Thursday 5 March 2020 – Auorir to Taroudant

Auorir to Taroudant - 66 miles

For a change a somewhat grey start to the day with a light overcast which didn't really clear until after lunch, but it meant it was refreshingly cool for travelling. We've decided to leave the problem with the aircon until we get home so after breakfast service the van and pay the man before setting TomTom to take us inland to Taroudant, not a huge distance but a nice spot we've stayed before and also the jumping off point for the next day.

Some backtracking and around the hectic Agadir by-pass, lots of roundabouts and potholes, before turning east onto the N10, a new smooth dual carriageway that runs past the airport and then became nice and quiet. For once we managed to get into top gear with the cruise control and kept up a good speed, just slowing for the occasional town or village, until we reached the outskirts of Taroudant where the traffic was much heavier. Skirting the impressive town walls we chose the alternate guardian parking at Hotel Palais Salaam, which was closer to the town centre than the official parking. A bit noisier too but we weren't disturbed later.

No idea what this pretty little visitor was.

After a latish lunch we relaxed for an hour or two until it became cooler then took Jamie into the town for a looksee and find a cash machine. It was very crowded and perhaps we should have left him in the van but we managed and returned, mission accomplished, with a very pooped puppy! For a good idea of a typical Moroccan city Taroudant would be an excellent choice being quite compact and with two excellent souks, one of them an original Berber example. 

Moroccan graffiti!

We've made mention before of taxi buses, usually old Mk2/3 Ford Transits with windows and seats used to ferry people and stuff around the outlying areas not served by grand taxis or ordinary buses. For some reason what must have been the entire fleet of blue and white yaxi buses, dozens of them and obviously based in Taroudant, were parked nose to tail along both sides of the street outside the parking area. We have no idea why and trying to ask the elderly guardian was hopeless as he could barely speak Arabic, no matter French or English; we communicated by sign language! 

Dozens of taxi buses

We planned an early start tomorrow as we intend crossing the Haut Atlas mountains via the Tisi 'n Test pass to Marrakesh.

Wednesday 4 March 2020 – Tafraout to Auorir

Tafraout to Auorir - 111 miles

A slightly earlier start for a change to what was showing all the signs of being yet another hot day. Breakfast and the rest of the packing finished, we topped up the water from the reserve bottles the bowser filled for us along with the tank yesterday then headed off to the disposal point to empty a rather full toilet cassette!

Today was market day in Tafrout so we gingerly threaded our way through the crowded town centre onto the road leading to Agadir, initially climbing quite steeply to cross the surrounding mountains and into the Anti-Atlas range. East initially until we picked up the main road to Agadir, now an excellent surfaced mostly two lane single carriageway, which was generally quite quiet, as we've come to expect “in-country” away from main population centres. It's times like these that makes driving so pleasant in Morocco.

Once again we enjoyed superb scenery and took quite a number of photographs for a change. Here is a selection.

Road changes on edge of Tafraoute

Don't get hazards like this at home!

Look out - there's a coach coming. Move over quick!

An ex-kasbah, now a hotel

From the other side

Houses clinging to and built into the cliff face

Just before Ait Baha we came across a reservoir, not very big but on this occasion it was playing host to around two hundred camels who were being watered. As it was lunchtime we found a partially shaded spot close by for our break.

Reservoir at Ait Baha

Camels

More camels!

Back onto the road and it wasn't long before we were descending the mountains and onto the fertile plain between the Anti-Atlas and Haut (High) Atlas ranges, the latter appearing from out of the haze. A newly surfaced road then took us towards Agadir, the traffic increasing as we passed through more and more populated areas until we were on the main N1 into the city. Our plan was to visit the Marjane hypermarket to replenish the groceries and TomTom took us unerringly there to spend an hour loading a trolley with goodies.

Starting to get busy!

Next on our itinerary was a visit to a motorhome repair place to see if they could sort out the air-conditioning but it was now well after 5.00pm and we were tired, the drive though enjoyable having sapped our energy. So instead we continued north on the N1 a few miles and returned to the campsite at Auorir where we were confidant there would be plenty of room, leaving the garage until tomorrow. Sure enough there was no problem and we parked without doing much setting up as it was now quite late in the day and we were only stopping one night.

A light tea then an hour or so bringing the photos, blog etc. up to date before probably an early night. It is much cooler on the coast, much to Jamies relief – he's been cooped up in his travel cage for most of the day and doesn't think too much of it!

Whilst writing this blog we've been downloading the days travel from the dashcam, which fortunately is now working correctly. Once done we'll try to edit it and post a link for you to follow.

Tafraout

We've said it before, but this is our favourite spot in Morocco. Why?

Not just because it's cheap, and it is at just Dh15 (£1.25) per night although there are few facilities. A water truck comes round daily and you can take as much as you want at Dh25 (£2.00) per van – we keep a few 5l drinking water bottles to refill as a reserve. Washing up water goes under a tree or, in our case, a convenient hollow which acts as a soakaway. Toilet waste has now to be taken a ten minute walk to a newly constructed disposal point on the edge of town – a nuisance but far better than just dumping it on a waste area, which was what happened in the past. Obviously there's no electricity but one thing Morocco does have in abundance and is free is sunshine, so by mid-morning the solar panel has recharged the batteries.

So it's not to Caravan Club standards!

Not just because the town is attractive; it's just an ordinary Moroccan town unspoilt by tourism but very friendly and welcoming (the Moroccan royal family does have a villa here though). Within a ten minute stroll you can get practically anything you need, there are banks, a post office, health centre and fuel stations. A Wednesday market provides all your fresh fruit and vegetable needs and a small daily meat market offers the freshest beef, chicken, turkey and sometimes lamb but, being a Muslim country, no pork. There are cafes and restaurants, a couple of hotels, and regular long-distance bus routes. If you need repairs or extras for your motorhome there is someone who will come out and fix it for you. What else is there to need?

Not just because the weather is always good; it's very hot during the day although being very dry it is not uncomfortable. Also as we're at 2800 ft amsl it gets cool at night. Generally the sun comes over the rim of the mountains around 8.30 am and disappears at 6.30pm. It is calm for most of the day until around 4.00 when the gentle breeze becomes quite strong and the site becomes a flurry of activity as awnings are brought in, tables and chairs secured etc.

Not just because of the people who stop here either; we don't interact very much as there are few Brits and the overwhelmingly majority French tend to be reluctant to talk to other nations. We have of course met old friends and others have stopped by for a chat, including one couple who were looking for Reception! Don't think they'd quite got the hang of guardian parking.

Not just because of the peace and quiet; generally the only noise during the day is from the occasional motorcycle/quadbike/buggy departing and arriving. Plus the herd of goats and sheep which passes through each morning and night (and Jamie barking at them!)

The scenery is pretty good though, a stunning journey here from whatever direction you come plus being completely surrounded by mountains that change colour at dawn and dusk with the rising and setting sun.

It's perhaps just the overall ambience, the freedom of just getting on with whatever you want to do, when you want to do it

Our days are spent taking time to do everything, eat when we're hungry, drink when we're dry and plenty of time to indulge in our pastimes. Bren is once again making an effort to get on with the long-term sewing project whilst Terry has hundreds of books to get through on the Kindle. Topping up the tan of course too. Jamie gets regular walks although he's reluctant to go far in the heat of the day; just a quick wee and back to his favourite spot under the van in the shade and a breeze where he sits and occasionally pops out to shout at passing bicycles, dogs and young lads collecting plastic water bottles. We have to bring him inside occasionally though when he gets too noisy. He's getting very scruffy though, even after a couple of baths.

But in the evening it becomes almost magical; the lights of the town reflect on the mountains providing a superb backdrop – unfortunately our cameras aren't sophisticated enough to capture it. Then of course with no atmospheric and little light pollution the starscape is magnificent with thousands of visible stars and the glow of the Milky Way showing behind them. You don't get that in the UK!

We've had a couple of “events”; one afternoon the wind got up early and quickly became much stronger and before we could get the awning in it was twisted slightly and would not retract all the way. We left it until the morning when a couple of Funsters came across and between us we managed to sort it out. Thanks guys!

Terry slipped off the entry step and gashed a shin, which really ought to have had a stitch or two but responded well to a dressing. Then Jamie gave him a deep scratch when leaping off his lap to shout at something or other. Fortunately he heals well.

One day a hairdresser came round and Bren took the opportunity of a trim.

Another morning Terry climbed up onto the roof of the van to reseal a joint which we suspect was allowing rainwater ingress – we knew about it before we came so had brought necessary materials, just needed some dry weather............

We walked into town, leaving Jamie in the cool of the van, to get some fresh fruit and vegetables at the new indoor market, had a look around and bought some delicious local honey from one of the womens cooperatives. Later Terry took our, now empty, Moroccan gas bottle into town for a replacement, cost Dh44 (£3.75) which would have been £25 at home!

But we've now been here almost a week and feel it's time to move on. With around another two weeks before we plan to return to Spain there are a few places we've not yet visited so we'll take a more easterly route with a view to taking our time, stopping off wherever we please. We've heard that our friends, who we were going to meet up with in Spain, have returned home to deal with their flat sale so the dynamics of our gentle return home have changed a little. But so what? We're on holiday!

Thursday 27 February 2020 – Sidi Ifni to Tafraout

Yesterday was very much a do nothing sort of day, nice and warm once the sun came over the cliff top. Another of the couples who came over with us turned up mid-morning so we had a nice catch-up before taking Jamie onto the beach, not the best we've been on by quite a long way which is a shame, then just relax for the rest of the day. It was nice to come back to see the place but we'll probably not visit again.

Sidi Ifni to Tafraoute - 111 miles

So today we'd planned to move on into the mountains to Tafraout so an earlyish start into a cool morning, that is until the sun got onto us when the temperature rose rapidly, forwarning us of another hot one. Chores done, bye-byes said and dues paid we set off back up the road, past Erkounte Park and on to Tiznit where we parked up by the supermarket in the centre to top up on a few goodies. Then refuel and head off east.

It's not a bad road, a two lane carriageway that isn't the smoothest we've been on and with the occasional rough patch so a good lookout was necessary, but at least it was quiet. And hot! Entering the foothills of the Anti-Atlas mountains we paused for lunch in a valley at a spot we've used two or three times before starting the long steady climb up to 4000 ft amsl. We were following a French motorhome who was towing a car on a trailer but he was going fast enough for us and anyway overtaking would have been a bit hazardous on the somewhat twisty road. Not being in any rush we took the time to once again enjoy the scenery.

Entrance to the souk in Tiznit

As well as the load there were 4 passengers in there!

Approaching the mountains

The Anti-Atlas mountains

Impressive arch town entrance

After a steady drive, passing through a number of small towns and villages, we eventually rolled into Tafraout and the guardian parking site just on the edge of town. Now we know where everybody had gone to when all the sites we'd used up until now mysteriously emptied - they've all come here! We've never seen so many motorhomes here, mostly French who, as they usually do, were all huddled up together close to the entrance despite there actually being plenty of room a little further into the site. We estimate over 500 units here but there is easily room for 500 more, although that could possibly overwhelm the facilities, not that there's much on offer apart from some strategically placed rubbish skips.

Further back we found the Dutch and Germans, all leaving plenty of space around them so we found ourselves a nice sunny spot, coincidentally quite close to our other Funster friends who had apparently arrived yesterday. As we plan to stay for a week got ourselves set up, initially deploying the awning but the late afternoon breeze was a little too much until we can get proper tie-downs sorted so wound it back in and just enjoyed the last hour or so with a nice cuppa.

There have apparently been a few changes as regards waste disposal so tomorrow we'll investigate further. But the water truck still trundles around and we'd barely turned the engine off when the local patisserie/boulangerie man on his bicycle came calling. No doubt there will be more tomorrow. But finally, when the guardian came round for his money, we found it's been reduced from 20 dirhams to 15 dirhams per night – that's £1.25!

Tuesday 25 February - Mirhleft to Sidi Ifni

Mirhleft to Sidi Ifni - 15 miles

A somewhat hazy morning with high cloud but which quickly burned off to another hot sunny day. As usual our best intentions of getting an early start didn't materialise but there wasn't a lot to do and we weren't travelling far anyway. So after the usual domestics paid Abdullah, buying a few souvenirs whilst we were there, and set off for the 15 miles to Sidi Ifni – oh aren't we the great adventurers!

We'd been told about a coastal rock formation that was perhaps worth a visit about halfway so took the turnoff, but the “parking” was tiny – we'd have taken most of it up – and it was still a decent walk down so we didn't stop and returned to the coast road. Shortly the outskirts of Sidi Ifni came into view, together with the ubiquitous police check, this one accompanied by a radar speed “trap”. In the seven years it has been since we came there has been much development with a whole new northern “quarter” established before the bridge, which apparently has been rebuilt twice after floods, to the old town.

Approaching Sidi Ifni

Our plan was to have a look at the Municipal campsite close to the town centre as this was just to be a short visit. We already knew it was just an “okay” place, but it was full with folk being turned away so we returned to the beach road where three other campsites were located. We had already noted that two of them, as reported on the internet forum, seemed to be pretty crowded so instead went to the third, where we stayed in 2013. To our surprise it was only half full and even had spaces available right on the front although after registering we chose a pitch on the second row somewhat closer to the facilities. 

Camping El Barco

We've noted quite a lot of negative remarks about Camping El Barco but we found it perfectly satisfactory for our needs, although it is right on the beach and the surf is a bit noisy if that sort of thing bothers you. We're aware that the cliff we're under shades the site from the early morning sun but as our stay is to be short it's not a problem. The lack of mobile phone signal seems to have been addressed by a new mast on the clifftop overlooking the site. Other than that the facilities are pretty well standard “Morocco” i.e. not the best we've seen but adequate.

Settled in quickly, not bothering with a full setup as we only plan to be here two nights, chairs deployed and a long cool drink to enjoy in the sun followed by a lazy lunch. During the afternoon a small convoy drifted in with a couple of Brits who parked next to us – they were Morocco newbies on a guided tour and we had a brief chat. We think that organised tours are a bit of a waste of money, everything being so straightforward, but we accept that there are folk who want the security of organisers. After all we've brought a few groups across, although haven't really organised them as such.

As it got cooler later on we left Jamie, who wasn't showing much enthusiasm for walking around, and strolled up into the old town for a looksee. As said earlier nothing much has changed, it's just a fairly typical Moroccan town, enhanced somewhat by some Spanish architecture harking back to the relatively recent days when it was a Spanish enclave. The small souk/market was quite busy as were the multitude of small shops lining the two main roads – this is probably a better time to explore as it was not too warm for comfort.

Nothing much of interest for us although we were happy to revisit the town so we returned to the van, encountering John and Julie, one of the group we brought across and whom we've run into a few times in various places. They've been here a week, staying at one of the two other sites which they reported were not as crowded as they looked.

Interestingly we've begun to notice a pattern; most of the sites we've stayed on have previously been reported as very busy but when we've arrived we've found a very different situation in that although they had been busy many people had left very recently – did someone tell them we're coming? We've spoken to a few Germans and they all seemed to be starting their journeys home and there also seems to be fewer French around. We'll be interested to see what transpires at our next planned stop.

Erkounte Park

The wind pattern became a feature of our stay. A strong easterly seemed to get up in the early hours and into the morning before fading away mid-morning to be replaced by a gentle on-shore westerly breeze which then continued throughout the rest of the day and evening. This meant that last thing at night we had to put things away that may get blown about and then delay putting up the awning until the wind shift, no real problem as we tend not to put out anything we're not planning to use, unlike some pitches where even the kitchen sink makes an appearance.

There's not a lot to do here, but then again we didn't intend to do a lot! Various domestics, including a couple of machine loads of washing which of course dried out in no time, and regular walkies for the four-footed member of our party, who is starting to take his role as guardian very seriously, barking at wheels, strangers approaching, other dogs etc. He does enjoy sunning himself though but when he's had enough he crawls under the van for shade in a cool breeze.

The beach is a ten minute scramble down a fairly steep track at the back of the site, passable with a four-wheel drive or quad bike, sadly neither of which we possess. However Jamie does contribute by pulling hard to get to the beach and once there and let off his lead he makes a mad dash, waiting for us to launch his ball. Which he never brings back, just sits by it waiting for us to pick it up and throw it again. Just who is the mug here!

Although accessible by road at the far end of the beach, it is virtually empty all the time. The breakers are quite rough for quite a way out so, as common on this coast, it's not good for swimming so we just limited ourselves to a paddle – Jamie seems to be getting over his fear of water now, being quite happy to go in up to his tummy then lying down in the sand. So he shouldn't have been too surprised when one evening he ended up in the site doggy shower!

One of the facilities is an excellent restaurant, run by Abdullahs wife, and Sunday evening we pre-booked a meal for a change – tagine kefta (meat balls) for Terry and chicken escalope for Bren, preceeded by Salade Morocaine and finished off with beautiful ice-creams paying just £16 for the two of us. No alcohol of course, we just shared a big bottle of water.

Tagine Kefta

Poulet Escalope

Yummy ice-cream!

Some of our Funster friends moved on but a couple did stay on for a few days more. We've decided to head off tomorrow (Tuesday) to have a look at Sidi Ifni and maybe stopping off on the way to checkout a set of natural coastal arches. If possible we'll try and find somewhere to stop for a night or two to revisit the town before heading up into the mountains.

Friday 21 February 2020 – Aourir to Mirhleft

Aourir to Mirhleft - 103 miles

Earlyish start to a cold van but when we opened the door the wind had got up and it was very warm, coming straight off the desert. Breakfast, finish packing and servicing the van then paying the man. Nellie was having a tantrum this morning and wouldn't play, but we're only going to Agadir for now and we know the way. Quite busy as usual as we drove more or less along the seafront, the nicer part of the city, to the large Marjane hypermarket to top up the supplies as it's probably the last chance for a while. Got some more cash and also called at a pharmacy for something to ease Brens cough, which refuses to go away (Murphy's Law – since we bought it she hasn't coughed once, but it'll be there in the medicine box).

An early lunch in the carpark before programming Sidi Ifni into TomTom and heading off into an afternoon that had become very warm indeed, not helped by no aircon, and mostly straight into the sun which, however, at these latitudes is actually quite high in the sky so not quite as bad as it could have been. There has been some new road building to the south of Agadir which TomTom knew all about and took us on what appeared to be quite a circuitous route, but was obviously much faster than before as we avoided a few known bottlenecks and were soon bowling along down the N1, for now an excellent dual carriageway. It soon became much quieter, but of course Friday is a “weekend” for Muslims so not unexpected, and eventually returned to a single carriageway.

The scenery was now becoming more of what we are used to seeing, that is miles and miles of scrubland with the occasional patch of cultivation and, of course, herds of goats being grazed on the sides of the road. The temperature was steadily getting higher and the tyre pressure monitor kept complaining whilst we were more concerned that Jamie, although shaded from direct sun, was maybe getting a little too warm as he was panting a bit, even with as much ventilation as we could being directed to him. We did consider a stop but there was really nowhere in the shade to walk him so just carried on, checking every few minutes.

The Anti-Atlas Mountain range became visible in the haze and before long we were entering Tiznit, a large town situated on a main crossroads, once again passing through one of the numerous police road blocks which are a feature of most towns of any size. You have to slow right down and be ready to stop but we've always been waved through – although occasionally the policeman will leave it right until the last second and we've nearly come to a standstill. We're sure they sometimes like to make a game of it!

It was here that we decided that, although Sidi Ifni was easily reachable, we'd heard reports that the campsites were very busy so instead changed our target to a site we'd stayed on for a week last year just past Mirhleft, Erkounte Park, where we were confident there would be plenty of room. The road ran towards the coast from here through the western end of the Anti-Atlas mountains, a lovely run through green valleys and hills on an excellent surface. At the coast we turned south before entering Mirhleft and wondering what was going on.

From about two miles away we started to encounter groups of Moroccan ladies dressed in their finery walking towards the town, which became more and more crowded. From a little way away we could see that the centre of town was absolutely heaving, the roadsides full of parked cars and even more folk heading in. Eventually we were reduced to a crawl, trying to avoid pedestrians who just wandered into our path without a care, and oncoming vehicles whose drivers were obviously trying to find somewhere to park. At one point we came to a complete standstill surrounded by the crowd and worried about trying to get through without hurting anyone, but then the familiar whistles brought a trio of policemen who managed to open up a path for us and we were through. We can only surmise it was some sort of festival but will ask at the campsite. (Later - yes a big religious festival).

We thought a short video of the scene would prove interesting to our readers but when we came to download it from the dashcam we discovered that nothing has been recorded onto the simcard for twelve months! So we're very sorry that we can't show you the scene, and now have something else to sort out! Oh the joys of motorhoming!

But the good news was that there was, as expected, plenty of room at the campsite. Abdullah, the owner, remembered us from last year (yes we're sure he was genuine) and once the paperwork was done invited us to park anywhere. There's been a few improvements since last year, some new facilities and now all the very roomy pitches have been marked out and numbered to avoid the overspill that was common last year. Only about half full, we learned from Funster friends who had been here a few days that it had in fact been very busy right up until this morning when a large number moved off. We later thought we knew why..............

So once again settle in and chairs out to enjoy the late afternoon sun. There was a nice cool breeze which, after the heat of the day, was very welcome, not least by Jamie who didn't seem to have suffered any ill effects and polished off a huge supper later. A brief chat with our friends then a quiet evening. We'll probably stay here a few days then maybe a quick visit to Sidi Ifni before heading into the mountains. The weather forecast is for hot sunshine but a serious chance of very strong winds on Sunday.

Footnote posted Saturday.

Woken during the night by a very strong offshore wind that had got up and was rocking the van about. Fortunately the only thing left out was the mat and that just folded itself up against the van. This wind continued until the sun had got up properly when it suddenly dropped. For those with some weather knowledge it was most likely the land/sea effect – once the land heated up the winds reversed and we were left with a pleasant onshore breeze.