ANOTHER 10 DAYS OF FUN

23rd March 2014

Where did they go ? As after a restless night following the big mac, we headed to Almeria for no particular reason.
Malc & Christine decided to alter their original plan and come with us as we were having so much fun and alcohol was now back in centre stage. We went to Roqueta del Mar, which was a lovely resort and super campsite close to beach with cycle paths in both directions along the coast which we all explored together. M& C only stayed 3 days as they had a ferry to catch, K&J stayed till Saturday then left to meet friends at Alcossebre and we stayed 6 nights till Monday.
Stayed near Cartagena one night then to Valencia to visit Terry & Jackie who live behind us at Martlesham, have a villa in the hills and have always told us to stop off and see them.
They were home at Christmas and knowing we would be heading up the west coast this trip after Morocco rather than our usual route through Portugal ...( you're right..... no port this year)....we made tentative arrangements to call in.
Fortunately, the timing was perfect as this was the week of the Fallas  where they set fire to the town and try to lose fingers with fireworks thrown at random, with the big finale on Wednesday night......albeit at 2am.
So we arrived on Tuesday lunchtime to a magnificent valencian  paella cooked on the patio which was so delicious we took some away with us when we left 4 days later.
We were driven into the city (25km) for the evening to get a flavour of what was happening........every crossroads had a giant tableau which was a real work of art, some over 40ft high, as high as the buildings only feet away, extremely complex and colourful and satirical, exotic,....spitting image meets Wallace and grommet and the muppets....festooned with fireworks and waiting to be burnt. Every 'parish' has a committee who vie to be the biggest and best and compete for prizes in numerous categories. And making a lot of noise is paramount. Fireworks are thrown around like confetti, sold openly on the street from stalls and are incredibly loud. Children everywhere were dropping thunderflashes down the drains and walking around with a wooden box of bangers over their shoulders and a slow burning fuse in their fists.
Terry worked in Spain for ford for some 20 years, is a fluent Spanish speaker and a mine of information so was the perfect person to take us on a tour, Valencia being his patch.
We spent all day Wednesday in the city, going in by train at 9.30 and not getting back till 10pm, as a million people hit the streets for the last day. We didn't stay for the bonfires, but saw a fireworks display and the parade of fire which was unbelievable......mainly because it happened on the street 2 feet away as dragons and devils danced with huge sprays of fireworks spitting flames inches from the crowds,trees,shops lining the roads without a barrier in sight or a jobsworth with a fire extinguisher....absolute magic. And the noise of the mortars made the ground shake. I can only imagine that a barrage on the Somme might have sounded like that.
We then got shown round the area outside the city and the fabulous science museum and concert hall buildings set in pools of water, through the vineyards with a visit to the local cooperative for tasting and buying........a terrific 4 days of superb hospitality........I'll gloss over the heart stopping acrobatics of getting the van into their driveway, turning it round and then getting it out again. Suffice to say damage was minimal and easily remedied........
On Sunday to Zaragoza with intention  of crossing Pyrenees to Pau through Somport tunnel but weather forecast for heavy snow at Jaca so changed plan Sunday morning to Pamplona and St. Jean de luz.......... Ran into strong winds and snow after Pamplona over the mountains, hillsides covered but snow turning to rain as we dropped into france .

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BACK TO CIVILISATION.....eventually

13th.March 2014

Left Chefchaouen at 8.30. Ferry from Tangier Med at 14.00.
Lovely drive over mountains, slow at first but dual carriageway from Tetouan so after last stop to fill up with fuel arrived port at 11.30 and first stop to change MD's back to € as useless outside Morocco. Check in no later than 45 mins before sailing ( is 13.15) was optimistic as it took us an excruciating hour and  a half to clear police and customs, including exiting the van whilst they ran a huge mobile MRI scanner over it to check for illegals and hidden drug compartments. On the dock at no.2 quay by 13.00 to be reunited with Malc & Christine and swap tales. Then discover  ferry will be 2 hours late like kit was coming over. At 14.00 we are moved to quay 6 where a Balearics ferry is loading. Assume we are being put on this until the ramps go up and it sails off. At 15.30 an unmarked ferry docks in front of us and unloads. During this process, an FRS ferry sails in and goes somewhere. At 16.00 we are moved back to quay 2 where we find the FRS ferry hasn't even started unloading. When it starts, it is full of trailers that have to be hauled out with tractor units.and then loaded with more of the same, reversing on laboriously. We get on last at 17.00, frontwards,meaning we will have to reverse off. Sail at 17.30
Arrive at Algeciras 18.30, or 19.30 as it is in Spain. Doesn't start unloading until 20,00 and then takes an hour and a half to clear police and customs in chaos amongst huge freight  wagons being searched. Finally clear port at 21,45 and plan of heading to restaurant with overnight parking has to be shelved as we head to Lidl carpark and grab a McDonalds at 22.00 extremely frazzled and bad tempered, especially as they refuse me a knife and fork and have no wine list after a month in a Muslim country.
Repair to Big Malc's for beer and brandy. What a waste of a day.

THOUGHTS.......

Morocco has been a journey in more ways than one.
I have never before been to a third world country and have never seen poverty on the scale that I have seen in the last month.......I have never seen so many donkeys  loaded with unbelievable burdens or people walking along the road miles from anywhere......the utter squalor of shanty towns and beggars everywhere.... the filth and stench of rubbish rotting where it's thrown and, most of all, the total neglect of even recent projects......
I would love to say now that there is a but.....but I can't.
I can't see any ' charm ' in what we've seen. Its been fascinating, the people are friendly but generally want to be paid for that very 'friendliness' and everything has to be haggled over, in some cases to an obnoxious degree.
We've never felt threatened anywhere, even deep in the souks, off the beaten track, but always felt that we were being noted as potential sources of income.
The roads apart from the toll motorways, are horrendous..especially the ring road round Rabat ( the capital) which is a disgrace, and driving in any built up area is chaotic with no order or discipline.
The food quarters of the souks are disgustingly unhygienic by any standards and best avoided before having a meal
The majority of campsites are disgusting by European standards, their only redeeming feature being that they are also cheap by comparison. Most of the ones we stayed in had had mony spent on them once and been allowed to decay almost immediately.
I have enjoyed the experience, you have to see these things in order to be able to talk about them, and I have spoken to people who love the country and have been wintering down here for 15 years or more but I doubt we shall come this way again, even though I have a bagful of tales to bore everyone senseless with.
Marrakech is nothing more than a tourist trap and Agadir is trying to be the French Riviera. In between is great scenery, good weather, poverty and a begging bowl.
So what do I like ?. Oranges for one. Great big juicy ones available at every corner from stalls, carts or off the backs of a donkey, for a few pence. Bananas are on sale everywhere by the ton, and are delicious. Smaller than usual in the uk, some like big fat fingers but very sweet and we eat 2-3 at a time. Living is cheap, prices low. I love the way children wave to us and the variety of road side stalls selling everything imaginable as and lots of things we can only guess at. We have laughed at the sights of animals on trucks, live chickens being sold off the back of vans, and shaken our heads at donkeys ploughing fields as we try to overtake a tractor whilst avoiding pot holes the size of a dustbin. Loved the spring flowers that carpet the verges and marigolds will now always remind me of Morocco.
We've had a great trip with good company and had a great many laughs and enjoyable moments even without a great deal of alcohol. If you're reading this Jackie, thanks a lot

OUR LAST STOP........

Sunday 9th march

After the tour of Fes  with our own personal shopper Idris, lamenting his loss of commission on the stalled carpet sale, we headed north on Saturday for our last stop before the ferry back to Spain on Monday.
Absoluteyl stunning drive through scenic hills. The usual driving hazards of  people, goats, sheep,  cows ,donkeys, bikes, mopeds, which populate the roadside were augmented by some of the worst road surfaces we have encountered, making progress slow. We also found convoys of tractors in a land were we could count the number of tractors we have seen on one hand. This always happened on twisty mountain climbs as sod's law dictates.
To demonstrate the friendliness of the Moroccans, at our coffee stop, a lorry emerging from a side road stopped and the driver ran across with a handful of oranges which he insisted we take ( I had just bought 6k at the roadside for £1.50 but he didn't know that) . He wished us good luck and drove off all smiles and waves. On the road, children all wave to us and jump up and down when we wave back and turn cartwheels if I blow the horn. Actually an awful lot of people wave at us in the country which is nice..
Arrived at our destination, Chefchaouen, high up on the hillside of a very fertile valley. Steep climb to campsite above town, 1st gear in places, and got excellent pitch on edge of precipice  looking down and across valley.
Chefchaouen is noted as a blue town as many buildings are painted blue but unable to say why. Founded by refugees fleeing the Spanish reconquista, until 1920,  only 2 Europeans had managed to enter it and live to tell the tale.
It is however reckoned to be the prettiest town in Morocco and we would believe it. Had lovely lunch overlooking main square in medina for £6 a head and  taxi back up the hill for 70p.
Tomorrow off to Tangier early and hope hopefully back to Spain by the evening if we're allowed out of the country.

MEKNES AND FES

7th March 2014
Campsite excellent and very full so had to pitch on lovely terrace with views. German tour below us had own mobile bar but despite every opportunity failed to invite us to join them. Campsite is typical in that it has wonderful water gardens and pools all neglected and overgrown and rubbish strewn. Somebody spent time and money and then walked away, leaving it to crumble. Can't even pick the oranges off the trees but happy for a Dutch couple to and then make marmalade in front of us.
Into town by bus and spent an enjoyable few hours followed by lunch on rooftop terrace overlooking main square and the mayhem of the traffic. A mini Marrakech but not for the tourists so had a greater charm. Back to camp by taxi.
Thursday
Intended taking motorway to Fes  as we needed to enter by south in order to find the well hidden and unsignposted campsite but signally failed in that we baulked at the thought of driving back across town, followed the signs for Fes and ended up on the N6 which took us in to the north.
Our maps are good but the scale is too large for this sort of thing but we did pick up the right road to swing south and east towards the probable area of the camp. We then hit lucky as a scooter pulled up in front of us yelling "camping international.....follow me! " and led us the 5 km . Of course, when I tried to give him 50d for his help he refused but insisted we use the services of his father who is an official guide for a tour of the town.
So we booked him and actually it was terrific value. He picked us up at 9.30 friday morning and gave us a day long tour of Fes that we could not have done ourselves, taking us through the maze of the Medina for hours, and, OK, we kept going to shops that he got commission on if we bought but we only bought stuff we wanted....some souvenirs from the pottery, leather slippers for the GF, a leather hat for me but we very nearly bought the wonderful handmade carpet from the government cooperative for £1000 after having started at £1780 and I still might regret that decision. We were shown to a lovely restaurant where we had a terrific ethnic meal for £12 a head and saw wonderful 14th C mosques etc which of course the infidels cannot enter. The streets..no alleyways...
of the souk were like stepping back in time and we often had to flatten ourselves against the wall as laden donkeys and horses passed by. A terrific day out. Now on to  the rif valley where hash is on sale on the roadside and bandit country.

AGADIR TO MEKNES

05.03.2014
The repairs completed and all agreed that a very fine job has been done and well worth the price. Terrific meal at the auberge...I had beignets aux legumes followed by skate wings in butter & capers with new potatoes and veg followed by an excellent tarte aux fraise. Everybody else had the cous cous aux trois viandes with varying degrees of satisfaction from excellent to OK. There was an enormous portion so it was difficult for most to finish. Meal worked out at £8 ph  so not expensive but no alcohol.
Into Agadir on Saturday, another squashed taxi but a very pleasant day.
The plan was always to move on Sunday to Essaouira but Malc dropped a minor bombshell and suggested that we 4 go on ahead and then visit Meknes, Fes  and Chefchaouen which we ought to see but which they had seen, didn't want to go again, and the weather and campsite at Agadir were excellent enough to stay a few more days.
This was rather disconcerting but gave us an opportunity to see more of Morocco other than retrace our route back up the coast which we were not exactly looking forward to with relish. On the down side, we did not have a satnav or a campsite book but we set to and planned a route and photographed relevant pages with directions from the book onto tablets......one problem is the lack of road numbering on the ground and the poor signposting in general but hey, this could be an adventure.
So waving goodbye and hoping to meet  at Tangier on the 10th. we set off on Sunday morning for Essaouira. Before leaving the site an amber engine warning light came on. Oh dear.. Check engine flashing on the screen. How? Need  diagnostic machine for that. Nothing for it but to cross fingers and press on.
Terrific scenic drive up coastal road and then through Argan  nut  groves, bottles of oil for sale all along the road.
At first coffee stop the water pump starts to play up, seeming to require priming before use indicating a faulty diaphragm or non return valve. Life looking grim.
But then we see 4 sets of tree climbing goats to make our day. No place to stop and photograph but an enduring image
which is seen in many paintings.
Find the campsite at Essaouira but it's full. However there is an aire( no facilities) close by, separated from the beach by a sand dune for 30d (£2.25)  a night so we park there.
Walk along the beach to the town which is very interesting and well worth the detour.  A large fishing port with dozens of open air stalls that have trestle tables to eat at after choosing your fish from the beautiful displays.
Back at the van, investigate the pump and find a loose connection on the inlet pipe, undoubtedly shaken loose by the appalling road, and letting air into the system. Problem cured.
Decide we have exhausted the pleasures of ESS. especially as the wind ( famous for) picks up and we are sandblasted so leave Mon morning for Mohammedia, just north of Casablanca. We stayed there on the way down so know we can find it, and it is then on the way to Meknes.
Road deteriorates badly so journey much longer than expected. Stop at Total garage to refuel after stopping at many that won't take a visa card, only to find that they can't make the machine work and we end up paying cash anyway.
( diesel is 68p  litre)
The bonus is that on restarting, the engine warning light disappears. The last fuel in was at a Moroccan Afriquia station (against my better judgement) and I think the 2 things are related.
The towns we pass through are what the wild west must have been like. The main streets are thronged with people, donkeys, donkey carts, horses, cows,sheep,goats,bikes,mopeds,scooters,cars,vans,lorries all moving in different directions with no order whatsoever.
It's mayhem and murder threading a motorhome through it but great fun.
The roads to and from theses towns are full of donkeys, either ridden or pulling a cart with a family and livestock, and people on foot but there is never any habitation close by so they must travel long distances. Have never seen so many donkeys. Nor so many Toyota pickups with 4 cows in the back, or a horse, or a flock of goats.
Overnight at Ocean Blue then onto Meknes.
This was always going to be a hard campsite to find, in the centre of town, and we gave it our best shot. Eventually gave up after police outside the royal palace said it didn't exist.
We thought it might have closed, and a German we spoke to at the supermarket outside town ( where we replenished our beer and wine supplies at last) said it had but that there was now an aire there at 40d a night. The policeman said not and as we had traversed a berserk city once we had had enough and headed up the road where we were assured there was a site near Moulay Idriss. No problem .  And it appears that the town site closed 5 years ago but still appears in every camping book.