21 Rue Beni Marine, Marrakesh (Morocco 40000)

The Internet advised us to arrive in Marrakech by lunchtime to secure a parking space. Today being Friday, it is, holy day. Some businesses close at lunchtime, and by the evening the streets and medinas are very busy. To save time, and Marge's suspension, we drove the toll road. The traffic was light, but having been up since just after six, we stopped twice for John to top up on Caffeine, while Angela, always needing to relieve herself, found herself in the ablution room for the ladies mosque, rather than the ladies toilet. She thought something seemed strange, who washes their feet after using the loo? We arrived in Marrakesh right at lunchtime, on a Friday. It was bedlam.Vehicles, mopeds, taxis, horse drawn carriages and Marge, didn't make for a great mix. The secure parking we hoped to stay at was no longer available. Because of the chaos, we allowed ourselves to be guided by a guy called Mohammed to another secure overnight parking area, which at the time we were grateful for, the traffic was just too manic. We paid the fee for an overnight stay, and gave Mohammed 20MD, although he would have liked 50MD.

Tired and stressed we ate lunch, John realizing we weren't at the correct parking area. So we walked out, found the right one, made enquires about the security and decided to forfeit the eight pounds already paid and move Marge. Another eight pounds later we were sorted.

If something doesn't feel right, then it probably isn't, and we are happy we moved, as we are now near to the Medina, with security cameras and men to to watch over Marge. As in Europe, and at home the mercury is rising.

After a quick walk around the Medina we retired to Marge for a rest. Then this evening we were spat into the frenzy in the main square. Scotland are playing Morocco in the world cup tonight, and there's much excitement here.

A large outdoor screen has been set up, and there is a huge police presence. Fighting our way through the crowded souk, pedestrians sharing the narrow walkways with mopeds, never a good mix, we eventually found a restaurant we wanted to eat at. Advice on the Internet, says don't eat at cafes in the square, or from stalls. Avoid salad, drinking out of glasses and minced beef. So we played it safe.

Two chicken and vegetable tanjine, and drank our zero zero San Miguel lager straight from the bottle. Now we have been in Marrakesh a few hours we find we really like it. The red walled Medina, the bustling Souk, the chaos and noise. It's very much a city alive.

We've spent so much time recently on our own it was nice to be sucked into the crazy nightlife of Marrakesh. At eleven o'clock the match between Scotland and Morocco will begin. We have seen twelve Scotland supporters, and thousands of Moroccan ones. Not sure what will happen in the unlikely event of Scotland winning. One savvy Scottish supported wore a kilt and a Moroccan football shirt, just in case. Tomorrow, before it becomes too hot we will walk out to see more of the city, hoping to find a shady garden to sit in during the afternoon. We are planning to stay another night here, and then will head back to the coast where it should be cooler. We don't want Marge going into an uncontrollable sweat. For now though, we expect a noisy eventful night, and just when it all calms down, some bloke at a nearby mosque will sound the call to prayer, very loudly, which will wake Angela and she'll need the toilet. The washing of feet, will have to wait until the morning!

Gite Souss, Oulad Teima (Morocco 83350)

Once again we were the only camper on the campsite last night. It's great having the place to ourselves, but I think we would like to be able to talk with like minded people along the way. Today we returned to Agadir. More provisions were needed, and Angela needed to visit the 'enclosed cave' for more wine! We were shocked to see you could buy 16% proof lager here. In France it is common place to see people on the street drinking strong lager, but not here obviously, it's an islamic country. Returning to Agadir meant we had a chance to revisit the souk and eat chicken tajine with side dishes of bread and lentils, along with bottled water, all around £3.2O each.

And this time we made sure we went to the correct restaurant, which in our opinion serves the best tajine in Morocco, to date. Whilst at the souk we bought a bag of oranges, you pick what you want into a washing up bowl which is then weighed, the oranges here are so nice.

 Tomorrow, we are travelling to Marrakech. It is going to be quite a long drive. We are taking the toll road, rather than driving the slow route. So tonight we are staying about forty minutes out of Agadir at a gite. There is campervan parking in the grounds, and we have access to the swimming pool if we fancy, and can sit under the sunshade on the veranda in the garden, all for the princely sum of £5.6O for the night!

And that includes hot showers and hot water to wash our clothes. So Angela armed with her bucket, washed our duvet cover. She knows behind most of the dusty doorsteps here there is a modern washing machine, in Angela's opinion, the trusty bucket is all you need!

La Palmeraie, Tifnit (Morocco 87274) return to.

The waxing moon last night was absolutely stunning. A thin curved sliver of light pierced the only blue sky. We'd never seen anything so fantastic. The moon, the sky, the palm trees. What a setting. So taken with the sight we were later to bed than we should have been, so this morning we were both tired. But we couldn't linger. There were coloured boulders to visit. As we left Tafroute we felt we were leaving the film set for The Flintstones. For those of you not old enough to remember, The Flintstones were a modern stone age family. The programme was animated and was one of the highlights on television in the sixties. Back then, it was comedy at its best for children and adults alike. Soon Marge was off the tarmac road and on a rough track off into the unknown. Around three miles of bumping, over soft terrain until in the distance we could see the spectacle we'd come to see. The painted rocks of Tafroute.

Back in 1984 the Belgium artist Jean Verame painted the rocks in tribute to his late wife. Whilst his original painted rocks are beautiful, the other rocks painted by, well anyone who fancies a go, are garish. Jean Verame was the reason we drove all the way down to Tafroute. 

His painted rocks were on John's list of places he wanted to visit. It was early morning, the only other visitors with us were two motorcyclists who were on the campsite with us last night. Early morning is always the best time to visit places like this. Less crowds, and the light is normally better for photographs. But we needed to make haste. Leaving this outdoor art installation we trundled back along the dirt track, spotting  some Dorcas Gazelles who flashed across in front of Marge and then hid behind the nearby bushes.

We'd decided once back on the main road we would retrace yesterday's journey back to Tiznit. We are now heading back towards Agadir, but the road from Taftoute directly to Agadir wound through the Anti-Atlas mountains with steep descents and continuous switch backs. Obviously it wasn't for Angela! What also didn't suit her nerves was low cloud over the mountains, with little visibility, that we had to drive. The plus side, John had the responsibility of driving us down safely, and because of the reduced visibility you couldn't see the drop. The Moroccans being the craziest drivers we've ever come across didn't feel the need to switch on their headlights and tail lights. Well, why would they? Originally, we'd decided to return yet again to Tiznit for a third night, but decided not to, stopping only at the town briefly to eat a hastily cobbled together lunch. Tomorrow we are going to be once again stopping at Agadir. We need quite a lot of shopping, fuel and want to return to the souk to eat a tajine at the correct cafe this time!

Then we will head east to the only campsite open on the road to Marrakech. We are now heading inland away from coastal breezes towards a  diverse landscape of mountains and valleys. John has had to research our onward journey to accommodate Angela's fear of mountain roads. He wisely decided the road where motion sickness pills should be taken before setting off was probably best avoided!

Camping les Trois Palmiers,Tafroute (Morocco 85450)

With Marge all fuelled up it was time to set off across the Anti-Atlas mountains to Tafroute. As we were preparing to leave the garage a Moroccan in a 4 x 4 asked if we wanted to follow him to the small Sahara to see camels. Firstly, your 4 x 4 is not in the same league as Marge, proven by the fact there were quite a number of very old land rovers in Tiznit, and secondly, we've had our fill of camels for the time being.

Not long after leaving the outskirts of Tiznit we found ourselves travelling through a sandy, dusty terrain with very little vegetation, save the odd sad looking argan tree, and a few scatter green shrubs, all thirsty in this barren landscape.

As we approached the Anti-Atlas mountains, dilapidated houses of thick stoned walls sat alongside modern terracotta new builds, built into terraces that clung to the hillside. We were surprised at just how many people lived in the area. Some of the homes were very grand. Almost palatial. Once Marge had negotiated the winding roads up to the summit and over the mountains we decided it was time for a refreshment break, so we stopped at a cafe adjacent to a fuel station where we enjoyed conversation with a local man. He'd been to England, his brother lives in Peterborough. Angela asked him why there were so many properties in the area that seemed uninhabited, and he told us the owners were away working in places like Casablanca, and that they returned to the area for three weeks in August. He suggested we take the scenic route down to Tafroute, which although winding was downhill and suited Angela a lot better. She really has a problem with the heady heights of the mountains, suffering with acrophobia, which triggers your brains response to threats leading to panic and anxiety. She can assure you, she wishes she didn't suffer from it.

As we approached Tafroute the landscaped changed. Stunning rock formations of red granite lined each side of the road. Honestly this area should be a UNESCO world heritage site. Tafroute is bustling and vibrant, alive and yet sleepy. Every business imaginable is here. We are almost a thousand metres above sea level, and we think we expected the air to be fresher. Quite the opposite, it is hot, very hot, the air oppressive.

So we waited until after five to walk out, sitting in Marge with three fans running until we ventured out to look around the town and buy some fruit and vegetables from the market. We have come to Tafroute to see some coloured boulders. Why? You might ask. Well in tomorrow's blog you'll see why.