Midelt

On the way to Midelt, we stopped at a big layby that was clearly a photo op, stop as a good few people were taking pictures of the panoramic views, including what appeared to be a local football team.

Sods law, parked up and also taking pictures were the occupants of not one, but two, English motor-homes. We all got chatting and learned that one of the couples, who had been living in their old Hymer for the last ten years, were escorting friends on a tour of Morocco.

They told us that they would be staying over at the municipal site at Midelt, then going out in the evening for a traditional Tagine, to a place that they had visited before, and that we were very welcome to join them.

This was a lovely offer, which we accepted, and I'll be damned if I can remember any of their names! I'm so sorry!

Parked alongside the other two UK vans at Midelt

The site was quite basic but, adequate for our needs and we went out to dine at around 6pm. I have to be honest and say that it wasn't to be our best experience in Morocco. The 'restaurant' measured around 15 feet by 8 feet, and that's no exaggeration, and was nothing more than a tiled room with one table in it. The six of us sat around it, literally filled the place to capacity!

We all ordered the tagine only to be told that we would have to wait for around one hour as they hadn't done any prep. Clearly, they weren't expecting any business that night!

All that aside, it was still a nice offer and, in truth, without their knowledge of the place, we would most certainly have spent the night in the van.

The next morning, we were ready to set off before one of the couples had risen so we thanked the hymer couple and told them that we would probably see them at Merzouga.

What we hadn't realised, ignorant newbies that we were, was that in order to get to Merzouga, we would have to drive through the Atlas Mountains!

Belle Vue

We had a little more luck this time and, 40 minutes later, we drove through the entrance to Camping Zerhoune. It always proved to be a faff, once we arrived somewhere, and I'm still not sure why.

We can't decide where to park, we fall out over getting the van level on the blocks, I guess we just must be tired and that makes us a little fractious. So it proved this time, as we parked in one spot, only to move again five minutes later! Time for a truce now as it was almost dark, and we were hungry and tired.

We dug out the chairs and table, and had a vodka and coke each. Sue lit one of the lavender incense sticks in an effort to keep the flies and mozzies at bay and we just sat and looked out at the clear night sky. We hadn't felt this relaxed since we got off the ferry at Tangier.

The next morning at 9am, our host showed up at the van door with a tray filled with glasses and a pot of mint tea. How nice is that? This proved to be a daily

Service with a smile

ritual, and a very nice one at that. 

There was no charge for the tea, it was just their way of making their guests feel welcome and, to be fair, it did just that. Now I'm not a tea drinker but, I have to say that I quite got the taste for it. I could get used to this sort of service!


We decided to stay put for a couple of days, just to get our breath back. I think that there is a danger of rushing through a trip like this, especially if you start off not feeling very sure about where you are, or what lies in wait for you! 

The next day we chose to just have a lazy one, and soak up a few rays, read a book, take a nap, whatever took our fancy. So we did just that.

Sue, relaxing.

Camping Zerhoune is high in the hills above Meknes, a little oasis. A very quiet site and, in fact, there were only two other vans there which added to the sense of solitude. The flip side to that is that there is nothing nearby. No shops and apart from some lovely views, very nice, but it won't feed you, nothing much to see or do.

Our new friend on site, bringer of the mint tea, told us that the nearest village was 1 kilometer away, uphill. We decided to walk up. I'd say it felt more like 3 kilometers away, but it certainly was, uphill! 

Not far now...

I can't honestly say what I hoped to find when we got there. A few village shops, cafe, maybe something along the lines of a rural Spanish village?

Either way, I was disappointed. The people up there appear to be very poor, to me anyway, and the street of tiny shops that all appeared to be selling the same thing, just seemed a bit pointless.

I took a picture of the post office, and immediately caught the attention of a local policeman, who appeared out of no where and warned me against doing so. What do they think we are going to do? Anyway, I just did as I was told, I've seen Midnight Express, and I wasn't about to start taking any chances!

Post Office

We had a walk round and bought a cold drink each. After about ten minutes, I'd seen enough, and we decided to walk back down to the site. The French couple on our site walked up here every morning, maybe to buy bread? All I knew was I wouldn't be returning.

At least on the way back down, we got to enjoy the lovely views, on what was a very warm day. I only hoped that better things were in store for us, or this was going to be either the shortest trip around Morocco, or the quickest!

Stunning views, shame about the village.

We spent our second night planning where to head next. Not that we had a plan, as such but, we kept hearing that the further inland or, the further south, the better, and the friendlier the people.

That night, we had a look on the internet to try and find somewhere that was worth a visit, outside of the more obvious Marakesh, Casablanca, Fes, and the like. The dunes at Merzouga, now that sounds like it could be fun. After consulting our Camping Morocco book, we realized that it would involve a stopover, midway so, we set the sat nav and headed for a site at Midelt.