2025 Morocco

Another day of not doing much however we did have some good news as Tucker was playing with Tina and his ball. He hadn’t done this since he was attacked about a week ago. The medication he is taking seems to be working well.

Tomorrow we will be servicing the van before we make our way to the port to get the ferry back to Algeciras, Spain. Our homeward journey begins…. 2 weeks and we will be in the UK.

Today was going to be a relaxing and recuperation day.

Late morning we strolled up to the cafe we have used many times before to buy some bread for lunch. We were greeted by the guardian who remembered us from our previous visits. He declined to have a coffee with us but he did sit and chat. He speaks very good English.

We found out that he has a family of a wife and 4 children but unfortunately his 10 year old daughter has a heart condition which requires medication. This costs 200 MAD (approx £16) every 2 weeks which is a lot for a guardian who looks after the parking outside of the cafe / bread shop and earns a few dirhams a day. He looked a worried man.

We have enough money to pay our camping fees and the tolls to get back to Tangier Med with a little in reserve but we both felt sorry for him and gave him 50 MAD which is all we could spare as the toll costs are uncertain.

We in Europe are so lucky with the support mechanisms to ensure people don’t go hungry and can get the medication they need. We do feel sad for the plight of people like the guardian.

No fines today thank goodness !!

We serviced the van before leaving the site at around 11am. We were travelling north to the last campsite before we exit Morocco. I made sure that I kept within the speed limits at all times as there were numerous speed cameras and average speed check zones.

We arrived at the site just after 2pm. Although we had been here at the start of our journey around Morocco Tina could not remember the site only the guy that greets and places us into position. Her illness is steadily getting worse.

I tried watching the Sunday afternoon matches but some English guys who had been down to the Western Sahara started to chat with us. They had been using roof tents and were a father and son from Cheshire. They needed to get back to Leeds by saturday morning for a wedding so they were planning to leave early in the morning to catch the ferry back to Spain. They were the going to drive the 1500 miles back to Calais by Friday as the boat from Santander had been cancelled. Good luck is what we said.

Not sure how long we will stay but it will be 2 or 3 nights in total.

Tucker has been licking at his wound and removed one of the stitches hence he opened the wound again. Tina was concerned and whilst I was watching the early premier league match she insisted we find another vet to see him.

Spoke to the owner lady who speaks really good English who made a call to a local vet and made an appointment at 6pm for us. The surgery is 20 mins away.

So before the bournemouth match had finished we packed up and made our way to the vet. He cleaned the wound and gave us a prescription for some antibiotics.

Before we resumed our place on the pitch we stopped the food cart and bought something for our meal. Planning to move on tomorrow but Tucker might be changing that decision.

Today was a relaxing day in the sunshine…. it was 18ºC this afternoon.

Tina organised doing some washing using the onsite machine and then hanging it out and getting it dry. We should now be OK until we get home.

Late afternoon we walked out on to the promenade and bought some food for our meal tonight. It was Morocco version of a take away van but much much cheaper.

This evening I watched the FIFA 2026 World Cup draw and of course Trump took delight in taking centre stage.

We will stay another night tomorrow.

We had made a decision to leave today and travel up the motorway to Tina’s favourite campsite in Morocco however when we woke we found that Tucker had been licking his back where he had been bitten by 2 dogs a few days ago. He had removed hair around the wound which showed a gaping and weeping hole in his back.

Tina took Tucker out for a walk and whilst she was out I identified a vet in Mohammedia that we might visit however when Tina returned she informed me she had arranged a local vet to come to our van in an hour.

On arrival he cleaned the wound and gave Tucker a local anaesthetic so he could stitch together the open wound. He made 2 stitches. He then said he would return with a cone to stop Tucker licking the wound and give him a rabies injection. I did not want any record in his Pet Passport as this could affect its validity thus compromising our entry back into the UK. He duly returned with further medication and charged us 800 MAD, which is approximately £65.

We decided to leave and travel to our original destination. We left at around 12:30pm. We needed to go as we had very little food in the fridge etc so we needed to get to a hypermarket. We arrived at the campsite at around 4:30pm.

Tucker is taking the cone in his stride and is increasingly getting more confident…. I am sure he recognises where we are. We plan to stay 3 nights.

Today was a much more relaxing day…

I took the opportunity to start to plan our journey home and the stops we might take on our possible route. I made an appointment to visit a vet in northern Spain on the afternoon of 18th December giving us 5 full days to get up to Calais for our crossing on Le Shuttle.

On a better note Tucker has started to get his confidence back. He is still a little anxious but he is improving following the attack he endured.

We move on tomorrow. Hope I don’t incur another fine!!

Last night Tucker was attacked by 2 local dogs and has left him traumatised. He doesn’t want to leave the van so we made the decision to move on today to Oualidia. However this time we plan to use a campsite and not the guardian parking as we have done in the past visits.

We found a small town on route so we could obtain some more cash. The recent fine of 400 MAD made a dent in the wallet. The journey was slow for most of the way until we joined the toll road. After coming through the toll booth and approaching the town I was stopped by the police. They showed me a speed camera gun which showed 74kph and they explained that it was my speed coming of the toll road and approaching the booth. This was about half a mile away from where they were. The limit was 60kph. I was fined 150 MAD and given a receipt. I am sure I was conned because I cannot understand how they could have got a reading on the gun from that distance and with objects in the way. I had no choice but to pay up.

We found the campsite we had set as our destination and finally settled on a pitch in the corner. Some of the pitches we were offered were quite muddy. The views are tremendous out of the windscreen and side door.

During the afternoon Tucker hid himself away under the van and we could not coax him out with anything including his favourite treats. It was quite late in the evening before we could get him into the van.

I watched a miserable 1-0 defeat to Everton this evening. It was a poor match and we did not play well. Not a good day!!

We packed the van for travel this morning and left around 11am. Our journey was going to be around 2-2.5 hours and ending at a campsite we have used before. We travelled up the N1. The first part was very good road but it soon turned into single carriageway with plenty of no overtaking and solid white central lines.

After about 2 hours I had been following a mini truck for some time and then there was an opportunity to get around it. Unfortunately I crossed the white sold central line and ran straight into a police check point. I was caught and asked to pull over. I then had to show the V5 and my driving licence and provide the 400 MAD fine. I did get a receipt. The policemen both said welcome to Morocco.

Arrived at the campsite at around 2:30pm and checked in. Emptied my grey waste and backed onto my pitch.

We have been having issues with the water pump filter housing leaking and therefore we are not getting pressure built up very quickly. We decided to pull the 12v fuse temporarily to prevent further leaks all over the floor. We will replace it in the morning.

Moving day today. Emptied the black tank and decided we would fill the fresh water tank when we get to our destination. We said our good byes to Lee & Michelle as they were leaving to travel south whilst we were going north.

Our first stop was at the Marjane hypermarket in Agadir where we stocked up on most things…. our fridge was very bare on arrival. Fruit, meat, vegatables and other assortment of goodies to load into the van. Now onto the campsite we used at the start of 2024. We only plan to stay one night.

We finally found a pitch where I could get a hose from the tap to the van and an electric cable to the outlet.

Watched some football and YouTube videos before planning to get an early night.