We got up early and after a quick coffee and something to eat from our own stash, we hit the road at 8 am, still in the dark. We left early as it was a good 500km drive with a few stops on the way and we wanted to reach our hotel in Lagzira in good time so that we could still see the arch. A second arch had already collapsed so there is only one left.

We took the coastal road to Tarfaya rather than the N1 as it looked more interesting. We had identified the boundary between the rest of Morocco and Western Sahara from latitude data and so slowed down to see if there were any indications but there weren’t any. Just before Tarfaya there is a rusted shipwreck a hundred or so metres from the beach. It is the wreck of a commercial ferry operated by the Spanish company Naviera Armas from the Canary Islands to Tarfaya which ran aground in 2008 after just five months in operation. The line was never reopened.

We then stopped in Tarfaya itself for a photo of the Casamar, also known as Port Victoria and Mackenzie’s factory, a historical also known as Port Victoria and Mackenzie’s factory, was a historical coastal fort built in 1882 by the founder of the British North West Africa Company, Donald McKenzie, who positioned there early in 1879 in the goal of trading with commercial caravans coming from Timbuktu and heading to Wadi Noun.

We then continued on the main road passing by the Khniffis National Park where we had wildcamped on the way down. It was much clearer today so we saw a bit more than on the southbound leg.

As we approached the town of Akhfennir Trevor’s luck ran out ! A lady from the gendarmerie royale flagged us down and told us that we were going too fast. Her male colleague came over and asked for the car papers, passport and driver’s license and said it would be a fine of Dhs 150 (about €15). We didn’t really have much to argue with so handed over the documents and cash and they went to their vehicle and wrote the ticket and brought it all back for Trevor to sign. Morocco has an insane number of handheld radar speed monitoring guns and how we have gotten away so far is by pure luck mainly due to the officers being busy dealing with other offenders ! There are also many speed cameras but we understand that the cameras have not been installed yet. What happens when they photograph a foreign plated vehicle, we do not know, perhaps we have been caught by that as well, only time will tell. In Morocco, the highway speed limit is 100 km and usually 90 on smaller roads. As you approach a town or village, the limit (shown on a sign) first goes to 80 for a few hundred metres and then to 60. It in those areas that they like to check the vehicles and with the radar gun still far out of sight.

We refuelled in Guelmim, about 60 km short of our destination and then headed for the beach hotel we had reserved.

What a surprise, a set of mainly hotels and 1 or 2 houses, carved into the steep red rock/stone hillside and right on the beach, less than 100 metres to the water. We quickly put our things in the room, with sea view, and headed down to the beach for a 20 minute walk to the arch. We took our camping chairs with us so stopped a few times to savour the magnificent environment and just chill.

Before sunset we headed to a restaurant and enjoyed beautiful views before and after the sun set. The beauty was interrupted by a bunch of about 10 bikers who roared onto the beach with there machines roaring, but to our delight, the thick sand got the better of a few of them and took them down bike and all. It took a few fellow bikers to help them lift the fallen bikes from the deep sand. They headed for the arch and after about 45 minutes returned and boldly lined up one by one to tackle the sand and the road up the hillside. Again, more than one came acropper and needed help.

We then headed back to the hotel and climbed the many stairs back to the room.