We stopped in the town of Guelmim to stock up at the Marjane supermarket (no alcohol available) before driving to an isolated camp site in the middle of the desert – but just a few miles from the Atlantic Ocean. Access was a dirt road 9 km long. It took us over half an hour to slowly bump along the track and we laughed at the thought of going all that way only to find the camp site was closed! But all was well – we had checked.
We were the only campers there although there were a few guests staying in tented accommodation nearby. It was New Years Eve and we were promptly signed up for dinner in the restaurant at 8pm. It was an excellent evening. We were made comfortable in the bar area and had a few drinks accompanied by an enormous selection of hors d’oeuvres. An hour or so later we were shown to our table and were served a glass of sparkling wine before a first course of pastilla (a Moroccan specialty pie made with filo type pastry) followed by a whole roast lamb, carved and distributed to each table. We could barely look at the dessert! We wobbled back to the camper just after 11 pm – which was ridiculously late for these two old fogies.
The next morning we felt a bit muzzy and cleared our heads by walking to the ruins of the fort, built by the French Foreign Legion.
The weather was hot and windy. The forecast said 14° at night and 26° in the day but in the sunshine it was over 30°. My sheets dried on the line within ten minutes of being pegged out. They had a small swimming pool which helped keep us cool in the afternoon.
