Tuesday 3 February 2015

Again whilst staying in one place for the chill-out we’d promised ourselves, we've not been doing anything much worth blogging about. You don’t want to know about the hot sunny weather we’re having to endure by the beach every day do you?

Brenda has now fully recovered; we've put it down to too much sun then not wrapping up quickly enough when the temperature suddenly drops at sunset – a bit of a chill. With around 12 Funster vans on site, in two separate groups, our 4 van group have become known as the Beach Bums whilst the others are the Ethiopian Refugee Pensioners! Huh? Well one of our original group refused to stay here, saying that it reminded him of an Ethiopian Refugee Camp he’d once visited – and boy has he suffered for that remark!

Someone call for a taxi?

Most days have passed with everybody visiting each other at some time, with walks to the village for the odd meal or to buy bread or fish. Local tradesmen come and go selling everything from crabs to carpets and one guy who has a huge handcart pushed by two young lads which is loaded with the finest freshest fruit and vegetables we've seen anywhere; he’s quite popular.

Herds of sheep and goats roam the sand dunes

There have been occasional get-togethers for “beer-o-clock” livened up by music from our two resident Funster guitarists – and the odd bottle of vino has been seen too! Our single lady traveller celebrated a birthday so a local restaurant was invaded (not us, Bren was still not well enough unfortunately) and the party continued back at the site until, well, quite late actually.

An African drum band joins in a chorus of "Peggy Sue". There'a a video somewhere!

But I write today at a new venue. We've moved 100km south to a “proper” campsite just outside the town of Tiznit. The move was a little earlier than planned because at around 6.00pm last night we were warned that the police/army were clearing the site, as well as the adjacent areas, because the King was coming to open a new golf course, which just happens to overlook us. Many left almost straightaway although around half stayed until this morning when we were told the deadline was 9.00am today. Just in case we packed up anyway so that we were ready to go with just a few minutes notice. In the end there was no real panic but we left around 8.30 to avoid the potential rush.

After stopping at the local hypermarket, where it turned out a large proportion of those that left had overnighted, we then travelled south to this new modern and full facility campsite where we’ll be a little more civilised for a few days before heading into the mountains.

A different sunset every night