So much has happened since I last had the chance to sit at the old remington traveller and bash out a blog on the worn keys….
Rosie and I left Essaouira which clings to the fact that Jimi Hendrix stayed there in 1969. Everyone there knew Jimi Hendrix when he visited, including the 40 year old man we met who was taught English by Hendrix, even though he would have only just been born. Also they all tell you how he wrote Castles in the Sand whilst looking at the deserted sea castle just down the coast. (He wrote the song in 1967, two years before he visited.)
We liked Essaouira and liked to wander through the Medina and see the sights and smell the…..whatever the smell happened to be. We will go back for a visit before we go home.
After Essaouira we went down the coast to Sidi Kouaki where the huge firm beach is perfect for sand yachting, so that is what we did. The campsite we stopped at, was very much to our liking, with no electric, water pumped from a well once a day and bread delivered by an old man on a donkey every morning. The day we left to go to Imesouane, which is a surf spot and a sleepy fishing village, I developed a urine infection. We stopped at a chemist shop en route and stocked up on anti-biotics and codeine, and I then parked up in Imesouane and I went to bed for 4 days.
After my recovery, we stayed another few days, eating fresh fish straight off the boats and chilling out at the campsite which is owned by ex world no 2 windsurfer Jamie Lever and his girlfriend Ann Sophie, a super lovely couple.
After we left Imesouane, we headed down to Agadir to find a supermarket and stock up our now empty cupboards. We did not like anything about the place and after a noisy night at a parking de nuit, we headed south to find the desert.
We drove solid all day till we passed the gate to the Sahara at Guilmem. We then continued to the village of Tighmarte which is wierd and quite amazing. The village is set in a huge Palmerie which is a palm forest in the middle of the desert, and although the campsite was closed, we met a Saharan call Faouzi who took us to his home and gave us mint tea and let us park outside his house for the night.
We met a genuine Touareg Caravan master who still travels across the Sahara with a caravan of 25 camels to trade in Mali. They only travel at night and sleep during the day when it is too hot. He showed us his Touareg passport issued by the UN which allowed him free access across international borders.
After our stop in Tighmarte, we headed over to Plage Blanche, where the desert meets the ocean. We were hoping to sand yacht on some of the 50 kms of beach, but there was no wind and so we contented ourselves with walking on the beach and collecting stone to bring home and polish.
Today we left the Sahara after getting up in the jet black night and driving hard to reach Tiznit. We are currently parked in a nice new campsite with concrete floor and we will get the chance to brush a few kilos of saharan sand from out of every locker and crevice. The stuff gets everywhere!
Love and Peace
Mermy and La Rose
