We drove north from Marrakech towards the port of Tanger Med passing through fertile plains where they grew fruit and vegetables. The motorway was lined with sellers of the local produce – it was rather like driving through a greengrocer’s shop. We bought oranges and wonderful Charentais melons with their sweet orange-coloured flesh. Later we passed an area growing strawberries and couldn’t resist a large tray of the sweet smelling fruit. Finally we bought some potatoes freshly dug from the fields. Nothing cost very much although we were given far more produce than we could possibly eat. We certainly didn’t waste the strawberries which were still perfectly fresh the next day.
We stopped at the towns of Kénitra and Assilah, both seaside towns on the Atlantic coast. Everything except essential shops was closed for Ramadan although we understood that things would come to life after sunset. Our final stop was at a resort that was a holiday hotel as well as a camp site. The weather was beautiful, 25° and barely a cloud in the sky but, being near the Atlantic, there was a fresher feel in the air. It was cool enough to walk twenty minutes down to the long sandy beach (spoiled, as usual, by overflowing rubbish bins).
I was able to catch up on the laundry – the washing dried in the hot sunshine almost as soon as it was pegged out. The site had a restaurant where we enjoyed an enormous dish of little shell on prawns followed by a grilled bream, large enough for the two of us to share.
The next day we set off to catch the ferry from Tanger Med to Genoa, a trip that would last 56 hours with three nights spent on board. After 170 days in Africa we were heading back to Europe.
Buzz Ricci off to doggy heaven April 2022.
