Atlantic - Plage Blanche

We wake up in the morning from a strange buzzing sound…a sound like Formula 1 engine noise that doesn't fit at all in this otherwise very quiet location, and the mountain road leads 3km past us.

But we can hardly believe our eyes when we see various highly motorized motorcycles, buggies, quads, trucks, etc. zoom past us in the distance - when we google it, we find out; the Morocco Desert Challenge 2023 is currently taking place, an extreme rally that has been held here for 10 years. Today's stage starts at Plage Blanche, our next destination, and that's why hundreds of participants are driving past us on the mountain road today... it's unbelievable!

We head west and actually drive past the Brazilian who bravely pushes his car in front of him in 34 degrees 😳. He told us that he covers 40 kilometers per day and therefore set off early. Further along the route, we often think of him because the narrow road is really busy and adventurous, and heavily loaded trucks pass him closely.

At a gas station, we see some rally participants and Basti - who has been restless the whole time 🤣 - asks them where we could watch.

On our planned route, there is actually the first checkpoint, and since we have the luxury of plenty of time, we drive there and watch the spectacle for a while.

The intense off-road track crosses THE main connection to the south; it is hardly closed off and everything is a bit chaotic, but we can get very close and stand right next to the various (mostly Dutch) support vehicles, and the participants speed past us... truly an experience.

Once again, we appreciate one thing above all - that we can decide completely freely how long we want to watch, that we have no schedule and don't have to be anywhere at a certain time so that we don't run out of time.

It is a luxury that we sometimes have to consciously remind ourselves of because even during our 4-week trip to Scandinavia last year, we always had in mind when we had to be at the ferry for the return journey. (And yes, we are aware that this is complaining on a very high level 😘)

That is really different for us during these 3 months, and when the probably natural impulse comes up "does it still fit in time?", it is simply great to be able to say (now) "easy, let's just do it now".

We then continue to Tan Tan, the southernmost point of our journey and the 'Gateway to the Sahara' - there we buy some more supplies and then drive to a parking spot that is accessible only for off-road vehicles and is located on the track for our next route to Plage Blanche.

There we hope to get more information about the route, as the difficulty level of 4 could be too high and also maybe find a passenger for the route. Since the route goes along the beach for 30 km during low tide, it is recommended to have company, because if you get stuck there, the main issue is having to free the car from the tides in time.

The parking spot is beautifully located right next to a fortress and is really not easy to access. When we arrive, we are the only campers, as there are only a few French people with pure off-road vehicles as hotel guests.

When we ask the owner of the parking spot about the route, he says that it shouldn't be a problem with our car - a total miscalculation, as we will later find out.

We spend a relaxed afternoon there, and when we prepare dinner in the evening, another camper actually joins us...the same combo as us (pickup with cabin), a Bimobil from Karlsruhe.

Basti immediately talks to the couple, asking if they also want to drive the route and if we want to do it together. They didn't originally plan to do it and were only "washed ashore" here because they were asked by the military to vacate their overnight spot.

But they spontaneously decide to join us, and we agree to meet for the joint departure the next morning at 09:00, so that we can reach the beach in time for low tide.

In the evening, we realize that there are swarms of mosquitoes here, and within a short time, Mia and I get multiple bites - although we had our mosquito nets closed, as always, we somehow managed to let a whole colony of mosquitoes into the cabin 🤬.

The night becomes a horror because we are busy hunting mosquitoes until 05:00 in the morning!!! and think 15 times "now we got them all".

At first, Mia's good eyes still help us with the hunt - we attribute it to our advanced age, but she charmingly explains to us that it's because of the carrot she ate yesterday.

From 11:00 PM, Mia thankfully falls asleep, and we basically spend the night chasing mosquitoes and their damn buzzing and unfortunately only around five o'clock we come up with the idea to disturb the mosquitoes and especially their damn noise with our small fan.

In any case, we learn that our roof window was the problem, and we didn't pay enough attention to it, but we have never experienced such a mosquito invasion anywhere before.

Mia wakes us up around seven, and we are really exhausted. There is a deep, damp mist in the air, and we get ready to leave with a very strong coffee.

We have 40 kilometers of off-road driving ahead of us until we reach the beach, which is partly quite challenging because of the rocks and steep slopes, which require a lot of ground clearance and make the car sway a lot...I'm really scared.

At one point, the track goes down badly, quite blocked, and Basti - we are in front - inches forward while I briefly consider just praying from now on 🙈.

I see in the rearview mirror that Martin and Christine are staying on top, and we stop. The two have a lot of experience, they have already traveled in South America for 9 months with their cabin, among others.

Martin tells us that he is stopping here because the track is simply too tough; it's not fun, and it puts too much strain on the car... I'm relieved that he is making this decision.

Basti still hopes that this is the most difficult part and runs ahead, but after further studying the route, we realize that the difficult part is yet to come. Apparently, the route has deteriorated due to frequent use, and the description no longer matches the guidebook - but as we will soon find out, the 2022 edition is not up to date everywhere.

With a heavy heart, Basti also decides to turn around, which at this point is already very challenging, but the Amarok bravely fights its way back up.

Since I couldn't look, unfortunately, there is no picture material of this exciting moment...sorry 🙈.

We sadly head back and decide to at least drive to Plage Blanche via the long asphalt road on the outside.

We say goodbye to Martín and Christine at the end of the track, who still want to visit a fortress, exchange contact information, and continue driving.

According to Park4Night, it is currently not allowed to stay overnight at Plage Blanche, but since the season is over, we want to check it out on-site.

We drive down to the wide beach and by chance meet the cabin from Karlsruhe again 🤣 ...the two have found a nice shortcut and arrived here before us.

They report that they met a German at the fortress, who drove our planned tour with his off-road vehicle, and who confirmed very clearly that we would not have made it through the route and that it would have gotten much tougher. He has already written to the author of the guidebook that the classification is no longer realistic. Despite the disappointment, it is good to hear again that we made the right decision.

At the wide beach, I ask a few Moroccan boys who are fishing if it is allowed to stay here...they say it's no problem, and one of them even calls someone to confirm that, very nice.

So we stay directly at the bottom of Plage Blanche, and we are compensated for the day and fall into a comatose deep sleep before nine in the evening 🤣.

The next morning, we all want to continue up the coast together - according to the guidebook and my travel guide, this is only possible with a track with a difficulty level of 4-5 (i.e., unrealistic for us), but in the online maps, there is a road marked, so we want to test it instead of taking a 120 km detour... we can always turn around - that's what we know now.

We start off with excitement and drive through a beautiful coastal landscape on a perfectly paved road with hardly any traffic until we reach the point where a dilapidated bridge should be, which is completely intact - left and right of the road, we see parts of the off-road track, which are really intense.

Later, we stop at a nice café and learn that the road was completed 2 years ago... proper research is something else, but we will simply pass the information on to the authors 🤓.

At the café, there is a almost empty dream beach below, and we jump into the waves of the Atlantic... wonderful. Of course, only after we enjoyed a delicious Berber omelette and the obligatory orange juice.

Afterwards, we head to Sidi Ifni, do some shopping, and Martín and Christine still want to explore the city. We don't make a plan, but we want to write each other later to let each other know where we ended up.

The beach of Legzira is supposed to be one of the highlights of the entire coastal route; a beach with blood-red rocks forming arches. The most beautiful rock arch unfortunately collapsed in the fall of 2016, but the rest is still so impressive that it belongs to the most beautiful rock formations in the whole country.

The way down to the beach has some ugly hotel buildings, and we drive towards a parking lot... where Christine and Martín come towards us 🤣.

They report an overcrowded, narrow place, and we decide to drive to a cliff nearby because Basti saw a car there.

In the second attempt, we find the narrow entrance to a track and drive towards a fantastic view. There is only the car of a local angler, and we stop, get out, and stand close to the rock arch, completely calm, with a view of the coast, and are totally excited.

Basti then realizes that he might be able to use his paraglider here tomorrow, and we have a glass of wine on the cliffs... it can't get any better.

After a peaceful night with the sound of the sea, we continue driving to the arch - the photo simply has to be taken 🙈 - and hike down to the beach.

Christine and Martín take another swim with us and then have to move on because they have to pick up Christine's children in Agadir, who will join them for 2 weeks.

We say goodbye and are also very grateful for the beautiful encounter on this journey. It was so exciting with the two of them because they have traveled incredibly far and wide, and Christine (as an educator) had a great connection with Mia and had a lot of fun spending time with her.

We decide to stay one more night because it is so beautiful, and Basti still hopes for a paragliding session here... unfortunately without success, but the next paragliding spot is our destination anyway 🤪.

In the evening, a local fisherman passes by our car, with whom we had exchanged a few nice words before.

He tells us that he only caught one fish today because the water was too cold due to the current - then he insists on giving us this fish (which he even cleaned for us) as a gift and says goodbye warmly... incredible.

Basti immediately takes out the grill and is extremely happy 🤣.