We woke up to a lot of mist that lingered until mid-morning. We had not planned anything for the day but Charlotte had done some googling and suggested we take a drive to a place called Moulay Bousselham about an hour to the north.

The drive along the highway went past many plastic hot houses growing bananas and there were many groves of avocado trees as well as lots of fruit and vegetable areas. We passed a place with a sign of Driscoll’s – Only the finest berries – which we know from the strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, etc. from the Lidl supermarkets in Portugal. The entire area is cultivated and lush green.

Moulay Bousselham is a seaside town with lots of holiday homes and long stretches of sandy beaches. It is situated on a huge lagoon which gives it a special feel. After visiting the town and beaches, the sun was in a bad position for photos so we headed all the way around to the other side of the lagoon. It was about am hour drive and the road was not in great condition in some places and there were pools of water from recent rains. With 10 km to go we had to turn off the main  road. 

The road went through the produce fields and past farms and was part narrow tarmac which would suddenly give way to red clay and water puddles, some of which were quite deep and even triggered the car’s proximity sensors.

With 1km to go and the road back to good tarmac, a big tree had fallen over the road and we could not pass. It was also too heavy to move out of the way. Trevor saw a few tracks to the right which bypassed the tree and decided to follow them. They went through quite a big furrow next to the road and he tried to go through it at an angle but it was soon evident that there was a risk of getting stuck in what was already partly seasand but with good vegetation growing in it. With some manuevering and in 4×4 mode, we managed to reverse out of the furrow. Trevor then took a walk as the trees cleared a couple of hundred metres ahead. On the way he noticed other tracks through the trees and traced the way back to the car from where they joined the road, only about a 50 metre stretch. That was a far better and less risky route though a bit of a squeeze between some bushes and trees. We managed to get through that easily and were onto the tarmac again and drove the last km to a magnificent view overlooking the lagoon and town. What a pity it would have been to have missed this due to the tree in the road. Mission man’s perseverance (or is it stubboness) paid off 😜 !

We unpacked our food box and had a snack of olives, gerkins and pretzels while taking in the amazing view which was also right next to an old cemetery.