Morocco 2011

Morocco 2011

Entered Sat 8^th Jan

This time we went from Algeciras to the new port about 40km from Tangier. The crossing was fine and you did some of the customs formalities with a cheery chappie on the boat which made it a lot quicker when we disembarked, also they seemed to have kept out all the rabble from the new port so you only have the officials to contend with and not a load of touts all trying to be your “helper” and tell you what office to go to for document stamping. You come straight out of the new port onto the coastal motorway so it’s very convenient for heading south asap.

There is always some confusion on paying roads about what class “Blendy” van comes into: in UK he’s classed as a car as he has windows (so not a delivery van) in France he’s classed at the higher rate as he’s over 2metres tall (hightest!- we only uses one section of French motorway as it’s so expensive) in Spain we’re back to being on the cheapest car rate and last year in Morocco they couldn’t decide what we were and we were sometime charged Class 1 as a car and sometimes class 2. This time we went all the way to Marrakesh in 2 days on the motorway so it was relevant what class we were. After the first 3 toll stations had charged us as class 1 we decided that must be right and when the chap at the next toll booth tried to charge class 2, I politely pointed out that we’d been class one up till then so he relented, at the next booth they actually asked me what class we were so naturally I said one. Also I don’t know the French for “you tell me mate”! It was great to be back bargaining in Morocco! It was also great to have sunshine right from the start, the last 2 years it has been very wet in the North as we’ve driven down.

From Marrakesh we crossed the Tizi n’Tichka pass over the Atlas mountains to Ouarzazate, where we remembered a laundry from our last visit 2 years ago so stopped one night to get a couple of loads of washing done. Last year’s correspondents may remember that washing machines and laundries are not easy to find on our travels and we try to avoid the dreaded HAND WASHING at all costs. Ouarzazate also has the advantage of a good “bun “shop for stocking up on traditional “petit four” cakes so a good town all round! We only stopped the one night though as we were keen to get on to Zagora and one of our favourite campsites where we can finally relax and stop driving.

Wed 12^th Jan-Today, Wed, was a souk day so we have stocked up on all our fresh fruit and veg to last us till the next one on Sun. I love that souk, it’s absolutely enormous serving a huge area as Zagora is the only proper town for miles and the last before you start hitting the Sahara proper. Apart from the fresh stuff that we buy it’s fascinating to look at all the other stuff for sale. Today, Mark (“gadget Goodwin”) wanted to go round the “electronics” section, not to purchase anything but because he can’t believe the broken up old bits of technology they have for sale, old cassettes, CD players, radios, mobile phones and computer stuff I don’t recognise. All this is on display on boxes, make shift tables or even just a bit of tarpaulin on the ground. It is so dry and dusty here, especially in the market with so many people walking about kicking up dust, that we can’t believe any of this electrical stuff will ever work again! Perhaps it’s that worldwide man thing that they just like to have stuff to endlessly tinker with!!

Sat 22^nd Jan

We have now been at Zagora for 11 days, I don’t know where it goes, we don’t seem to have done much but that was the idea really. At first it was a bit hectic on the site as they had 2 French tour groups for 2 nights one after the other. Some of their vans were absolutely enormous, the size of coaches, it seems ridiculous for 2 people to be driving round in these monsters and it must cost a fortune in diesel. I still don’t know what they have all that space for. As usual because they had a 2 day stop here they all set about doing their washing, by hand. Wouldn’t you think that if you drive round in a van costing £130,000 that;

a) One could afford, and have room to store, enough clothes to last you for a month’s holiday. (that’s how long most organised tours last)

b) One would have an on board washing machine!

Anyway the groups went and the only disturbance we were left with was the French people parked behind us and their irritating dog “Appy”. Actually that’s not fair the dog never made a sound, it was the woman forever calling in her high pitched voice, “Appy, Appy, viens avec maman” (come with mummy!!!!) They hardly managed to speak to us but I kept hearing the woman’s voice and then realising she was talking to Appy. Ironically we later found out from the friendly French/German couple on site that the dogs name was actually HAPPY but “mummy” obviously couldn’t pronounce her H’s or speak English!. Anyway after another day they too left so all is tranquil on site.

We did get an hours great entertainment as they packed up to leave, so some compensation for 4 days of “Appy, Appy”. They had brought a little smart car with them in a double wheeled trailer (Fortunately they often when off in trips in the car and so we got a break from “Appy, Appy” every 5 mins). “Appy’s Daddy started to drive the car up the ramp but then realised that he’d left the hatch back up so had to reverse down and shut it, then he tried again and “Mummy” realised the wing mirrors hadn’t been folded in so back down we came and did that. On the third attempt there was much screeching of “Appy Appy” as the dog was running about excitedly and in danger of getting run over. Finally “Daddy parked the car at the top of the quite steep ramp and got out as apparently you have to winch the car the last bit actually into the trailer. Having watched the procedure so far this is probably a good idea to stop people driving up too fast and running into the front of the trailer. Anyway the car is at the top of the steep ramp, presumably only held in place by the hand brake until they can fit the winch on, meanwhile Appy positions himself at the bottom of the ramp just right to be squashed if the car rolls back. After the performance so far we were just imagining such a disaster. (Like in Fish called Wanda when the piano falls on the old ladies dog!) Luckily for Appy the car is winched in with no problems but then for some reason they open the hatch back and “mummy” is fed in until just her legs are sticking out and waving about. God knows what she was doing but it was hilarious to watch! Finally they left and the remaining half dozen campers could all get on with relaxing in peace and quiet!

Thur 27^th Jan

We’ve had an interesting and slightly more active second week in Zagora. Apart from our normal Wed and Sun trips to the souk for shopping we did a bit of exploring on the bikes down some roads we hadn’t been down before. One day we found signs to “Restaurant Chez Ali, avec jardin” It’s so dry and dusty here at the moment that the promise of a garden was very tempting so we went in for lunch. The lunch was nice, interesting starters, I had a cooked salad, tomatoes, green peppers, carrots, onions cooked with tasty herbs and spices and served with the usual bread and olives and Mark had something similar but uncooked with fresh chopped coriander. Then of course, Tajine and for desert there was a good choice so we had Moroccan pastries and coffee and avoided the almost inevitable sliced orange sprinkled with cinnamon. Very refreshing and tasty the first few times but after 4 trips here we are slightly tired of it! However the best bit was just sitting in the luxuriant garden, fruit trees, hibiscus and other flowering shrubs and Bougainvilleas dividing up little paved sections each with 2 or 3 pretty mosaic tables for dinning, you would never know from outside the walls that it could be so lush inside, shows what a bit of irrigation and shelter can do. They even had a Peacock which startled me at first by giving a blood curdling scream. I thought something was being murdered in the kitchen even though we’d ordered vegetable Tajine!

Next day we got chatting to the waiter in the French owned café that we sometimes have coffee in and he told us about an art exhibition that some local young artists (himself included) had put on in another café in the town. We decided to check it out and were rewarded by a very interesting couple of hours. The chap who had the most pictures on display spoke good English and gave us a tour and explanation of the work on show, mostly abstract pictures with Arabic calligraphy of poetry and expressing the young man’s wish for more communication and understanding between people and nations. (I am paraphrasing somewhat here but you get the idea) He had also created interesting textures by incorporating bits of recycled corrugated cardboard, old sacking and other “rubbish” saying people throw too much away: if he came to the uk he would be horrified. After chatting with him and his friends for a while they invited us to sit down and have tea ie stay for a longer chat. There were 4 young chaps all very interesting, 2 were fellow artists one of whom was studying “props” at college in Ouarzazate film capital of Morocco and the 4^th friend was a teacher in a primary school 10km from Zagora. They were all home as it was a school holiday. When it transpired that artist no 1 (Amar)had studied philosophy at university we were not surprised and shared the joke with his friends that that’s why he talked so much and they couldn’t always get a word in, of course they did have to contend with me as well!! It’s just really nice when you find people who speak good enough English to have a proper involved conversation with. It was well after lunchtime when we finally left with much handshaking and mutual good wishes all round.

Tuesday we went in search of Dinosaurs! The chaps had mentioned that the art association they belonged to had done a sculpture project last year and made these dinosaurs in a small local park as art and as entertainment for local kids. You wouldn’t think you could miss three 15ft dinosaurs but we have driven past this park at least 4 times, but in our defence it is set down from the main road and they are a bit hidden by trees. When we went into the park there was a gang 6 or 7 little boys hanging around and of course looking at us to see what we were about. I’d seem one of them climbing on a dinosaur as we approached so I indicated that I’d like to take a photo of them all climbing on it. Well you know little boys (and some bigger ones!) they all had to show off and climb as high as possible. I took the photo quickly and called them all over to look at it before someone got too high and fell off trying to outdo his mates. They seemed happy with this and not one even asked for a Bon Bon or Stylo!

[For anyone who wants to look at the art work or the dinosaur project they have a website www.aapzagora.c.la with pictures if you click on gallery at the top. Also anyone who knows any art associations in uk could put them in touch as they are looking for international contacts for exchange of ideas and communication]

On our final night in Zagora Mark managed to get the Brighton football commentary on the internet so he listened to that while I went and had a Backgammon lesson from the English/French woman parked behind us for the last couple of days. Not sure how to describe her as she left England at age 8 when her parents moved to Singapore then in her early 20’s when her parents moved to Australia she moved to France for some reason! Anyway I’m now genned up on the basics of Backgammon so that’s taken over from Canasta as the evening entertainment when we’re not reading or chatting. (Although last night we had a “TV” night and watched 3 episodes of Shaun the Sheep that Mark had recorded onto the computer- we are experiencing a wide variety of culture!!)

After 15 days in Zagora we moved about 150km North West to Agdz. It’s the 3^rd time we have been to the pleasant campsite there which is next to a family Kasbah. We once again took the tour with the French wife of one of the family. She remembered us but thought it was earlier this year she had seen us; actually it was 2 years ago as we missed this site last year but it certainly didn’t seem that long to us either. (How time flies and other clichés!!) Next time we could probably do the tour ourselves but we are interested to see how the restoration, which the family are doing in conjunction with a German university, is coming on. We noticed lots of patches on one outer wall which were apparently where the students had been trying to get the right consistency of mud plaster for inside and outside walls. I think our stone walls at home are thick but the Kasbah walls are made of mud blocks half a metre wide and 1 metre long, they must weigh a ton. I wonder how they get them up 3 storeys; sheer man power I suppose?

We only planned a couple of nights but ended up staying 4 as we had pleasant company, some more Brits travelling with an Australia couple they had met on the ferry over and also an interesting youngish (30?)Australian couple who were touring Europe by bike and, like a lot of the campervaners, decided it’s better to come to Morocco in the winter as even southern Spain and Portugal are not really warm (or perhaps more to the point, dry enough). It was fascinating seeing what they could pack onto their bikes, of course they have special light weight gear and travel light but I still wouldn’t want to be cycling with 4 loaded panniers.

We did our usual walk through the Palmerie to the river. It is flowing ok at the moment from snow in the High Atlas so the Palmerie was a hive of activity as everyone prepared their little plots amongst the date palms, for cultivation, lots of Donkeys loaded with panniers of manure and people busy diverting water along irrigation channels into their plots. Part of the Kasbah tour is round their “fields” and it’s fascinating to see what cultivation can be achieved in this dry climate, when you have the know how. At the moment they are growing clover in some places and cutting it every 2 weeks for animal feed. You certainly appreciate a flowing river if you live here!

We also took advantage of several visits to our favourite bakery in Morocco which is down a little ally off Agdz’s main street. We always stop if passing through even if not staying at the site here. The bread is baked on the premises so usually still warm. On the way down to Zagora we got one of their huge round flat loaves then had to drive for an hour with the tortuous smell of fresh bread filling the van before we could justify stopping for lunch. Strangely there seemed to be bits missing from the edge, I told Mark, who had been driving, I couldn’t explain it, maybe they had large mice in the bakery!

Moving on from Agdz we decided to take it slowly and break the journey to Tafroute with a nights “wild” camping as we remembered the drive being very scenic from when we did it on our first trip 4 years ago. We also remembered the awful campsite at Tata which is about half way but we couldn’t face it again, just a concrete walled compound, no view, chock a block with cheapskate French camper vans (It was a really cheap site) and rather dilapidated facilities, even by Moroccan standards. Instead we had a nice night on our own just off the main road under some trees. The drive was as good as we thought passing through several areas of completely different rocks and hills, some green tinged, some showing all the lines of the “strata” or whatever you call the different geological layers. I always think of it as seeing the hills bones as there is hardly any flesh/soil covering them. Further on there were some great hills with swirls on them like the coloured sand in glasses you get from the seaside.

At one point in the usual seemingly dry and barren landscape we became aware that there was a riverbed which had water running parallel to the road. It was cutting deeper into the surrounding rock and at one point we parked and walked over to see how deep the “gorge” was. It was about 20ft, and as we stood there admiring the river we were amazed by the sight of 4 ducks flying over us, beautiful orange, black and white, against the vivid blue sky, then landing on a sandbank in the river. I’m sure this river doesn’t flow all year so I wonder where they came from. After consulting the bird book I think they were Ruddy Shellducks (no Malc I’m not “swearing so nicely” as you say, that’s their name) Not surprisingly we soon came to an area where palm trees were growing and people are able to cultivate under them so there was a small town, Tissint, which at the moment had a cascade, admittedly only falling about 6 foot but in all this dryness it was impressive. The landscape for about 5 miles beyond the town was very strange, the sandy rock having had big gouges carved into it, presumably by the occasional storm and water running off the hills.

6^th Feb

We’ve now been at Tafraoute for a week enjoying some good walks over the rocky hills and some cycle rides round them! The first day I rode my bike here I had a problem with the back wheel and found that the tyre wall was worn and bulging and could split at any time. Next day we took the bike into town to a bike shop we found. I thought no one was there then a little wizened chap appeared from the back. He rummaged around and found an appropriate tyre and inner tube. We then asked if it could be fitted and the back tyre swapped with the front as I wanted the better quality tyre on the back. I thought we’ll have to wait for some young chap to turn up as this must be granddad left in charge, but no. It was like someone switched him on. He started stripping off his Jellaba (floor length type coat with a hood) the equivalent of rolling up his sleeves and sprang into action turning my bike upside down, even though it was nearly as big as him! We indicated we’d come back later and he said 20 mins. We were about half an hour having had coffee and bun (good way to fill the time!) and it was all done and ready on our return. We knew the tyre cost 50Dhr (Less than £5) and he only charged an extra 30Dhr for fitting.

Next day with newly repaired bike we cycled out to see the “Blue Rocks”, I have mentioned these in past years. In 1984/5 some Belgian artist painted a random selection of huge boulders in a valley about 5 miles from Tafraoute. The first year we saw them they were badly faded and not very impressive but last year they were just starting to repaint them so we wondered how they looked now. Well the “Blue Rocks” are now Pink and Green as well as Blue!

Although the days are sunny, the nights here are always quite cold as Tafraoute is about 1000metres above sea level, the temperature plummets as soon as the sun sets but it seems to be particularly cold at the moment. One morning we woke to see frost outside and we had ICE on the inside of our front windscreen behind the insulating screen we put up at night. I guess condensation got between the window and the screen. We are nice and cosy in bed but we have had the heating on every morning before we get up. Luckily Mark thought to have the switch positioned so you can turn it on whilst still in bed!

17^th Feb

We’ve now had nearly a week at a newish campsite on an organic farm that we discovered last year. This year it’s a lot busier, lots of people like us coming back and of course more people discovering it. We only just got onto the main site as there are only about 25 pitches. The French owner came round on our second night and recognised us from last year and asked if everything was ok. I commented that he was doing well and busy and he said “Yes but still quiet” I didn’t mean to be rude but I must have made a face as I had just spent the afternoon being distracted from my reading by the 2 French couples behind us yacking continually for 3 hours over lunch, that’s when they weren’t interrupted by their dog barking, which in turn started our neighbours dog off. Anyway he said if we wanted to we could go off to the top edge of the farm near some olive trees so the next morning we did. It’s very nice and peaceful and handy for walks in the small rocky hills at the back where we are again going tortoise spotting. So far we have found 7 including a little baby one that was SOOO cute, I wanted to keep him as a pet (a nice quiet pet!) but knew he’d be better off left alone, after he’d been photographed of course!

20^th Feb

Still on the organic farm, it’s been a hectic few days as suddenly there are lots of Brits here and we keep stopping for chats when we are passing the main site or bump into them out walking. The first people we met are particularly nice, 2 couples originally from Burnley but now one couple live in France and they just meet up in the winter in Morocco. You can arrange to have meals here in the owner’s garden or in Bedouin tents in the orange groves so I thought I would see if any of the other English speaking campers were interested. I rounded up 11, 9 Brits and 2 Dutch for lunch so it was quite worthwhile for the campsite and I think we got a good price although of course some people thought it was too much when I told them and moaned when they found out it was cous cous, having initially not expressed any particular preferences. Anyway it was a good meal and a nice social occasion, everyone got on well and had interesting travel experiences to tell so all were happy in the end and thanked me for organising it. Stress!

A couple of days later we invited the 4 “Burnley’s” ,who were on the main site, up for afternoon coffee at our van in the olive tree meadow about 15 mins walk away. They arrived bearing a homemade cake made by Barbara, very welcome, and we had a nice chat sitting in the sun. The tortoise spotting competition is getting hot, Mark is on 4 and me on 3 but Barbara and Kev (The couple who live in France) are also on a joint score of 7. We can’t let them win, they only found out there were tortoise here because we told them! Fortunately we saw 3 the next day and they failed to score! then they left so we are the champions, and Mark and I saw 5 each so a happy tie!

Finally after 11 days we left the farm and went back to the hustle and bustle of the real world, driving to Agadir, a busy road after we had only seen the old tractor or jeep on the farm. We stopped at Marjane (The Tescos of Morocco) for our first lot of supermarket shopping since leaving Spain. We are not normally over fond of supermarkets but it was such a novelty we somehow managed to spend over 2 hours going round looking at everything and only about 20mins of that was in the alcohol department! Then to recover we had a tuna Panini in the supermarket café, it seemed quite exotic, without a tagine dish in sight!

We spent 2 nights at a site recommended to us on the coast north of Agadir which was really nice. A very small fishing village with a few cafes mainly frequented by surfers, local and tourist, who come for the apparently great waves in the 2 bays either side of the village. We would have stayed longer but unfortunately, like the farm, there was no signal for the internet and apart from wanting to get news on the political events in North Africa, we had to skype phone Marks mum on her birthday and get the Brighton football commentary on Sat!

26^th Feb

Back at Essaouria campsite, we drove in and saw a Dutch couple who we met at the beginning of this trip. When we went over to speak to them we found they had made friends with a Swedish family we spent time with 2 years ago so we all had a nice reunion. The Swedish parents looked exactly the same but of course their children had grown now six and a half and 4 years old. Since we last saw them the boy, Alvin has learnt English just from listening to his parents on their 2 month winter trips to Morocco (no one speaks Swedish so they are always speaking English to the other campers) and even 4 year old Malvina understands most of what you say and can say simple things. Mark was her hero for 5 mins as he managed to glue the pink flower back on her hair band. Although quite a tom boy at the moment and keeping up with her brother in tree climbing, she is into pink in a big way!

Unfortunately it has been extremely windy in Essaouria, normally we enjoy the half hour walk along the sea front to the town but it was no fun being sand blasted by gale force winds. The Swedish family left for home and next day as it was still forecast to be windy we decided to go inland for a few days. We went to a nice country site, only about 10 miles from the coast so still quite windy but at least no sand to get whipped up and make it worse. It is also one of the rare places with a washing machine so we have been able to catch up on the washing. We are doing quite well so far this trip, only had to hand wash one lot of smalls to keep us going between laundries and washing machines!

Sunday 6^th March

Back in Essaouria wind down to a light breeze so no excuse to put off the riding any longer. Having fallen off cantering on the beach here last year I was rather nervous about this but felt it was something I had to overcome. Anyway I had an hour ride today back on Prince (it wasn’t his fault I fell off!) but only walked and trotted on the beach but at least I have done some riding in the great outdoors. After we went for lunch at a beach side restaurant to celebrate/relax!!! and had a nice pizza, very Moroccan.

Mon 14^th March

After a long days drive we reached Zebra camping at Cascades D’Ouzoud, a lovely site run by a Dutch couple that we discovered last year. It is just up a small hill from the village and the top of the famous cascades (Waterfall to you and me) and has great views of the hills all around. Since last year they have completed a marvellous new shower and toilet block. The beautifully tiled hot showers are brill, hooks to hang clothes, shelf for shampoo, soap etc, good pressure and about 6ft square so plenty of room to manoeuvre! Outside the showers are double sinks, Also with hot water, set in a blue glass worktop with a large mirror at the back AND a vase of silk/dried flowers and all immaculately clean. You could be in a 5 star hotel, for a Moroccan campsite it’s amazing!

Caught up with Paul and Renate over coffee then meal on our last night

Cascades, coffee and bun and view, good exercise for Gill& also Bike ride 2 mile down then back up road. Cascades very brown for a day after the rain.

Left after 2 days rain, Light snow in Azilal then clear till we entered Azrou. Unfortunately half hour after dark and it was still snowing. Planned to go to Cherry Orchard site but there was a queue of traffic going that way and we thought we better just get in somewhere so went into “Disneyland” new site. Glad of a haven on the night but not very impressed next morning, pitches not level, could only find one squat loo (and that had no paper basket or water to flush)stupid paying system in office up hill not at the super fancy entrance! But the lady workers sheltering in the bosses office were friendly and nice and volunteered to be photographed when I said I hadn’t met many Moroccan ladies.

FEZ Met Karl and Helga (from 2 years ago in Tafrout and Taroudant) coming out of Marjane so joined them at Camping International and had a jolly evening in their van. Won’t go to that camping again though 110Dh (with compulsory electric) but old fashioned basic facilities and grumpy reception.

Volubilis Found site in book after we went 5 miles from Moullay Idris, not “about 4km” as our camping book says. Pleasant site, being updated nice welcome and mint tea next morning so we decided to stay a second night. Volubilis as good as we remembered but weather better this time.

Final night in Asilah parking (40DH- sure it was 20 last time but things changed a bit round parking area) Lunch in café next to medina wall, very pleasant.  

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.