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| Assila to Dar Bouazza - 214 miles |
As at this point we
hadn't yet properly sussed the time problem we were a little confused
at getting up time! No matter as we were in no rush although we'd
missed the departure of two of our “party” who we'll probably see
later anyway, and the third left shortly after, all in different
directions.
Once we'd got ourselves
sorted out D & J set off to get some fuel and we followed shortly
after; we actually didn't catch them up until almost at our
destination but as we had already decided our next stopover we
weren't concerned. We took the toll motorway as past experience
showed us little we wanted to see again and it was quite a way for a
days journey in Morocco! It is not expensive, our total tolls for the
day were 183 dirhams (£15) for 200 miles.
The weather was still a
little unsettled, but felt distinctly warmer, tempered by a fresh
breeze. We made good time and paused at Kenitra service area as we
thought our friends could have stopped there; they hadn't so we had
lunch before continuing to Rabat. On our earlier trips the motorway
hadn't been completed and this part of the transit was a bit of a
nightmare with big roadworks and consequent heavy traffic. All okay
now though and we breezed past on the motorway across a a striking
new bridge heading for Casablanca, where we nearly took a wrong turn
into the centre – been there, done that, never again! - instead of
following our by now fully operational TomTom.
Leaving the motorway we
came across our friends going the other way, having become unsure of
the correct route, but they tagged onto us and we negotiated a few
minor “roads” and arrived at Camping Oasis International at Dar
Bouazza, a place we've stayed a couple of times before. Although it
was quite busy around the area, due to a weekly souk held just along
the road, the site was quiet and welcoming. We pitched up and
connected the electric, which once it was switched on actually worked
reliably, before relaxing with a cuppa.
The last time we stayed
here they had made some improvements and we had hopes that there
would be more. Alas it appeared that, probably due to it's location,
it was never a busy place and there was little money for anything
major. Nevertheless it was clean and tidy and at least the somewhat
dated facilities were washed out (read hosed out) regularly and
useable. The site dog, called Wiffy, made friends with Jamie but
because he was free-roaming we didn't think we should leave ours
outside unattended despite having had all the necessary treatments.
It's been a long tiring
day so we have decided to stay a couple of nights to recharge
ourselves after the rush-around of the last few days.
* * * * *
Thursday was spent
taking it easy. After a lazy morning we thought we'd take a walk to
see if we could find a beach for Jamie, having never explored the
area before. In all honesty it's not a particularly attractive place
as there is much building work going on. However we wandered through
a recently completed apartment complex, each “court” having it's
own security guard, towards what looked like a sea wall, chasing off
a few wild dogs who objected to Jamie being on “their territory”.
“Security guards”
gives the impression that it is not a particularly nice or safe place
to be, but that is far from the truth. In reality they are more like
the concierge you find in gated estates in other parts of the world
and are more likely to be there as a deterrent to undesirables. One
actually came out of his box and chased the wild dogs off when he saw
them bothering us.
Alas, the “sea wall”
turned out to be another boundary and the sea was still some way away
so we strolled back to the campsite for a cuppa and relax, discussing
where we were heading to next.
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