Morocco 2013 (1 Viewer)

[SUGGY]

The road to Meknes

Photo's
1
Just after we left the forest the heavens opened again , The roads were like rivers , this happened about 30 seconds before we got to the bend . They got out all OK .

2
Answers on a post card please ? ( no they are not giant caterpillars )

3
The road up to Camping Bellevue at Moulay Idriss , What a difference to the wild Morocco we have seen ,


Have you worked Photo 2 out yet ? , They are Onions being dried out

 

[makems]

Yesterday we drove down the Draa valley from Agdz to Zagora after spending the previous day stuck in our van while it rained most of the day.
When it rains her it REALLY rains and the site ended up looking like a lake.
Malcolm had the good sense to suggest moving from the sandy pitches we had to ones where we would be on gravel. GOOD CHOICE!
Next morning when vans started moving out, those who had parked on sand had sunk deeply into it and could not escape.
Thankfully there was a Swiss couple in one of those massive one-off builds on a 7.5 tonne chassis around with some serious looking tow ropes. He was a busy man!
Watch hm pull a Hymer out of the muck:

https://vimeo.com/61207086

 

[makems]

After leaving Agdz we headed on down to Zagora, the Bolts fairly close behind us.
We had planned to stay at Camping de la Palmerie which is at the far end of town just across what the day before would have been a dry river bed but which now was a raging torrent only about 2 feet below the deck of the bridge.
WE found the site and pulled in, asked one of the staff where to park and followed his directions.
All I can say is: if it's been raining, don;t try to stay at this site! We were immediately bogged down in wet sand.
I had some of those plastic things for parking on when the ground is soft and by digging out sand from under the wheels and sliding the mats under we managed to get going.
As far as the end of the mat
After repeating this a couple of times I let a load of air out of the tyres and tried again with a few locals pushing as well. WE got moving and onto some firm ground where we got our breath back and told the Bolts to find an alternative site.
A British woman staying there with a French Husband told us that the water in the river was rising and the Police were expected to shut the bridge on safety reasons in the next hour If so we would be stranded the wrong side of the river from the town possible for a couple of days.
Decision made! We turned round and Gwen gunned it back through the soft bit as fast as possible and straight out of the gates without stopping, back across the river:thumb:
We stopped to put air back in the tyres and have some lunch and a cuppa. The local repair shops must have spies out because within 5 minutes of getting the compressor out to pump up the tyres 3 chaps on motorbikes had come from the town to tell me they had a repair shop/tyre shop where they could fix my problem!
Phone call from the Bolts saying they were parked at Sindibads in the centre of town and shortly after we parked next to them to be met with a very welcome cup of tea :thumb:

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[makems]

WE headed off South to M'Hamid at the edge of the Sahara. We were sad to say goodbye to the Bolts as we have had a whale of a time with them for the last couple of weeks. Smashing couple.
The Vicarious books says M'Hamid is where the tarmac ends and only camels and 4x4 vehicles go any further.
It was an interesting drive down as we had to ford the Draa river a couple of times where it was overflowing
I've got a video but haven't had time to upload it yet.
We are off on a desert tour tomorrow in a 4x4 and staying overnight in the desert. We're both really looking forward to it. :thumb:
So we are just about as far away from Suggy as it's possible to get in Morocco!

 

[makems]

Crossing the river in Zagora after getting stuck in mud (see previous postings) - this is normally a dry river bed:

https://vimeo.com/61221798

 

[makems]

Fording the Draa river down near the Sahara desert. The river bed would normally be dry as a bone.

https://vimeo.com/61223174

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[Theonlysue]

:rain::rain::rain: Great videos! keep up the good work ))

S

 

[alfandM]

most enjoyable pictures and vids, one good thing there was no sand storms with all that rain ,thankagain for sharing those great shots,Alf

 

[chrisboyo]

It,s not just a holiday

It,s an adventure

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[Malcolm Bolt]

Taliouine to Agdz

Our last journey had taken us to Taliouine from Taffaout. Next step was to Agdz. I had enjoyed the drive a couple of days ago but was I ready for another so soon.

The previous night's Hammam had been relaxing enough. Mike and I had followed Gwen and Cathryn. They had run late as their masseuse had arrived late so we were there waiting when they left. Bonny lasses all three of them and I only thought fleetingly of that masseuse in just her kniks. We had a masseur who was very good. The massage was mainly twisting our limbs and stretching both limbs and torsos but the wash part required us to keep standing up to be showered off. Effective but without the traditional sloshing of hot water with jugs from buckets and to be truthful I did feel a bit cheated. :Sad: One tagine later with a glass of red and all was right with the world.

We left Taliouine on the N10, a proper road with room for traffic coming towards us and Tarmac all over. Well mostly all over. It wasn't that there weren't any potholes, more that they were more spread out so that you could drive along and straddle them, ease past them on the inside or offside or even drive on the other side of the white line to avoid them altogether. It was fairly straight so you could easily see when it was OK to pass the odd cyclist, donkey or occassional 'Docker'. I love Dockers. I want a Docker. (A friend of mine called Bryan once sat on a Docker in a supermarket.)

All went well on the N10 all the way to Tazenakht where instead of going via N10 and N9 we opted for the more direct R108. Now on the map the R108 looks a nice road. :thumb: Instead of being an angry red colour it is a plain subdued white one. It also has a green stripe along it and for a small part of it's length it is a bit wiggly. These aspects do not of themselves mean it is either a good or a bad road but none of them give any indication of the road surface. In this case it was a bugger. We were bounced about like peas on a drum and average speed dropped to a snail's pace. To my great relief we were behind a very nice Cathago driven by an even greater wuss than me so I was able to drive ever so slowly and hope that all those stuck behind me were blaming the Cathago driver in front. A few miles on and the Cathago bared right towards Foum-Zguid and we took the left fork towards Agdz. The road surface improved.

I don't know when it was along this road that I kept getting the feeling that there may be something up with my eyesight. It was the middle of the day and the sun was bright but my vision kept - well I don't know what it did really but everything kept going a bit green. Not just a bit of what I was looking at but whole hillsides - but not all hillsides. It was weird. I feared I was getting a migraine just as I did when a kid in school. As we drove along this gently bending road the sun of course stayed in the same place but the way it shone on the hills changed for me and there was a definite green hue to many of the hills. As we drove, the green colour of some areas became more intense. We were approaching Bou-Azzer - no I hadn't heard of it either. It is in fact a whole series of mines where a number of different metal ores are taken out of the ground. I still don't know the ore which gives the green colour but I am satisfied my eyesight is OK. :thumb:

PICS 1. 2. 3.
May I inform my Lord Blackadder that I appear to have found the source of -------- GREEN

PIC 4.
The Bou-Azzer Mine

PIC 4.
Big Beasty outside a Mosque in Agdz

VID
Bou-Azzer mine
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkfCUm62oYs"]Bou-Azzer Mine on Taliouine - Agdz road - YouTube[/ame]

(The guys were in fact drilling by a mine entrance)

 

[Malcolm Bolt]

Dockers rule

My mate Bryan tries out a docker in a Marjane supermarket.

I could drive that on my car license :thumb: but I can't get it on the back of the van.

 

[bryandh]

My mate Bryan tries out a docker in a Marjane supermarket.

I could drive that on my car license :thumb: but I can't get it on the back of the van.

Was it 16,000 Dirham or has my memory gone ? Maybe it was 6000 euros and like you..... I WANT ONE !!!!! Made in China as I recall


Regards, Bryan & Anna

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[makems]

Re sandstorms: Down South at M'Hamdia one seems to start every afternoon about 2pm when it gets really hot. (currently 36C in the shade).
It's too hot and sandy to sit outsiide. :Sad:
If you sit inside you have to have the windows open or you get cooked.:Sad:
If you have the Windows open, dust gets in oh:
I'm typing this email and having to continually wipe dust off the screen and the keyboard as I do it.
It was beautiful this morning and also yesterday out in the Sahara (more of that later). But right now it's not nice.

 

[makems]

I've lost track - but I think these are pics of our route from Taliouine to Tafroute:
1. WE stopped for lunch by the side of a dried up river bed and got the cooker out.
2. Goat tajine - Yum!
3. Some goats appeared on the rocks above us. Matbe they smelt some of their family being cooked!
4. This one was more interested in the Argan trees.
5. Somelocal women passed by on the other side of the river bed on their way home from market.

 

[makems]

Since Mr Bolt mentioned that slow Carthago, here's some video of it!
Going slow, slow, slow...........
https://vimeo.com/61352347

Going through some roadworks. I'm not sure if they were widening the road or clearing up after a rockfall
https://vimeo.com/61352911

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[makems]

Stone Age Traffic Cones:

You see this everywhere - here they are warning drivers of a 2 foot drop at the edge of the road.

Sometimes to be really helpful they paint them white! (but not very often!)

 

[makems]

We had a little bit of excitement here this morning:
An Italian couple were parked on the upper level of the site here at M'Hamid (No 126 in the Vicarious Guide).
They had some strange arrangement for emptying their brown waste - they must have some sort of holding tank because they reversed up to they grey waste drain and let it go there Then they attached a hose to the cassette rinsing tap, passed it through the bathroom window and proceeded to flush the tank.
Then the the fun started. As they drove off, the old man missed the ramp from the top level to the lower level by at least the width of the van, coming to rest with rear wheels on the top level some 2 feet higher than the front wheels
Everybody turned out to help (not one of us sniggered I promise) and with shovels and rocks we made a new ramp underneath the van. It proved impossible to reverse out of the situation https://vimeo.com/61382375
So more work on the new ramp allowed him to drive forward out of difficulty https://vimeo.com/61382039
Amazingly his van suffered almost no damage apart from a couple of cracks in the plastic side valances.
Within 5 minutes of the Eyeties leaving the wall they had driven over was repaired and ten mintes after that a big wooden post was hammered into the ground and painted white.
They are very efficient on this site (which is excellent by the way) and very friendly too - especially the owner Hassan who speaks 5 languages and is a real comedian.
Did you notice that French bloke with his shirt off who is a dead ringer for Suggy?

 

[SUGGY]

We had a little bit of excitement here this morning:
An Italian couple were parked on the upper level of the site here at M'Hamid (No 126 in the Vicarious Guide).
They had some strange arrangement for emptying their brown waste - they must have some sort of holding tank because they reversed up to they grey waste drain and let it go there Then they attached a hose to the cassette rinsing tap, passed it through the bathroom window and proceeded to flush the tank.
Then the the fun started. As they drove off, the old man missed the ramp from the top level to the lower level by at least the width of the van, coming to rest with rear wheels on the top level some 2 feet higher than the front wheels
Everybody turned out to help (not one of us sniggered I promise) and with shovels and rocks we made a new ramp underneath the van. It proved impossible to reverse out of the situation https://vimeo.com/61382375
So more work on the new ramp allowed him to drive forward out of difficulty https://vimeo.com/61382039
Amazingly his van suffered almost no damage apart from a couple of cracks in the plastic side valances.
Within 5 minutes of the Eyeties leaving the wall they had driven over was repaired and ten mintes after that a big wooden post was hammered into the ground and painted white.
They are very efficient on this site (which is excellent by the way) and very friendly too - especially the owner Hassan who speaks 5 languages and is a real comedian.
Did you notice that French bloke with his shirt off who is a dead ringer for Suggy?

I resemble that remark

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[SUGGY]

Volubilis

Roman Ruins at Volubillis , Quite impressive , :thumb:

Why is that ruins are often about 6 ft high , where has all the rest of the stones gone , some of them were huge ? .

 

[SUGGY]

After here we went to Moulay Busselham ,

We took the road across from the N1 . ( as Tom Tom directed ) BIG mistake 2 hours of pot holes and virtually unpaved road 1st and 2nd gear all the way , people came out of buildings to stare , don't think they had seen a Motor Home down that road before .

We now have a 2 tone van Desert sand and off white .

it also rained all the way again but the gunge was stuck fast and still hasn't washed off :Angry:

Met up with Goeslyne at Camping International last saw them at Zagora ,:thumb:

Photo's from MB .

Plenty of Iron in Moroccan Milk

Mustafagasbottle special delivery

 

[SUGGY]

The Last Post / Last Photo

Well we are in Asilah , it rained all the way , Thunder and Lightning all night, rain coming horizontal this morning and the van is Rocking ( so don't come a knocking )

We are catching the Ferry in the next 24 Hours so i supposed this will be the last Moroccan post from Rosie and I .

We have had a great time , met some wonderful people from all nations ,

The Moroccan people had made us so welcome and often gone out of their way to help us , :thumb: You get used to the sales pitch and if you use it as friendly banter , they seem to enjoy it and you can have a bit of fun with them . oh:

Do not be afraid to come over to Morocco , come with an open Heart and an Open mind , things are different here to Europe and a lot of the times for the best ,
OK the facilities are not Caravan Club (but neither are the prices ) but that is why you have a Motor Home . :thumb:

We have had a great time with the 2013 Morocco Funster's thank you for your company and we look forward to meeting again " further along , up the Road " .

Thanks to Snowbird for starting the Trip off .:Cool:

The Last Photo
Sunset in Morocco

BUT THERE IS ALWAYS ANOTHER YEAR

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[bryandh]

Many thanks for your contributions they will help us to pencil in a possible route for next year. Enjoyed your comments and photos.... safe trip home and best wishes to Rosie.


Regards, Bryan & Anna

 

[Malcolm Bolt]

Was it 16,000 Dirham or has my memory gone ? Maybe it was 6000 euros and like you..... I WANT ONE !!!!! Made in China as I recall


Regards, Bryan & Anna

Can't remember price exactly but I recon it was a lot less than two grand. Like all other mass produced bikes they do come from China. You could import direct yourself but will have to carry out final assembly and do everything required for registration - don't know how that is done in UK never mind in Spain.

 

[Malcolm Bolt]

Roman Ruins at Volubillis , Quite impressive , :thumb:

Why is that ruins are often about 6 ft high , where has all the rest of the stones gone , some of them were huge ? .

They will have been nicked for building if UK is anything to go by

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[Theonlysue]

Well done Suggy and Rosie! some great posts:thumb:

A truly memorable birthday for you :beer:


Am at Cabapino at the mo, where will you head to?

Additional campsites, some in Morocco;

http://www.campingcheque.co.uk/

Safe travels,

S:rain:

PS - THERE IS NOWHERE TO CHANGE YOUR DIRHAMS TO EUROS AT THE PORT!

 

[MrMotorhome]

Well we are in Asilah , it rained all the way , Thunder and Lightning all night, rain coming horizontal this morning and the van is Rocking ( so don't come a knocking )

We are catching the Ferry in the next 24 Hours

Graham, as you approach the port 'official' area you will see cars and various people on either side of you, some asking for paperwork - if you look straight ahead you will also see two/three men in orange jackets - drive (slowly ) towards them to show your white ticket/voucher they should allow you to park your van immediately behind the gated area they are guarding. You can then walk back (with all your papers/V5) to collect your actual ferry ticket and visit passport control next to the gate on your left before driving to the 'van scanner'. Both of you will need to be present at the passport office.

They only accept Dirham notes on the ferry - terrible exchange rate.

Then your next adventure begins - Spain!:thumb:

 

[makems]

We are at Ait Benhaddou in the Atlas mountains. The tops are all covered in snow.
The van's rocking here too Suggy.
(It's blowing a bloody gale!)
Been good for drying Gwen's knickers - although I've had to run halfway back to Ouarzazate to find them after they blew off the line
Looks like we'll be tail-end Charlies as we're planning to stay for at least another couple of weeks yet.

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[makems]

Caught thatis shot from the roof of the Kasbah at Agdz.
The Granny carrying the bundle must have been in her 80s at least.
The kid got off lightly carrying the potatoes!

 

[makems]

Just gone out into the howling gale to bring in the laundry - guess what's playing on the ipod when I came back in all windswept?
"Against the Wind" by Bob Seger!
Ironic or what?
(Washing's bone dry by the way and no more missing items)

 

[makems]

PS - THERE IS NOWHERE TO CHANGE YOUR DIRHAMS TO EUROS AT THE PORT!

We'll just have to hang to any left over Dirhams until next year

To paraphrase Arnie in Terminator: "We WILL be back!"

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