So stuck in Gibraltar on Easter Monday, Nicole took the opportunity to finish off some college work and in the afternoon we went up the rock in the drizzle… On Tuesday we finally manage to visit the bank and sort a few things out before heading towards the ferry for Morocco. We finally get everything done and board the ferry a few minutes before 5pm and we’re off to Africa.
We arrive in Morocco about an 1.5hrs later we arrive on African soil and all we have to do is go through customs and we’re in. Know, their not shy about asking for a bribe/tip in Morocco and after much debate we decide that once we we’re through we would give them a small tip – well I wish we hadn’t bothered as all we got was abuse about how small the tip was.
We headed for a campsite in Asila (30km South of Tangiers) and slept well after a long day.
The next day it rained all day and we decided to head down the coast to Essouria. Got their late afternoon and sat down to drink the bottle of Champaign that our friend Anne had given us before we left. As we were drinking another English Land Rover pulled in, introductions all round and we had met Bart, Wendy & two kids (Zoe and Hannah).
The next day we went first for a drive on the beach and decided within an hour we were expert drivers of sand (oh, how innocent we were!) and then went into Essouria and after much walking around the had a huge fish braai for lunch of fish just pulled out of the sea.
Driving back to the campsite we decided to go back to the beach and on the way we met Wendy who was walking from the beach to see if she could find us, it seems that their Land Rover wouldn’t start. So back to the beach Bart knew what the problem was but his tools were all in the campsite. So he fixed his car, I watched and Nicole made tea!
On Friday we the 4 of us decided to travel together for a few days and we set of down the coast towards Sidi Ifini. First we had lunch in town and did some more window shopping and we find out that Bart speaks French and is therefore the perfect travel partner!
That evening was our first experience of bush camping – almost – until a German gentleman in a huge truck came along and told us that he’d been warned by local that large gangs would come and trash our car – so having thoroughly frightened Zoe (5) we decided to move about 200 metres up the road.
A little south of Sidi Ifini we found a small beach with amazing rock arches and caves that we drove through and in and we were so impressed with this beach we decided to spend the day there on Sunday. Bart collected mussels from the rocks and we finished the weekend with a fantastic meal of mussels and chips. Just what you need to set you up for the search for Plage Blanc.
