couldn’t get out of our sliding door as the ground that side never dried up even though it turned in to a sunny and breezy day. We decided we weren’t moving an inch until the next day to allow the ground to dry out and then we planned our exit route carefully and got the van onto our anti slip mats which probably helped to stop us sinking on the boggy side. Driving off the whole area had a lot of large puddles and we wondered what the roads would be like 50 miles further down near the sand dunes. Luckily I don’t think they had had as much rain, though there were a lot of deep muddy ruts off the main tarmac roads. We looked carefully at the tracks and decided to drive out to the Flamingo lake which we had previously only visited in a 4wd truck. We were fine and had good views of the Flamingoes, though they weren’t very active.

Fri 12^th Feb

After 4 nights at a campsite on the edge of the dunes we moved on to the main village, Merzouga, and enjoyed a final night, camping outside a really impressive Auberge. Built with traditional mud walls, it had giant wooden arched doors leading through to another set of doors into a courtyard with a lot of greenery (always impressive in these desert regions) and out the other side. You could look through all the arches to the sand dunes beyond. The manager was a really friendly guy who spoke good English (among about 6 other languages as usual for many Moroccans, most of whom probably only have a very basic education!). Just for our interest he gave us a guided tour of the impressive rooms, all en suite and some with private roof terraces.XXXXX (note to friends who want to fly out and join us for a hol next year we are checking out the accommodation with or next to the campsites, some very interesting places) Then we spent about 2 hours having mint tea with him and chatting while looking out over the dunes. We saw several caravans of camels, nowadays mostly just for tourists, and laughed at the routes they were taking, all along the length of the dunes to make the “trek to the oasis for the night in the desert”. The dunes here are interesting but not so big, being long and narrow, you can cut cross them in about an hour!

The next morning before we left we had more mint tea, with the manager and the only other campers a German man and his Spanish wife who were also interesting people.

We stayed one night on the way and are now back in Zagora for the 3^rd year at another of our favourite campsites. When you arrive they make a little camp for you with a rush mat or carpet, round table and chairs, very homely. Today Said, one of the brothers who owns the site turned up (sometimes they are off doing desert tours or away) so we had More mint tea with him and Moroccan biscuits supplied by us as we “entertained” him in our little camp. Yesterday we met some Dutch people we met here briefly last year, unfortunately they have a broken suspension on their van and have to go to Ouzarzate to get a part but we had a nice evening with them. Today we also have had interesting chats with a German man cycling round Morocco and some other (possibly more sensible Germans) with a camper van. They used to have a business a bit like ours but buying gems in India, swapping some for silver in Bali and then selling it all at shows in Germany so they have some interesting tales. We also briefly spoke to 2 older French ladies travelling together, without a man AND without another camping car. So many French seem to have to “hold hands” as Mark calls it, and that’s in spite of the fact that they have the language advantage over the rest of us. Somehow this campsite always has interesting people not just boring sun seeking French in their big white vans. They tend to stay on the coast, in places like Alantic Parc near Agadir which has about 1000 vans!

Sunday 14^th Feb.

Valentine’s day to some of you, but for Mark it’s the annual day to reset the Solar panel control box and give me the fascinating statistics of how much power its generated this year! (I just read that to Mark and he said quite seriously, “Yes and it is it’s 3^rd birthday and you can mention that its only done 16amps today”-been a bit cloudy!.) !!!!

Fortunately for me last night’s camper in the space next to us was a young French man who had just finished his PHD in computer sciences and was taking 2 years off to travel the world. He spoke good English and was actually prepared to use it so today’s conversations have been very interesting. He came to the giant Sunday souk with us for vegetable shopping and general gawping at the many weird and wonderful things they have for sale. Today seemed to be a big sheep and lamb day, alive as opposed to the usual headless carcases’. (The heads always seem to be on separate stalls!) Back at the camping we shared a lunch of all our freshly brought salad produce and some nice Moroccan bread and olives. He then packed up his mini tent and set out for the edge of town where he will hitch hike, it was interesting to know he had managed to do that in places not easy to get to on buses and of course he had met interesting people doing that.

Tue 16^th

Sunday night there was enough rain that we had to tip it off our awning in the morning and it was a bit of an overcast day with wind getting up in the afternoon. Today is similar and so we are more or less “confined to barracks”. It’s a bit chilly to sit out and anyway you get covered in sand/dust blown up by the wind. Well as I type a group of about 15 German vans have come onto the site so we will have a good hour’s entertainment watching them all get fitted in and setting up their chairs etc. The man opposite has already gone and bagged one of the small tables, even though no one will be sitting out in this weather and I expect they will be on the move again tomorrow. Actually I am a bit disappointed, we have seen several groups of Italians and there is a British tour group that we met once and the French very often travel with 2 or 3 friends but I thought the Germans were a bit more intrepid and usually make it on their own.

Wed 17^th Feb

Another overcast and breezy day, although better than yesterday. We have checked the weather online and here seems to be one of the few places in Morocco where it’s not raining so at least we don’t have that. That will make you all feel better at home; you see it’s not all sunshine everyday here. In fact it doesn’t look like significant change till Sunday! Because we are partly shaded by palm trees we get most of our solar power in the afternoon and as we have had several dull afternoons in a row Mark has decided we’re plugging into the campsite electric today. This is only the second time we have done so since we got the van. I think he is a bit over anxious but I’m not arguing as last night I wasn’t allowed to use the lap top, he’ll be happy when he’s back up to 12.6 whatever that means!

At least it was ok to go to the Wed souk and enjoy a few interesting exchanges with the vendors. It’s always very busy and bustling and has a nice buzz about it, being a regional local market with very few “tourist” stalls.

After our vegetable shopping we had a coffee and bun at one of the many pavement cafes on the main street. Normally we like to sit outside and watch life go by but today it was too windy so we went inside.

Thur 18^th

Ironically having plugged in, about 3 in the morning, the electric went off. I don’t think we should use it again! Last time we were in Morocco we plugged in at a site where the electric was inclusive and there was a storm where the power line to the site went out with a huge bang and lots of sparks!

There was more rain in the night and today has been windy and raining on and off.

Sun 21^{st Feb}

Cut off!!

Well it’s been an exciting couple of days. Sometime on Fri night the river Dra overflowed the bridge that connects the area where we are to the main town of Zagora. A German couple we had spoken to left but returned about 2 hours later having found the bridge flooded they had tried a crossing further south but that was closed so they were going to try to go north but this also proved impossible as that way there isn’t even a sealed road. The flood was partly natural from the rain upstream and in the surrounding mountains but also, apparently they had had to open a dam up near Ouazarzate, about 100 miles to the north, to avoid more serious flooding there. Here there is a wide uninhabited flood plain so apart from cutting about 20% of the town off it didn’t cause any damage to life or property. It did however provide a lot of entertainment on either side of the river. The river is usually more a series of puddles and small lakes than a seriously flowing river except when water is deliberately sent down it for irrigation purposes a few times a year, but nothing like the brown torrent now. Yesterday the water was about 2 foot over the bridge and we did wonder if the bridge would be damaged. Various trucks and other vehicles were stuck on our side all along the road from the bridge but the carnival atmosphere was created by the hundreds of people who went down for a look. Obviously this has never happened before in their lifetimes (I remember last year being told that Morocco had the most rain for 30 years and its certainly gone on longer this year although maybe not so heavily) Apart from our own interest in the bridge and whether we would be able to get to the Sunday souk in town, it was a marvellous people watching opportunity. It was particularly amusing to note that there was a pretty strict division between the men and the women and children.

We went again on Saturday afternoon and the crowds were even bigger, the ladies especially were having a gay old time chatting with their friends and neighbours. Unlike the men, they don’t sit at the pavement cafes drinking mint tea and chatting so I guess it was a great excuse for them to socialise.

Early this morning we did a bridge inspection and it had just been opened and the queue was clearing as the water had gone down to a passable 6 inches. At first it was a police controlled one way system but that quickly went to pot and anyone who arrived on either side just set off across the bridge (which has no railings, only bollards at intervals) regardless of whether there was oncoming traffic or cyclists, scooters or even a few hardy barefooted pedestrians who all got soaked from splashing vehicles. We returned to the campsite for coffee and bun then set out again as we didn’t want to miss the souk and all the lovely fresh produce. There is only one veg shop on this side of the river and when we looked on Sat its stock was as bad as ever, a few potatoes, sprouting onions and squishy tomatoes! We thought we would have to hitch a lift across and luckily the Germans turned up again just after we set out so they took us across and coming back we got a taxi from town.

Wednesday 24^th

Last visit to the souk to stock up before we leave tomorrow. We will be heading west back towards the coast but will be stopping at some new places along the way so it may take a while.

Written Saturday 27^th Feb

Finally left Zagora around lunch time, after saying goodbye at the campsite and getting our leaving gift from Pixa the owner. Another of these strange things, giving customers a gift after they have made the purchase as it were! Last year he gave us a basket which came in handy in the van for fruit, this year we have a handmade shoulder pouch with a sort of incense inside which he explained is good for keeping the moths out of your clothes! He said the bag was made by “Fatima in the kitchen” This could be anyone from his sister to the cleaning lady as he calls all ladies Fatima. At first I thought this was just a handy way to address the foreign campers when you couldn’t remember their names, but it seems Moroccan ladies are all Fatima to him too! I think it’s a sort of ironic compliment as Fatima was Mohammed’s daughter and “the Hand of Fatima” is revered for warding off evil. Note to self: must find out what that is all about.

Then we had some final supplies to buy in our two favourite shops in town. They are both grocery shops with friendly proprietors who recognise us from previous visits. One we call the “chocolate shop” so no prizes for guessing why that’s a favourite!

We then had a couple of hours drive on to Tasla. We stayed at a new site for us with just 8 spaces in a lovely spot in a small olive grove with vegetables growing in between. We went for a walk along the irrigation channel and through other cultivated plots. There were lots of birds around including a flock of about 6 Goldfinches feeding on seed heads just as they do at home. All this is so surprising when you have just driven through a landscape that while dramatic looks so dry and inhospitable. There weren’t even goat herders in a lot of it so that shows how “bad” it is. The only thing that spoilt the place was it looked like they hadn’t cleaned the facilities properly for weeks. “Man cleaning” I call it, as a lot of these places seem to be solely run by men. Actually I should revise that to “Moroccan man” cleaning as Mark is just as good/bad at cleaning as I am. I think the men here are still a step behind in domestic duties as they all have a “Fatima” (mother/wife/sister) at home to look after them.

Fri 26^th Feb we drove on to Tanoline. Following the “tragic” closure of the French run laundry in Zagora all my washing plans had gone to pot. We had both already had to HAND wash a week’s worth of smalls, Quelle horreur! So on the trail of a washing machine and as it had good views of snow capped mountains and hot showers we, re visited a site we went to last year as our new campsite guide said they had a machine. We hadn’t noticed a machine last year (not marked WM on my map) but weren’t looking at the time. The man on reception looked a bit puzzled when I asked for a “machine a lave”. Then obviously remembered they’d had one once and said it was broken. He then helpfully pointed out they had sinks to do washing in, said in a tone of “ why would you need a machine any way?” I did not like his attitude! (He’s obviously never had to hand wash anything, never mind towels!) Unfortunately my French is not good enough to tell him what he could do with his sinks! Does he think I am some French woman with 5 bowls and nothing to do but hand wash all day!

Saturday

Moved on again to the walled town of Taroudant were it was suddenly a lot hotter. There is no proper site here but for a fee of less than £2 you are allowed to stay overnight in a parking area just outside the walls next to a luxury hotel. We stopped again this year as we found it a pleasant friendly town last year and it’s not particularly touristy so you don’t get loads of hassle from touts wanting you to go on their Camel, 4x4 drive, Bedouin tent in the desert, Cousins shop etc etc.

This time we found a little restaurant with a tiny garden in front and as they had more on offer than just the usual Tajine or Cous cous we decided to treat ourselves. We had an excellent Pizza and Salad Nicoise and cold fizzy water served in wine glasses. I think the occasion went to my head as I felt like I’d had a real glass of wine. Strangely it rained in the night but was no cooler the next day, weird weather everywhere!

Our next stop was a site we had seen in our new book that attracted us as it was on an organic farm “supplying British supermarkets” run by a Frenchman AND it said washing machine! We had gone several Kms more than the 14 the book said it was from Taroudant and we decided it must have closed when we saw a campervan coming out of some big iron gates and there it was. The owner man probably thought I was an obsessively clean person (!) as about the second thing I said to him was “ Have you got a washing machine and is it working?” Well even apart from the washing machine this is a fantastic place. There are only about 20 pitches in a small section on one side of the farm which is made up of alternate areas of orange groves and cultivated fields. This year’s crop seems to have been courgettes but apparently in last year’s rotation it was corn on the cob, a lot of which went to Tesco. We had a fascinating conversation with the owner and he showed us a box file full of regulations he has to comply with for Tesco, Marks and Spencer and various German supermarkets. He was a bit exasperated as some of it was a bit nit picking. However as we buy a lot of organic produce I was reassured to hear that someone does come and inspect the growers from time to time. When you see what legal regulations are flouted here and in Spain (who supply a lot of UK veg) regarding driving and health and safety issues you sometimes wonder if farming is the same and they would slap a label on anything and call it organic.

The camping is in one corner of the farm but you are permitted to walk around where you like so we have had some nice bike rides and walks up the driveways between orange groves and cultivated fields. There is a lot of bird life, which we awake to in the morning. Our pitch is on the end overlooking orange trees and a small patch of shrub and weeds, nick named “our garden”. We have been visited by Goldfinch, Blackbirds, Magpies, Chaffinch, Greenfinch , a very smart black, white and red, fellow who our book identifies as a Moussir’s Redstart and his rosehip red breasted wife , chattering Bulbul and lots of LBJ’s that we haven’t identified (Little Brown Job’s as they are known to us non professional bird watchers who can’t be bothered to differentiate between the 51 varieties of warbler or 20 of Wheatear that are listed in our book). We thought something wasn’t quite right about the Chaffinches and realised they were less pink on the front and green on the lower back where ours are brown and apparently this is the “Africana” version. We were interested to note that the Magpies are also slightly different having a blue patch behind their eyes. I wonder if they sing in a different language too?!

Thursday 4^th March

Yesterday was the second cloudy day in a row and as the internet forecast had given showers we decided to have a trip out to Agadir just over an hour away. Well that’s not quite true, there is not a lot of interest in Agadir, just lots of package hotels and gift shops, we were heading for a Marjane store. The only real supermarkets in Morocco (although I hear more including a Turkish one are on the way) and every campervaners favourite place for stocking up on luxuries , like “real” cheese, European chocolate, orange juice without sugar (very hard to find in a country addicted to mini glasses of mint tea with 3 lumps of sugar!), cereals and of course alcohol. We managed to spend about £50 on food and £70 on alcohol although Mark assures me that will last till we get back to Spain. Hmmm! Anyway it was an outing on a showery day when we couldn’t have sat outside.

Today we were back to sunshine so we set out on a walk to the hills at the back of the farm. As soon as you get past the farm border you are onto more dry shrubby land, partly as you start to go uphill and it’s rocky but I also suspect over grazing by goats. We climbed to the top of the bigger of the 2 hills and encountered at least 3 men with herds of 30-50. There were fantastic views from the top across the flat river Souss valley to the still snow capped mountains of the high Atlas. However for me the best bit was on the way down when we found a Tortoise crossing the path. He was quite big, like I remember pet ones in England years ago and quite brave as he didn’t immediately duck into his shell, even when I picked him up. You know I’d have to!

Stop Press! Yesterday we did another walk and found 2 more tortoise.

And as I type a stork has just walked down a roadway about 20 yards from our van and disappeared into one of the orange groves.

Fri 12^th March

We left the farm on Monday had an overnight stop in Tiznit. Not much to report there, except we found a nice café for second breakfast with a convenient patisserie attached so we could stock up on take away “buns”.

We had been thinking of heading for the coast but it still seems too windy so we did a 30km detour off the main road to Amtoudi where we went 2 years ago to visit the Agadir (fortified grain store) in the hills. Then the road in was a single track but perfectly ok. With all the rain and floods from the hills the road has now got very narrow in places. The road is only raised up a few feet but it would still be a disaster if Blendy (the van) fell through an unsupported bit of tarmac so I was a bit cautious choosing which side of the road to trust at every broken away bit. However we shouldn’t have worried the campsite at the end was full of the usual 20-25ft white French vans. We were also pleased to see a Welsh van (blue and old so I knew they’d be our sort of people!) containing a very friendly couple who we parked next too, they looked so young too and I later found out the woman was the same age as me and the chap a year older than Mark. That is no reflection on our age just that nearly everyone else is over 60 (or 70 in lots of cases) and looks it! About half hour after us an English couple also in a Volkswagen turned up so we had 3 Brit vans in a row. It was quite exciting so many people to talk to, I swapped books with the English lady and we had them all round for coffee the next morning. Unfortunately the Welsh vans radiator had to be repaired so the Welsh left for Agadir to get that done. The same thing happened in Zagora when the nice Dutch people had to leave the day after we met, but anyway we had the other people for another day till they too moved on .

Last night one of the 3 French vans that parked next to us was loaded onto a huge trailer and taken away. No idea what was wrong with it but they did arrive an hour after their 2 friends yesterday which was odd as they usually travel together so maybe they had problems on the way in. There was nearly a disaster as their van was hauled onto the trailer ramp as it was one of these vans with a huge overhang behind the rear wheel (probably full of bowls and cleaning products!) and the back hit the ground as the front went up the slope. Fortunately they stopped straight away and sorted out some extra ramps to get it on. For some reason they were doing this all in the dark and unbelievably the trailer left back down the semi washed away road at 9pm at night. Why?? Driving at night in Morocco is a nightmare at the best of times. We did it about twice on our first trip but never again after coming round a bend and only seeing an unlit motorbike because the pillion passenger moved his hand which was lighter than the bike and his clothes and I only avoided him by violently swerving onto the wrong side of the road which was fortunately free of any other unlit vehicles, donkeys etc!!

Anyway that obviously got out ok so we shan’t be so wary of the road going out. We plan to leave tomorrow for Tafraoute, another of our favourite places with a couple of good cafes and nice walks in the hills.

Tuesday 16^th Mar

Now been at Tafraoute campsite for several days. All much as last year, the argon oil seller, carpet seller, man with van window covers, lady asking for clothes and hairdresser (I had a bit of a trim) have all been round so we can relax undisturbed now. The only fly in the ointment, is the flies! I guess as it’s been wetter this year they have bred well. We certainly didn’t have many the last 2 years. We have made a fly screen of netting so they aren’t in the van much and they wouldn’t really be a problem outside if the little buggers didn’t bite. They look like standard flies but give a little nip when they land on you and what’s worse you then get itching like mosquito bites.

Yesterday the forecast was a bit over clouded so we decided it would be a good day for a bike ride. We cycled 5 km to a café at a road junction and had coffee and one (small- this is relevant!) bun. We then continued on about another 5 km through small villages in the Ameln valley. It was very pleasant and picturesque scenery. Mark had mentioned a circuit round the rocky mountain at the side of the valley that he wanted to do some time, which he said was 28Km. As it was such a pleasant day and the cycling fairly easy I thought, Why not, its 10km back or 18Km round into different scenery etc. Fatal, Why do I always believe him when he says things are not far without the evidence of a map!! After we had gone about another 10 km it was obvious that we still had a way to go before reaching Tahala, the town at the end of the mountains, and join the main road back to Tafroute. I think 38 Kms or more was more like the true distance and what made it worse was that there were no refreshments on the way apart from the litre of water and a couple of coffee sweets we had with us. We only passed 2 or 3 shops in the sporadic villages and they were all closed for the afternoon, as no one in their right mind is out shopping in the heat here. Also there were more hills in the second half so I ended up walking a few times. Twice Mark pushed my bike uphill as well as his as I was really starting to feel exhausted. I didn’t get lunch till 3.30 so you can imagine how feeble I was by then! Today I am suffering a bit in the seat department but otherwise seem ok but I am not going anywhere by bike for a day or two!

Wed 17^{th March}

Seriously pissed off now. Went into town for second breakfast and veg shopping at the market and fell down a tiny step in the pavement and sprained my ankle so now I won’t be walking anywhere for a day or two either!!

Wed 24^th March

Another week slips by…

The sprained ankle has come out in some lovely bruises but is gradually getting better and I have been doing some moderate walks. As I couldn’t do the planned longer walks at Tafroute we did a drive out and stayed the night in Ait Monsour Gordge. There is a small parking area with a Guardian who collects a 20 dhr fee. There were actually 4 other vans there this time but it is still a very quiet and peaceful place camped near the river surrounded by huge walls of red rock towering up on either side. There are a few houses strung along the narrow gordge and when we came last year they had just extended the sealed road on to the town on the other side so you could do a circuit round without having to go back the way we came.

We had done a short walk on from the parking place and seen the mess this year’s rains had made of the new road, which obviously runs along the valley bottom. When you see the way the tarmac and hardcore under the road have been washed away you realise the water must have come with tremendous force. I don’t think I would like to be in such a narrow gorge with a river in full flood. Luckily the few houses here are all undamaged as they are built just far enough above the river, often partly set into the canyon walls, leaving the small flat area at the bottom for date palms and tiny patches of cultivation and the road of course.

We knew the Guardian would know the road conditions further on so asked if he thought we would make it round in our van. He made a show of looking at our van and assessing its height off the ground and length (obviously smaller than the other parked vans that had left back the way we came.) Then he drew a rough map on the ground to show us that it was 24km back to Tafroute the way we had come but 50 if we continued on round the circuit. His insinuation being, why would you drive twice the distance to get to the same place!?

Why indeed? Because we did it last year and the scenery was great, it’s an adventure and we have all day to get there! Anyway he didn’t say we wouldn’t make it, but wasn’t committing himself, so we set off and said maybe we’d see him again in an hour or two if we had to turn back. Actually after the first few kms the road starts to rise out of the gorge and there was a lot less damage to it so we did make it round, but not before poor Mark had had to reverse several hundred metres over rubble when we met a car on about the worse and narrowest stretch.

We had a couple more days back in Tafraoute then we got an email from a Dutch couple we met last year to say they were back in Morocco after their trip down through Mauritania, Senegal and Mali. As they were heading the same way as us we met up at a campsite on the coast. Strangely enough it was almost exactly a year since we’d last been at the same site with them in a sand storm!

It was good to be back at the sea, we’d only had a week or so on the coast at the beginning of our trip as the weather had been so wet and then windy keeping us inland. It was also really nice to meet up with some more like minded and interesting people. Rik and Evelien are about 10 years older than us but not at all like the hoards of (mostly) French pensioners who are usually our camping companions. We had a great couple of days catching up on each other’s news and looking at their photos of West Africa. Nothing much seems to have changed in Mali since we passed through on our overland truck trip en route to Kenya 21 years ago!

Today they have gone on to Agadir as they have to have some repairs done to their van (this sounds so familiar!) but if they get it done quickly we might meet up with them again in Essouaria where we are headed next so I can get some horse riding in.

Friday 26^th March

Arrived at 10am for my one hour ride on Prince, only to find his stable empty. The manager lady said could I wait 5 mins as he was just on his way back from an overnight trip. I was concerned that he would be too tired (for my heavyweight) but she assured me he had only had a 2 hour ride out at sunset, stopped overnight and then less than an hour back this morning. The overnight party, 3 middle aged French people, arrived back and prince was in his stable for 5 mins, just time to have a drink and a few chomps of hay, and then he was out again. However he didn’t seem to resent this and had plenty of energy for our canters on the beach. More than me as he’s obviously kept working since I last rode on him in Jan!

Went for lunch in café at our end of the beach. It was going to be second breakfast but it was just after 12noon so they had stopped serving “petit dejeuner”. Obviously Morocco needs educating in the concept of “All day Breakfasts”!! By the time we had finished the pleasant sea breeze that had been blowing had turned into a dust laden irritation with very strong gusts so we have spent the afternoon indoors.

Sunday 28^th March

How mad (as in cross with myself – others may say in the conventional sense!) am I?! Just getting over the sprained ankle nicely and I fall off a galloping horse! As usual I have only myself to blame, the horse kept on going smoothly but I exited the saddle to the right (novelty at least, my previous 3 falls have all been to the left and indoors when having lessons on Apollo) and fell onto the right side of my back. I have no visible bruises but my right side is extremely painful and stiff today in spite of eating Ibuprofen like Smarties and Codeine at night. Getting up and down from a chair is an especially painful business but I don’t feel I have done anything more serious than bruising so hopefully I can lay off the painkillers in a day or two. Myself and the guide, Hussain, were just at the turning point of our 2 hour ride yesterday. We were having a final canter on the beach before heading back inland. Of course having turned homeward the horses speed up and unfortunately I was directly behind Hussain and his horses hooves were throwing up wet sand which hit me in the face distracting me and partially covering my glasses. In retrospect this was the point I should have pulled up (hindsight is a wonderful thing) but we were only going in a straight line down the beach and I thought I would be ok. Too late I then saw a pile of rubbish, tangled fishing nets, plastic etc in front of me and tried to swerve to avoid it. Instead of just pulling the reigns to the left I also leant that way (should remember I am riding a horse not a bike) and inevitably lost my balance. It all happened so quickly I didn’t even have time for that awful moment when you know you’ve lost it and are going to hit the ground. One minute I was panicking about avoiding the rubbish, next I was winded on the beach. Hussain helped me up and got me walking then, somehow I managed to get onto his horse which rode along at a walk while he went after Prince who was having a pleasant saunter further along the beach as his rider had decided to abandon him! Once he was collected we rode back at a steady walk but as I stiffened up even that was becoming too painful and also I was concerned that I wouldn’t actually be able to bend enough to get off . After 20 mins I just had to dismount, very painful, and then walk the last 5 mins. Luckily the stable owners were around so they gave me a lift back to the campsite.

On Saturday back at site there was plenty to distract me. While Mark prepared lunch I sat outside in front of the van. A white plastic French van came round the corner onto our row and I heard Mark shout “watch out” as he scraped along our sliding door which was open so sticks out about 4ins from the van side, then he pulled in behind us and crunched his front bumper on the curb. Crap driving and what an obnoxious old git, instead of apologising he said “non, non n’est pas moi” to Mark. Well who else had left a while line and a dent along our sliding door? Mark was saying yes it was you by which time I had managed to get out of my chair and the Frenchman was making obscene gestures’ to Mark. I was quite horrified, I bet this bloke was nearer 70 than 60 and I think by his gestures’ he was calling Mark a prick. We had realised that fortunately it was only a slight scrape and most of it would probably wash off (which it did leaving a very small dent in one place) so we would have been happy with just a sincere apology. I told him in French that he was dangerous but was too incapacitated myself to continue the conversation. I couldn’t believe his nerve when he and his fat lard arse wife (who kept a low profile throughout) actually stayed parked behind us.

Fortunately later in the afternoon our nice Dutch friends arrived at the site, having finished getting their van serviced and fixed in Agadir, so at least that was a pleasant distraction from mine and Blendys injuries.

Wed March 31^st

Rik and Evelien set off back home and we decided to “move to the country” to sit out my recovery! We are at a site appropriately called La Calme about 10 miles inland from Essouaria. The pitches are in fields of wild flowers and old twisted Argan trees and there is lots of birdlife to watch. Also they have lovely hot showers with easy access for cripples who need heat treatment! Finally today I can sit at the keyboard and I have done a short walk to try and get moving again. It’s amazing that I can have so much pain and stiffness without a mark showing on my back! I suppose bruised muscles don’t bleed like normal flesh. (Sorry Sandra and anyone else squeamish that’s just the sort of thing that intrigues me!!) Luckily I had some strong Codeine with me that I was given when I left hospital after my operation. Ironic that the nurses had to practically force me to take 2 Paracetamol on my night in hospital as I felt so little pain and now I have been so glad to have the codeine

Thur 1^st April

Quarter of 2010 gone already!

Continuing gradual recovery, made it through the night without pain killers so that’s an improvement.

Easter Mon 5^th April

Fri left la Calme and drove back to Essouaria where we had a coffee and petit dejeuner in the courtyard café that we found last time. Nice but there seems to be a trend towards giving straight Olive oil instead of olives and Argan oil instead of Amlou (A peanut butter consistency spread of Argan oil, Honey and Almond paste) which is not very interesting. I am going to have to be very picky about my second breakfasts next year! Walked round the walled town a bit, window shopping then had lunch in a vegetarian café we found. They had things on the menu that weren’t Tajine or Cous cous!!! We had a pastie type thing stuffed with spinach and pumpkin served with some veg in a very tasty sauce. We then did our final veg shopping and drove out to the coast at Sidi Kaouki. There is a nice new campsite here and the little village looked nice with a few interesting surf type cafes. Originally we had planned to come here to investigate horse riding as you can rent horses to ride on the beach….obviously that was out of the question.

Saturday we drove to Marrakesh and got in the overnight parking behind the main mosque which is only 5 mins from the souk and the famous square and all its street entertainment. We walked around for a couple of hours and then returned to the van for a rest. Unfortunately Mark was starting to feel ill so we were a right pair. In the evening we went back to a restaurant that we had liked last year. It was quite a big tourist place but they were really pleased when we said we had been last year and showed us to a “special table” this turned out to be the last window seat on the terrace overlooking the throngs of people passing below, unfortunately for the cripple and her by now wilting carer it was on the 3^rd floor! Anyway it was a great view when we made it up there. I ended up eating my meal and 2/3 rds of Marks as he had something he described as “no appetite” I couldn’t really understand it but I enjoyed his chips!

Sunday Mark was still suffering from an upset stomach and fluish symptoms but we decided to keep to our plan of going back to the nice Dutch run campsite at Cascade de Ouzoud which we had discovered on the way. Unfortunately I still can’t drive but we dosed Mark up with paracetamol and took it steady stopping for coffee and lunch at regular intervals (same as normal then!) It’s nice to be back here again as it’s a pleasant 27degrees and we have escaped the ferocious winds on the coast.

Today we are relaxing before we start our serious move towards Tangier and the ferry back to Europe. Mark is nearly back to normal and I’m sure will be fine by tomorrow. I am still improving gradually with more movement in my back each day.

We are now on the home run and have to plan to arrive at the stables in Portugal by the 15^th, where I have booked some riding (booked before my accident) Hopefully I will be ok to do it by then but I may not be doing any trotting or cantering, we’ll see.

We shall leave here tomorrow and hopefully make it to Tangier in 2 days so we can get a ferry on Thursday. We will then have a week to explore a bit more of Portugal before the riding. After that we will be heading back home through France a.s.a.p and hopefully back into uk on Wednesday 21^st. April “Inshallah” and Sea France willing (they were apparently on strike yet again over Easter)

One night Kenitra or “tile waste tip” as it could be renamed. At least facilities clean and ok unlike El Jeddida on way down.

Final night in campsite in Tangier, handy for port, but it took us an hour to find as campsite book and their own website gave minimal and useless directions. Finally we remembered our Lonely Planet guide had a map of Tangier and found a road named in the directions.

Up early to get through port procedures and get a ferry we thought went at 10am. Through procedures, including scanning by 9am in less than one and half hours then had to wait all day till 6.30pm for ferry. It was very windy but other ferries sailed in am so no idea what that was about. Due to time differences and the crossing taking 2.5 hours we arrived in Spain around 11pm so just went straight to Lidl car park for the night.