2016 Morocco

We were all so pleased that we stopped the night with Mohan and his wife and child on his tiny piece of land. I think that after the dinner last night and the discussion about how a donkey would help him we had all come to the same conclusion. Lets put 500MAD (£35) for each couple together so that he can buy himself a donkey. We gave him an envelope with a few words to show our gratitude for the experience. Both Brian & Robert needed a gas refill for their 907 bottles… the cost 90p each. Amazing price when compared to the UK.

We were soon on the road at around 10:30am. After 12km the tarmac ran out and we were on rough track stony road which was to take us 50km to the next big town. Along the route we were passed by a group of bikers who soon came back down the mountain saying that the road was impassable. We carried on… up the winding road that climbed up the mountain and along the rim before we were to eventually come down. We saw very few vehicles and people and I am sure they thought that we were completely mad. It was unfortunate that we did encounter a very severe hump in the route where we and Brian grounded. Fortunately we did not sustain any damage but Brian had bent his step and tank support which he will fix in the morning. We arrived at the large town at the end of the piste road at around 2:00pm. What a relief !!

It was now tarmac all the way to the Todra Gorge. When we entered the gorge we were amazed at the views. The final part had a few stalls and was obviously a tourist attraction. The campsite was only a few kilometres further. Along the way a chap stopped and suggested we pull into his campsite. He kept us in view all the way but we finally drove past preferring the site we had previously picked out that had good reviews.

The next big challenge was were to park in the empty campsite. After much discussion we all picked our place and hooked up. But it wasn’t where we ended up because somehow we managed to keep tripping the electric. Eventually everyone was settled.

In the early evening we strolled up the road to try and find a restaurant, most of which were closed. We found one and had a lovely meal of chicken brochettes with frites. The starter was a large bowl of salad and finished off with orange slices with nutmeg sprinkled on them. Delicious !! Then home to bed.

Tomorrow is washing day and relax in the warm sunshine.

I was looking forward to today but it didn’t work out quite how I expected but it was even better!!

We left the site at Skoura at around 10am and took the drive up to where the first Gorge road started. The scenery on the way up to the gorge was stunning. We stopped at a little roadside cafe at around midday and Tina did her usual thing of looking at the trinket shops. It wasn’t long before I was being pestered by the owner to buy the item that she had taken a fancy to….it was a berber vacuum flask which was to become an ornament when we get home. A keepsake I am told!!

We carry on up the road and the views get even more spectacular and then we actually start to enter the gorge part of the road. Fantastic….. so glad we made the effort to come this way. We are now on the part of the road which at this time of the year is usually under snow and therefore impassable. Further up the road we stop to have a bite to eat for lunch. Looking back at the road we had just come up was amazing.

The plan was to try and push on as far as we could and turn back to a campsite we had passed if we encounter snow. We continued up the pass making slow progress but continued to be wowed by what we saw. At around 3:00pm we were crossing what would have been a ford if there had been water when a local guy stopped us. He explained in perfect english that there was only 12km of tarmac road left and beyond this about 50km of piste road which would have taken in excess of 4 hours to drive. He suggested that we needed to find somewhere for the night as darkness would beset us before we got off the piste road (simply a stone surface track). He asked if he could travel with us to his home about 3km up the road. We agreed.

Soon we were passing through his village and he suggested that we stay on his land overnight. This was a small area next to his house. After some discussion with our fellow campers it was agreed that this would be the sensible option so we soon parked up for the night.

We soon became the attraction of everyone in the village and in particular all the children wanted to come and have a look. Our friend the invited us to have a meal with him and his wife and child …. couscous. At the appointed hour of 8:00pm we took our torches (it was pitch black) and walked up 20m to his house. We sat on the floor and later his wife brought a large bowl of couscous for us all to share. With spoon in hand we tucked in. Our desert was apples which he had grown himself. He spoke excellent english although his wife only spoke Berber. I am amazed at how hospitable he was to us all. We all asked many questions and he was able to provide an explanation for everything. Truly a memorable event. He even showed us the cow and calf he had stabled in a separate room.

Tomorrow we will continue with our journey and then turn south through the Todra gorge to our chosen campsite. It has been an extraordinary day and trust one that will live long in the memory. Lets hope tomorrow will not be a disappointment.

Today was a day for relaxation. We woke at around the same time as usual and had breakfast. The others in our little group decided to take a walk into town to explore and get a few things. They left at around 11:30am

Tina and I decided that the 2-3km walk was too far for us so we stayed behind. I had already stated that I wanted to listen / watch the AFC Bournemouth match being televised as the early afternoon game on Sky. Whilst I was able to use the sites’s WIFI and watched the whole game Tina decided to take the time to do some reorganisation in the van.

I walked back to the van at around 3:30pm and the others had just return from town. I was not happy as we had lost 2-0 which was sort of expected against Arsenal. Tina had indeed been sorting out drawers, cupboards and all sorts of nooks and crannies around the van.

We then sat out having our Beer O’clock in the warm afternoon sun until it finally dropped and the heat of the day was gone. The evening saw both of us watching a film which we enjoyed.

Tomorrow we plan to try and drive through the Gorge of Dades and then come back down through the Gorge of Todra before stopping at a campsite. Looking forward to some spectacular scenery tomorrow.

Well Tina was much better this morning so we had breakfast and readied the van for the days journey to Skoura. We left shortly after 10am. We travelled through some magnificent scenery. There was extensive work being undertaken to widen the existing road using some heavy machinery. These road improvements were taking place over many kilometres and so the progress was slow.

Around midday we stopped for coffee in a large town called Agdz. Some had coffee, others fresh orange juice and Tina stuck to water. Brian and I fancied a cheese omelette but with some trepidation. My last omelette in Tafroute was mixed and cooked on a plate and we had to scape it off. Soon the offering arrived and low and behold it looked like an omelette but the cheese consisted of a “Laughing Cow” segment placed on top of a plain omelette. Strange we thought but it did seem to work and it tasted good.

Further up the road after climbing through the mountains we stopped and admired the views. It didn’t take long before the kettle was on and we were preparing sandwiches with the bread we purchased earlier in the journey.

We arrived at 15:45pm and we did enjoy the drive. We did remark that there was no way Tina could have endured the journey yesterday whilst she was so ill. When we arrived we were the only vans on the site. Soon 2 further french vans we saw in Zagora pulled in… how strange.

We will have a day of relaxation and I think that some of us may make the 2km walk into the village…. probably not me as I want to make use of the free Wifi to watch the AFC Bournemouth v Arsenal match on Sky in the early afternoon.

As predicted the Laptop HDMI adapter did give up the ghost so I experimented with plugging the hard drive into the USB port of the TV. Voila… it worked. We sat and watched American Ultra which Tina enjoyed much to my amazement. At least this method saves having both the TV and Laptop connected to the 12v electrics when we are not on mains hookup. Success.

What a night we had. Tina was ill all night long and was making extensive use of the washing up bowl which is why I have featured an image of this receptacle. Its amazing what you can use it for. She was suffering from what we believe to be food poisoning which started out with trapped wind causing her pain and later moved on to being violently sick and diarrhoea. The bowl was thrown away in the morning.

In the morning I told our companions that Tina will be staying in bed and we will not be moving on. They had no hesitation to say that they would stay with us even after us saying we would understand if they wanted to continue. We are grateful for their support and even a little humbled by it.

It was overcast and cool so it was not weather for spending extensive time sitting out. The others took walks up to the town whilst I stayed in and read magazines on my iPad and looked after Tina. She spent time trying to sleep it off. Our boys would not leave her side and rarely asked to go out. They knew she was not well. The day was long but late afternoon Tina did get up and came forward and sat in the lounge. She was feeling slightly better….the sickness had passed but she had a thumping headache.

Tina went back to bed early and I spent the evening watching a couple of films. My HDMI connection to my laptop is stating to fail. I can see me having to get another. That will be 3 in less than 2 years. There must be a better way of connecting the hard drive to the TV. I will have to investigate.

We will be moving off tomorrow all be well with Tina. The destination is Skoura and then the famous gorges in Morocco will follow…. until tomorrow

A little cold first thing this morning but it soon warmed up.

When we opened up the van this morning it was some time later before Terry & Brenda appeared. He started to pack things away and it soon became obvious that they had decided to leave us all.

Brenda was homesick and wanted to return to the UK so they were going to make their way back to Tangier to exit Morocco. It is with great sadness we said goodbye and we will miss them both. Hope that we will catch up on our return to the UK in early March.

At lunchtime we took a walk up into town to find an ATM and try and get a recharge for the internet. Whilst walking along the main road we were enticed into a shop by the owner who spoke very good english. Tina was after a simple pin or broach for her shawl. Coffee was ordered for us both and he proceeded to empty various containers and clothes out onto a table. Included were bracelets, earrings, necklaces and the odd pin. Well after some time and a lot of looking Tina picked out a few things. How much I asked. 1020 MAD (£73). Well it wasn’t worth half that. The price I offered was 300 MAD and eventually settled on 450 MAD still far too expensive but we wanted to get out of the shop.

I remembered from yesterday that there was a Maroc Telecom shop further down the road. When we got there at 1:30pm we found it was shut until 2:30pm. OK lets have lunch while we wait. We crossed the road and went into a roadside cafe / restaurant and had Chicken & Chips. Halfway through the meal an old man was begging for money so Tina offered the remains of her lunch which was half eaten and the bread in the basket. He was shown a table by the waiter and stuffed the bread in his bag and ate the remains.

The time had arrived for us to recross the road to the Maroc shop. The girl inside spoke perfect english. We don’t have what you want… you need to try the shop over the road …. the one next to the restaurant. They also didn’t have nor any of the other 3 places we were shown to so we gave up and walked back to the supermarket just outside the campsite.

This shop was also closed but the Berber shop next door wasn’t and again we were asked to enter but this time we extracted ourselves pretty quickly and walked back to the van.

Our afternoon was spent with the others lazing in the warm sunshine and chatting and passing the time.

Tomorrow we move on and we hope to see some great sites and views….more to follow.

Its been hot today… sitting in a cafe this afternoon it was 33ºC

Packed up and left the campsite at around 10:45am to take the improved road to Zagora. First we filled with fuel at the ridiculous price of around 56p per litre. (We did hear of another FUNster who is very much further south filling for just 30p per litre). Just before the turning for the road we came across a police checkpoint. Normally it is a formality and we are waived through but not today. He stopped us. This is the first time we have been stopped since visiting the country. The policeman wanted to check where we were going so as to make sure we are on the right road. Very helpful indeed. Everyone is so friendly.

Starting out on this road our Sat Nav indicated that we would take over 10 hours for the journey. As we drove so this number came tumbling down. It was obvious when you saw the track alongside which would have been the previous road to use but now we are cruising along at a steady 45mph.

After 2 hours we arrived in Zagora and the campsite we will be staying in for 2 nights. It is larger than normal and quite busy. We find a corner where we can all fit in with ease and our van is parked in the shade so that it is not too uncomfortable for the “boys” in the van.

After lunch we took a walk up into town to find the Souk. After getting mixed messages from the locals it seems that it had closed at 2pm so we were too late. It didn’t stop us from being invited to look into everyones shop. Tina took the opportunity to look for a carpet which she insists we need outside the door to the van. The carpet is made 5×2 feet. The price starts at 1000MAD (£71) but soon starts to tumble and halves pretty quickly. I step in and off 200MAD but this is rejected. He is now asking 350MAD but do we really need a carpet I ask. Yes is the response from Tina. I offer 300MAd but it is rejected so I am telling Tina to walk away and we start down the street. The trader is then chasing us and saying OK to our 300MAD (£21.50) so I now have no choice but to hand over the cash.

We continue along the street and find a cafe for orange juice or coffee. This was a welcome relief from the hot sunshine to sit in the shade with our friends. Soon we are making our way back to the campsite.

Chairs out, kettle on and tea is soon made when we all sit round and have our afternoon gathering. Where is the carpet I ask? its in the shower. Why? Its too good to put outside. Conned again. I vow that this will be the last carpet we buy but I am sure I will be wrong.

We use some of the steak we purchased in Tata for your version of a Tagine. Its full of vegetables and a few spices and we get an opportunity to talk to the grandchildren. It was lovely to see them…the internet is much faster and therefore we could make the connection.

Tina was not feeling well and so took herself of to bed early.  I do hope she will feel better in the morning.

Tomorrow we may well explore this large town some more…..

Quieter day was on the cards as we had no real plans other than to relax in the warm sunshine.

Tina and I did nothing special in the morning however we did wander back up to the restaurant we had frequented last night. Our intention was to have a look at the shops and have a coffee which we were promised would be free.

After sitting for a few minutes Brian & Ann appeared and sat with us. Tina and I ordered a meal which was similar to last night but this time I had chicken. It was very tasty and very sinful….. far too many chips but hey we are on holiday. After lunch we bought a few things we needed like bread and an internet recharge which we were unsuccessful with.

The afternoon was spent sitting and chatting but definitely in the shade …. far to hot to sit in the sun. Tina continued to read her book which is most unusual for her. She doesn’t get that absorbed so I decided to get the first in the series loaded into the Kindle app ready for when she finishes which won’t be very long.

Early evening I was sat out and didn’t realise the time as AFCB were playing at Crystal Palace. I was able to hear the first half commentary with some added interludes of silence but the second half I got nothing so had to follow on the AFCB blog. Great result though at 2-1 to the cherries. Maybe we can dream that we might stay up as we already have 28 points.

We leave tomorrow for Zagora which is 128km east of where we are… continuing our journey towards the sand dunes.

We always planned to do our washing at this site today much like we did last year so I dragged out the washing machine from the garage and began to set it up. We needed copious amounts of hot water so along side the machine we brought out the household electric kettle. All of this was connected directly to an Electric Hookup point on the site. No RCD protection but luckily nothing untoward happened.

Load after load went into the machine and was then hung on the line. Its surprising how many clothes you get through in such a short space of time. Included in our offerings to the machine was the bedding which of course had signs of sand like everything else in the van. I did say to Tina that when we get home we will have the van professionally valeted both inside and out. Keeping the sand and now the flies out is a never ending job.

After several hours we finally finished and gave over the machine to Brenda to use for her washing.

The afternoon was sat in the cool shade chatting and drinking tea. The sun was hot today. One of our number departed the site to return to Tata. They struggled to get on to the site with the length of their van and also were apprehensive to go off the tarmac as they also struggled with grip.

Tina collected her garments from the little workshop where she was having some alterations made. She was very pleased with the results.

Later we decided to stroll up to town to have an early evening meal. Six of us sat and had chips with either a beef or chicken bouchette (meat on a stick) which was BBQ near us. Fresh orange juice, coffee water and bread accompanied the meal. Delicious and all for 80 MAD each (just under £6)

Tomorrow I really must have a go at washing the van. It really is in a state covered in grime and sand. Last year I was able to pay someone to do this but there doesn’t seem to be anyone offering this service this year. Oh well I will have to do it myself.

As we had visited the market yesterday there was no need for a late departure today so we set off at around 10:30am as usual. Terry and Derek were going to follow as they were night quite ready.

The road is boring…. very flat and uninteresting. The only real thing to say is that our speed was constant and we arrived here around 12:30pm. We did see some brave cyclists who were obviously light weight camping but cycling in this heat was truly stupid in my opinion.

On arrival the big decision was how we were to park. The ladies got together and soon had a plan. However there was no consideration of where we were going to plug in the electric cables as there were already two french vans using the power points for the pitches they wanted to use. No matter we did eventually get over this hurdle. The voltage across the site and I understand the town is low so some of our modern fridges would not stay on electric but would switch back to gas. Not good.

The afternoon was spent catching up with things. Tina visited the title lockup just outside of the campsite and organised having some alterations made to the clothes she has bought since being her. The charge is 70p per garment…. extraordinary. She also purchased a black shawl which has an amazing amount of detail… you must ask her to show it to you next time we meet. We visited Terry & Brenda for the evening as we used to do last year. We had missed doing this.

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day. First we may relocate if a french van moves as he has stated followed by a day of washing. Great joy …  Perhaps we will wander up to the town and have a meal.