Saturday 14 February 2015

A peaceful night, only disturbed by the inevitable call to prayers from the mosque loudspeakers at 5.30am. Being in a town and not 4000ft up a mountain meant we enjoyed a warm night.

Having posted our misgivings about the town on the forum, a response suggested we should give the place a chance and explore a little, so overturning our decision to move on made last night, instead we took a walk into the centre and, as directed, to the big souk held on Saturday and Sunday.

Tata is not an old town and is laid out in straight roads, almost on a grid pattern. Running off the main street along one of these roads is the souk, or market, with typical Moroccan stalls, crowded with locals “getting their shopping in”. Tesco on Saturday morning will never be the same!

Tesco Moroccan-style, complete with home delivery!

Returning to the vans (Colin and Tina are still with us) our awning spread between gave us cool shelter from the hot sunshine. The rest of our day is being spent relaxing whilst contemplating our next move – and the washing bag is starting to fill up again!

Shortly after I took the photo above, Desert Detours Italia turned up! 12 vans squeezed in everywhere, double-parked and including under the arches! And of course Italians like to chat – at full volume! Ah well there goes the neighbourhood.

Friday 13 February 2015

Another day another venue – we've moved again. But more of that later.

Bobby

A walk into Tafraoute again on Wednesday to visit the weekly souk and buy fruit and vegetables again – they’re so fresh and it’s better to buy as you need rather than try and store them then spending the afternoon soaking up the sun, until once again the cold wind chased us indoors. This unfortunately is a feature of this place at this time of year but the scenery, the daytime sun and the company all make it worthwhile.

Trapdoor Spider trap

The Lions Face - Rock formation seen from campsite

However we were starting to get itchy feet; so far we've seen nothing different to last year and a sudden influx of Funsters, whilst nice to see again, decided us during a nice lunch at “the caff” that we were ready for a move. With a rough plan of doing a circuit east then north west through the Anti-Atlas Mountains with good reports we decided on Tata, around 150km east.

So today saw us up reasonably early to pack away and say goodbye for now to all our friends – we’ll no doubt meet up again before long. And so we embarked on the most fantastic drive yet through the most dramatic, picturesque, superb - oh you choose a description – countryside we have ever seen anywhere. Whilst we were supposed to follow a new road, not on any maps yet, we somehow missed it and instead followed the satnav. And a better decision in this respect we've never made.

Starting off through desert then into the mountains, over passes and dropping down through gorges on surprisingly good roads, though of course there were occasional patches where the winter rains had devastated river crossings and we found ourselves very slowly negotiating river beds and roughly repaired tracks. River valleys became oasis’s with lush vegetation and we passed carefully through several Berber villages, always watching out for the children who would come running out to the road, laughing and waving. (Actually they were after “stylo” and “bonbon” not to mention “dirhams”!)  Having nothing for them we didn’t stop, but they did try…….

Photographs again do not do any justice although we took dozens. Once again here is a selection.

Berbers - beehives in the valley

Building the road in front of us!

The whole run was simply breath-taking, so our arrival in the somewhat ordinary town of Tata was rather an anti-climax. The municipal campsite was full of French long-termers so we parked on the forecourt of the town swimming pool, along with a few other vans, which actually turned out to be a good decision. Electricity by means of a cable thrown over a wall and plugged into a spare socket (hmmm, electricians look away!) and water/waste disposal was actually all we needed but after a tiring day – we actually only drove 115 miles but it took us 5½ hours – it was not long before bed called!

Tuesday 10 February 2015

The nights here at Tafraoute are cold – but with clear skies at 4000ft amsl in February we suppose it can be expected! However once the sun gets over the edge of the mountains, which completely surround us, the temperature rapidly rises.

This trip is turning out to be more laid back than last year, probably because we've now half an idea of what’s going on. As a result the blog is getting a bit laid back too, but each episode is probably the better for it.

Views around the site

Plenty of room for everyone

Surrounded by mountains

First day (Saturday) we walked into the town with memories of our brief stay here last year. It’s a bustling place and very typical Moroccan with friendly locals and a wide choice of shops – well stalls really – to get the few items we needed. There has been some new development, including a very grand and modern public toilet, the only one we've seen in Morocco except in the square at Marrakech. 

The new public toilets!

New building has taken place but they don’t seem to be able to complete the finishing touches, such as pavement and road edgings, clearing building rubbish away and landscaping. As a result it all looks a little, well, abandoned.

The new semi-Olympic swimming pool

Needs a bit of finishing off!

External wall of a new local government building

Tafraoute "High Street"

After a stop for coffee we returned and settled into what became our standard mode for the next few days i.e. relaxing in the sunshine until the late afternoon breeze chases us inside.

There are not as many traders calling around as at Taghazoute so Monday was a walk into town for fresh supplies, stopping off for chicken and chips, Moroccan style, at a very respectable establishment – well a pavement-side caff! 

Lunch

Le Menu

We bought some beautiful prime beef, both for tagines and as steaks, enough for four meals at a cost of 84Dh, about £7. Returning for more lazing about trying to attract the attention of the water bowser driver was fun; he eventually serviced us when it was full dark.

It seems the solar panel gremlins have returned as Terry spent all afternoon today trying to discover why Colin had lost half of his solar input – turned out his new regulator had stopped working, so that’s another thing to get sorted in due course. It’s not a problem, just inconvenient.

Tried the steak tonight - simply delicious, two huge steaks at a cost of £3.50

The sunsets here are pretty good too although we've yet to capture one perfectly.

Friday 6 February 2015

The campsite just outside Tiznit is most civilised after “roughing it” for a couple of weeks. Proper toilets, hot showers and electricity – well it’s supposed to be electricity but it won’t power the fridge; suspect the voltage is too low. So we are having to use our precious gas supplies to keep the beer cold!

Like a fort in the desert

Wednesday was washing day (again) courtesy of Tina’s machine. It was a warm breezy day so it all dried quickly and all put safely away again. The left over water was used to wash Bertie down so he looks spick and span again; for how long who knows!

Thursday was much cooler. Even though the sun was shining out of a blue sky there was a cold wind and we stayed “indoors” all day. Not time wasted though as we sat and discussed our plans, based on the weather forecast which seemed to suggest a move into the interior of the country was a good idea. We wanted to return to Tafraoute, in the mountains, as we were chased out by poor weather last year and then we thought to move even further east before turning north for another go at Marrakech and the coast at Essaoiura before heading for the port to return to Spain.

So today we embarked on the first part and after packing everything away and loading up with water – our next site will probably be guardian parking again – we settled our dues and headed into Tiznit to refuel. From Tiznit it is a good road initially but as you get further into the country it degenerates into two lanes and eventually into a single track with hardened “shoulders”. The trick is when you meet traffic coming the other way you ease onto the shoulder and let them pass. That way you avoid clashing wing mirrors – and anything else sticking out.

The roads are quite good

But then you suddenly get a diversion

And it disappears! Bridge had been washed away.

On the way to market

But of course the scenery becomes better and better the further you go. We posted pictures extensively last year but here are a few more anyway. I’ll try and add some video from the dashcam later.

Learning our lesson from last year we avoided the gravel track approaching Tafraoute by going the long way round, which was quite interesting too! This way took us past the “painted rocks”, supposed to be some sort of tourist attraction but way way out in the middle of nowhere.

In the middle of nowhere

Hmmmmm!

All I can ask is, why?

Look at the very centre; rocks balanced above the village

Then on to Tafraoute, through the bustling centre and on to the guardian parking area just on the edge of town where we met up with Funster Phillip and settled in. It’s actually a much larger site than at Taghazoute and with far fewer vans here there’s plenty of room.

We’ll probably stay a few days, dependent on the weather, and take the opportunity to explore which we missed last year.

Oh yes, the "evacuation" of Taghazoute beach. There were several stories bandied about but, although the King is indeed coming, the clearance was apparently at the behest of the site developer. We've since heard that another boatload of cash has been introduced and work is apparently re-starting at a goodly pace to build the hotels and leisure facilities.

So although camping has been allowed there for around 20 years, since the old campsite closed, it is now apparently finished.

Until the money runs out again of course!

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

Thursday 29 January 2015

We haven’t kept up with a daily blog because we haven’t really done much worth writing about. Our days have been spent generally chilling out, a few chores and lots of chatting with our fellow Funsters. The weather has been clear blue sky with shade temperatures in the low 20’s, but cooling off once the sun sets about 6-ish. Today started a little cloudy but by lunchtime it had cleared away.

The friends we have been with since the start have yet to return – they’re having a few extra bits done whilst they've got the chance so we’ll probably not see them until Saturday. However the crew that broke down in Spain have finally caught us up after joining with another Funster to come across to Morocco.

Yesterday was market day in Banana Village (no idea what its real name is, there’s just a lot of bananas for sale!) so, needing a few things, we decided to get the bus to visit. In the end there were 8 of us and while waiting a taxi-bus stopped and offered his services. We've probably mentioned these things before but basically they’re old, and I mean OLD, Ford Transit 1 tonne vans with a couple of benches or bottle crates for seats in the back. There are usually windows in the side but not necessarily with glass in them. Seat belts? What are seat belts?

But at 5 dirhams a head they’re cheap – the bus fare would actually have been the same – so we had an adventure. It was a laugh though uneventful but there were a few worried looks on the ladies faces. We were handily dropped right at the entrance to the market.

This is an important market for the area and is quite big, with sections for clothing, furnishings, “tat”, pyramids of herbs and spices and a huge area for fruit and vegetables. These are piled high, often on the ground, and bought by simply filling a washing-up bowl with what you want which is then weighed. Mix up as much as you like, although generally keeping fruit and vegetables/salads separate, and you pay by weight. It is as fresh as you've ever seen and the quality matches any UK supermarket, at a tenth of the price – we wondered how they ever made any profit! We took advantage to get our vegetables and salads for another week. Incidentally you don't haggle for foodstuffs.

They also had a few butchers’ stalls and we bought a huge turkey breast for around £4 which will last us 3 or 4 meals. (We were told if we’d come an hour earlier we could have talked to the turkey……!).

Bren had been looking for a metal tagine, so of course there was a hardware section where we also bought a gas ring to fix to a butane bottle and use to cook outside. Helps to eke out our gas supplies too. Then back to the village itself to buy a baguette before joining other Funsters round the swimming pool of a (the?) local hotel for coffee.

Intending to catch the bus back to the campsite, we walked along to the stop. The usual tout tried to offer us a taxi, an obviously unlicensed heap that looked like instant suicide and in no way was capable of holding 6 people, so we declined and waited for the bus. A Grand Taxi turned up – these are official and could (just) take 6 – so we grabbed that, just as the bus pulled in. However we were committed and it was still only 5 dirhams each and of course much quicker so we crammed in.

After lunch Terry walked into Taghazoute village and bought a Camping Gaz bottle for 80 dirhams, about £6. These retail for £64 in the UK…… So that’s our backup sorted, at a cost of less than £10.

As I write, Bren is not feeling very well. At first we thought it might have been a tummy bug, but I’m ok so we think it’s a touch of heat-stroke. A couple of our friends have had similar problems but they have responded to the rehydration sachets we carry so hopefully she’ll be fine tomorrow.

(This is not really close to us - it's actually Merzouga - but was posted by another Funster on our forum thread. I thought it was such a good picture, typifying what Morocco is all about, that I just had to show you all.)