Day 4 Chefchaouen

We certainly found a strategic location for the tent last night: solidly placed between two olympic snorers. The new mattress is also not as insulating as our old one so I’m still waiting for a decent night’s sleep.

My two septuagenarian cooking crew worked as hard as I expected this morning, chopping a banana and dictating porridge cooking times.

Today we are left to our own devices so Mark has already mapped out a 7km run. We’re camped just above the old city so looking forward to exploring together. We’ve been warned that not only do we have to rotate into different seats on the truck each day, but tent partners also swap out regularly. We never knew it was that kind of holiday…… At the look on our faces, our tour leader did follow up by saying “except couples of course”.

The run was fabulous, through the old Medina and out for amazing views over the blue city of Chefchaouen.

After sorting a load of admin and doing our washing back at the campsite, we were starving and convinced we were going to get a smoothie in the old town and then proper food later. However, we didn’t get past the first lovely cafe with a roof terrace.

All we managed after that was more meandering and a purchase of loo roll. As long as we stayed away from the main square, Chefchaouen was gorgeous and lived up to my expectations completely.

As soon as you get near the main square, the tourist shops appear, ironically covering all the beautiful blue walls for which the city is famous, with overpriced souvenirs.

We just headed to a westerly facing roof terrace and drank mint tea under the sunset, watching all the minarets light up neon blue in the night sky.

Fingers crossed for sleep tonight, we have a 300km drive to Marrakech tomorrow.