Hotel Sid el Batach, Sidi Ishaq (Morocco 44134)

This morning our first salt water shower ever. The water wasn't very warm, but it certainly made Angela's hair feel soft. Originally today, we only planned to drive for around an hour to the town of Safi.

The drive there was slow and as we passed through the countryside no longer green but dry and dusty, the ground crying out for water, we passed many animals nibbling at the stubble left behind after the combine harvester had cut the crop. The cows thin, the bones of their rib cages showing, donkeys with heads bent looked at the ground with large sad eyes and sheep nuzzled the arid soil in hope of something more nutritious. Safi was a bustling noisy chaotic town.

We headed for some roadside parking recommended on park4night as a safe spot to leave Marge. This would be the first time we'd left Marge with a parking guardian and were a little worried. Of course a man descended on us talking about England, telling us people from Liverpool were called scousers, who'd have guessed? We talked football and quite a lot of other nonsense. Of course he wanted to show us around. As always in these situations we politely declined. With a little trepidation we left Marge, and walked to the castle ruins on the seafront, stopped for tea, coffee and pain chocolates at a cafe near to Marge and then walked to see the worlds largest ceramic tajine. Safi is famous for it's ceramics, and is also the sardine capital of Morocco. Before leaving Spain we stocked up on tinned sardines, and guess what, they are from Safi! It seems funny bringing them back to where their journey began. After shopping at Carrefour we decided Marge had been left for long enough. Obviously when we returned to her she was fine. We paid the guardian his fee of 10MD (80p), and after the 'chancer' asked if we could spare a little something for his friendliness, we gave him 5MD. This country seems to be one of the haves, and have nots. This man was most definitely a have not.

Our visit to Safi wasn't really enjoyable. In fact it was stressful. And the overnight parking lot was terrible, so we left and decided to drive for another hour and a half passing a huge phosphate processing plant until right in the middle of nowhere we eventually found Hotel Sid el Batach, despite no signage on the main road. A hundred metres from the shore, this smart hotel is being prepared for the season.

We are the only people here. For eight pounds a night they offer secure parking with the use of a toilet and shower in one of the very smart rooms. Just one downside. A dog that hardly stops barking. Hopefully the swell of the Atlantic will be louder.

And early this evening when the staff took a break from work, we were offered some of the corn on the cob they'd cooked. It was lovely, especially as we'd missed lunch today.