0420 Fez to Bab Boudir

11^th Feb 2016

Sunshine, cork trees, snow, and a night in the cold mountains !

After a lengthy pack up as we chatted with some of our friends in the camp site, and a quick (and frustrating) effort to get on the wifi in the office, we left Fez and headed out on the road east towards Taza.  We had decided to head west towards Algeria, then turn not hint the Rif mountains and valley which is supposed to be really beautiful, before heading up to Chefchaouen and then finally Tanger, to catch our ferry back to Spain.  As usual, it was to be a day packed with totally unexpected adventures !

Leaving Fez, after we had been to the Carrefour to stock up on supplies, the Sat Nav took us out to the south, which meant we had to travel on the toll road again, which was not our plan. But as the alternative would have been to go all the way back into Fez in order to get on the minor road, we had little choice.  About 9 dirhams later on the toll road (about $1.25), we managed to get off it, and from Bir-Tam-Tam onwards we were on the more interesting (to us) N (national) road. Very beige and arid looking countryside, but they appear to plough it all, so maybe this is just a result of the poor rainfall this year, and that once it rains here, they can grow stuff. 

At about 1.30 or so, with the tummies ready for some sustenance, we came across a large lake, or reservoir, and after driving along beside it for a while, I spotted a rough dirt track that appeared to lead down to the lake – Picnic spot ?  We did a U turn (we had missed the turning) in front of a whole lot of vegetable and pottery stalls beside the road, and went down the track and found a good spot right on the shore – Only things there was one donkey and two men pumping water out of the lake and onto some crop they were growing.  They waved and seemed friendly enough, so we enjoyed our lunch in the warm sunshine.  I say warm, but from photos you can see we are still wearing fleeces etc – The sun IS warm, but it is late winter, and any breeze is cool, and once you are in the shade, it is also cool.

After our lunch, we got back on the road, and saw a couple of guys with enormous fish for sale – obviously caught in the lake, and hopefully fresh.  They were a bit big for us, and further up the road we passed the veggie stalls again – The first had hundreds of Tagines, and then there was one with hundreds of gourd pumpkins of every shape and size.  Then there was lots of delicious looking veggies – But we were now stocked – If we had known these well stocked stalls were here we would have waited and bought our stuff here. 

We were driving along beside the railway – Even saw a passenger train at one stage but the camera wasn’t ready !  And there were patches of well irrigated land which were very green amongst the barren country side.  Then, having noted the route in our guide book, about an hour later, we turned off the main road and headed up into the Tazekka National Park on a narrow one lane road.  We climbed up through a gorge, in the walls of which were quite a few caves that looked as though people lived in them, although we didn’t see any people.  The signs indicated that there are species of deer which, once eradicated from the area, have recently been reintroduced, although we didn’t see any.  Winding slowly through the hills, we suddenly saw a big patch of jonquils (or similar) just in one small area, and then not again, and then we were passing through hundreds of trees that looked like they had been ring barked.  I suddenly realized they were cork trees that had been “de-corked”, and then it looked like the bare trunks had been painted with something (to prevent any kind of infestation ?).  Janet had never seen cork trees before, and was fascinated, so we stopped for a good look at them. 

We passed under a “Snow barrier” that was obviously new – It was still covered in protective plastic !!  Then on up through the mountains, now up over 1500 metres, and although the clouds seem to be descending, there were some superb views over the mountain tops.  The camera is never half as good as the naked eye, and we could see for miles across the mountains, although the camera only shows about 3 or 4 ranges of mountains in the distance.  This is the Middle (Moyen) Atlas (we have already been through the High Atlas in central Morroco, and the Anti Atlas down in the south), and there were peaks to our SE of over 3500 metres.

We had also read of a dirt road suitable for 4WD’s only that led 9 kms up to a TV repeater station, on a mountain top, and “gives really great panoramic views out over the Rif and Middle Atlas”.  So off we went up the goat track, but unfortunately by about half way, the clouds had come down, and far from any panoramic views, we could hardly see the front of the car !!  We persevered briefly in the hope that we would rise above the clouds into clear blue skies, but it was obviously not going to happen, and as it was now 5 pm, we didn’t want to get stuck up there in the dark.  We would have camped there – But it was cold, windy, and misty, so we decided to head down into Bab- Boudir where we were led to believe there was a camp site. Well, the village was small and seemingly deserted, and the camp site was closed, so we headed back to an Aire de Repos (rest area) we had seen just two minutes back up the road.  It was in a small copse, had picnic tables, and was reasonably sheltered from the wind, especially when we reversed in so the nose was pointing directly into the wind.

All was good initially, but the wind became stronger, it started raining, and as the mist and cloud swirled down around us, the temperature plummeted to about 2 deg C !!  Well, it was dark now, and too late to move, so we cooked some baked beans, sausages, and mash potato on the single burner inside the van, and went I went out to clean my teeth just before bed, I swear it was sleeting !    It had been a long day through some great scenery, especially during the afternoon, so it was nice to be snug and warm in our sleeping bags as the wind and rain blew around us.

Pics are here :-  https://picasaweb.google.com/110185357936043625130/0420FezToBabBoudir?authkey=Gv1sRgCLmni9iijuSDEg