0422 Al Hoceima to Chefchaouen

Sat 13^th Feb 2016

Rif mountains, haystacks, Rif coastline, and a night drive.

Woke up on the beach, and headed off to check on Anita and Anton in their camp site in town – They were just making coffee !  So we climbed aboard their little home and had a good hour or so chatting about the last few days before we left them to enjoy a second day in Al Hoceima while we headed down the road.  We had decided to head towards the mountain village of Chefchaouen today, but to do so by going first through the Rif Mountains, and then to drop down to the sea to enjoy the Rif coastline that is supposed to be gorgeous, before hopefully stopping overnight at a little coast town of Oued Laou.

Soon after leaving Al Hoceima we started to climb, and we kept going up and up, once again through the most amazing country mountain scenery, through 1100 metres, and eventually up to about 1500 metres, and we spent a lot of the day up around this altitude.  The Rif really refers to northern Morocco, between the Rif mountains in the south, and the Mediterranean in the north.  Its history of isolation and insurrection means that the area has largely been ignored by the modern government of Morocco, so roads and much of the infrastructure are poor compared to the rest of the country.  The area has also become the centre for marijuana growth and export, to which the authorities largely turn a blind eye because it is all the area has.  But this means that one is much more hassled than elsewhere because it is assumed you are there to purchase. But it is such a scenic part of the country that it is worth putting up with the (to us) relatively minor hassles. 

We drove through the most majestic mountains, up through Targuist and on to Ketama, which is the main city for growth and distribution of the weed.  And I have to say that it really is a run down frontier type town, and every 5 minutes someone waves frantically at you to try to stop you, or cars (mostly Mercedes) flash their headlights and try to get you to pull you over to buy.  The town of Ketama really is a mess, so we literally drove through it and then left !  Not a very pleasant town – But an experience for sure !

From Ketama we then started to head back towards the coast, dropping down through these amazing mountains.  At one point we came round a corner and there was a big digger in the road scooping dirt out of the ditch on the inside of the road and then reaching over and dropping the dirt on the other side of the road.  As we arrived, his “arm” was across the road, and the driver just beckoned for us to drive underneath the arm like a bridge across the road !  We were so shocked we forgot to take a picture, so we took one of the digger looking back 2 minutes later from the other side of the valley !  Health and Safety ?  What H & S ?? !!!

They also have the most amazing little haystacks in this part of Morocco. They are small, round, and covered in  a hair net weighted down with rocks so animals cannot eat the hay unless the net is removed.  Some are big and uneaten, whereas others look like half eaten apple cores where they have been nibbled at over time. But they seem to put the stacks anywhere beside the road – Whether they are owned by some kind of local co-operative I don’t know, but they do make interesting sights beside the road everywhere.

We eventually dropped into the little fishing port of Jebna – The road literally comes straight down to the sea, and ends in a sharp left turn along the water front with all the fishing boast along the shore.  We then wandered along the winding road along the coast and it really is a rugged and beautiful coast line. Only trouble is that the road is so winding that it takes forever to get anywhere !  Despite the sometimes “different” driving skills over here, we have seen very few accidents – In fact today we saw only our second.  This one was, well, “self-inflicted” !  The car was perched up on top of the Armco, and it was fairly obvious that the driver had come in to the corner too fast, and there was lots of gravel there, and he had skidded, overcorrected, and shit into the middle of the road – Where he found the Armco !  But they all seemed to be alright and the tow truck was coming down the road to rescue them !

On along the coast, through several very fertile estuaries at the foot of the mountains, with fishing boats pulled up on the beaches.  People here tend to wear big kind of sombreros over their head dresses, although with the high winds along this coast that whistle down out of the mountains they have to tie them firmly on their heads !  And we saw women with some incredible loads of grasses or sticks – Some one foot and some on donkeys.  The ones on foot carry so much that all you can see beside the road is a pile of moving sticks with two little feet sticking out the bottom !

We then came in to Ouad Laou where we had hoped to find a camp site, but even the guide book understated it when it said it was a “little run down”.  When we found it it was SO run down that even though the gates were open we were not sure whether it was abandoned or not !  So we didn’t even stop, but drove on through this otherwise sleepy little town with hundreds of fancy blue street lights everywhere !!  Trouble was that it was getting dark, and the next camp site was in Chefchaouen, some 50 kms away in the mountains !  I do not like driving at night in these kinds of places because wandering donkeys, camels and goats – or even the humans - do not have tail lights !  Also despite headlamp correctors for dipping to the right instead of left, my headlights still give oncoming vehicles a problem as they flash me, so I avoid night travel as much as possible.  But in this case, we decided to keep going because tomorrow is Janet’s birthday and we agreed to sit still in one place that day, and Chefchaouen is supposed to be really nice.  So off we went into the mountains………

As usual in Morocco, as we climbed into the mountains the scenery was spectacular – Just a shame it was quickly getting dark so that after the first part of the gorge we couldn’t see anything !  Bugger !!

So it was dark when we reached Chefchaouen – Fortunately without hitting any wandering donkeys, camels, or goats !  We missed a turning at the start of the town and ended up going right through the middle of a busy centre with narrow streets during the busy evening social period on a Saturday evening, but despite having to negotiate a couple of hairpins (which in a Troopie with a turning circle of a battleship always mean 3 or 5 point turns !) we finally arrived at the camp site and checked in.  Not the most beautiful, but we settled in and found ourselves neighbours with a couple of German lads on KTM motorcycles, (Gunnar and…. ooh – Forgotten !) and after chatting for a while, since we had enough food for 4, we invited them to share our supper with them, and had a very pleasant evening chatting with them about future trips for them – Like South America which they plan next year.

Eventually to bed, quite pooped after a lot more driving than anticipated, but glad we had made it to Chefchaouen and that we now didn’t have to move for 2 nights.  

Pics here :-  https://picasaweb.google.com/110185357936043625130/0422AlHoceimaToChefchaouen02?authkey=Gv1sRgCIqep82-66jT0gE