28th Feb - 16th March
In the last blog I mentioned our fail in driving the R107 from Icht to Tafroute, well here are some of the clips I've put together of that drive!
Well we finally left Tafroute after 34 days! Since the last blog update the Almond Blossom Festival had came and gone, and we also got the van sprayed at a ridiculous price that only the Moroccans could do for that sort of money, I'd be lucky to get my bonnet done in the UK for the same amount!
The curves and bends are to take the strength out of the river current
The town getting decorated for the festival
Stage set ready for it to begin
The festival was good again this year, the music we could hear back on the campsite, although I don't think there were as many people here this year as there were last, I think a lot of the French have been put off with recent events in Paris etc?
There appeared to be some sort of cycle race on which I don't remember last year, maybe a stage of the Tour de Maroc if there is such a race?
You find these spiders all over the site, the lids to their lair are intrically woven and watertight
They belong to the Trapdoor spider, thankfully they are not a dangerous specie to humans.
Five of us hiked up to one of the nearby mountains we are surrounded by,
A photo of the campsite from the top.
On one of our many walks with Max we came across this old establishment sadly in a state of decline, although the builder had put reed bar to strengthen it, the use of an old oil drum and a sawn trunk off a palm tree for main supports I found amusing, not exactly to our building standards. I can only imagine ol Mustapha would have been pretty ticked off once the rain washed away his rendering, and his footings
A lot of thought had gone into the construction of this dwelling?
The house that Jack Built
We enjoyed many an afternoon and evening drink and chat with the many British people who were over this year,
Also around the occasional fire with Mike Makem playing some great tunes on the guitar.
So it was time to finally pull the plug on Tafroute and move on, we enjoyed it more this year, I enjoyed going to the Hammam for a good scrub, the lazy endless hot days, our regular hikes into the valley, and more so the camaraderie of the group.
17th March
We left the remaining group, and headed through the Southern Oasis valleys to Taliouine, we had been told the R106 road from Igherm was ok this year, last year many of the bridges had been washed away by the floods but had now been fixed?
The road through the Ameln Valley
The ol van looking better for it's re-spray
After a few hours we had passed through Igherm then once on the R106 the fun began, the bridges and pontoons that had been washed away 18 months ago were still out! and the diversions were appalling, bottoming out a few times and damaging my metal rear end bar beneath the van grrr, fortunately it was only for about 10km then the road resumed back to normal but slow going due to their state.
After 5 hours we arrived in Taliouine, for the last 20km we were running on fumes, although we do carry a 5L Gerry can for such cases, we are stopping at a campsite Auberge Toubcal 30.522619 -7.893630 80dir a night including EHU, its not a bad site on Moroccan standards, it even has an Hammam!
It also sports a pool, with water in, it would take a braver man than me Gunga din to jump in there, the water was like ice.
It was when I was walking around taking photo's the manager apprehended me and relieved me of my camera, he then proceeded to take me all over the campsite while he took photo's of me, I tried to tell him it was ok then enough but his English was as poor as my Arabic so I ended up going with the flow, 30 odd pics later I managed to retrieve the camera from Lord Snowden thanking him in the process, and going about my day.
Beginning to tyre of the photo shoot, give me back my camera
Taliouin is where saffron is grown, and there is a large co-operative in the town, you will find many outlets selling the stuff
On our second day the weather was very hot and we managed to get our washing done, I was beginning to run short on T-shirts,
19th March
Time to move on, we headed to Ouarzazate called the Holywood of the desert due to it having two film studios, Atlas studios being the biggest and CLA, many films have been made here including Gladiator, The Man Who Would Be King, Temptation Of Christ, Time Bandits and Alexander The Great to name a few, the town is very spread out with many kasbah's and somewhat affluent due to the investment from the film companies.
We continued along the N10 passing through the Tizni-n-Taghatine pass, through the town of Tazenakht and through the Tizni-n-Bachoum pass with it's twisting series of switchbacks and amazing views of the High Atlas Mountains in the distance.
We stayed at camping Ouarzazate 3.923559 -6.886570 50dir per night, the weather was scorching on arrival, we found a place next to an Italian couple we last saw in Sidi Wassi. we are aside a huge lake called El Mansour Eddahbi, the campsite had good facilities although the downside was they had two shower blocks, one hot one cold and the hot showers weren't included in the price at 10dir a scrub!!
Our Italian neighbors converted vehicle
A few pics of the campsite.
20th March
Today we headed up the road to a place called Ait Ben Haddou, the campsite overlooks an old Ksar that has been used as a set in quite a few films, most notably Gladiator. Jesus of Nazareth, and Lawrence of Arabia.
It was a nice campsite 50dir a night 31.0472 -7.135115, it had a pool with water? but after dipping the toe in, it would be sometime before this water heated sufficiently for swimming.
We took a walk over to the Unesco World Heritage site, we found it quite interesting albeit very touristy,
Camel rides for the endless tourists that stop here
One day would be enough here, very picturesque but too commercial for our liking!
21st March
We left Ait Ben Haddou and drove about 40km up the N10 to the lake (Barrage El Mansour Eddahbi) which we saw a few days ago, we decided to check it out with a view to wild camping 30.959369 -6.756002, when we arrived there was a German van parked on the top ridge, so we drove down to the waters edge and had a great spot, it felt safe so we decided to stay. It appears to be a deserted village with a few modern looking buildings in a state of disrepair, the scenery with the lake which is 18km long, and the snow covered Atlas Mountains around us was amazing!
Our spot by the waters edge
An old Ksar on an Island
The High Atlas to the rear of us
Our first sunset here
And first sunrise the following morning
There were a few local fishermen who acknowledged us the weather was very warm on arrival but later on the wind picked up and blew a very cold breeze from the lake,
A short video
The following two days were pretty much the same, it would start off warm the lake like a duck pond until later in the afternoon and the winds would blow down the valley off the High Atlas and the lake would be covered in white horses, we spent the time pottering around the van and just chilling.
Wednesday we took a drive to a village about 15km away called Skoura for some essentials, returning to the lake, for the last two days we have been the only van there, a few vans have pulled in, but none have stayed? it suits us as Max has got the run of the place and his off his lead most of the day, we had a spot of rain later that day and the wind just picked up from dead calm to a hurricane, we watched it coming over the lake like a wave, and when it hit us the van was shaking, but as quick as it picked up it soon subsided and calm was restored.
24th March
We got a message from friends of ours, Phil and Mena who were at Tafroute the same time as us, they had stayed at Ait Ben Haddou and would be joining us at the lake, it would be nice to have company after three days to ourselves. They arrived at midday and they were both in awe of the spot and the views around!
And then there were two
After trying an array of lures, no fresh fish today!
Phil being a keen fisherman soon set about catching our supper, unfortunately today would not be his lucky day, later that evening as we were enjoying a beer a local Berber guy came by, we offered him a beer, unlike Muslims? Berbers enjoy a sherbet or three, he spoke good English and told us that they catch Black Bass in the lake up to 30lbs?
Spotted on the far bank a small herd of camels
25th March
We left the Barrage this morning and drive east along the N10 called the route of a thousand kasbahs on route to the Dades Gorge, about 10km up the road after we set off they were painting the white lines along the centre of newly laid tarmac, they do not seem to use plastic bollards over here, just folded metal plates in an inverted V painted red, a few of these had been displaced by traffic and one was over our side of the road and as much as I tried to avoid it my front tyre managed to clip it sending it like a missile to the other side of the road, fortunately there was no vehicle passing the other way at that same time as it would have surely put a hole in it, we stopped about 100m at a garage for diesel and I could see the tyre deflating in front of my eyes, the marker had slashed a hole in my tyre! so we pulled onto the side of the forecourt and then had to empty the contents of the garage out to get at the spare, dig around in the carry boxes for the spanner, my bottle jack would not raise it enough to remove the tyre, so Phil got his out which did the trick, eventually getting moving again after an hour, to make matters worse as we were changing the tyre a vehicle came by removing the metal markers, if only we had left the lake an hour later!
After passing through numerous villages and Kasbahs we turned off at Boumalne-ed-Dades picking up the R704, and drove up the mountain pass to the peak at roughly 3000m of the Dades Gorge, it is possible with a 4x4 to drive further on and pick up the R703 and drop back down into the Todra Gorge, for us we would have to return the same way as we came in.
A view from the restaurant at the top of the gorge
A video clip of the Dades Gorge from the dashcam
Some old Kasbahs we passed along the way
From the top of the mountain pass we headed back down the twisting roads onto the Todra Gorge about 100km further along the N10 passing the town of Tingher.
We had been on the road roughly 8hrs and stopped for the evening and a well earned beer at Camping Atlas 31.553070 -5.585470 80dir inc EHU and wifi, the site has probably the most modern facilities we have encountered in Morocco?
26th March
The campsite is about a 6km walk to the spectacular parts of the gorge, Mena was not feeling 100%, so Phil, Sam, Max and I left to walk to and view the gorge.
Local women washing their rugs and blankets in the river
Another old Kasbah we encountered on our hike up the valley
Along the way we encountered an entrepreneurial local who decided to be our guide and knew a short cut to the gorge? we realised it would cost us but went along with our new friend and followed him, he took us through many allotments within the oasis, criss-crossing the river several times, and through the old Kasbah we saw earlier, the Kasbah is still inhabited and we were followed by bands of children more interested in Max to be honest, I think if we had carried on up the road we were on, we would have reached it sooner without our guide, but it was an interesting jaunt, and when we finally arrived at the gorge he had that forlorn look on his face, it was dig deep time! we reckoned because he had not fixed a price to start and did not ask for the guided tour we would give him 10dir each, but could only muster up 25dir in change so we gave him that, whether he was disappointed in his mornings work or not he was
€2.50 the richer and wished us well.
The area is quite commercial with many stalls set out to relieve the coach loads of tourists of their hard earned dirhams that turn up daily
We would be driving east towards the desert, and we passed many a herd of camels along the way it was then north onto Midelt where we would stop the night at the municipal camp site 32.677971 -4.737390 90dir inc EHU
28th March
Today we headed for the 11th century walled city of Meknes, the road takes you where the High Atlas meets the Mid Atlas mountains, we drove this road last year when we got diverted from Timehdte to Ifrane and onto El Hajeb due to the snow and certain roads being closed, we had been heading to Azrou last year to see the Barbary apes, unfortunately due to the adverse weather that got cancelled. We stopped just outside Azrou for a coffee and some lunch, it is rare to see the apes this low down in the surrounding cedar forests you usually have to hike into the forests to catch sight of them but today we were in luck, no sooner had we put the kettle on I spotted one in the distance, then a few more appeared, I told Sam then went to see Phil & Mena as they was parked a little way from us and their view was obstructed by some cabins, eventually the whole pack descended down and parked themselves within metres of the van, how fortunate and lucky to have stopped there.
Driving out of Midelt
As we neared Timehdte we were nearly 3000m above sea level
Max was fascinated by them, I don't think he could make these little chaps out, but he didn't bark or growl, he just stood by the van windows glaring.
We arrived in Meknes again late afternoon, we have decided to stop here two days so we can have a good look around, the guardian parking is right in the centre of Meknes, opposite the old jail, and a short walk into the medina and souk, the co-ords for the site are 33.890690 -5.564220 it's 40dir per night no services so come with an empty cassette and full water tank.
Some photos from inside the old Kara underground prison where some 50000 mainly captured Christians were held during the 17th century, those ventilation holes was their only means of light and air, many of the captured were tortured in this underground hell hole.
The walled city
Sight seeing taxi's
In the evening the souk is bustling as all the food vendors and street traders come out to ply for business, it's a friendly city in contrast to Marrakesh where you are always badgered to buy something or other.
30th March
After two nice days in hustle and bustle of Meknes we are heading to a few places we stopped at last year Ouezzane 34.772869 -5.545150 70dir a night inc EHU, Phil and Mena decided to press onto Chefchauen as it was their first time to visit the city, one of the reasons we returned here is the food they serve in the restaurant, we both ordered steak and chips with starters and desert 80dir per person, we had it delivered to the van, bloody nice too.
31st March
The weather for the last week has been very hot, today we woke up to drizzle although it cleared up on the drive to Chefchauen 35.17518 -5.26623 110dir per night inc EHU, although the site is in a poor state, the owners have the monopoly as it is the only campsite in the city, not even guardian parking!. We arrived at 10.30 our friends were keen to visit the city, so a short while later I took them down to the to explore the maze of blue walled streets in the labyrinth below.
The city is a shoppers paradise, there is always a street market on everyday that takes up all the lower part of the town, while in the medina itself there are hundreds of tiny shops and stalls selling all kinds of wares
The Rif valley lies behind this mountain range,
The valley is famous for it's herbs!
1st April
Well today Phil and Mena left to head for the port, they will cross into Spain today, while we will have a few more days here in Morocco before we cross over.
We have enjoyed their company for the last 8 days travelling from the Barrage El Mansour to here, also the time we spent with them in Tafroute, it is the first time we have travelled in a convoy with someone else, we hope to catch up with them shortly in Europe before they head back to the UK.
The Riff Mountains
We left Chefchauen at midday and drove 60km up the road into Tetouan and a few km out to the resort of Martil, there is a campsite in the town and also guardian parking for 12dir per night 35.631041 -5.27578 although no services it will do for one night, before we drive onto our final stop in Morocco.
You wouldn't know you were still in Morocco to be honest it is very westernised more like some resort you'd find on the Costas, after parking up we took a wander to the beach,
Max was like Forest Gump, he ran and ran and ran
We bought a two Sharmi kebabs and chips with a can of fizz each and the bill came to 40dir, not bad and neither was the kebab.
I can imagine this place is bouncing in the summer, later on the carpark started to fill up with the locals who had probably just finished for the day, the promenade was very busy and that went on till late.
2nd April
Well its the last stop today after 86 days in Morocco, the time seems to have flown by, they say it does when your having a good time!
We left Martil and drove along the coast road, stopping at Mdiq and then Fnidq, bothe these car parks you could stop over, the whole stretch of coast from Martil to Cueta is very modern with long sandy beaches and holiday complexes, the road is a joy to drive probably the best we have encountered in all Morocco.
we drove past this house that had 5 nesting Storks on his roof
The stop at Mdiq
The Spanish enclave of Cueta across the bay
Fndiq and the long promenade that follows the coast
After we passed Cueta we drove around the coast passing Tangier Med, and onto our final stop in Morocco this year, a village about 8km further on called Ksar-es-Seghir 35.84644 -5.56083, it's another free stop for us on the outskirts of the village
Our views from the van overlooking the beach
The village of Ksar-es-Seghir
Once again we have enjoyed our time is this fantastic country, the hospitality of the people, the never ending changes of scenery, so much so we are already planning our route for 2017.
This year we did 2124 miles a lot less than last year, in the 86 days we were here we stayed at 26 places, 20 of those days were spent on campsites, the other 66 were spent on guardian parking or wildcamping the total cost for camp fees was £263.00! Our total spend in Morocco including having the van re-sprayed, buying souvenirs, diesel food and drink totalled £2148 roughly £15 a day.
Tomorrow we will enter Spain again, I'm looking forward to having a drink or three in the bars, watching footie on the telly, all the things we take for granted in Europe, and on a plus our beer and wine lasted and we even had some over that we brought into Morocco, we got it right this year.
Goodbye North Africa, hello Europe
