Thursday 4th March - Monday 8th March

Thursday 4th March

After waiting most of the day for the ADAC women to contact us, we rang her. She told us she came out to the campsite yesterday to collect the paperwork she needed and couldn’t find us and we weren’t down in the book. We explained we were here all day and it must have been different campsite. We were now 90km away from her office and she didn’t ring yesterday to say she was coming out. I think she just went to the campsites along the coast near Agadir. Couldn’t find us despite our email, she had replied to, stating where we were. Anyway, we wanted to get the windscreen sorted and telephone contact with her was hard at the best of times. We decided on heading back down the coast to nearer Agadir. This we hoped would save more confusion, to be able to meet her face-to-face to find out exactly what was happening. She had mentioned the glass would be in Agadir tomorrow. So if we were already there we may even get it sorted by the end of the day or Saturday at least.

Although the location is great to stay here longer, the windscreen needs to get fixed and our waiting around finished.

Friday 5th March

A little sad we left the campsite and headed back down the coastal road to Agadir. We ended up driving into Agadir and to the campsite, near The ADAC office, for her to come and meet us. Face to face she ended up a lot easier to communicate with and us able to get our point of view over. We both decided that we wanted to end the situation as soon as possible. We found out though, that the windscreen wasn’t due till six or seven pm today. The problem then being, that customs would be closed by then and not be opened back up till Monday morning! We would have to wait a while longer and stay near Agadir. Still although not yet resolved, the situation was a lot clearer to us and the end we hoped was near.

After a supermarket stop, we headed off to find somewhere cheap to camp. We had gone about 10km north, when suddenly I wasn’t able to change down into a gear. In fact, now I couldn’t put the gear stick into any position and was stuck in 5th! How many more things can go wrong? How much was this problem going to cost?, What had actually gone wrong! And what the heck are we going to do? We didn’t know whether to laugh or cry!

Luckily, we were coming up to a large campsite and we had read that they had a mechanic opposite. We pulled up outside and I went to reception, with fingers crossed. Ten minutes later a mechanic from across the road was looking at it and around an hour or so later it was fixed. We were now 500 Dirham (£41) less, but the sheared off part had been replaced and we were now back on the road. Morocco seems not a bad place for things to go wrong, the work is a lot cheaper than Europe.

With the light fading, we ended up at the original campsite we had stayed in when we first left Agadir.

Saturday 6th March

Rained heavy last night and today was a mix of cloud, sun and occasional light rain. So it seemed a good day for some motorhome and general maintenance.

We had picked up an internet dongle for Morocco, a month for only 200 Dirham. Which was a great deal as the internet time was unlimited, although it would probably only work well near larger towns or cities. Still, it is a better deal than any of the European countries we had tried so far.

Sunday 7th March[/i]

Had a long walk down the coast to Tagazoute, a small fishing port that is full of surfers. There we sipped a soft drink and whiled away the afternoon at a café overlooking the sea. After a wonder around the stalls, we headed back up the road. The way back ended being longer, as we tried to cut over the hills up tracks.

Monday 8th March[i]

Up early and headed off to the ADAC office to get our windscreen finally sorted. Arrived just after 9am, to be told someone had already gone to customs to collect it. We sat waiting in Hymer opposite for about three hours, before I went back and checked with the rep how long it would take? She informed me he was still waiting at customs, but customs were now closed for lunch. Moroccans don’t tend to do the whole in a rush thing. We decided to head off for a while and pick up some bits from the supermarket. On the way we collected, from the town campsite, our now refilled Spanish gas bottle. We had given it over to a guy who was offering a refill service, telling us they would drop it there.

Back at the ADAC office, we were told the windscreen was now at the garage waiting for us, typical! After initial worries, as the glass looked too small, they got to work. A while later after some adjusting they had the windscreen in place. The only problem was, from the crash the one side of the frame was not the same shape. The glass was fitted in fine, apart from the seal in the one corner. It was firmly assured to be in place and all they could do due to the frame, saying we would have to get that fixed in Europe. We then paid up 1600Dh (£125) for the fitting and off we went. Well as far as round the corner and to another motorhome repair garage. While getting the windscreen fitted we had bumped into an English couple, Stan and Barbara, who I had met back at the campsite. They were having some work done to their motorhome next door. We now needed to get the indicators fixed, so we tried the garage her. We were told it was the flasher unit, but they didn’t know if they could get another. They tried a couple but to no avail and then went off to collect another. The day was now getting on and we also had to go and collect our Vehicle import documents from the ADAC office, as they had forgotten to bring them to the garage. As we couldn’t really drive the motorhome, Stan offered to give me a lift on his motorbike. I have never been a huge fan of motorbikes, being more of a scooter man as it’s a lot slower. It was a very kind offer though and I gingerly got on, as we needed the documents before the office closed. Off we went, with me gripping hold of the seat strap for dear life. Moroccan town roads are chaotic at the best of times and on the back of a motorbike, I felt open to the dangers. We got there safely as Stan was a good rider, I collected the documents and off we headed back. On the way back I relaxed and enjoyed the ride, with Stan telling me to go with the flow.

A bike seems a good option of getting around quickly and being able to leave the motorhome parked up. Although cycles keep us fit, they can only go as far as your legs want to go! We had seen a lot of pedal start bikes around Morocco and I was beginning to think, if we could get a cheap one they would be handy? Or is that just lazy?

Anyway back at the repair shop, they couldn’t find the same flasher unit. They did though manage to fit one that got the lights flashing, but didn’t display on the dashboard. Anyway we now had indicators, so off we went. The light would soon be going and we wouldn’t make it any further south, so back to the campsite. Driving back was very strange, I had got used to driving with the glass cracked all over the shop. Now we were seeing through a clear glass screen, it seemed like there wasn’t a windscreen. It was great to see clearly again.