26 October – Marrakech to Just north of Taghazout (again). 14,890 km
After two nights in Marrakech re-acclimatizing we were on the road again heading back to Essaouria. On the way out of Marrakech we stopped at the supermarket Marjane to stock up and pulled into the carpark to find 5 live-in vehicles including a really funky MAN lorry with a caravan bolted to the flatbed! |
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We arrived in Essaouria around 7pm so it was dark. I drove into the campsite (Camping Sidi Magdoul 31,29.50N 09,45.80W) and abandoned the Mog in the middle while we looked for a spot to park. There was a really huge Mercedes lorry on the site which slept 21 people! We wandered over to it and chatted to the German woman hosting the tour (the lorry was called ‘Rotel’) but she was eating so we said we would come back later. An hour later there was a knock at our door and a call of “Hello English!” The woman was outside with two huge saucepans containing beef stew and the other boiled potatoes left over from that night’s meal which she was offering us for supper... it was delicious! How kind of her, we were very grateful as it meant we didn’t have to cook. She showed us around the lorry and her ‘bedroom’ which was a double bed size and spacious enough to sit up in bed and read in. The driver/cook slept in a flip-up compartment at the back of the lorry. They left the following morning but I did manage to get some pictures.
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We moved on to a campsite just north of Taghazout (Camping Atlantica Parc 30,35.24N 09,45.08W) where we are now. Yesterday we were lounging about by the Mog and a man approached and introduced himself as Rachid and explained that he was a local artist and would we like a mural on the lorry. We discussed where it would go and how big but I wanted something understated and small that wouldn’t stand out too much – you see some murals the full length or back of motorhomes and they look far too much. We are delighted with the results – see pictures below.
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Oz writes:
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After putting Kate on a plane at Agidir to Cassablanca I drove back to Tafraoute to hopefully find someone to climb with and if not to do some walking and mountain biking. I managed to do some walking along a ridge and a misguided mountain bike route in which I ended up staying on the hill the night. Found a hole in the exhaust and after some broken French conversation with the campsite owner he phoned a welder who came and looked at it. Later that day went to his garage and before I knew it, it was done and we were sat having mint tea. If you are in Tafraoute and in need of vehicle repairs I can recommend Farih Mohamed, Garage Tafraoute, Route d'Ameln 061 766 663. |
A couple of days later I was driving to walk up a nearby hill when I spotted two guys walking, one with a bouldering mat on his back so I stopped and asked if I could join them. We all drove to a nearby area (the painted rocks). The two guys, Oscar and Ivan, were Spanish. After trying a few problems I managed to fall off and deeply scratch my leg but before I had hit the floor they seemed to have the first aid kit out and were patching me up. I found out that Oscar is a paramedic and Ivan a fireman! Afterwards they invited me to tea at their hotel but I didn't feel up to going into town but had breakfast a few days later with them.
I left Tafraoute to slowly make my way to Marrakesh to pick up Kate but whilst there I met up with a lovely Austrian couple, Sven and Magdalena from www.xxxpedition.com who are touring Morocco for a month. I also met up with a Dutch couple in a MAN lorry and two Germans in an older Unimog than ours and one had a Magirus Deutz.
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