I woke as the sun came up, and when I looked out and around the Landy I was indeed in the middle of a vast open plan. I quick breakfast and a Nav. Check and I was on my way. I soon came across the village I was expecting and out onto the main road. This I followed west some 20Km before turning off and heading south along another piste toward Zagora. This was obviously a well used piste and the going was pretty easy. Which was nice as it gave me more of an opportunity to have a look around whilst driving along. This piste kept to the lower areas, weaving it’s way along side an oued, passing villages and out onto another plain. As the piste ended I passed through houses and lush green cultivated areas, before finding the main road that runs through the Vallee du Draa. I following the road south and popped into Zagora for a sort time. I decided not to go down the valley further as I got a real touristy feel for the place and figured it was going to be buzzing with tourists further down. So I took the road north west towards Marrakech. As I grew close to Marrakech this took me over the High Alta Mountains. Unfortunately the tops were shrouded in clouds and so I could not see their full splendour, but they were still impressive all the same. As I entered Marrakech it was getting late and after the usual problems of finding the campsite ended up setting camp in the dark. I had a quick dinner and was straight to bed.
After getting up and sorting some breakfast, I decided that I was going to stay the day in camp and get a few jobs done. After taking the Landy on all these pistes I wanted to run through a full check on things and sort an electrical problem which had developed. It turned out that the wire running from the left hand headlight to the splot light relay was shorting on the exhaust. Once sorted I enchased all the additional wiring which I had put in running through the engine bay to the battery compartment in split corrugated tubing, which I had brought with me. I was one of those little jobs that never got done before I left. I had some fun topping up the oil in the swivel pine houses and had to improvise and funnel and poring can from a plastic bottle. It took longer than normal but got the job done. With all the work done, most of the day had gone by and I got some washing done and a few other odd jobs. In the evening it started to rain so after dinner retreated to the roof tent and catch up on writing my diary on the laptop, before going to sleep.
After a slow start I drove into Marrakech and had a look around the old part of the city. Whilst walking in to the main area I stopped and phoned home to tell them all the news and hear want had been going on at home. The main square was full of hustlers selling all sorts of things and services. Light having your photo taken with a monkey or watching them perform silly tricks with snakes. Including the old trick of snake charming. I walked a far way through all the twisting streets and took the opportunity to do some food shopping. On my travels I also came across a pet store who were selling baby falcons for hunting and who also had baby Chameleons which were fascinating to watch. I then made my way back to the Landy via an Internet café and drove out the city North to Casablanca. This took all afternoon and by the time I had found the campsite only had a hours light left. So I set camp and completed the rest of the shopping I could not get in Marrakech, which was mainly fruit. I also managed to find a place which took passport photographs for a very reasonable rate. So after a quick shave I returned to the shop to have my picture taken. As I needed two passport photos for the Mauritanian visas I came to Casablanca to apply for. With the picture take I went back to the campsite and had some dinner, then later returned to the shop to picture up my pictures. I spent the rest of the evening on the Laptop before going to bed.
I got up early and had some breakfast. I then secured my kit and headed of on foot to find the Mauritanian Embassy, as I figured it was not that far away. Sure enough it was only about 10 min walk down the road. I arrived to find that not too many people had got there before me, and we where soon all given forms to fill out. After a while of waiting I got chatting to a bloke from England. He was backpacking his way around Morocco and was looking for transport further south into Mauritania and beyond. When we finally got the desk and had sorted the paper work we where told to return later that afternoon. We decided to walk to the own centre via the campsite, and along the way we discussed the possibility of going south together. We stopped for some lunch in a local café and then headed through the old part of the city to the new Mosque. The scale of it was very impressive and it was hard to take in just how big it was. Unfortunately we could not go in as it was only open to Muslims. We then catch a taxi back to the Mauritanian Embassy and picked up our passports with there new visa’s in them. By this point we had made our minds up that we would head south together. So we returned to the campsite and packed my kit up and then went round to the hostel were Matt had been staying to collect his. We then drove south along the coast road and found our selves and spot to camp wild. Once the camp was set up we had some dinner and sat and watched the stars whilst talking, before going to bed.
After some breakfast we packed camp and drove along the coast towards Essaouira. By the time we had arrived in was around midday, so we park the Landy along the beach front and walked into the town centre. We first came across the port and the fish market, where we bought some fresh prawns and bread for lunch. After tucking into them, we continued walking around the narrow twisting streets looking and the various shops. It is a pleasant modern little sea side town with a very Spanish feel to it. We then returned to the Landy and drove the short distance down the road to the campsite. The campsite consisted of a hard standing set around a stony area, which had trees growing in it. Fine for us, but not good for the people who were sleeping with tents on the ground. We set camp and then chilled out before making some dinner with the rest of the prawns. After dinner we got chatting to a bloke who had just made is way back from Mauritania. So we spent the evening pouring over maps and listening to where he had been. Time quickly went by and it was late by the time we got to bed.
After getting up and sorting some breakfast, we spent the morning getting some washing done and I catch up on my diary on the Laptop and finished the updates for the website. We then headed into town and went to an Internet café to check mail and for me to send the update to the website. This done, we continued to explore the streets of the town. Along the way we passed the fish market again and bought some baby squid for dinner. Early afternoon we then set off toward Agadir, continuing along the coast road. As the light was fading and we still had 30Km to go, we decided to stop for the night along the coast. In fact we where right on the shore line parked up under a rock face for shelter from the wind. We soon found out that there were wild mussels growing on the rocks, and so picked and had them as a starter to our baby squid dinner. Stuffed with sea food we retired to the roof tent and went to sleep.
After windy and restless nights sleep, we awoke and had some breakfast, before heading into Agadir. Once there we parked the Landy and done some food shopping to stock up on provisions. We then set about finding out which garage in Agadir sold Land Rover parts. As I wanted to replace the 80/90 oil in the swivel houses, with a special grease. I ended up phoning the Land Rover dealer in Casablanca who told us which local garage supplied parts and their address. IA quick drive across town and we found this garage which was called Soutra. After having to find the L/R part number we ordered the grease, which they said, would arrive on Saturday. We then decided that we would head into the mountains to the North of Agadir and find the Cascade Falls. This turned out to be a slow and scenic drive twisting through gorges and round mountaintops. Eventually we got to the falls and done our best to dodge the hawks who lined the route. The falls them selves were in fact very nice, and if it were warmer we would have gone in for a swim. We then returned to the coast along the same road and parked up along the beachfront in a dirt car park amongst other camper vans. This was also one of the local surf spots. So we took advantage of the beach café and sat watching the surfers and drinking tea, before returning to the Landy to sort our stuff out for the night.
After another windy and restless nights sleep we decided that we would stay by the beach for the day. After breakfast it soon became obvious that it was going to be a sunny day and so we rigged up the awning to give us a shaded area. As we were at the beach we had to go for a swim. The water felt cold to get in, as it was so warm in the sun. But once in, it was nice to play around in the surf. The day went enjoyably by, but unfortunately the windy returned in the late afternoon to give us another noisy nights sleep.
After a leisurely start to the day we drove back into Agadir. We again done a little food shopping and found our way to the internet café. When the time came, we drove round to the garage to pick up the grease. We were pleasantly surprised to find it had turned up on time. We then headed out of Agadir and followed the main road south. By early evening we had made Tan Tan, only to find the classic kissing camels had been replaced by some cheesy smaller concrete versions. Disappointed, we continued on to the coast town of El Quatia and found our selves a campsite in the dunes along the beach and settled in for the night.
We woke early after another windy nights sleep. We had a quick breakfast and were soon on the road heading south through the Western Sahara. After a few hours of driving we came across a garage with a mechanics pit. So I took advantage and put the grease we had picked up in Agadir in the swivel housings. We were surprised the no one even came to see what we were doing, and so when we were finished we just drove off. We continued south through the Western Sahara along the main road. Only stopping for fuel and police checkpoints. By early evening we found our selves in Dakhla, the last major town before the Western Sahara/Mauritanian border. We found the empty campsite just outside of town and settled in for the night. We had covered 450 miles in the day, so we only sat out long enough the drink our last beers before going to bed.