Sadia

Back on the tarmac road, we headed north and arrived at the edge of the Plateau du Rekkam. The road descends steeply and the view is tremendous. Sadly, the air was hazy with dust and not very clear.

Over a couple of days, we made our way to the Mediterranean coast at Sadia. This is the very top rightmost corner of Morocco. Coming into Sadia, the road runs along a small valley right on the border to Algeria. A hundred metres from the road, in the centre of the valley, is a big security fence topped with vicious razor wire. A hundred yards beyond that is the Algerian road to the coast at Marsa-Bin-Mehidi. We wondered about the wisdom of trying to photograph this. In general waving cameras around near national boundaries is not a good idea. Then we passed a small layby where young Moroccans were taking selfies with the Algerian traffic in the background.

Sadia is where rich Moroccans take their holidays. At this time of year, it is completely deserted and closed down. Although the weather here is warm and sunny to an extent that Skegness would only every dream of, it is still way too cold for the locals. We drove past endless estates of closed up holiday flats and golf courses. Eventually, half way to Nador, we paid a man 30 Dh to park under a tree next to his café. Later we walked along the beach, which was pleasant enough but covered in rubbish.

For the most part, I am not so keen on travelling along the coast. Real estate is typically at a premium and that can make finding parking places very difficult. Stretches of scenic coastline and beaches are often jealously guarded. Access is restricted. The possibilities for getting into awkward situations with a truck are legion. Diane really enjoys driving along coast roads so we have to compromise a little. The road from Nador to Imzouren is very pretty and it was lovely to be looking out over the sea after so much desert. In the whole 100km stretch, we could not find anywhere particularly nice to park so when we arrived at the east side of the Rif Mountains we turned south and headed inland.

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Next day we found a great place to park in the mountains. A reasonably sized levelled area off the side of the road. Probably left over from when the road was widened. Great views and miles from the nearest settlement. Shortly after we arrived a man in a car turned up and told us we could not sleep there. The language barrier stopped me understanding what his objection was but he was clearly not an official of any sort so we decided to stay put. He stayed as well and about an hour later, just before sunset, a policeman arrived. As ever, he was very polite and friendly. He was concerned for our safety and suggested we would be better off parking in the middle of the next village. We knew that if we did, we would be pestered to death so we were not so keen. I pointed out we had a very secure truck and a big dog. The police officer called his chief and then agreed that we could stay where we were. He then had a long chat with the bloke that caused the problem in the first place and then they both waved us goodbye in a very cheerful fashion as they left.

North of Taza we found a great viewpoint and parking place with views over the valley and the town in the distance. It was only early so we went for a walk that turned out to be a complete delight. We climbed a hill, discovered a cave, wandered through some rich farmland and found some enormous Aloe Vera plants. We also met a lovely donkey that, unlike most of the donkeys we have seen, did not look too miserable.  

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