Camping l'Océan Bleu, Mohammedia (Morocco 20800)

There would always be a price to pay for staying overnight in the heart of Rabat right by the walls of the souk. And it wasn't an excess of offal, that went down nicely. We were parked a stone throw away from a mosque. All the mosques here have loudspeakers at the top of their minarets. Unfortunately this one was pointing right at us. Sometimes the call to prayer is recorded. Here in Morocco they don't seem to be. Normally we find the sound quite soothing, last night's definitely wasn't. We could hear the chap tapping his microphone, testing, testing, can anyone hear me. He also shuffled papers, lost his way, stopped then restarted again. After having to put up with a few fart cars, as John calls them, cars with big exhausts, and the security dogs twice going ballistic, probably because of one of the many stray cats here entering the parking lot, Angela fell asleep, for about three hours, and then was abruptly awoken by the call to prayer! All that aside, we were able to step out from Marge this morning, walk into the souk where the stallholders were just opening up and meander along back street to the the Hassan Tower, a twelfth century minarete that was to be the tallest in the world. But it was never completed, and now stands at just forty four meters high. We weren't able to enter the tower, but we did visit the mausoleum where we saw the tombs of King Mohammed V, and his two sons, King Hassan II and Prince Abdullah. The ceiling in the mausoleum was extraordinary. We were lucky to have arrived at the tower and mausoleum before the crowds who were entering just as we left.

Coffee, Moroccan tea and pain chocolates at a Salon de The on the way back to Marge ended our time in Rabat. Time we'd really enjoyed. Leaving Rabat on roads of smooth tarmac with Marge complaining a little from the rough ride of yesterday, but she'll sort herself out as before, we passed the royal palace, heavily guarded, and made our way down the coast, stopping to look at some camels along the side of the road.

Tired from a disturbed night, and lots of walking around Rabat we spent the afternoon catching up on chores. Early evening a walk to the nearby supermarket for a few essentials before taking yet more dirham out at a cash machine. Cash is king here. We have a taxi booked for nine thirty in the morning to take us into nearby Casablanca, and return us later in the afternoon. So we really should get an early night.

Somehow, we don't think we'll need to set our alarm, there are chickens and a cockerel wandering around the campsite, and of course a mosque nearby, fortunately the call to prayer here is melodic and quite short.

Rabat, Angle de Rue Pakistan et Avenue d'Egypte (Morocco 10040)

The normal roads here away from the larger towns and cities are a nightmare. A real assault course to drive. The loose road surface and dust keeps becoming trapped in Marge's brakes, and she doesn't like it! Because of the road conditions our journey today was slow.

As we passed through small communities we were apalled at the amount of rubbish that lined the side of the road, the lack of grazing for the sheep, and the treatment of the horses and donkeys who pull the carts carrying bricks, cement, fruit, in fact just about anything. The seaside resort of Kintra was our planned overnight stop. It looked a nice town and the beach looked amazing. But the main campsite with four hundred pitches was empty. The reviews on the Internet weren't good, but we didn't expect this. So we drove on, a little disappointed at not being able to stay the night here. A secure overnight stop at a service area was our lunch stop. It was one of the nicest service areas we'd ever seen, with a beautiful outside space where peacocks roamed.

Now you don't see that in the U.K.! As it is our wedding anniversary today we felt we should be staying somewhere a little more exciting, so pushed onto Morocco's capital city Rabat. On the approach, stopping at the police checkpoint the officer saluted us, and Marge, and welcomed us to Morocco.

So tonight we are staying right near the Souk. As with all souks it was bustling.

We walked through it to the cities viewpoint, visited the beautiful gardens of the Kasbah Udayas, stopped for refreshments at the cafe opposite.

Walked some more in the Souk before stopping to eat mixed meat sandwiches and chips along with the locals, all for under a fiver!

 For the faint hearted mixed meat here contains a lot of offal. We didn't mind, it was very nice, and we were impressed by the staff who washed their hands regularly. Tomorrow before leaving Rabat we will walk out a little more. We especially want to climb the Hassan Tower. Darkness now falling, our secure parking area is emptying of cars. There is a French van here with us. On site there is a security man and his dog, they will remain with us all night. In all the time we've been in Morocco we have felt safe, so far we've hardly been hassled and received more waves and thumbs up than we ever imagined. Oh, and quite a number of salutes from passing motorists for Marge. As always she is the star of the show.

Le Nid du Hibou Camping & Apartments, Moulay Bousselham (Morocco 14302)

Time to leave Asilah. The little campsite right on the seafront had suited us well. The two nights we spent there enabled us to find our feet before immersing Marge in more of this north African country. We paid our host, named Bobby by Angela, as he reminded her of the comedian Bobby Ball. £24.00 for two nights, we were happy with that. As Bobby said, 'money buys the honey'. It certainly doesn't go towards the upkeep of the vehicles here, most are held together with tape and tin foil. Today we wanted to stop and buy shopping at the Marjane supermarket. Marjane supermarkets are a little like a French supermarket. We say French lightly, as the choice was very limited. Very little fresh fruit and veg. Obviously no alcohol as we are in a Muslim country. We bought some staples that we should be able to cobble a few meals together. The quality of driving here is terrible. Bad enough on tarmac roads, but when we drove on roads more inferior the traffic coming in the opposite direction kept crossing to our side to avoid the potholes. Eventually we arrived in the town we'd been staying overnight at. There is a nearby lagoon, which we walked down to. Rubbish is a real problem here. It is literally piled everywhere, and the sight of it is quite depressing.

On the shore of the nearby lagoon mole crabs scuttled around, burying themselves in holes in the sand. They were fascinating to watch, but once again we felt saddened by the rubbish all around them.

(Yes these really are plastic ducks, we counted around twenty of them!)

Our stop tonight is a homestay. Mohammed has opened up his front garden for camping.

His wife will cook you a very nice tajine for fourteen pounds. As tomorrow is our twenty-seventh wedding anniversary we thought we'd treat ourselves and ordered the tuna tajine.

It was excellent.

(The families cockerel, shades of Brindisi maybe?) See here

Tomorrow we will move on from here, a little further down the coast. Marge has developed a bit of a noise, we think she may have picked up a stone and it's caught betweenn a brake pad and a disk. Fingers crossed that is the problem. As the night draws in Angela can't help smiling thinking about an incident earlier when a cow wandered in through the gate here. After much shouting by the family, a small boy was dispatched with a broom to shoo it out. Staying here with this Moroccan gamily has been nice. Everyone is so friendly and welcoming. To us, this is the real Morocco.