Tuesday 7 March 2017

Really not a lot to report today; noisyish night due to dogs on a smallholding next door to the site who took a long time to shut up last night and had a row sometime through the night. Coupled with the donkeys braying, cows mooing, sheep and goats bleating (we couldn't hear the chickens) it's a bit like camping in a zoo!

People come and people go – site emptied this morning but filled up again tonight so it's obviously more of a stopover place. Very nice though, modern facilities scrupulously clean, snack bar, campers kitchen and at a reasonable price for a change. The architecture is very Middle Eastern and in fact it's all part of what is supposed to be a tourist centre, run as a charity to support orphans, the handicapped and elderly. Haven't noticed much of the latter however. Apparently known as “Disneyland” locally!

Spent the day just messing about and working on our tans. The big gas bottle ran out yesterday so we're now onto our last, which should be enough – looking to cross back to Spain the end of next week. We've got an emergency contingency though.

Plan is to move onto Fez tomorrow and try to visit the medina, which has been recommended to us several times. Then Meknes for something similar, finally finishing off with a run across to the coast via Volubilis, the only Roman ruins in Morocco (which if are as spectacular as the cascades we should be in for a treat.....), to finish off with a few days.

Inshallah!

Monday 6 March 2017

Ouzoud to Azrou - 188 miles

Another fine sunny morning and it looks like it's going to be a hot one. Got everything done in good time and checked with the guy that the minor road north, direct to the N8 was okay for motorhomes. We needed the shortest route because, due to a distinct lack of stopping places, we've got a fair way to go today. As it turned out it was pretty spectacular, following the Gorge d'Ouzoud along the top and through the mountains.

The first half of the road looked to have been newly resurfaced and whilst still quite steep and very twisty in places we were keeping up a good speed, there being next to no other traffic. Stopped briefly to assist a car driver in need of water – don't know if it was for the radiator or to bless it with the Last Rites! How they keep some of these wrecks going amazes us. Then we came to the reason the tour buses don't come this way.

From here to the main road it became “Moroccan” again but still quite useable – there were worse sections on the main road later in the day. We discovered where we had missed the turn on Saturday and kept a note of it to pass on to others before settling down to the long haul along the N8. Lunchtime found us in Beni-Mellal where wediscovered a Marjane supermarket, so took the opportunity of topping up with basics then having a quick lunch in their car park.

Bit top heavy?

From here on the map indicated a scenic route, which just translated as not very straight with views of the mountains. We noticed that this part of Morocco seemed different again to other areas we've visited, quite green and the towns and villages clean and modern with spacious centres. Occasionally they could have made a better effort with the road surfaces..........

Keeping an eye on our ETA it was clear we'd make Azoura,our intended destination, but it would be quite late. Another nice looking place with a “holy” rock formation in the middle from which the town gets its name; it was certainly the early evening meeting place. TomTom must have been getting tired because for a while he gave up giving us directions but the site book was quite clear and we muddled through, arriving at Euro Camping, Emirates Tourist Centre just before 6.00 pm. Found ourselves a nice pitch and settled in for a couple of days.

Long drive today!

Sunday 5 March 2017

Bin El Ouidane to Ouzoud - 39 miles

The first tourist coach arrived at 7.30 a.m., parked quite close to us and was full of boisterous 20-something Moroccans on a day trip! So that ended our Sunday lie-in but it was a beautiful morning so a shame if we'd wasted it.

Our overnight "wild camping" spot

And a view from the road above

After breakfast we left for Les Cascades D'Ouzoud, a well-known (well to them) tourist spot in the mountains, about an hour and a half away along a good road which took us through the very upmarket town of Azilal where we refuelled. We also went through two police checkpoints – these are quite common but more than one is rare, must be very security conscious around here, although it is a popular Moroccan tourist area.

There's snow on them thar mountains!

Gorge d'Ouzoud in the distance

Our intention was to stay one night here and visit the falls this afternoon so after doing a quick recce of the town we returned to Camping Zebra, just on the outskirts where we found a delightful small campsite attached to an auberge and Dutch owned. We parked up next to an immaculate and modern ablutions facility – in fact all the facilities were superb (which may have something to do with the For Sale sign at the entrance.........), had lunch then took Jamie with us into the “town”, about 1 ½ km down the hill.

Camping Zebra

A tourist hot spot it most definitely is, full of restaurants and souvenir stalls which surround the square and line the pathway down to the falls. “Guides” were everywhere but not necessary as we just followed everybody else – as it was Sunday the place was heaving and it isn't even the season yet! And they're still building more stalls, apparently under a government-sponsored scheme to encourage local commerce. Frankly we think they've gone somewhat over the top.

Impressive, errmm, not really

The gorge below

The things I do for tourists!

Local resident

Guidebook says this is the Moroccan image of paradise!

And so to the falls; well we weren't really surprised to find that they've been somewhat hyped up, even in our normally conservative Rough Guide. Yes they are quite nice but really not a patch on others we've encountered, in the UK if not Europe so if this is the best that Morocco can offer......... Never mind, the crowds seemed to be enjoying themselves so we slowly climbed back up to the square, encountering some Barbary apes on the way – another “attraction” - and treated ourselves to an ice-cream.

So return to Bertie for a welcome cuppa and relax in the late afternoon sun and start to plan our next move. Chatted with a German next door who commented that he'd seen more Brits than usual, quite the opposite of our experience although it seems they were all on the coast. He thought the weather had been a bit strange this year too.

Saturday 4 March 2017

Marrakesh to Bin El Ouidane - 140 miles

Bright, if not a fully sunny morning saw us get through our normal departure routine in good time and away around 11.00 as usual. Today we are heading north east towards Fez and Meknes but, as they are too far to do in one day, we've decided to take a look at Les Cascades de Ouzoud which our guide book tells us are the best in Morocco and are just off (well........) our route. We've also spotted what might be a nice overnight stop next to a reservoir in the next valley.

So the first thing TomTom does is send us down a minor road, single track with passing hard shoulder when we really wanted the main N8, so quick turn round and read the map and road signs. We could have gone that way but it would probably have taken two days and we'd have shaken the van to pieces – well more than we have already done! So a little closer into Marrakesh and onto what appears to be a ring road until we find our road.

The N8 is a straight, reasonable road as Moroccan standards go and we made good time through basically a boring plain, cultivated in many places and of course through a few towns and villages. It wasn't until later that we headed towards the Moyen Atlas mountains, looming out of the haze as we started to look for our turn-off. Which we apparently missed although in fairness the map does show it as a minor road so instead we carried on to the turn for the reservoir from where we knew we could take an alternative route.

Not sure if anything living in these!

The R304 almost immediately started climbing into the mountains and, not being the best of roads, was slow going. After much twisting and turning we topped out at over 5000 ft before descending again and eventually reaching the dam at Bin El Ouidane then onto where our site book showed a disused boatyard available for 4/5 motorhomes to park overnight. Well, yes it was there alright and was actually a nice spot, until the old Moroccan who suddenly couldn't speak French demanded 600 dirhams for parking! Not on your b----y life monsieur, au revoir!

But just before there we had spotted a large area of lakeside parking where enterprising locals have, for want of a better description, motorised rafts offering trips on the lake – no idea where they go or see because apart from the reservoir banks there's nothing around. The water level must be at least 80 feet below the cleared banks and it doesn't look like it's been anywhere near full for years. It's obviously a reasonably popular spot for there were quite a few cars parked and also the inevitable guardian, who actually never bothered us. (We'll add pictures tomorrow.)

Well after 3.00 pm we hadn't yet had lunch so rectified that matter then realised it was probably too late now to drive to the cascades, so we made ourselves comfortable and decided to stay here for the night. Everybody slowly disappeared and the boats went off to their overnight moorings, leaving us quite alone, although there are plenty of lights from the dwellings and hotels surrounding the lake. Later on a couple of, we think, Dutch lads drove up and asked if they could put up tents – help yourselves but the ground is like concrete so best of luck!

Friday 3 March 2017

Woken by Jamie, later than our usual time because we didn't set an alarm – to find a total change in the weather. Dull, cloudy and cold, well colder, we didn't need warm pullovers etc. not at all what we were expecting so the morning was spent “indoors” and it wasn't until mid-afternoon that the promised sunshine finally appeared and we were able to sit out. So much for our "all day sun" pitch!

So nothing much done today, reading, knitting (Bren is halfway through a new pullover), walking the dog and some research and planning into our next move. Seems we're relatively close to the Cascades de Ouzoud, supposed to be the best in Morocco so we may head there tomorrow; there looks to be somewhere to overnight too. At least it's in the right direction.

Quite a few French on Camping Ferdous, including the couple who were parked almost behind us at Sid Wassay. An equal number of Germans plus a few Italians and Dutch, but no Brits, make up the rest of the population. Where are they all this year?

Thursday 2 March 2017

Sidi Wassay to Marrakesh - 200 miles

The sea calmed down and the air freshened overnight to a fine sunny and very warm morning. All our usual departure chores done and away by 11.00 en route to Agadir where we want to top up our stores at the smaller Marjane at Inouzane. The temperature rose rapidly and by the time we were parked up, we saw 40 deg!

Shopping done, we were going to stop there for lunch, but of all the huge empty car park we'd stopped in a refrigerated truck parked right next to us! We simply don't understand the mentality, but it got worse when a coach came and parked the other side! You have to understand this was a marked out CAR PARK which just happened to be empty!

So we left, en route to the motorway taking us to Marrakesh where we'd decided to stop tonight. Fortunately there was a service area within a few miles so we stopped there instead, also taking the opportunity to refuel.

Through the Haute Atlas

Very quiet motorway

From there on it was just a long haul on the excellent A7 motorway – TomTom telling us to take the junction after 178 km – first of all climbing through the Haute Atlas mountains then across the high plain with the air-conditioning going for much of the way, it was so hot. Although we don't usually use motorways, and there is a good alternative, we didn't have the time and it was also probably cheaper even with the 152 dirhams, about £12, toll charge. We got a little concerned when TomTom kept going past junctions for Marrakesh but it turned out the fastest route to our chosen campsite was around the city then back south on a motorway so no problem. Arrived at an old favourite, Camping Ferdous, just after 6.00 pm, a very long day for us and having travelled exactly 200 miles.

Quite busy, we found a quiet pitch at the back of the site (away from the peacocks as well – Jamie went nuts!) with electricity and should have sun all day. It was just turning dark as we set up and the temperature is still 30 deg C in the van with all the vents and windows open.

Going to be a very late tea, it's too warm to eat just now.

Wednesday 1 March 2017

No we didn't get washed away, although it was a noisy night and the seas didn't start to subside until late evening so we stayed away from the beach.

In fact we stayed in the van most of the day because despite it's best efforts the sun never succeeded in breaking through the sea fret and although it was warm and muggy all day a cold breeze did get up – strange mixture of weather. We did, however, watch with interest as Desert Detours Netherlands arrived - upwards of 25 vans who proceeded to take over the lower half of the site! Good job there's plenty of electricity hookup points (eh Colin? Sorry, in-joke. Read our 2015 blog about Safi for the story).

We're ready to start heading north now but it looks like we probably won't be meeting up with our friends as they're currently stopping at Tafraout after June had a fall and isn't quite ready to travel.

Sunset over Wassay Beach