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Moving on to better days.

December 30, 2017

Following my visit to the hospital I’ve received lots of support and messages from family and friends and some of you lovely people that we don’t know following us on our journey, thank you all. Some of you have had similar symptoms and your advise is encouraging that I won’t look like this forever and within the next few weeks I should start to see an improvement. Skyping family on Christmas Day really cheered us up and the reaction from my own siblings/in laws was typically sympathetic 😂😂

Wednesday 27th December

We left Agadir to head 30 minutes south to Sidi Babi. We need to stop along the way at the supermarket to stock up and get some diesel, getting there turned out to be a mission in its self. Leaving Agadir is a series of traffic lights and roundabouts 2 or 3 lanes deep, or 4 or 5 depending on how impatient everyone’s being today. Stopping at the lights the kids rush to the stationary vehicles pleading for us to buy their boxes of biscuits and they are not quick to move off even with a stern ‘no’ which has resulted in us locking the cab doors when we are travelling through the towns. The TomTom doesn’t know where the supermarket is, now there’s a surprise, but luckily for us another camper was in front and heading the same way and suspected they might be going to the same place so we kept them in sight straight to the supermarket.

Our intended route was the trusty N1, we were only going about 30 minutes down the road and the TomTom had shown interest that it knew where we were going, so we followed as we were instructed to turn right at the round about and headed down a newly tarmac road. Wow this is great no other vehicles apart from the odd donkey and cart as we made our way through a series of roundabouts along a very long straight road. The road was following the back of a village that looked like it was either in the throws of being built or being knocked down we couldn’t quite decide.

But oh no, someone has dumped a pile of rubble completely across the new road, the locals had made a path through, that will fit a donkey and cart, but not our big fat Eugene. Keith was livid, so we had to turn back but we hadn’t taken notice of where we had come from.

We found a decent road and followed through the town, TomTom was going mad, ‘turn right, do a u-turn, turn right’ Keith has really had enough of him so we resort to maps.me. It shows us a route right to the door, great, 30 minutes later maps.me is twisting and turning it has absolutely no idea where we are, its showing us driving through a field and not on a road and wants us to do a turn on a tarmac road that we haven’t even got 4 wheels on. Keith is doing his nut, this isn’t going well.  We mange to turn around again and end up going through a big town and it’s market day, tom, dick and every donkey and cart is here it’s the bedlam we’ve become used to, but we plough our way through.

Finally we see signs along the road, Camping Takat, we miss the first turning and end up going through a small village where we just about managed to fit through with the twists and turns of the houses built alongside the road, it did feel a bit tight at times, squeeze your bum in Eugene.

We arrive at Camping Tatar, near Sidi Bibi nearly an hour and half after we started our 30 minute journey.

The campsite is in the middle of nowhere, it’s run by a French couple and it’s lovely and welcoming. There’s a restaurant and they have a party organised for New Years Eve. There’s a guy at the entrance making camperskirts, windscreen and wheel covers and practically any other cover or thing you might need. Whilst we’ve been in Morocco we’ve noticed that some of the motorhomes are practically parceled up when parked, covered wheels, windows, bonnets, windscreens and windscreen wiper covers.

We find our spot have a bit of lunch and head to the pool. We’re the only ones using it, well Keith uses the pool I sit back and take the photos as he takes a plunge into the freezing water (17 degrees), that was refreshing! We hang around the pool for a couple of hours soaking up the sun, the only thing we can hear are the goats, sheep, the donkey over the wall oh and the quad bikes doing a tour around the scrub land.

IMG_3476

We have another go with the Cobb and cook the plump corn fed chicken we picked up at the supermarket this morning, perfect tasty and enough left for the next few days.

We have a good nights sleep except for the blooey dogs, they aren’t close but as usual the constant barking travels when it’s quiet.

Thursday 28th December

Happy birthday Mum hope you have a great day x

We’re up early to head off south again to Sidi Wassey. Keith gets the route in his mind we’re not taking any nonsense from TomTom today, so when it tells us to leave the N1 we tell it to ‘shut up’, or words to that effect, it soon gets the message falls in line and we have a great drive.

The scenery changes quite a bit along this drive, Sidi Wassey is close to the Massa Lagoon part of a nature reserve which is considered one of Morocco’s important bird habitats. We see the farmers working the fields, donkeys piled high with their produce, not sure exactly what it is but we’ll find out. We drive along some very very narrow roads before getting through the town to the campsite.

We’re staying at Camping Sidi Wassey, it’s got great reviews from fellow travellers. We receive a warm welcome, and find our pitch. The camping is on two levels top terrace or lower closer to the beach, but all have views of the sea. We choose the bottom pitch, we’re second row back, but it’s lovely. There are a few here already and a few motorhomes that we’ve seen on campsites as we’ve traveled down.  There are also some huge ‘home made’ beasts, this is what we should be travelling Morocco in lol.

We get settled then off to the beach for a walk, this beach goes on for miles, only a few campers and their dogs and a couple of locals fishing. The sea is rough, not sure it’s safe to swim, but we’ll see over the next few days. The beach is lovely but it’s spoilt by the amount of rubbish either been left behind or washed up from the sea. The town is built right up to the headland and piles of rubbish, builders rubble and plastic bottles define the edge of the town and the beach, it’s such a shame. We have a good walk.

Since we’ve been here we’ve hardly spoken to anyone, all our very small conversations with other motorhomers have been a mix of English, French, German and hand gestures  we give it a good go but the conversations don’t last long lol. We’ve met an English couple at the campsite who have been in Morocco a month and have been coming every winter for the past 4 years so it was nice to finally have a decent conversation.

We get the camera out to take some photos of the sunset, it’s not that impressive tonight and doesn’t it go down quickly. Later we try and take some night shots of the stars but there’s just to much light around the camp.

Friday Keith fixes a few things around the van, things have been coming loose with all the bumpy roads and the waste tank has finally given way. I spend the morning hand washing again, they’ve got a washing machine on site it only does one temperature very hot and takes 2 hours, so I decide we’ll do the bedding in the washing machine because it’s easier than washing it by hand but someone gets there 2 minutes before me so by the time it goes in it’s 2pm, no bedding for tonight then.

We’ve decided to stay put for a while, this place is lovely and they’ve got something going on New Years Eve so we’ve decided to stay until at least Tuesday.  The sun is shinning and its warm during the day, 26 today.  I’m starting to feel better and we’ll be ready to move further down the coast on Tuesday.

Have a great New Year everyone and we wish you all the very best for a healthy and happy 2018.

a la perchoine

Shirena & Keith

xxxxx

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  • Jane King December 30, 2017 at 9:20 pm

    Glad you have found somewhere good to be for New Year. Happy New Year to you both.

    We are both enjoying reading your blog, keep the news coming x x

  • Nikki Travis December 30, 2017 at 9:48 pm

    Great to hear you’re feeling better. Happy New Year guys xx

  • Kari December 30, 2017 at 10:04 pm

    Have a very happy new year to you both and happy travels x

  • Kay December 30, 2017 at 10:33 pm

    Not the best start to your adventure, but sounds like you are on the mend now. Have a fab party on New Years Eve and here’s to a great 2018 to you both. Love the blog keep it going it makes a great read. Happy New Year X Love Kay & Ken

  • Jodie December 31, 2017 at 12:31 am

    Sounds like things are going a little bit better for you. Travelling is always about the journey and not the destination. I hope dad hasn’t been so stressed to result in a nose bleed yet!
    Hope your face improves soon.
    Skype on New Year.
    Love you, Jo x

  • Zena December 31, 2017 at 11:15 am

    Happy New year to you both and happy travels glad your feeling better