Friday 27 February 2015

Well let's see, where are we. Ah yes, Thursday at Safi. If ever I catch that b----y dog that runs round the neighbourhood all night barking it's head off I'll murder it!

But apart from that all is peaceful here; the Dutch contingent moved out en masse to Marrakech and the incoming have been put in the bottom site so we've just got a couple of itinerant French and German vans sharing our patch.

There is also a nice view down across the town and the bay too.

The wind sort of dropped so Terry got a chair out and got some rays, and when it started to cool off retreated inside to join Bren, who was catching up on Facebook, with a nice cuppa.

Yes Colin showed her how to get onto Facebook and she has now commandeered the Hudl, spending all our gigabytes on finding all her friends. If you're on FB look her up. And if you become her friend you'll also get notification of all our Blog updates too! Clever eh?

But having recharged our batteries, both practically and figuratively, it's time to move on and we thought today (Friday) we'd have a look at a tiny seaside village at Oualidia which Colin and Tina found last year.

So we rejoined the coast road for an hour of teeth-rattling, buying bread (8p a loaf) straight out of the oven from a bakery on the way, then dropped down into a very pleasant little spot, where the upper-class Moroccan has his holiday home - there are dozens of them. There is also apparently a Royal Villa but it is no longer used by the Royal Family.

Coastal road - that beach goes on for miles!

and miles!

With the wind reduced to a light breeze and the sun shining we took a walk onto the sea front, which is just a beach overlooked by small villas. The attraction is that rather than the open Atlantic Ocean, it's a lagoon that is now also a protected natural habitat for wildlife.

The lagoon (low tide)

Moroccan holiday village

A quiet spot

We had considered continuing to El Jedida but it is so nice and peaceful here we'll stay for one night. It's guardian parking again on a huge but quiet car park. Being off season there's only a dozen motorhomes here - the guardian isn't going to be very busy today!

Now see all our photos on Google Drive here!

I've uploaded all the photos we've taken so far this trip for you to view if you want via the above link, which I'll repeat on every post (unless of course I find another way to do it!)

Wednesday 25 February 2015

If this campsite has a problem, it's the local dogs and it seemed like hours before they either shut up or dispersed last night. Unfortunately this is not our first experience of this - Moroccans generally don't keep pets and are quite bemused to see the two Yorkies of Tina and Colin. There have been several offers of purchase too.........

Although calmed down overnight, the wind got up again but despite that it is still warm and sunny. Finished off the drying and we've decided to stay a few days as the constant travelling is beginning to take its toll. We are now beginning to look forward to returning to Europe, not because we've fallen out of love with Morocco, it's just that the coastal area is all very much the same and doesn't have the impact that travelling in the mountains has.

As expected more Dutch turned up and set up in an area behind the restaurant, which actually looks quite attractive and has views over the town (photo later). But of course then came one of the problems of having large numbers of European motorhomes, who all want electricity....

One of the Dutch party decided to run a long cable from the one remaining socket on the pillar we were using and promptly connected at least another 2 vans to it. Now ordinarily, this would trip the contact breaker fuse in a normal installation, but this is Morocco. No trip. Inevitably within a couple of minutes the whole shebang went up in flames, literally. Luckily someone managed to disconnect us, Colin and a Frenchman next to us before we suffered any damage and then turned a hosepipe on it!

A fatality was fortunately avoided and, give the site staff their due, repairs were immediately instigated. Electricity was restored within 90 mins and someone was told quite forcefully to go and plug in elsewhere!

Beef tagine for tea!

See our pictures in Google Drive

Tuesday 24 February 2015

We could do with a campsite to catch up on our cleaning and washing – it’ll also be good to get rid of all the sand we've accumulated in the strong wind we've experienced here. So we moved on up the coast road for 80 miles to the town of Safi, a modern and smart looking place, passing a new port being built, probably for the export of phosphates which are manufactured (?) on a site just to the south of town.

  

Phosphate plant

Entering Safi

Camping International – which was formerly the municipal camping - hasn't had a brilliant recommendation record but we found it quite satisfactory, and a lot better than some we've experienced! It’s now owned by a very well educated and obviously wealthy young Moroccan whose intention it is to develop it further and take it upmarket a little with a new European standard toilet block later this year. Mind he’ll need to upgrade the electrics too (but that’s a story for tomorrow!)

We quickly took advantage of the facilities and got the washing done, which was just about dry at bed-time due to the warm sunshine and persistent fresh breeze. Unfortunately it was really a little too fresh to get the chairs out.

During the afternoon around 20 Dutch vans arrived, being part of an organised tour, and set up on an area just behind us that was being kept for them. Apparently more are expected tomorrow but we discovered that the campsite has lots more room and is in fact set up more for groups than individuals, although all are made very welcome. Later we discovered the Dutch party are two weeks into a 50 day tour, at a cost of………… nearly €3000 per van! And they still have to pay for their own fuel, food, campsite fees etc!

See all our photos on Google Drive here

Monday 23 February 2015

The breeze dropped off during the night but it was not long before it got up again. Colin and Tina are not walking very well so we decided on taking a taxi – there are dozens of the little “Petit Taxis” buzzing about and we quickly waved one down, only to find they would only take three passengers. No problem, Bren and I could walk into town so we sent them off and enjoyed a good leg stretch along the attractive sea front. The taxi cost 70dh, about 55p!

 

The promenade and beach looking back towards our parking

Meeting up again at the city walls we then spent the rest of the morning exploring the walls and narrow streets of the Medina, full of little shops and stalls mostly selling tourist tat – that’s actually not very fair because some of it was very pretty and very cheap. However this is a tourist attraction town, evidenced by the tour buses arriving and departing all day, and it was very pleasant to just wander without too much hassle.

The west walls

Ice cream - a la banana dolphin

Lunch was at a restaurant we found amongst a whole bunch of them in an enclosed square. The food was excellent, although as expected a little more expensive than normal Moroccan, and there was some local entertainment too. After a pleasant hour, we wandered back to the town gate – Essaoiura is a completely walled town and you can walk all the way round if you wish – and found a couple more taxis to take us back to the vans at 70Dh again.

As we enjoyed a cuppa, the smallest “motorhome” we've ever seen squeezed themselves between us and another van. Very “hippy”, the owner was a Moroccan, and his girlfriend, who had spent some time in America, hence he spoke excellent English, and was bumming around before opening a French restaurant in the town. They seemed to have everything they needed in a space no bigger than our bed! 

Later that night they were joined by some friends and one of them played excellent Spanish guitar. So we went to bed and were lulled gently to sleep.

See all our photos on Google Drive here

Sunday 22 February 2015

Having enjoyed our visit into Marrakech on Friday, as the site was quiet we decided on a chillout day. Bren, Colin and Tina went and had a look at the shop and ended up in fits of the giggles when the owner dressed Colin up as a Berber Arab – he already gets called Ali Baba wherever we go because of his grey beard. Unfortunately no-one had a camera to hand!

Then we seemed to spend most of the afternoon playing with the dogs…….

Woody

So today we are starting our planned return north, a little at a time and hopefully visiting some of the places we didn’t have time for last year. Our first target was Essaoiura so after a quick call in to the Marjane supermarket for bits we missed earlier we headed off on a very good but quite boring main road, pausing at the occasional police checkpoint – they never actually stopped us. 

At one point a group of lads tried to wave us down, making out that there had been an accident and one of their number was injured. We had heard about these scams so were not fooled and drove straight past – to see in the mirror the “victim” jump back to his feet. We don’t really know what their intentions were but were not going to take any chances.

As usual the satnav took us straight to a guardian parking area, this time an officially approved one on a car park about 1km from the town walls, and we joined about 50 other vans all neatly parked up and sheltering from quite a strong, if warm, breeze behind a large sand dune. The downside, of course, is that we got sand everywhere!

Essaouaria

See all our photos on Google Drive here.

Friday 20 January

Not too rushed a start today and with the weather now fine and warm again Colin arranged to have the vans washed – and they needed it after yesterday’s trip!

A VERY dirty Bertie!

Then generally a mess about day, cleaning out the sand and dust and having showers. We had been told that Desert Detours (the proper one) were arriving this afternoon and an area had been put aside for them. So to avoid clashing with their probable itinerary, we decided to book the minibus into Marrakech for the evening and have a meal – our reason for coming back to Marrakech. You’ll recall that the weather was against us when we came south a month or so ago.

So booked for 5.30 we “enjoyed” an “interesting” drive into town and were dropped off near the main mosque with arrangement made for a 9.00pm pickup. The point about coming in the evening is that the whole character of the place changes in the evening and one of the features we wanted to see, and maybe try, is the portable restaurants that are brought in and set up (at dusk as we later found out). Having arrived whilst still full daylight, we were a little disappointed not to be able to locate them so eventually chose one of the restaurants which overlook the square from a balcony.

Overlooking the square

Our restaurant

A fairly ordinary, if nicely done, meal of chicken and chips for the girls and tagine for the boys was enjoyed as we watched the lights come on around the square. Then as we were finishing, we espied smoke rising – yes the restaurants had arrived. Never mind, we still enjoyed a stroll around parts of the souk and the square, being pestered all the time but being now used to this we were able to give as good as we got!

Mobile outdoor restaurants

Entrance to one of the colourful souks

Rejoining the minibus, along with another French couple, we experienced another interesting ride through the busy evening traffic, before settling down with hot chocolate – it had gone quite chilly while we were out.

Thursday 19 February 2015

It rained most of the night but surprisingly the site wasn't too muddy when we got up. But we’re not staying so pack up and away quite quickly, not ever actually being sure where we were in relation to the town itself. Not an inspiring place and even the film studios appeared to be run down and poorly visited.

Roundabout art - film themed

Studios seemed somewhat run down

A fort film-set seen in the distance

Our route to Marrakech took us once more on the busy main road which had to cross the 7000ft high Tizi n Tichka Pass (Pass of the High Meadow). So after refuelling we joined the trucks and buses on the tortuous two-lane road and the going became s l o w. This area is rife with mineral deposits and many roadside stalls were selling fossils and rocks containing several types of gemstones. Also at every possible stopping point, as we found out when trying to stop for lunch, a Berber Arab would pop up out of nowhere thrusting one of these rocks in your face and demanding 300 dirhams. They were attractive but not £25 attractive.

Just past the top we came on a traffic jam the reason for which showed how careful you need to be on these roads. This guy got wiped out by a bus, fortunately not suffering any serious injury as far as we could tell.

Oops! - Lucky

The resultant traffic jam

Once we were clear of the resultant chaos – all the truck drivers decided now was a suitable time for daily prayers and abandoned their vehicles on the road – we found a place to stop for lunch and remained relatively unmolested, just one old lady collecting herbs. Then continuing down the mountain through still spectacular scenery, we eventually came out onto the plains towards Marrakech.

Needing to top up supplies quite badly by now, our first call was at the Marjane supermarket for an hour – at last, back to civilisation! Then on to Camping Ferdaous where we stopped last year and felt was nicer than Relais which we used on the way south. A welcome cuppa then steak for tea.

It’s been a long and tiring day although one which will stick in our memories.

Wednesday 18 February 2015

The wind died down but it was noticeably cooler when we surfaced so our plan to move on seemed to be vindicated. Once breakfasted and the vans serviced we were on our way.

Our planned destination today was Ouarzazote, a large town on the edge of the Atlas Mountains around where many films such as Gladiator and Lawrence of Arabia have been made. It seemed that most people travelled via Zagora, which is further east still, before turning north west, rather than the direct northerly route, shown “scenic” on our map. With conflicting advice about the road conditions both ways we decided on the shorter scenic route.

Initially out of Foum Zguid the road was okay but it was not long before it became another single track road which inevitably started to deteriorate as it followed the course of a river. It soon was obvious that the winter rains had caused much devastation as most of the bridges were down, with subsequent diversions through the river bed (dry, thankfully) and much evidence of the road being bulldozed clear of landslips and rockfalls. However it was passable with care, albeit slowly, and again the scenery was amazing.

The road "disappears"

Bridges down

But then the weather took a hand and as we climbed up to around 6000ft the sky clouded over and it started to rain, then snow to add to our difficulties. However eventually we reached the main N10 road which was much better.

The weather deteriorated a little.....

Mountain roads

Almond blossom just appearing

We rolled into Ouarzazote in the rain with not much enthusiasm, being guided by the faithful TomTom to our selected campsite. We have to say that our choice this time was not a good one and, despite a friendly welcome, if it had not been as late and as dreary we would probably move on. The rain caused the clay surface to become quite slippery (Tina suffered a fall, luckily without injury) but it did have all facilities (well as “all” as Morocco gets!) so we stayed.

Snow on them thar hills

We later discovered that this weather was affecting all of southern Morocco and was due to last a couple of days before returning to normal at the weekend.

Tuesday 17 Feb 2015

Another warm one doing pretty well nothing except a couple of running maintenance jobs on Bertie – there’s always something that’s looking for attention.

Our oasis of calm

The calm before the storm

Whilst I was catching up with the blog the wind suddenly got up quite seriously and despite being tied down, the awning was flapping and threatening to take off. Rushing outside we saw that what looked like a sandstorm was getting up as visibility had suddenly dropped to almost nothing. Enlisting help from Colin, and joined by Omar from the site staff, we managed to get it in in time, although I managed to break the handle again, dent the side of the van with the grips and lose one of the tension springs.

Deciding that we’d better batten down the hatches and get everything inside, on taking down the rotary dryer I discovered I had managed to drive one of the tie-down pegs straight through a water pipe resulting in our own little fountain! Abdul came round with an old inner tube, a piece of which he tied round the pipe after digging it out and I gave him some tie-wraps to fix it – Moroccan style! There was still a little dribble but he said he’d fix it tomorrow.

With the wind showing no signs of abating we cancelled our plan to walk into the village for our evening meal and instead started planning our next move tomorrow and thereafter. Bren not too happy with the van being rocked around in the gale, which didn’t abate until well into the night.

Monday 16 February 2015

Sunday morning was another bright clear day and Desert Detours Italia all left, very quietly, at 7.30am. As it was our plan to move on we were up and about early to service the vans and get away for a leisurely, fairly short trip eastwards along the course of a river to the small village of Foum Zguid.

The guidebook described the route as a monotonous run through desert scrubland with mountains to our south, and sure enough it was a straight level well-surfaced road, with the very occasional rough bit, but to our eyes anything but monotonous. The mountainsides were covered with purple flowers of some kind, which unfortunately don’t show well in the photos, and we passed herds of goats, sheep and camels being grazed on the scrub. A couple of small Berber encampments could be seen in the foothills too.

Desert - the proper stuff

Berber Tents below purple sided mountains

Oasis' dotted our route

River bed gouged out of the desert

The occasional traffic hazard!

The rainy season can be devastating - the main road washed out

Entering Foum Zguid

Our arrival at Camping Khaima Parc was initially with some trepidation as the entrance was very “rustic” and looked to be a building site. However once through the gate we found a beautiful little site, a real oasis, with pitches amongst the palm trees and all facilities which for a change, though not European modern, were scrupulously clean. We were allocated two lovely pitches next to the swimming pool (no water in it though – it’s out of season) with partially shaded sunshine all day long. Only a few vans here, a couple of Brits, some Germans and Dutch but no French who we later found out had all but stopped coming to this part of Morocco.

Our priority was getting several loads of washing done, which quickly dried in the sunshine and gentle breeze. As the sun went down the cicadas started up and at full dark there was no light pollution so the sky was awash with more stars than we've ever seen before. Stunning.

Monday we finished off the washing then wandered into the village where we had learned from the guide book a weekly souk took place. However the information turned out to be wrong so instead we enjoyed delicious chicken kebabs with frites, accompanied by mugs of orange juice squeezed in front of us. Then we wandered back, taking the opportunity to do a little shopping in the few shops that were open, and once again marveled at how cheap everything is here.

The old village

Football is enjoyed here too!

Yummy chicken kebabs enjoyed in the shade

 We later decided that a chill-out day was in order here so tomorrow we’re staying put.