• MBSki
• Bed and Breakfast
• Directions
• Chamonix
• Gallery

• Back to the B&B
• Leaving Chamonix
• Xmas in UK
• Leaving again
• Bad start for Pepper
• Pepper survives
• Into Spain
• Into Morocco
• Heading south
• Getting warmer
• Jan 17th, Essaouira
• Jan 18th
• The French and their Campers
• Bikers, Birthdays and cats
• The acceptable side of French campers
• Another round then off to Imsouane
• Emergency!
• Surfing
• 'erberts

Herberts next door

Check out this little trio of 'erberts (as my Dad used to describe naughty boys). That's Joe on the Left, 22 years old, patisserie chef, Ajay in the middle, 19 years old, pot washer in a restaurant and Louis on the right, 18 years old and labours for his chippie Dad.

Louis is the son of Dom and Lisa, a lovely couple I met a few weeks ago who are travelling with Talula, their cute 4 year old daughter. Louis was with his Mum and Dad but bumped into the other 2 reprobates and decided life would be more fun in their van. So he jumped ship with about 80 euros and now lives in van squalor but seems to love it.

I have just spent 4 days parked up on a cliff above a surf spot next to the youngsters and have had a an insight into their lives. They have come to Morocco with the pretext of it being a surf trip but Joe is a "body boarder" and I haven't seen him go in the water yet (and he doesn't have a wet suit), Ajay has bben in twice as far as I know and Louis went in the other morning but got out after 5 minutes as he was "so fucking stoned man!"

They are so funny, they smoke weed from dawn till dusk, eat rubbish, throw litter straight out the van onto the floor, live in abject squalor and their van is a wreck and probably won't get back to the UK. But as I said, they are funny and I do admire them for getting off their arses and going to Africa in a van that cost half what I paid for my mountain bike.

They always promise themselves they will get up early the next day and catch the best surf which is about 8.00am at this place. I get up round about that time, have a pot of tea, walk the dog, have some breakfats and they surface a bit later, already stoned and lacking the motivation to surf so they just arse about all day. One day they had the bright idea to buy all the doughnut mans wares with a plan to sell to the surfers the next day and make some more money for weed. needless to say, they didn't sell any doughnuts, they just lived off them for 3 days. Another day, they decided to graffiti up the van. Amongst the nonsense they wrote was the old campers adage "If the van's a rockin', don't come knockin'". I pointed out to them that as they were 3 guys in the van, if the van did happen to be a rockin' it probably meant there was some adolescent bum action going on inside. As the penny dropped, their faces were a picture. They didn't rub it off though.

Yesterday, they went off to restaurant to eat. They have no money but eat in restaurants a lot because they can't or don't want to cook. They amused themselves on the way back by driving through huge puddles (it had rained) and soaking other motorists and pedestrians. They were so pleased that they had soaked a car load of ladies who had their windows down. But the next guy they soaked wasn't happy and gave chase. This Moroccan guy was very proud of his ancient Renault 17 and must have just cleaned it. He followed the 3 wise monkeys back to the camp area and demanded they clean it. They sat in the van and didn't move. The Moroccan guy just stood and waited. The stand-off was entertaining. I pointed out that he'd probably phoned some hard-hitting mates who were on their way to give them a physical warning. Joe relented and cleaned the guys car whilst we all looked on with amusement.

And from one extreme to another. Carl, Michelle and myself stopped at a camp site in Safi the other day. I was surprised they allowed me back on this site as I had been there a week or 2 before and I accidentally (honest guv) left without paying. How I did this I don't know - but I did. The guardian of the camp site correctly guessed I would be a few kms away at the "Marjane" supermarket stocking up on booze and other hard to find provisions. There I was, strolling through the car park when he pulled up next to me. He was not happy. As soon as I saw his grimace, I knew what I had done. I begged him to belive that I would not do a runner for 5 euros but I don't think he belived me.

Anyway, back to my second stay at Safi where we met Bill. I have a photo of Bill but it's on Michelle's computer which has no battery so I will upload it as soon as I get a chance. Bill has been travelling alone to Morocco for many years and seems to know the place fairly well. He's married to a Moroccon woman (second wife), lives in France and has a little Renault van he bought from a road building company and he kitted it out himself to live in. It will be Bill's birthday in a few days and he will be 90 years of age.

Next entry coming soon