2015 Morocco

This morning we had decided to visit the Souk (market) in Agadir. After a leisurely breakfast and checking out Ron and his charging situation we left for the bus at around 11am. I think that we had just missed a bus and so we waited until about 11:45 before the next came along. The fare was 7 dirhams each (about 50p) for a 20 mile journey.

At the bus station we all visited the ATM and I drew out the maximum daily allowance which just about covers us for the debts we have incurred in the expense of the solar panel and regulator. We strolled to the Souk and soon came across the cafe we had visited a year before. We all took a light lunch… some of the party going upstairs to the sunnier roof terrace.

We bought fruit, vegetables and some telecom recharges for phones and data. At around 3:30pm we started back to the bus station. The bus arrived about 20 mins after we got to the station. We got back to the vans just before 5pm. The ‘boys’ were very pleased to see us. On the journey home we noticed the temperature in the city was showing 32°C. Some what different to home at present.

The solar man soon came for his money but also checked out Brian\’s van and soon diagnosed a faulty battery. It cost him €130 to replace it. Lets hope that in the morning it will have fixed his problems. On our return our van was fully charged…. a little different to 2 days ago when we were 100 amps down and I was concerned about whether we could stay here in Taghazout.

Tina needed additional medication this evening because she has done too much and she has gone off to bed early after we have just seen a film we  brought from home.

There is a get together in the afternoon tomorrow in our area of the brits for beer o’clock.  Looking forward to that. Could be washing day tomorrow.

Thought that today was going to be a quiet day. Firstly Ron has been having issues with a flat battery so the solar guy who fixed regulator started to take a look early this morning. It turned out that he really needed a complete system as his regulator needed replacing and also the panel was worn out. He had a 180 watt panel fitted and the guy has wired in an additional battery. Not sure if this is a gift, loan or will need to be paid for. Will find out tomorrow when he returns. The results of this new panel was very impressive.

I decided that our old 10 year 120 watt panel that was now on its 3rd van should be replaced with a similar panel. Once they got it off you could see that some of the cells were damaged and it was not working to its capacity. The results later in the evening were astounding. We had put back nearly 100 amps during the day. I was amazed.

A number of the FUNsters went off to visit the others for beer o’clock and Terry, Brenda, Tina and I enjoyed the warmth of the afternoon. The wind had dropped and it was very pleasant indeed. When Brian returned he found that the battery in his van was showing a low reading. Lets hope that he has caught the solar bug like Ron and I. We will find out in the morning.

We plan to visit Agadir tomorrow and look around the Souk but first find a bank so that I can pay for the panel I have had fitted and the loan I needed to pay for the regulator yesterday. I also have the carpet man coming tomorrow with my carpets which are needed for sister-in-law’s wedding in May. I will be broke by the time I have paid for all this. Happy days… at least we are in the sunshine and summer clothing not like back home in the freezing temperatures.

Last night before retiring to our bed we had already spent 100amps of our available power and had about 70 amps left to last us until we visit the garage on Monday where we would be on a hookup. I was worried.

Tina and I agreed that if we could not get our solar panel problem fixed today we would have to go and ask Mustafa, our friendly repair man, to take a look and connect up to mains power. Whilst Tina was out walking the dogs she approached the local solar panel installer to ask if he could take a look at our van. I also approached him not knowing that she had already done so. About 90 mins later he came over and quickly diagnosed that our regulator was ‘fried’ and needed replacing. 30 mins later we were up and running but €70 lighter. Still its probably cheaper than the same repair in the UK which would certainly be in excess of £200. We were now getting 4+ amps and likely to get back everything we used throughout the night. Relief that we were no self sufficient again.

Tina finished knitting a light blue hedgehog for Brenda and Jeanette, one of the FUNsters, also started to knit her own using Tina’s needles, pattern and woo. We’ll see how it turns out and compares.

Due to the solar panel being fixed we did not join the others in visiting the market in ‘Banana’ town. They caught the bus and spent the morning looking around the stalls and having coffee in a local cafe. To my surprise they had not purchased too much.

Early afternoon we both took the ‘boys’ down the beach and played along the shoreline. Woody loved it but kept running back when the water came in. He didn’t get his feet wet. Walking back up the slope killed my knees and I suffered for the rest of the afternoon.

In the village this evening was an ‘open mic’ session at the Pizza restaurant. Most of the english have gone. It would have meant a 20min walk into the village so we decided not to go and stayed with Terry & Brenda.

It was warm in the day’s sunshine but soon cooled down when the sun went in.

Our first morning here after a very torrid night. The van was rocking from the severe winds but it didn’t keep us awake. We woke to the sound of someone knocking on the van at 8:30am. It transpires that the bread seller was trying to get our attention.

The morning saw us sorting out the van. Getting chairs out that were dug into the boot and trying to see if i could consolidate some of the crates. No such luck however. Around lunch time Rachid Nabil, a local and famous artist, came around and four of us decided to have our vans painted … 3 on the rear panel and our toilet external window.

The temperature was around 24°C with a slight breeze. This was the weather we had come away for. More relaxing in the afternoon. Later on Graham & Darren, guys we met last year, came by and Graham played some tunes on his guitar.

After the sun went down so did the temperature so we retired to the van at around 7pm and sat listening to the AFC Bournemouth match with Leeds.

The rain continued to pour throughout the night and the area around the van was very muddy. The  Funsters who had run for shelter yesterday were also making a move today. They were gone soon after 9am not really saying where they were headed. Later we learnt that they had gone to Essaouiria.

We serviced the van and headed of to the Hypermarket. I had to keep reminding Tina that we didn’t have any more room for the souvenirs she would have loved to buy. All fuelled up we left for Agadir and hopefully some sun and warmth. We later learnt that the place we had just left had warmed up to around 20°C. I call that sods law in action.

Four of us in convoy travelled the approximately 150 miles only splitting up when we arrived at the city. I took Ron & Jeanette with me to Mustafa to sort out when he can get started on my list of jobs. Ron has been having problems with his battery. It was agreed that we would return next Monday morning. I am expecting to have to stay with him for maybe a couple of days. It will give me a chance to charge up batteries if the weather is not kind to us over the next few days.

Off to our final resting place on the beach. We have now secured a spot just close to the edge and the 4 vans have taken up positions on three sides of a square all looking out to sea. We have already upset a German but does it really matter… I think not…we are all wild camping.

On the move this morning. We have travelled down to Marrakesh and join the other FUNsters at a site we did not use last year. The weather this morning and throughout the night was winds and showers. After paying the fees and servicing the van as necessary we left before 11am.

The journey would take about 4 hours with a lunch stop. The wind continued to blow very strongly and the temperature dropped during the journey. At on point is was down to 11° as we reached a height above sea level of 4000 ft.

When we arrived there were four units there already and they we sitting around after just having a brunch. It wasn’t long before the heavens opened again and they were rushing for cover. The rain continued most of the evening. I informed Terry that I had been looking at the weather forecast for the next 3 days and it showed no improvement i.e. staying cold and damp….its all relative I know. At home its freezing whereas we are feeling cold when its 13° I had made up my mind and Terry agreed that we leave earlier than planned and make our way to the beach in the morning.

Two other FUNsters arrived back from the city and we told them our plans and they also decided to join us in the morning.

NB. Due to the rain I didn’t take a photo nor did Terry so showing one from the campsite website

No plans to move today so we had a leisurely start. I was soon greeted with our fellow travellers all deciding to move on today. Three were making their way to Marrakesh whilst two were going the short distance to El Jadida which is just south of Casablanca. Most had left the campsite by 11am leaving just Terry & Brenda and ourselves. Our satisfaction that they had the confidence to go off on their own was heartening. We are due to meet in Marrakesh tomorrow and the others later in the week at Taghazoute.

During the morning I streamed Radio Solent into the van using the campsite free WIFI. It was strange to hear the local news but somewhat satisfying that we were missing the bitterly cold weather. Here we are sitting in shorts and tea shirts in temperatures around 15° but with the occasional light shower. I also caught up with the second part of the Christmas Top Gear special. I watched the first part at home and downloaded to Iplayer desktop the second part. Really enjoyed it and there were a couple of very funny moments as well as a very worrying end to their trip. The final credits to the program really showed how this is no longer a car show but pure entertainment. In my opinion it was well worth watching.

In the afternoon I listened to the AFCB match commentary against Rotherham and to my delight we won again 2-0. Tina had her usual afternoon nap. She had spent some of the morning cleaning  the inside of the van.

Spent the evening with Terry & Brenda again after a late supper. Organised our trip to Marrakesh in the morning and the site we plan to use. Lets hope we don’t get the rain again like we had this morning at 3am…it was like stair-rods hitting the van with such force.

Last night we had very strong winds and heavy prolonged rain starting at around 3am. In the morning it had stopped raining but the winds were extremely strong. However it did not seem cold. At least we should be thankful for that.

Left sight at around 10:30am headed for a campsite we used twice last year. We took the lead of the other 5 vans. We travelled at a steady 50mph. We stopped at an Aire after about 2 hours and one of our company continued on to the campsite whilst we rested a while and had some lunch.

Arriving at the sight by a route I hadn’t taken previously, which involved an even longer stretch of muddy lane, we soon chose our pitches and settled in for the afternoon. Skype the family and used my newly acquired Skype number phoned my Mother. All was well thank goodness.

We plan to stay for a couple of nights before moving on to Marrakesh on Sunday.

Up bright and early this morning and left the supermarket car park at 8:30am. We drove down to the port and fortunately they had just reopened the tunnel from last night.

We waited until 9am, an hour before departure time, before the ticket checkin opened. Once passports checked and outbound and inbound tickets issued we were on to the port dockside. We seemed to wait ages. It was 10:50 before we finally sailed. The crossing was smooth and took about 90mins. We adjusted out watched back to UK time and then drove around to the Police and Customs check. This was certainly quicker that we experienced last year. Money exchanged and we were soon on the toll motorway to Assilah. Filled up with fuel at the first fuel station and paid 63p per litre.

We arrived at the guardian parking site just to the north of the town about 75 mins after leaving the port. Soon we all walked (slowly in my case) up the hill and waited for the Telecomms shop to open after lunch. Queues formed and were not being dealt with very quickly so decided to go back later in the afternoon. Spent even more time but finally got back tp the van about 6:30pm.

We took the ‘boys’ on to the beach and they had a run round. Woody was off his lead and we had no issues with him running away. Probably something to do with Tina having tit bit treats for them.

I thought that last night we were leading a couple of the vans to go and get a last fill up with LPG and then on to the over night stop at Lidl. I had said that I wanted to leave at 10:30am. As it turned out we were the last to leave the campsite and were alone. However when we arrived at the fuel station for LPG there were the 2 vans I thought that we would have been leading. After gassing up I did indeed lead the vans down to the supermarket.

Once paper work and money handed over we set about gathering in the things we needed from the nearby supermarkets. First it was a shopping trip to Mercadoa for the basics. However we didn’t see the water and beer and one or two other things we wanted so we then visited Lidl later in the afternoon. The van now loaded to the gunnels. I really hope they don’t stop us as we would be well over weight.

Tickets now received and we are all set for the off in the morning… leaving bright and early at 8:30am. I will have to get Tina up earlier for her medication.

Later in the evening we had our habitation door open and a young backpacker lad came to the door and asked if we could boil some eggs for him. On getting them out he broke one of the six eggs so Tina replaced it and proceeded to boil them. He next got out some bread and we offered him some butter and salt. Tina cooked an extra piece of fish whilst cooking our supper and offered him this with some potato. He was grateful for some hot cooked food. He explained that he was from Lithuania and was hoping to go to Morocco but had lost most of his money. He was now on his way east and up the coast. He spoke very good english and explained that he had worked as a waiter in Ireland for a time. On leaving I offered him the cake that we had received with our ferry tickets which he gratefully received. He took our email address and stated that he might visit England in the summer. We always seem to experience things like this. Last year we met an english guy and his moroccan wife whilst visiting morocco.

Late in the evening Carlos who sold us the tickets came looking for us and took Terry in his car to the port explaining that a lorry had overturned and blocked the main entrance tunnel to the port. He shows Terry an alternative route if the tunnel remained blocked in the morning. We will see!!!

Tomorrow we leave Spain for Morocco