Following The Sun

25th Jan 2016

Well first off a Happy New Year to all,

Been a month since I last took to the keyboard, and quite a lot has happened since the last post, we also have a few more miles notched up on the clock.
I've been meaning to update the blog for a while, but it's been so hot lately that it's been put on the back burner. "Only mad dogs and Englishmen do their blog in the midday sun"
We spent Xmas at Mikki's Place, and on Xmas day we had planned a fantastic lunch al fresco with our friends Dave & Sue, Martin & Michelle and Heather & Jane, unfortunately for Martin he was not able to dine with us due to gastroenteritis, and the poor chap spent Xmas day sat on the crapper, the meal was delicious turkey, lamb and pork, with all the trimmings, the girls had worked hard with their small stoves, we had a great day the weather was warm and later we lit our brazier and sat till late drinking and nibbling on snacks and more drinking.

 Xmas day al fresco dinning

 

 

 

 Nibbles al fresco over xmas

 

Some of the British contingent in the bar

 

There were a lot of British vans parked up over the Xmas period and along with Gerald & Lesley, Neil & Fiona who I mentioned in the last post, we also met Pete & Gwen, and Mark & Lucy who are also bloggers Where's Frankie, and Jack who was travelling solo, we had a few afternoons of nibbles and drinks sitting in the sun.

Our water pump packed in over Xmas so luckily there was a place on the Algarve called Camperserv where we sourced a new one along with a spare toilet cassette, "very handy when you are off grid for more than three days"
We did a beer run at Lidl's, and the great thing about Lidl's is their designated campervan parking.

New Years eve we spent with Dave and Sue, we had a nice BBQ earlier on then sat around the brazier till roughly 10, then it was over to the bar and a few more drinks and see in the New Year, later returning to the fire for late drinks and we were joined by Mark who happened to have a few tins of Speckled Hen, and enjoyable they were too, a great evening with some wonderful people who we will be keeping in touch with.

I think that's the beauty of this nomadic existence we have chosen! is the amount of fellow travellers of all ages and walks of life you meet, all going their different ways, and you do tend to bump into each other from place to place further up the road.

3rd Jan
We left Mikki's today, as everyone else seemed to be pulling out, plans have been made for a reunion next year, so we said our goodbyes to our friends and drove down the coast to Manta Rota picking up more wine at Aldi's along the way to take into Morocco. The Aire at Manta Rota 37.165081 -7.520870 is huge and one of the biggest we've come across, with room for up to 440 vans at €4.50 with normal facilities.

The Aire is directly opposite the long beach that stretches all the way to Vila Real and the Guardiana river the border with Spain. A quick tour of the town we spotted a few vans wilding in the adjacent car park, even though there was no campervan signs posted, I think the bigger the rig some people have the tighter they are, just an observation!

 

 

 Turkew with mushrooms anyone.

 

440 designated spaces for vans

4th Jan
The following day we left for Sanlucar de Barrameda stopping at Vila Real for more wine, then along to Seville and down to the Aire we stopped at last January, its a free Aire 36.78351 -6359380 with your normal services.

A British van pulled in a few hours later, it was an elderly couple Jack and Barbara from Devon who we were parked next to at Sidi Wassey in Morocco in February 2015, they are again on their way to Morocco, after a brief chat I wished them safe travels, who knows our paths may yet cross again in the following few months.

Sanlucar de Barremeda Aire

 

I was not able to log into the free wifi on site and tried several times to register with no luck, Sam logged in using her Facebook account straight away and that left me cursing, only thing for it was to bite the bullet and re-log into my old FB account, something I swore I'd never do again, a short while later Internet working, good ol Mark Zukerberg all's forgiven, having dissed it for years I find it ok now, there have been changes over the years, and for the better.

 The beach at Sanlucar

 

The weather has not been too clever lately, not half as bad as the weather in the UK, and the following day it was a sunny start then followed rain and high gusts that rocked the van to heck. We took a few walks with Max along the beach and into town then retired early.

6th Jan
We headed around the coast to Rota near Cadiz another free Aire with services 36.638329 -6.391390,

This place is also situated next to a beach and a great spot, with the town a few hundred metres up the road, a place we plan to return to on our way back for a few days, hopefully the weather will be better then in April?

A gem of a place and only a few other vans there

7th Jan
Today is like deja vu, we are heading to Los Barrios near Algeciras to get tickets from Carlos for the crossing into Morocco,

We did the same on the this day last year, creatures of habit. Tickets purchased it was then to Lidls to fill up with as much beer and wine we can physically fit in the van along with pork produce. There is a new parking area right opposite Carlos office for motorhomes and by late afternoon I counted over 60 vans mostly French, van stocked to the gunnels 430 tins of beer and 150 litres of wine, we settled in for the evening, an early start in the morning Morocco beckons, I fell asleep worrying and knowing the beer would not last, oh well you can get it over there in some supermarkets at a price.

The new campervan parking lot at Los Barrios

 

8th Jan
We arrive at Algeciras, got in the queue at 8.30,  all loaded by 9.50 and depart on time at 10, the crossing was like a duck pond and the weather warmer today than it has been, a visit to the customs officer on board for our entry stamp, and a coffee we then sat outside on the upper deck watching Morocco getting closer.

Goodbye Europe for 3 months

 

 

Welcome to Morocco

 

The problem with Tangier Med is that it becomes a free for all when you disembark and head to the customs to get your van import papers checked, it did not help that a jobsworth in an orange visor told us to sit tight, we were at the head of one of the queues and after 20 minutes waiting I got pissed off and took our papers to the desk, they then began to register them on the system, 40 minutes later we are officially in Morocco and driving along the A1 toll road towards Moulay Boussalam.

We stopped at Moulay last year on a campsite near the lagoon, Sam got eaten by the mossies so this year we stopped at Camping Flamant Loisirs 34.876530 -6.280300, cost 90MAD inc EHU, the facilities were good and the wifi by reception, we topped our Maroc sim card from last year with a scratch top up we had over from our last visit and it worked no problems, and settled in for curry and watch the new Kray film.

The campsite at Moulay

 

The next day was really sunny so we stayed put and got some washing done, it dried in no time hanging between a few trees.

10th  Jan
Headed back along the A1 toll road through Rabat and skirting Casablanca down to El Jadida, the total cost was £18 well worth it in my eyes and we now could take it easy along the coast roads from here on in.
We arrived at Oualidia in the afternoon 32.732800 -9.0428830, a guardian parking site 25dir a day that was full of vans, I counted 51 vans with one other British van there, this is a very nice town a favourite of ours,

 The town of Oualidia

 The nearby lagoon

 

 

Video of Oualidia

 

A familiar face appeared at the van it was the Ali the Tagine man, I ordered a chicken tagine for two 100dir for 7pm, and once again it was delicious.

 

Tagine Express

 

 Another perfect end to the day

 

11th Jan
We left Oualidia and drove to Essaouira to stop at the Carrefour supermarket for bits and hit the bank for more dirhams, then about 20km further south to another place we know at Sidi Kaouki 31.350149 -9.794790, 85dir inc leccy. We stopped here last year for a few days and would do the same this time.

Last year we noticed what appears to be an old disused campsite a few hundred yards along the road, there was only a few vans on it at that time, this year there were dozens of vans parked up and we checked it out it's basically guardian parking now, 30dir with water and toilet emptying, directly opposite the beach, rustic but ideal for those on a budget.

 The local mode of transport

 

The campsite is directly opposite the beach and you get some fantastic sunsets here

 

15th Jan

Not sure how they got the two cows and the goat up there?

 

A small village we stopped at briefly on the way down

 

The 4 days we spent at Sidi Kouki were very hot, today we shot down along the N1 to Terre d'Ocean 30.562170 -9.740330, just outside Taghazoute, stopping for a few breaks along the way, we stopped here last year and enjoyed it, we plan to stay here a few days again.

Although it looks cramped the camp spots are spacious

 

The site was full and they have put the prices up since last year it's now 90dir a night ex EHU, it's probably since they closed the wild camp site at Taghazoute last year! the site has great facilies though and you can get a key to the lower gate which takes you directly onto the beach, alongside which are two small coves, ideal for Max to have a run around without the fear of any stray dogs.

 Max loves the two smaller coves

 

We both went swimming, since I had been challenged from my family the water was warmer than I can ever remember in the highs of summer in the UK. The fisherman come around daily selling their freshly caught fish, a specialty around this area is Monkfish at 60-70dir a kilo, they also sell a lot of Dorado and Gurnard, for us it's the Monkfish and we bought a few kilos and froze most of it.
Another familiar face was Rachid Nabil the chap who painted our mural on the van last year, business must be good, there are many vans sporting his work, he also has stepped up this year with his new business cards.

18th Jan
Well after three hot days at Taghazoute we drove to Banana Beach as it's known to the tourists a town called Tamrhakht, very busy with plenty of butchers, we stopped to pick up a chicken and Sam came back with the freshest, it was standing minding it's own business 5 minutes ago, and it was now plucked beheaded and warm in a bag,  Sam said she couldn't look as he picked it up and turned to look into another shop window, I told her all thoughts of it will disappear once it's snuggled up in the roasting tray basting away.

We stopped further up the road in a valley at a fairly new site Camping Aourir just outside the small town of Aourir 30.494749 -9.623740, 85dir ex EHU, we decided not to have hook up as we did at Terre d'Ocean, the sun is charging our leisure batteries up fine. the campsite has very good facilities to European standards, and the site is only 20km further up to Paradise Valley, a place I visited many years ago.

 

The drive up to Paradise Valley is stunning with the Atlas mountains in the distance

 

 

 A small café set in palm trees en-route

 

Some pics of the walk up paradise valley

 

Unfortunately for us I parked too far away from the cascades, there is a car park close by with a km walk from there uphill, I stopped further down the road as it got tight and seemed to have finished, we decided to walk the rest of the way but after what was nearly an hour we gave up and returned to the van, we will definitely return next year,

21st Jan
After three days of lounging around at Aourir we headed to the Carrefour supermarket, the only place that sells alcohol in Agadir, although we brought in quite a few beers I wanted to get a few more slabs, as there are not too many places after this for a while where we will be able to pick more up, and we will be heading to Tafroute later on for a good few weeks and don't want to be caught short,  70p a can as opposed to 16p in Spain, no wonder I couldn't sleep well the night before crossing!!  we then headed to the Marjane shopping mall where we bumped into a few people off the MHF forum, after doing the shop it was onto Sidi Wassey 30.056250 -9.686900, another place from last year with a fantastic beach, 100dir inc EHU another with good facilities and nearby shops.

 

The temperature has been steadily rising as we venture further South and for the last few days it has been extremely hot, but the beach is 50m away so a short walk to cool off,

 The sunsets here are awesome

 

It's going to be another hot one tomorrow

We will most probably stay here one more day then we will head down to Mirleft and Sidi Ifni for a week or so and by that time it will be February and we will head inland to Tafroute.

Driving in Morocco

Note: Since I mentioned Swansea in our last blog our fortunes have changed for the better, new manager and winning our last two games has eased the pressure slightly, still a long way to go but onwards and upwards