Thursday 2 February 2017

Essaouira to Tiznit - 173 miles

Even if we get up early circumstances often dictate that we never leave early; so it was today. After breakfast we got chatting to the Belgian couple next door then a Brit turned up wanting all the info about Essaouira so it was gone 11.00 again by the time we were on the road.

Guardian Parking at Essaouira

Not that we were in any particular rush; it was again a lovely day and our intial plan was to run down the N1 to Agadir, deciding what next when we got there. Although it is a main arterial road, the N1 is mostly only single carriageway but, except for the towns and villages it passes through, it is in generally good condition. That said we were now crossing a range of hills and the road was hardly ever straight and level but at least not what we would call busy – again except for the towns and villages.

Despite us now being in a much dryer part of the country we were surprised to see the land still quite green and even the hamada had big areas of vegetation: obviously the rainy season ended later this year and of course we have seen more rain than usual. It's true what they say, when it rains in the desert everything quickly turns green.

In due course we found ourselves approaching Taghazoute, our once favourite place, but the encroaching development has caused serious changes. Although the village is unchanged, a new road has been built by-passing it and the new developments to the south, completely. It isn't any quieter and has obviously reverted fully to it's original raison d'etre as a surfing centre. We decided to stop off for lunch and have a reminiscent walk round.

So where next? Not having been able to get the water tanks refilled at our last stop, it was becoming a bit urgent so a campsite was the obvious solution. However all those around Agadir are hugely popular and overcrowded so we reluctantly decided to go to Tiznit, quite a long drive still, and missing out on a few spots we would have perhaps like to have explored on the way – lesson for the future. Taking the by-pass around Agadir seemed a sensible thing to do given the time of day, eventually picking up the N1 again and heading south.

At least this time it was a fast straight road with few delays once we were clear of the Agadir environs with good stretches of smooth dual carriageway. Inevitably, because this is Morocco, it was interspersed with short stretches of cart track whilst major road works were carried out. This was more evident as we approached Tiznit thus we didn't arrive at Camping Tazerzite, just to the south of the city, until almost 6.00 pm. Nevertheless there was plenty of room and we quickly found a couple of nice pitches, although the electric was a bit iffy until we'd made several “adjustments”. Even then the voltage is very low and won't give much of a load, but it id adequate and allows us to save our gas. (Our first bottle is now empty so we started on the Spanish bottle we're carrying).

It had been a long day, driving more than we really had intended, so a late tea and an early night. The sky is absolutely clear and once again is full of millions of stars, a sight rarely seen in polluted Europe.