We were looking forward to seeing Havid who ran the camp site at Midelt. Havid was a larger than life character who had acquired some fruity English swear words from Stuart, a Scotsman who was a permanent resident on the site.
When we arrived there was no sign of Havid or his wife – or his children, or his numerous dogs, cats or chickens. The place was very quiet with just a few visiting campervans. There was a guardian on the gate who charged us a mere £2 to stay overnight. Normally in Morocco we would expect to pay around £10 a night, including electric hook-up, toilets and sometimes even a hot shower. The last time we were in Midelt we stayed three nights, had dinner each evening cooked by Havid’s long suffering wife – our stay had cost a total of £95.
We were delighted to discover that our Scotsman, Stuart was still in residence. He told us that Havid had had a lean time financially and had decided not to renew his lease to operate the site.
When we left the following morning we gave Stuart our bottle of rakija, the plum brandy given to us in Serbia by Milos. Stuart was delighted with the gift – it was still early morning but the canny Scotsman took a large swig from the bottle and pronounced it excellent. He took a second large gulp – just to be sure – before quickly tucking the bottle out of sight in his caravan.
Overnight the temperature had dropped to minus 7°. Parked next to us were a young Italian couple travelling with two dogs in a Toyota Land Cruiser with a roof top sleeping tent. We looked out the next morning and the vehicle seemed abandoned and I assumed that the cold weather had forced them to retire to a local hotel. Later we saw movement from inside the car and the young couple and their dogs emerged sleepily from the car’s interior. They were tough youngsters.
