Day 16: Campsite near Moulay Idriss
Soutpiel Safari
John & Jenny
Sun 21 Nov 2010 10:18
|
Day 16: Saturday 20 November 2010. Campsite between
Moulay Idriss and Meknes. N 34 00.891 E005 33.717 Distance driven 275
km
Today was our great breakaway day from the clutches of
Tetouan and we wound out of town in the direction of Fes in light drizzle and
overcast skies. Our first objective was to charge the batteries after being
stationary for 3 days with the fridge running. The road to Chefchaouen wound up
into the mountains, the drizzle turned to rain and we climbed up into the
clouds with headlights on.
We quickly came on three accidents on the mountain road,
with vehicles that had come off the road, either by themselves or as a result of
skirmishes with oncoming vehicles, two having ended up in the deep concrete
culvert which ran by the side if the road, one on its roof. There were a lot of
very slow-moving vehicles and impatient drivers trying to get past them. We
almost met our end in one of these encounters - as we came round a blind
corner on a two lane road we met a Toyota Land Cruiser overtaking a line of
vehicles and coming straight at us, head-on in our lane. I pulled over
with the nearside wheels on the edge of the culvert and, somehow, he got through
without hitting us. Had we gone into the culvert we would have gone on our side
and been completely wrecked against the rock face. Had he hit us he
would have torn the side out of the Landy. We, of course, with a RHD
vehicle, are driving on the "wrong" side of the road with Jenny in the centre.
When I asked Jenny how close he had been, all she would say as "bloody
close".
We visited a rather nice campsite at Chefchaouen but
only stopped for coffee as it was still raining in the mountains and we though
we would be better off lower down, so took the road to Fes. We stopped for
lunch at a petrol stop somewhere near Ouezzane and had fried eggs, cheese, newly
baked bread and Moroccan tea, the proprietor apologising for the lack of
choice because of the Islamic holiday!
As we continued, the rain stopped and we drove through
beautifully cultivated areas with quite diverse farming methods. We saw several
wooden ploughs pulled by donkeys and then the most modern tractors and
irrigation equipment, side by side. We passed trough rolling country with
olive trees, citrus trees, pommegranetes, cabbages, and bee hives with all the
produce being sold by the side of the road.
Just past the Roman ruins at Volubilis we headed for a
campsite on a hillside among the olive trees, following a GPS reference from The
Great Trek South. It would be a lovely place to stay in the sun, but it is
raining steadily now!
|