November 2012 was the first time we took our campervan to Morocco, travelling as part of an organised group. At the end of that tour we travelled independently for a week or so before returning to Europe. In April 2014 we returned to Morocco, again as part of a group but spent some time when the tour was over exploring on our own. For our third visit we would be travelling independently for the entire trip, albeit revisiting places we had already been to as well as discovering some new destinations.
We left UK via Eurotunnel in mid October, stopping off overnight at Le Mans, Bordeaux and then Narbonne. Most of the French camp sites were due to close towards the end of October and those that were open didn’t offer us much of a welcome. We hurried through France on to Spain where, with the warmer weather, many of the Spanish sites remained open all year.
We stopped on the Mediterranean coast at Benicàssim, south of Barcelona and at Mazarròn, south of Alicante. The majority of guests on both sites were over 60s Northern Europeans spending their winters in Spain. They had a sociable lifestyle in the balmy climate, filling their days with classes run by the camp such as Spanish lessons, Pilates and Aqua Gym. We felt a bit like gate crashers at a private party but we did gain a little kudos when they heard we were heading for Morocco. There were several sharp intakes of breath – You Are Brave and Is It Safe?. We were quite relieved when it was time to leave them to their sybaritic existence and head for Africa.
