Essouria 😊

We like Essouria, we were here as a family 10 years ago. It's bigger, due to development, but essentially the same. It's a very easy place to be a tourist. So yes OK that does mean it's touristy but still in a low key good way. I'm sure prices are inflated and even a guy in one of the shops commented on how bad the pound was. It's around 12Dh, down from 15Dh.
We went back, possibly to the exact same fish shack that we went to 10 years ago, for lunch. Of course it had to be lobster😀 and sea bream. I think they call it dorado. 10 years ago 6 of us ate a banquet for, I think, £30. Today, despite some half hearted haggling on my part it was £40 ish for the 2 of us🤔😐
It was still good though. Nearly as good as Aberdaron lobster and chips😂 that's less than £20 for two and we take our own wine😊

Marrakech

We've been in full on tourist mode the last few days in Marrakech, staying here:
Camping le Relais de Marrakech
Location: geo:31.707504,-7.989528

It’s maybe our favourite campsite so for on this trip, the only one close being Pelinos in Portugal. A great, chilled vide here. Well apart from the French motorhomers across from us who have faces like smacked arses. There was a French guy next to us, on his own, apart from his dog. The dog was a 6 month puppy which barked occasionally. No big deal and I don’t like dogs on campsites. Anyway the smacked arse couple complained to the management and he had to move to the far corner. Miserable gits😑

We met another French guy, absolutely barking mad. But in a good way, he shared with us the fact that as he was 70 something his “snake” was getting tired but listening to Whitney Houston helped😂

So the tourist stuff.
Slobbing by the pool, which we have all to our selves at times. Eating and drinking too much and doing the tourist stuff in Marrakech.
Eating Moroccan street food in the central square. Fun and reasonably tasty but nothing compared to Asian street food.
Wandering around the Souk until the hassle gets too much. Marie makes the mistake of engaging with some of them. I just nod, smile and say non merci, if I’m going to be a miserable ignorant person I figure it’s best if they think I’m French🤔
Back into Marrakech this morning for breakfast, which is ridiculously huge, all for about £2.50 each. A horse and carriage ride (We really are in full on tourist mode) manage to haggle it down from 600Dh to 250Dh. Who knows if this is the right amount  but it’s OK. Some of it interesting/Fun some weird, why take us around the hotel district to point out different chain hotels!?
Had a shave and a haircut, this has turned into some sort of tradition now, I’ve had them in multiple places. Portugal was the best and most professional, Thailand the most fun.
Lunch at Marrakech Henna Art Cafe. Owned by an American woman who came on holiday here 3 years ago and stayed. It supports a local charity and I can really recommend it. It’s down a side street of the main square. 5 minutes or 2 hours depending on how easily accosted you are. Having said that even though we’re only a few hundred metres away from the main square it feels like a completely different city. No hard sell hassle nonsense.

Off to Essouria tomorrow.

Meknes to Imilchil

The last two days have been epic.
Epic wow moments.
Epic. Oh please let this be over.
Stunning landscapes.
Freaky landscapes.
Huge landscapes.
Super friendly locals, we had numerous invites for tea, which we had to turn down for reasons you'll see below.
The Epic, Oh please let this be over, well that’s the escape for the river ravine. I remember a B movie, more like a C movie I watched years ago about a Russian tank crew who got lost in Afghanistan and drove up a ravine, it didn't end well for them. For some reason I start thinking about that film And the never ending single track mountain roads with no barrier and maybe 500m drop offs. Most definitely the scariest roads we've ever been on! Marie hates these types of road. I tell her it’s aversion therapy and she should be cured by now.
An overland tour company pulled into the campsite last night and, as you do, I got into conversation with the tour leader. She asked what our plans were and I showed her our route for today. So cutting a long story short she convinced me that we should head for here instead.
Lac de Tislit
Location: geo:32.196896,-5.6372414
She even showed me a route on the map. So off we set for gentle saunter through the Moroccan countryside. It starts off great, the only concern being we'll never arrive due to the numerous photo opportunity stops.
About an hour in the road turns into a typical gravel piste, no problem. We meet a couple of locals coming the other way who stop and via our ridiculously poor French we figure they're telling us that we're on the wrong road.
So we back track and we end up in a village with no apparent road out. We blunder around like a couple of complete tools for a while. Crossing irrigation channels that have bridges across them barely wide enough for the Sprinter. Marie has to get out and direct me across, even then the tyres are hanging off the edge.
So we end up paying a local kid on his bike 20Dh to direct us out, onto more or less the road we’d already been on.
Anyway happy days, back on tarmac. Until the road disappears into the adjacent river. As we're pondering what to do a Polish couple in a Toyota Landcruiser pulls up behind us. They crossed on the same ferry as us from Spain, small world. She runs on ahead, following the tracks in the river bed. Maybe 1km ahead the road is intact so between us we decide to press on. All good.
Unfortunately the road disappears again. It’s now a question of press on or turn around. We press on, at times it’s pretty extreme going, even the Toyota LC80 struggles. It then partially breaks, sounds like a universal joint at his rear axle is on its last legs.
We both decide to turn back, until a local farmer appears and tells us there’s only another 4km of this and then it’s tarmac. Question. Is our French sufficient to comprehend what he’s telling us, maybe it’s 40km he does point to a lump of tarmac washed down by the river as he’s explaining. It does turn out to be about 5km.
It's maybe 7 to 10km of river bed to go back so we carry on. Marie is having a hissy fit at all this, I'm not enjoying it too much either. Has someone moved the Darian Gap to Morocco?
We finally get out of the ravine that seemed to go on for ever. Both of us are now beyond going “wow look at that.....” We're still 79km from our destination, Doh!!
The scenery and terrain are stunning though, it’s difficult to describe and I doubt the photo's do it justice. They could do a Martian film here. It’s red, purple, green, white, that’s the mountains, not the vegetation. But after maybe 5hrs in that river bed we're not looking. It was bloody hot as well.
So we arrive at the lake. The Auberge/camping is like something out of the Shinning. The lady who welcomes us is lovely though. She’s cooking dinner for us right now, hopefully it’s good. I’ve eaten some dates and a few crisps whilst driving. I’m knackered, maybe that’s enough off road for now! Marie definitely never wants to see another switch back mountain road with no barriers and a 40 year old overladen truck coming the other way! I think we were at 2,400 metres at times. We're camped at about 2,000 metres so it’s a little chilly now the sun has gone down.
 Some stats:
Average speed 10.2mph
Max. Speed 80.2mph
Height gain 5,387 metres
Height loss 3,956 metres
As I say, it’s been an experience. Marrakech tomorrow. The sat nav says 5hrs, so that’ll be another 10hr day

Now for the boring petrol head stuff.
I'm seriously impressed with the Sprinter. It struggles with ditches/axle articulation but it did it. At times it’s tricky balancing the throttle, traction control, forward momentum and the turbo boost. It works best when you can hold a constant throttle, maintaining a non damaging speed  and allowing the traction control to do it’s thing. If you lose forward momentum and you're off boost, as you are a lot of the time if you don’t want to rip the thing to bits, it can stall. It’s then tricky to get going again without giving it too much throttle/boost. Coming from a G Wagen I'm  conscious that, to me at least, the front diff and drive shafts look pretty light weight. I guess, given its commercial vehicle roots, the rear axle and half shafts are pretty robust though. Maybe that’s the reason the torque split is 65 rear 35 front? In any case I really don’t want to find the mechanical limits!
For a van though, impressive! It does drink the fuel in this type of environment though. 7.5mpg!! Overall for the 180km it’s 12mpg.
Meknes.

Meknes

We like Meknes, it’s a big city around 1.5m inhabitants but it doesn’t feel like it. We park up maybe 2 minutes from the Medina for 40Dh. For that you get a 24hr guardian but no facilities. We actually have a good night’s sleep even though we're so close to the city centre.
The Medina is a very friendly and easy place to wonder around, no hard sell hassle. It’s as if it’s not a tourist location so you're not seen as a walking ATM.
Marie makes a new best friend with a Berber lady who is part of a women's cooperative.  She's lovely, a good sales woman of course. She's also very keen to point out that she’s not Moroccan, but a Berber. The shop is for divorced women and they sell local products. Such as Berber Whiskey, which is a sort of herbal tea which helps you get a good night’s sleep. Perfume which is made into  resin blocks. So we part with some money, but walk away happy. We didn't even haggle much.

We planned on visiting Volubilis on our way into Meknes but the mist and sideways rain put us off! So we head straight there as soon as we wake. Even though we get there for about 8:30 the coach tours are arriving. It’s an impressive site though, well  worth a visit.
After that we're on our way to:
Auberge Kasbah Timnay 
Location: geo:32.751495,-4.9190855
A seriously good campsite.

Morocco

Yay, we're here😃
Arrived in Tangier Med around 6pm. Too late really given how soon it goes dark this far south but it was a very painless entry. Far less hassle than Ceuta. Still confusing of course. Just when you think youre nearly done the customs guy sends you back to the Police to get your CIN number validated. The CIN is the Police number in your passport, who knows it's purpose but it's obviously important.
So off I go in search of a Police man. I ask a guy in a hi via jacket, he takes me over to a booth that looks shut. Blinds all firmly closed, no sign of life. He VERY gingerly taps the glass......nothing. I can tell he really doesn't want to try again, or be within a 100m of here.
He has another go. Some  movement. The door opens the width of a hand and, well a hand appears out of the darkness. I hand over my passport. The door shuts and my helper in the Hi Vis pretty much runs away.
5 minutes pass, the door opens, the width of a hand and my passport reappears. Back to the customs guy, who goes back to his PC.
I'm instructed to stay by the van. It would appear that their IT systems are actually quite integrated. 5 minutes later and he's back we're good to go. There is another check point which I've observed other travellers being stopped at a 100m up the road, but he's busy on his mobile so the barrier lifts and we really are on our way.
So onwards to Asilah for the night. Asilah looks good but it's chucking it down with rain and it's been a long day so and early night.
I'd stocked up on red wine before we left Spain. A 5 litre box, should be enough for a day or two😂
Shame it's bloody Sherry, doh🤔 explains why it's 15% proof.

Roman Fishing Village and Tarifa

Saturday. We visited some Roman ruins here:
Baelo Claudia
Location: geo:36.089806,-5.7714167
They were pretty impressive, in their day from around 100BC to 700AD this were an important tuna processing area. Here, on an industrial scale. The fish processing areas are still clearly visible. The odd thing being is that if you didn't search them out you’d never figure they were here. Not a single tourist sign until you’re literally at the gate. Free entrance for EU members.
Next to
Tarifa
Location: geo:36.01278,-5.604894
We liked it here, but given that it was a bank holiday Saturday parking was a bit of a nightmare, we ended up parked on the outskirts and walking, and walking.
The Spanish really don’t do leafy suburbs, if the sun wasn’t shining it would do a good impression of eastern Germany on a November day before the wall came down.
But the old town was great, a bit touristic but cool. Lunch was good, red tuna. A massive steak of tuna, 3 times the size you’d see at home for €15. Not bad.
Apparently Tarifa was known for its high suicide rate, attributed to the constant wind sending people nuts. I can believe it, as much as I liked the place a few hours is enough!!
Even though we’ve done nothing much we're both exhausted by the time we get back, can’t even be bothered to cook or go out for dinner. So a couple of G and T's for dinner instead. It’s tough here😂

Tarifa

Well North of Tarifa, here:
Torre de la Peña
Location: geo:36.05614,-5.659128

This site has such a different feel to the last place, which could well have been a holiday camp for the over 70's Tory Party. 90% plus were obviously long term Brits staying for the winter. Most of them would do their best to avoid even acknowledging you, with of course a few exceptions.
This site has a far better vide, a bit haphazard, but far more friendly. We're maybe the only Brits here. It’s mostly Spanish and German. So here’s my thoughts on this friendly or not stuff.
 It’s got very little to do with nationality and a huge amount to do with location. The miserable sites, have without exception, been large, expensive and purport to be 4 star and above. The facilities need to be immaculate for a truly aloof and miserable ambience. Go figure.
So we can see and feel Morocco from here. The Atlas mountains are visible, but it’s pretty hazy. When I say feel, omg the southerly wind is just hot, hot, hot. Last night it felt like, for a laugh, someone had placed a fan heater on the roof and directed it through the powered vent. Talking of which. The Fiamma  powered roof vent has been absolutely brilliant on this trip. Unfortunately, when we're not connected to the mains the battery/solar panel can only just cope with it running on its slowest speed for the night.
Post trip mod. A second 100watt panel and a bigger battery.
We'll hang around here for a few days, go into Tarifa and visit a Roman fishing village a few km's North.
Morocco, probably around the 26th. But.....just checked the weather for Essouria. 39 Celsius!!

Ronda to the Med. Via the Scenic Route.

So I did ask “direct or scenic roads?”
There are a few issues with the scenic route, if you've got anything bigger than a Sprinter, forget these roads. Windy doesn't cover it. At times it felt like a 90 degree bend every 50 metres. Single track, no barriers, drop offs of a few hundred metres, road crumbling away in places. Marie loved every minute. The villages were tight, a few mm  either side of the mirrors and steep.
Literally thousands of sweet chestnut trees, and loads of people collecting them. Seriously tough work I’d imaging, very steep banks to scramble along and peace work no doubt.
Sloooow progress, maybe 10 to 15mph a lot of the time. I'll try and do a screen copy of the route.
Loved it, including the stop for lunch at a Spanish bikers caff.
Arrived at our campsite, after some concrete jungle roads. It's, well, very good. If you check out the reviews for these types of sites you'll find a disproportionate fixation on the sanitary facilities. Given the demographics I sort of understand this. We'll move on soon, if for no other reason that it’s €30 A night FFS! It does have cable TV points at each pitch though, there you go you really do get what you pay for. Here's that word again, Hireath🤔

j

Seville to the White Villages of Andalusia

 We head south, first stop a random castle that we spot on the horizon. It’s a Moorish castle that was placed on the border between Seville and Granada. It’s not big but really well preserved and we're the only ones there. Nice find.

Next stop:
Arcos de la Frontera
Location: geo:36.747684,-5.7997355
Well it isn't a stop actually, after some random driving through really narrow streets we give up and move on. To:
Grazalema
Location: geo:36.7584,-5.3660917
More luck here, so we park up and have a wonder around, a beer and some shopping for sausages, cheese, cake etc.
Next stop:
Ronda
Location: geo:36.742134,-5.1665998
We park up with 3 or 4 other camper vans on the outskirts, great place. A peaceful nights sleep and an easy stroll in to Ronda for breakfast. I’d read that this place can become rammed with tourists, and sure enough as we’re leaving coach loads of the  usual selfie addicted  suspects are arriving. We really liked Ronda.
By 11:30ish and a few coffees later we're on our way towards the coast. We’ve decided to give the med a go. We fancy some calm warm seas to play in. Not too sure about the Costa's though. We'll see.

I Hate Apple

I loathe and detest their consumerist / profiteering junk. Why?
Marie’s iPhone 6 is absolute junk. Unfortunately she has all the data. 30G compared to my 500meg. This wouldn't be an issue if she hadn't left her Apple charging lead at home. We have a generic one in the van, but her phone is so “clever” it knows it’s not genuine and continuously throws error messages up. So we buy another, good quality one before we leave the UK. I’ve got better things to do than trawling around looking for genuine Apple stuff. But no after a couple of days it figures out this is non genuine and stops charging. 3rd new lead. Yeah it works...for a week FFS!!! This is just typical Apple nonsensical crap which no other manufacturer seems to be able or want to impose on their customers. We seem to spend our days obsessing about will it won't it work today, life’s too short for that!!
Even when it does decide to charge, which seems pretty random, the battery life is pathetic. All we want is to be able to use Google maps and the odd search when we're out and about. It’s incapable of such a simple task.
So it may or may not be the lead. Buy a new Apple one for £40? They’re junk and fail within months or ....
Online searches confirm iPhone's are known for this. Hard reset. Nope. Backup and reinstall. Nope. Haven't got a pc and there’s never Wi-Fi in Europe that’s up to that.
So £200 to repair it, or a new phone?? Nope, Apple you can do one. Compared to Jess and Ellie's Huawei P9's the camera is pathetic, barely better than my 720p resolution phone😂 the operating system certainly doesn't live up to the hype. So there you go, I'll take great pleasure in jumping up down on it until it’s in a million pieces. Umm, no wait. There's going to be a queue of Apple fanboyz waiting to hand over a load of dosh......
Through all this my 50quid refurbed Huawei has worked just fine. Just no data. We'll chuck the iPhone and get a cheapee phone and alter my data plan. Mine is only £4.99 a month so 500meg isn't bad.

Sun Rise in Seville

Sun Rise in Seville.
We stay at Camping Villsom
Location: geo:37.277637,-5.937102
For a city campsite it’s really good. Very friendly and helpful staff who speak perfect English.
The bus into Seville is about 400m away and costs €1.65 one way. It’s about a 45 minute journey (how much would that trip be in the UK? I’d have no idea as we only have one bus a day going 2  miles down the road )
I’m not a big fan of cities but Seville is stunning, we actually arrive at:
Plaza de España
Location: geo:37.377045,-5.9869695 just in time for sunrise. Wow!!

By 12:30 It’s beer and tapas time. We have a great lunch people watching. The tapas, considering Seville is supposed to do the best tapas isn't great but hey, we're in tourist central. A couple of buskers do their stuff. One a local does a sort of Spanish gypsy kings type thing, the other a guy who first of all claims he’s from south Africa but then decided he was from Senegal plays a wierd looking thing and sings some sort of African song. I liked him but he couldn't hold a tune to save his life😁
After a 2 hour lunch and too much to eat we saunter back towards the bus stop and find......a sort of world food fair. Doh... we’re both stuffed but wonder around looking at food stalls from Argentina, Peru, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Russia, Italy, Belgium, South Africa....
Neither of us can raise the energy or appetite in 35 Celsius to sample anything. Foodies, yeah right. I sample a beer called The Cannabis Factory. It’s got hemp in there. The labels more appetizing than the beer unfortunately.

The Algarve.......Gods Waiting Room

So the Algarve has finished Portugal for us, we tried honestly, but for us it has nothing to offer.
We are leaving God's Waiting Room🤔😂

We decided to go for a plush campsite in Espiche
Location: geo:37.10157,-8.73816
It was an ACSI site, pretty big with loads of facilities, pool, spa, bar restaurant and to be fair it was very good. But you could have been anywhere, not within walking distance of anything much so we ended up moving on after 1 night.
So off to Lagos we head. Its OK but nothing of any character. Got ripped off again for lunch, Portugal really isn't a good value destination, unless of course........more of that in a minute.
Onwards to Alvor, we’ve heard and read good things about Alvor. So we head to a camperstop. Oh my God! We’ve seen a few of these camper van stop overs but this one takes the biscuit. It’s a hot, dusty car park next to a few newish  purpose built beach bars. It’s absolutely rammed. It’s basically a refugee camp with satellite TV. So there is a way to do Portugal on a budget, plenty of signs up outside the bars in town advertising beer for 90 cents a pint. Apparently plenty of Brits park up there for the winter. When it rains it turns into a mud bath so they'll collect pallets to stack around their MH to stop them getting trench foot I guess. Take a look at the photo, grim or what!?

Not for us. So we move on. We'll try inland. It looks promising even though there's no sea. We eventually end up on a campsite that’s obviously pretty new. Run/owned by a French couple who are really trying to make it a wonderful place. It's a work in progress, but cheap and good.
But that's it for the Algarve, shame that it's been a let down for us but we did try. So off to Spain in the morning.

Wild Camping

Near EM 1257
Location: geo:37.04574,-8.881147
Next to a beautiful bay:
Praia da Ingrina
EM 1257
Location: geo:37.0463,-8.879164
I think its fare to say Marie has had enough of tracks today😂 I tend to agree actually. But I'm seriously impressed with the Sprinter off road. No drama, even on some pretty tricky tracks. It doesn't like axle twisters though.
We got to see the moon rise, and then a sun rise. That's a first for us and pretty stunning. A wonderfully peaceful nights sleep. Followed by a nice and slow awakening. I did think about trying to catch some fish, but if seemed too much effort.
Mid morning we headed towards the most westerly tip of Europe. Odd that. We'd already been there in Spain😂
It was crap. As interesting and as touristy shite as lands end. I literally couldn't be bothered to get out of the van to take a photo. So you'll have to take my word for it.
Anyway, things are looking up since we've now been sampling some 50% proof local hooch.

Zambujeira do Mar

We're now here:

Zambujeira do Mar
Location: geo:37.524117,-8.785393
A strangely soulless village whose only purpose is to act as a tourist location. A few apartment blocks, a few unfinished apartment blocks and a few upscale houses on the periphery. Then a few bars and restaurants and shops selling the usual tourist crap. The sort of stuff you could by in Rhyl  if you were so inclined. So we're really not feeling it.
We had lunch at a fishing harbour, which looked really promising. Turbot, salad, chips etc.
Best bit was the litre of fizzy white wine for €3.50 . The rest was mah and the bill €46. Not what I’d call a cheap lunch, who said Portugal was cheap!? We’ve definitely not found it to be the case, have I mentioned fucking Brexit before🤔
It's a tricky thing to define value, it really doesn't feel like we're getting value for money here. Let me try to explain. We could spend, let’s say €100 on a meal / night our and be delighted, and say wow that was amazing. Or we could get charged €20 for something and walk away feeling like you’ve been mugged. Get it? So up to now we’ve been mugged 8 times out of ten in Portugal. Not impressed.
So now look at those photos. Stunning yes? Well we'd agree........but. Why aren't we “feeling” it!!??
The Atlantic coast is stunning, beautiful, wild, incredible. But. Yep that word again. Why isn't it grabbing us, engaging us, hooking us? Maybe because home (the Llyn Peninsula) is so much better? OK minus the 30C sun. Look up the word Hiraeth. Maybe the Peloponnes and the Llyn Peninsula have ruined our travels for ever. I hope Not!
Anyways, Portugal. You have another couple of days to hook us. We're off further south to the Algarve. Unfortunately that word doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. It sets a mental picture of leathery old Brits  grilling themselves for 12 hrs a day whilst swilling English beer and smoking themselves to death on cheap fags. Let's hope and wish for more. If not we're moving east back into Spain. If that doesn't work we'll be in Morocco sooner than planned!

The Parque Natural do Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina

Parque Natural do Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina, it's a wild coast😀
We haven't travelled far today, maybe 35km from:
Vila Nova de Milfontes
Location: geo:37.725277,-8.782282

To

Zambujeira do Mar
Location: geo:37.524117,-8.785393

Had an amazing lunch at:
Longueira/Almograve

Location: geo:37.65493,-8.782217 at a random bar / restaurant that looked busy with locals so we just pulled over. I had pork tenderloin with clams cooked in garlic butter. Who'd have thought such a combination would work! But wow it did. Half the price of last night and twice as good😂

Washing Day

We travelled maybe 40km south, stopped off at:
Porto Covo
Location: geo:37.85171,-8.79183
For breakfast. It was an OK breakfast and an OK town. Umm that's about it.

Carried on to a campsite in:
Vila Nova de Milfontes

Location: geo:37.725277,-8.782282.
We really needed to do some Washing! The bed had a good portion of beach in there😂

Shame the pool closed today, it looks very inviting. Ah well, south we go. I'm not too sure what we'll find once we hit the Algarve. We're looking forward to calmer seas and fully open tourist infrastructure. But concerned that we'll be surrounded by leathery brits cooking themselves in the sun and singing "bring out the barrel"🤔😂 I wonder if they have Watneys Red Barrel on draught? Hopefully, and from what I've read I'm being more than a little disingenuous😎

We walked into town last night and had very good dinner, thought we'd treat ourselves. It was good but apart from the wine you wouldn't know you were in Portugal, and the price was pretty much UK money.......fucking Brexit😐