Sidi Wassey and South to Tan Tan

13th - 15th Feb

Camp international Wassay Beach is next to Sidi Ouassaï and is located in Souss-Massa-Drâa. We have been exploring the area today, after arriving late yesterday afternoon. Camping Wassey Beach is a nice campsite and right on the seafront. It is on the side of a Natural Park. (Parc National de Sousse Massa)  We took a long walk along the cliffs, and noticed what can only be described as sheds, there are families living in these and I wonder how they eek out a living?  They probably fish and forage for shellfish, both are in abundance here.

 

 Makeshift homes built into the rocks

Another great beach

There are several beaches interlinked with volcanic like rock cliffs. The coastline like most of Morocco is very rugged, and the views from the cliffs are superb. You can feel the energy of the Atlantic coast and the sound of the surf at night is natures music, every evening it sends me into a deep sleep or possibly it may be the wine.

 

 

A silhouette of T Rex 

There are quite a lot of unfinished buildings here also, it seems a common trait in Morocco.

You can rent these one room chalets/sheds

We have French, German and British neighbours, the British couple Jack and Barbara are from Devon, they had visited this site last year and this is their second winter over here in Morocco. It is cheaper for them to lock up for the winter and travel south they do not have to pay excessive fuel bills to keep warm and it is so cheap to live here.

Our French Neighbours are travelling in this converted Merc, it is ideal for the roads over here. I sometimes wonder why they don't put a 4x4 engine in a motorhome with a good winch to the front?

On Saturday they had a banquet in the restaurant on site, and these traditional Berber dancers entertained the campsite with their Guedra dance. I took a video, the German couple next to us asked for a copy after I showed it to them, they are in the video. We did not attend the banquet as I am cooking a Tagine, also I can't see Max behaving while we sit down to a meal with the Guedra going on.

 

The weather has been very hot the last few days and Max when not on extended walks seeks shelter either in or under the van, while I cook like a lobster. Later that evening Barbara stopped by and asked me how to cook a Tagine, after divulging my authentic recipe, I had made quite a lot so gave them a bowl to taste and they enjoyed it.
Sundays the French like to entertain, and set the tables at midday with snacks bottles of wine and meals on the go. They do enjoy their Sundays and much merriment is evident on the site. We have noticed this on every site we have been on to date. Fair play to them!

16th - 18th Feb

We took off for Mirleft today, a short drive along the coast. We will be stopping at a new campsite that opened in December 2014. Camping Erkounte 29°30'28.3"N 10°04'04.4"W
The drive was uneventful, apart from the many speed controls manned by the police. We see much evidence of the devastation the floods have caused in November, with many bridges and roads that have been washed away.

The site is about 10km south of Mirleft

 

The campsite is without doubt the best we have stayed at while in Morocco, 105dir a night, and on par with the best we have to offer in the UK. It has a restaurant and grocery shop on site along with an upholsterers shop that will make almost anything you need. The facilities are spot on shower rooms clean and spacious, but the EHU is reversed polarity once again! The owner Abdul lived for 17 years in Denmark and speaks very good English he is very helpful and most of the workers are family or locals.

The site is not busy, park up wherever you want

The campsite can accommodate 200 vans, we decided to stop here after reading about it on the MHF forum. with good reviews and also CamperContact a site we use extensively along with CampingCarInfos

The Reception, Restaurant and small grocery shop are housed here.

 

There is a small beach about 300m down a small track from the site and after we set up we took a walk down. It's a nice quite small cove and I notice mussels on the rocks, half an hour later I had a bag full of large mussels, which I would have later for supper. 

The following day I'd noticed a few British vans and went over to check them out whilst going for a shower. They are owned by two MHF couples Graham and Rosie and Ken and Lynda, they have been here 10 days. We had a good chat and they invite us over later in the evening for a drink. Ken also has a Terrier a girl named Jess, Max will be in his oils when he meets her.

We took a walk down to the fishing port in the afternoon, but I had forgotten my camera so we will have to return tomorrow.

 

We met up later that afternoon and had a good chat with Graham and Ken and their wives over a beer or three , they are nice people and very welcoming. They have been coming to Morocco for winter for the last three years, and they are very knowledgeable with most areas and routes etc. I am also running low on LPG and Graham puts me right on how to hook up Moroccan bottles into my system.  

 

The following day we walked about a km down the road to the fishing port again. This time with my camera!

 

 

 

The coastline is fantastic

The weather changed later that afternoon and it was blowing a hoolie, although warm the dust and wind put a damper on sitting outside come beer O'clock. We have decided to move onto Tan Tan tomorrow further south and a step closer to the Western Sahara.

19th Feb

We said our farewells to our new friends, they are going to stay a few more days and decide which route they plan next.

L-R   Graham, Rosie, Lynda n Jess and Ken

 

It's day 100 for us since we left the UK, and day 43 since we arrived in Morocco. We are about 500km from Laayoune our most southern destination on this trip.

After leaving Mirleft we drove down the R104  along the coast and picked up the N12 from Sidi Ifni south to Guelmin. It is this area that suffered the most during the floods in November.

Sidi Ifni lost 3 campsites that were completely washed away, and there is only one left open to this day, there are several bridges and many stretches of road that are under repair and it is slow going in places.

We stopped at Guelmin "The Gateway to the Sahara" at the new Marjane to stock up and also at the bank for more dirhams, then took the N1 south to Tan Tan. This was 130km of hammada, with just one small village in between. We climbed up and over the Anti Atlas mountains for some time, the scenery is fantastic and the road a thrill to drive on as you never know what's around the corner.  

 

We arrived in Tan Tan "The Cauldron of the Sahara" late in the afternoon then drove about 30km to El Ouatia. (Tan Tan Plage) We are stopping at Camping Atlantique 28°29'38.5"N 11°20'09.8"W 70 dir inc EHU it has wifi but not very good strength. There are two other sites along the same road as this, but none look over busy.

It is windy here also, we will stay for 2 nights and then head down to Tarfaya. Tonight we will have a few drinks after we eat to celebrate 100 days on the road. "It seems to be flying by" 
Apologies to the Thursday readers of this blog for the late post.