Cathedral point

And here comes an end to this chapter of our stay in Morocco. Today we left Imsouane and we move on to the next delightful experience. Jaime and Storm join us tomorrow at Marrakech. Fantastic.

But I can not leave Imsouane without chatting about the campsite and it's daily life and humour. In the picture below is Jamie the campsite owner and his dog Louis. Think a blend of Basil Fawlty and Del Boy and you might get close to this well travelled Englishman. Laugh a minute or tears of compassion is what we feel after a visit, which happens daily as quite frankly Jamie, there's no one else here, so popping up to the old hippies van has got to be better than nothing. We've grown to really enjoy the explosive and often or not irreverent humour that appears on our doorstep preceded by the arrival of large and friendly Louis. Other times, his personal life is challenging and for that we have compassion. We too have a tale to tell in our lives that we sometimes share and want no more than a compassionate audience. ( Oh no, it's the Beynons again with their  heart shaking tales of their past ! ) So good luck to you Jamie and thanks for all the humour and a totally eccentric experience at Cathedral point. We've loved it.

When the gates are closed, you can't get out for up to 5 months as Simon found out. We've managed to escape after just 6 weeks! 

Looking out of the gate shows there is no where to run, well, it's as wild as you could want in this direction. Fossil mountain calls in the distance to come and explore.

So lets go for a walk into Imsouane, pictorially that is? Walking through the campsite past the 'love' boats

Ever so sweet, especially when they have two lovebirds sitting on the small veranda, in awe of the view.

Out through the gate, which if there is a north wind can be very challenging!Hold that gate Krysia.

And now we have a choice. If the tide is low, we can walk along the beach, after descending the path.

Carefully past this little front door? Sweet flowers, nice drop. Wake up gently in this cliff pad!

On down the hand hewn sand steps, ever so soft and easy to work with? and crumble!

Carefully does it, the last bit is a bit sketchy. no falling now, nearly there. Cuts and bruises, no thank you.

Then the reward, a fine walk along the most lovely beach, swimmers delight as well as surfers too. Past Helima and Momo, waving from their sea side maison, many happy people live and rent out rooms in the small village around the ' white ' river mouth.

Or there is walk choice number two! When tides are high there is only this way to go. Past the surfers doing their thing, sometimes a difficult path as a quick chat can turn into an hours discussion!

On safely down into the oued, passing 'real' Imsouane residents! And being careful not to trip.

Ah, into the Oued, river that is, and no its not usually running, once in the six weeks we've been here.

A quick chat in a friendly house before moving on into 'town'! What a view to wake up to? Interesting wall art too, that is a stone not someone in a great hurry to go surfing!

A high tide breaks as usual, with the named Cathedral point in the background.

With the sweep of the bay behind us, we can walk along the outside of the village  to arrive at the jetty and port without being tempted to shop 'too early' as water bottles are 5 kilo's in weight each!

Passed the co-op, not like a co-op we're used to but a fisherman's co-operative run by Hassan where we prefer to buy most things even if it's so dark inside the shop you have to trust him to give you what you want as you can't see a thing. So bright outside.

And on to the jetty before any shopping is done. such a tranquil place to take in the harbours delights.

                                                      Fishing nets and blue painted boats

                                                          Beautiful women

Ah, then back home after getting all we need, into the oued and unloading our shopping

Before talking an evening stroll out to the point, resident campsite bitch following obediently.   ( Louis girl )

 

And often or not, a display of crashing waves to complement the setting sun, Imsouane and Cathedral Point

                                             You've been amazing! We'll be back

Tamri and the barrage revisited

Five days since the last blog entry and what have we been up to? Well, the weather has calmed down to a most pleasant mid twenties, the campsite has been very quiet and the campsite owner, Jamie, calls in for a chat most days. We go swimming every day and walk into the village or around the point without fail. Fish we buy from the port, Dorado being our choice and cooked over a a charcoal grill is the preferred method of cooking. Delicious. That along with some excellent potatoes and we have a meal fit for kings.

Today, we took a bike ride to Tamri where we ate a cous cous meal, well it is friday? and bought Banana's and some veg. The roadside stalls here show plainly what Tamri is about, ...........Banana's

Krysia bathed in golden light surrounded by the yummy yellow finger fruit, chats and laughs with the two fellows at this stall. They have mixed feelings about being photographed, chap below seems comfortable

while his friend, although allows the requested shots, chooses to keep the gateway to his 'soul' well guarded. Or is he just shy?

Still, sweet of them to let annoying tourist snap at them while they carry out their days labour.

 Another stall offers a greater variety of vegetables and colour, and loads of banana's too.

We then drove into the mountains via a long and fertile valley full of Banana's and dates etc, following a river that flows from the barrage we visited in the heatwave a week or so ago. Fortunately, the temperature is far more pleasant today so we can enjoy the drive through this beautiful scenery.

Still finding the time to stop for a banana or two, bikers love banana's

And biker girls love to look beautiful, even if it is getting a bit warm. Can we move on now?

And up we climb to the top of the valley before dropping down to the barrage again. Not forgetting to stop at this sign whenever you see it. As it simply reads.............Stop! Although you would think that you would be excused for not knowing that! So just remember, two men in a boat  ( or is it three? ) means stop and if you don't, there is bound to be a cheerful policeman lurking behind a tree happy to take an official 400 dhs off you, or an unofficial 200? if you don't want a paper receipt! This is Morocco.

What a view, looking all the way back down the valley to Tamri, absolutely stunning.

And at the barrage, its almost cool enough to have a short walk, there again, where's the shade?

                                          No shade around here mate

                                          I said, no shade around here.

Get out of the sun you old fool, I know there is not much shade but there's enough to have a break from the hot sun. And it is hot now, not too hot but..........

Too hot for racing lorries, foolish boy. Now get under this Argan tree with me and take a break from the sun, it's a good drive back and we don't want any sunstroke do we?

Yes, I mean no, I know you're right, get out of the sun while you can, there's a good Ted.

So after a relax in the shade, we drove smoothly down to the coast and that cooling sea breeze, well more like a gale really. It can blow here that's for sure. Not a cloud in the sky and yet a gale from the north! Still, at least it's not a heat wave.
We walk the beach to the sight of the sunset and reflect on our stay here at Imsouane. Six weeks we've been here and a new chapter is about to open up as Jaimie and Storm arrive next Monday, which will be brilliant.
So with two days until we leave, we'll make the most of this simply stunning part of our trip and then push off into the next simply stunning part of the trip.
Sleep well. xxx

Meltdown

So here's a thought. Put two Welshies in motor bike gear on their motorbike. Put them into a heatwave in Morocco. Point them inland and drive them 20 kms into a cauldron of heat and what do you get?



                                                                     Meltdown

                                                    Meltdown, shimmering, glimmering,
                                                    Unbearable Meltdown.

                                                    Hot wind, no shade,
                                                    find a tree for you and me.
                                                    Gasp for air, give me cool.
                                                    Living desert, takes no fool.

                                                    To know Meltdown.
                                                    Waiting for sundown.

                                                    Cooling breeze, heat will ease,
                                                    long cool night, don't take fright.
                                                    Morning comes, up lifts the sun.
                                                    Meltdown all over again.

                                                    Meltdown, fear of men.
                                                    Hot as hell, burning down,
                                                    Heavy as lead, takes the town.
                                                    Down and down into Meltdown.

                                                    Shimmering, Glimmering, Unbearable,
                                                    Meltdown.

So, as you might have gathered, there is a heatwave here in Morocco!! Phew it's hot.' Serves you right', I hear say, I see it's only 10 deg C in Swansea today so we won't get any sympathy from there. For us, it's been a challenge. We had thought of travelling a bit before Jaimie joins us on the 29th but after our outing on the bike two days ago, we knew that the only plan was to stay put and keep cool. We are after all, right next to the swimable sea which is very cooling and welcome relief from the temperature. We are not alone, many Moroccan families are also spending time next to the water. It's too hot for all of us. We think around the mid thirties would be a fair estimate and that's on the coast!
So back to our bike ride which stimulated the opening verse. We had been told about the reservoir you can see in the photo above, so a day out on the zoom zoom was an ideal way of keeping cool. we thought??!! But we were soon to discover that driving into a wall of heat does nothing to ease the temperature. In fact, of course and any other obvious remarks!, dressed up in bike gear and helmets was about the daftest thing we could have chosen to do on a day where temperatures were startling even the most hardy local! And we boiled in this unforgiving landscape. At the impressive barrage and reservoir ( who gives a dam (n ) by this point! Pun intended ), we found an Argan tree free of goats? whose shade enabled us to stop and take stock of the situation. It's too bloody hot and we need to get down to the sea asap.

Krysia bravely walks down to the water to wet a scarf, water, water everywhere but swimming is forbidden!  and lets get back to the seaside pronto where at least swim suits are waiting!

Cooling herself with dabs of wet scarf, she catches her breath as even breathing hot air is demanding. We Welshies are definitely not designed for this sort of thing, so we zoom as quick as bike can carry us back down to the........, now hears the odd bit, and it might explain why we took on such a mad adventure in the first place. Imsouane is covered in cool mist and has been for three days now. Thick, swirling, moist almost cold mist!!! So as we approach the coast, cold air is met with joy. Descending into Imsouane we gladly see that we can't see the sea!!!The mist is a blanket of relief. What a day out.

So we have stayed in the campsite since Meltdown and even here the mist has left and the balmy teperatures have meant we must do as others do, .............Swim and stay in the shade.

Hope these four images will remind you of what's to come in the summer ? Well, you never know!!

If you look closely in a couple of these shots, you will see that Moroccan ladies do wear their clothes in for a swim! This is their custom but modern Morocco is breaking through as we see everything from the full head to toe covering to tiny bikinis and many variations in between.  Still, the ladies who are swimming, clothes and scarfs complete, are having as much fun as anyone else.

And every evening, we must not forget to smile!

                                               As we are very lucky to be here

And able to witness such dramatic, cooling sunsets

The forecast for next week is................cooling down! to about 28 deg C or so! which actually might make a lot of difference. 

it's Sunday 21st April, 9 oclock in the morning and very warm !

hope you have a lovely day