Marrakech lay to the north east of the snow capped High Atlas mountains, 1500 feet above sea level. If the wind direction came from the mountains it brought a chill to the air and the night time temperature could drop to 0°. During the day the temperature soared in the strong African sunshine. Between 2pm and 4pm each day we had a sweet spot by the truck, half in the sun, half in shade where we set out our chairs for a couple of hours of rejuvenation.
In Marrakech, as with all the major cities, campsites tended to be on the outskirts of the city. There didn’t appear to be any public transport and taxis were our only way to get about. We took a cab to the local supermarket, Marjane. The driver was happy to wait whilst we shopped and he re-appeared as soon as we exited the store, cheerfully helping us with our groceries before driving us back to the camp site. The cost of the round trip, with tip, was about £16.
We took a taxi to the city centre to meet up with our daughter, Kate and son-in-law, Neil. They were enjoying a short break in Marrakech to celebrate Neil’s 60th birthday. The city was heaving with tourists plus all the paraphernalia required to relieve visitors of their dirhams. It was incredibly noisy and the streets were choked with cars, their horns adding to the assault on our ears. After a walkabout and a fabulous lunch in a Japanese restaurant we were glad to return to our quieter oasis on the outskirts.
During our stay in Marrakech we had one day of squalls. The temperature didn’t rise much above 14°, it was cloudy and the rain showers were brutal. Huge puddles appeared around the camp site and the soft soil beneath our feet transformed into sticky mud which, however careful we were, found its way into the truck. It was pretty miserable. The following day the sun shone and everything dried so speedily you would never have guessed it had rained at all. We heard that the Tizi N’Tichka pass, the road we had used a few days previously to reach Marrakech from Ouarzazate, had had to close due to snow fall.
