Monday 18th February – Takat to Erkounte

Takat to Erkounte - 79 miles

A reasonably early start (for us) on a bright but still hazy morning and after the usual servicing we headed back to the main N1 road and headed south. Initially we were still in a built up area but before long it gave way to open land and vistas of scrub and mountains in the distance.

Donkeys, camels, sheep, goats

This road has been seriously improved since we were here last with an excellent surface and mostly dead straight for miles, with just the occasional village. We were heading for Tiznit, a large town where we knew of a decent supermarket and also banks etc. to get some more currency. Parked on waste ground adjacent to the supermarket, along with several other motorhomes, we first headed off to find a cash machine and bureau de change, naturally walking in the wrong direction as we later found both just round the corner from where we had parked.

The supermarket supplied us with all the dry goods and drinks we needed but no fresh fruit and vegetables so knowing there was a market here somewhere we wandered off and after a couple of wrong turns we asked for directions. A large covered market had all we needed, as well as a lot we didn't (sheeps heads anyone?) so we bought enough to last a week.

Returning to the van, our intended destination was only about 45 mins away so we forewent lunch and pushed on. Following TomTom, we were a bit uncertain at first as we thought we'd be going another way, but Bren soon confirmed we were okay from the map and we enjoyed a scenic (that word again) run through the coastal hills on another excellent road to the sea shore. Before long we arrived at Erkounte Park, a place our friends had been before and loved. A very friendly welcome by the owner and we registered before walking around to find a couple of pitches.

This site is very popular with French long-termers and although there seemed to be lots of space, many had encroached onto adjacent pitches with their trailers, buggies, cars etc so that finding two together was not possible. In the end we settled on pitches with one van between us, but neither had a lot of room. In all honesty if it had been earlier in the day we may have just cancelled our registration and moved on but the weather was again turning cold and grey so we just put up with it. In fact it wasn't long before we had a couple of quite heavy rain showers.

As a consolation, however, we booked meals in the restaurant and at 7.00 pm sat down to a very nice meal, the guys settling for kefta tagine and the gals chicken brochettes, with a traditional Moroccan salad, followed by banana splits and a crepe for Derek. We also had a good chat with the owner who spoke excellent English and remembered Derek and also several other Funsters who stayed here a few years ago. We went to bed in a somewhat happier frame of mind.

Kefta tagine

Chicken brochettes (skewers) and chips

Banana split