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DAY 11, Wed 14/02, Chefchaouen to Fes. 285 kms. Total 2020 kms. Camping International De Fes
Valentines Day – a fact neither Inga nor I realized till Mom texted later in the evening (how romantic are we) Day started a little shakily with me deciding on a route to Fez that I thought would be shorter but in fact turned out to be about 80 kays longer which we only discovered when it was too late too turn back. (started along the Al-Hoceima Road and then turned south to Fes at Ketama) This route goes through some remote areas in the Rif mountains where unbeknown to us beforehand, lots of Hashish is produced (and sold) Needless to say after not very long we were dodging drug sellers offering huge blocks of hash at every bend in the road and town. (Almost like selling prickly pears on the Eastern Cape roads) Obviously we were not interested but very hard to get the message across to these guys. They must believe all foreigners smoke hash? It was amusing at first then became quite annoying as they would drive past you in cars waving out the back window then pull over expecting us to stop, sometimes standing in the middle of the road causing us to dodge them. They would then get in the car and repeat the process 2 or 3 times. Eventually we could spot the cars too – all new golfs, mercs and bmw’s! Shows you where the money is. After a while though we just got used to it and didn’t let it get to us.
After the turn off south to Fes (N34°54.955’ W4°34.252’) things quietened down to normal again.
Arrived in Fes at the average and overpriced Camping Int De Fes, with the help of a little “guide” on a motor bike bringing us to the camp site. Quite lucky for us I think as even with gps point think we may have struggled to find it as we only spotted one sign miles away.
DAY 12, Thurs 15/02, Fes. Camping International De Fes. 0 kms. Total 2020 kms
We had arranged with the young chap on the motor bike to be our guide in Fes, as it seemed to be the done thing in Fes. In hindsight DO NOT do this. Rather go off on your own. You will probably see more and not be just be taken to shops expected to buy stuff. I had not expected this in Fes after out pleasant time in Chefchaouen but are very much the wiser now. Anyway to cut a long story short our “guide” did not turn up. I think he was “told” to stay away by the campsite boss so he could get one of the guides in cahoots with him to take us, probably for kick-backs on anything we bought? Anyway turned out to be a complete con – didn’t see all the parts of Fes we were promised & spent a lot of time in carpet shops, spice shops etc. & being offered souvenir shopping & expensive lunches, which we all passed on (expect for buying a small quantity of spice which we though was expensive enough) At the end guide lost interest in showing us anything probably because he was receiving no commission so were finished in 3 hours & he asked for twice the going rate as payment. In the end we only gave him less than the going rate (100 dirahams) and we had a huge fight. So not very nice and it kind of spoiled our time in Fes.
The Medina and the souqs/markets are nice, but even without the bad experience with the guide I think we were expecting more and were somewhat disappointed. It seems the people’s attitude there involved in tourism is only to see tourists as cash cows and this spoils the experience.
(Have since met fellow overlanders in Marrakech who have similar & worse story’s about being ripped off – particularly to do with anything organised by the camp site so be careful! But at least it seems quite isolated and Marrakech, where we are now, is supposedly not like that at all)
DAY 13, Fri 16/02, Fes to Marrakech. 531 kms. Total 2551 kms. Camping Ferdaous.
Our longest day so far, even surpassing our 2 long driving days in Spain. Probably a bit far to attempt as we arrived about an hour after dark, so should have stopped sooner but it was only 40 kays or so to the campsite so we pushed on. Did have a fairly long stop at the Marjane supermarket (N34°01.139’ W6°49.040’) near Sale & Rabat though to stock up on some supplies for the next few days, which was good. Some pretty dodgy overtaking moves on the very busy P7 route into Marrakech from Casablanca maybe because it was Friday evening so be careful. We had planned to stop in Casablanca 1st which would have made it 200 + km’s shorter, only to get our Mauritanian visa’s but as we would have been there over the weekend when the embassy was closed there was no other point to spend time there. We will just get them at the border. Also our 1st meetings with other overlanders, Leon & Claire, who we have been in email contact with since we left UK & Darrin of roamingyak fame in his green landy who is on his way back from Mauri & Mali. Also Denis in his disco should arrive today so there should be 3 vehicles on similar routes for the next month or 2. Will sit down and discuss going in convoy for some/part of it.
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