Thursday 23 Jan 2014

It stopped raining and a fresh breeze got up during the night which blew the clouds away so it was a brilliant blue sky to welcome us.

Roads were generally okay.........

After breakfast the convoy set off south along the coast road, generally in good condition although there were places where repairs were needed or were being carried out – at one point we crossed a ford (dried up) whilst a bridge was being constructed. The scenery was superb - once again the photos don’t really tell the tale – mostly desert scrub with patches of cultivation although we have no idea what they were growing. A flock of sheep crossing the road held us up for a few moments.

Traffic hazard

One of the group needing a bottle of gas, we paused at the village of Mirleft and went into a general store/grocery, taking the opportunity of replenishing our cupboards. It was well stocked and like a throwback to the 50’s; the proprietor spoke excellent English too. He’s probably used to hordes of motor-homers.

And it’s here, perhaps, that we should mention that they are everywhere, mainly French (Morocco was a French colony) and the majority are long-termers, much like the Brits in Spain. They are well catered for, although the sheer numbers mean all the campsites are full up by early afternoon. The attraction is, of course, the weather but it is also remarkably cheap – almost everything, fuel, food, site fees, eating out is less than half UK or French prices. And, like us, they tend to travel in small groups although it is not uncommon for them to stay in one place for several months.

In the plan was an idea to visit Plage Legriza, said to be the most beautiful beach on this coast. This may well be so but the developers had moved in and the road was all but impassable for motorhomes, so we gave that up and continued along what was now becoming a quite mountainous road, diving down and across little river valleys then climbing back up to skirt quite high cliffs. It is here that the Anti Atlas mountain range meets the Atlantic ocean.

Sidi Ifni used to be a Spanish enclave up until 1969, a port having the advantage of its proximity to the Canary Islands. Having been taken over by Morocco, much money has been, and still is being, spent, a feature which is immediately apparent as you enter the town on a fine new road past a pair of horse sculptures. There is much new development in evidence and an information booklet we came across later showed what had been done, and what was planned for the future.

Crossing the river to the old town we immediately turned off, past two walled (and very crowded) campsites to Camping El Barco, situated under the cliffs and right on the beach. Enquiries showed there was plenty of room to park all five of us together and we were shown to our pitches, just one row back from the sea. It would appear that this site is not as popular as the others as it has little protection in poor weather, but even with a strong wind blowing it was more than acceptable to us.



Once set up and the flag raised – yes we’d even got a flag! – it being late lunchtime a decision was made to walk up into the old town, just above us on the cliffs, and have lunch. As expected it was very quiet but we found a likely looking place – The Star House – so piled in. The usual quite varied menu, some ordered tajine (a Moroccan speciality) in various guises and others grilled chicken. Eventually meals arrived – but somehow Brenda’s got missed while Terry was most unimpressed with his tajine viande (beef). All the others seemed to be okay however. Eventually Bren’s meal turned up but inevitably the chicken was almost raw, so it was sent back and as most of the others were finished, the order cancelled. Our first attempt at a proper meal in Morocco turned into a disaster. But we won’t let it put us off; back to the van for some proper sustenance.

Camping El Barco

Beachfront at Sidi Ifni

The consensus of opinion is that this place is good for a longer stop so that is what we’ll do. The WiFi and phone signals are decidedly iffy, but the site has free WiFi so this post has been done using that.