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

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

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.

Asilah, Morocco (day 2)

Angela felt really unwell this morning. She went to bed last night absolutely exhausted. We were up at silly o' clock yesterday, and late to bed last night. There is a time difference here of an hour, and we are now on British time, which made yesterday an even longer day. She hasn't felt right for days, suffering with an upset stomach. We are very careful to keep everything clean when travelling to the point of over using hand Sanitiser at every opportunity. After a cup of herbal tea, a cereal bar and some fresh air she perked up and we walked out, stopping at a nearby bakery to buy bread and sweet treats. Angela definitely needed more carbs to perk her up. We decided to sit at the adjacent cafe for mint tea and coffee before walking into town to take photographs, Asilah is renowned for art. 

The town seemed a lot different during the day. Quieter, with fewer people, so we were able to take in the sights with ease. A very late lunch culminated in a lazy afternoon of reading and for Angela dozing. By this evening she felt much better. Our time on our first ever Moroccan campsite is almost over.

After yet another walk out this evening to witness another stunning sunset of tangerine orange, we began to prepare Marge for hopefully  a fairly early departure in the morning. The site is much busier tonight, most of the newcomers French. There are also two small tents belonging to people who obviously live here. Whenever we stay on European campsites we often see this. The chap nearest to us stepped behind a tree to change his trousers. Angela of course spotted him. She's pleased to report he is in no need of the Brazilian bum bum cream. She however wishes she'd invested in some!