22nd November 2012

It’s been over a month since we left the UK, Pegasus 2 has been performing well (apart from the electrics and silly windscreen wipers).

We’re in Rabat, trying to get our visas for Mauritania, but we have found, there is a problem with the power steering, which the local mechanic thought was caused by a faulty pump. Noel has discovered to his surprise that his ‘schoolboy’ French can be used to some good effect when combined with much gesticulation and apology, but it seems to work.

After a lot of searching we were referred to the only Iveco dealer in Morocco who may have a new pump. We were given specific directions (in French ie, turn R when you see the Hassan II mosque, go to the Atlas building, you can’t miss it) on how to get there, we set off on the motorway towards Casablanca. Of course, it wasn’t easy, we could see the Atlas building from the motorway, and the difficulty was getting to it. There were several mosques between our van and the Atlas building.

                                               Getting a lift to market

Eventually, through sheer determination and driving in between, large lorries, tram tracks, donkey carts loaded with people and fresh produce, bikes and people just wandering in front of you, accompanied by some very colourful expletives from Noel, and instead of finding the Iveco agent, we saw a large breakers yard.  Noel decided it  might be worth a look, so we found eventually ourselves in the biggest vehicle scrapyard in Morocco, probably in the world. It went on for miles it was actually the size of a provincial town. Noel was especially delighted – he temporarily forgot that we were here to get a new pump for the van. 

In Morocco whenever there are complex things to be done there are helpers or runners, who make their living by helping to find what you need.  There were a lot of them trying to get our attention but one seemed to really understand what we wanted, he took us to a scrap dealer who deals only in Iveco parts. He was very nice man and did have a pump for us, but the nice man got Rashid, the resident mechanic to look at the problem first.  

A pile of old iron

To Noel’s delight, we were told that the fault was not with the pump and he would not sell me something we don’t need. Instead we should come back the next day when they have cleared some space and Rashid will try to fix the problem.  It turned out that the steering rack is slightly damaged and he was able to say with some certainty that we would not be able to get the parts we need as they are specific to a right hand drive vehicle. He absolutely refused to take any money despite the time he had spent on it. This was yet another example of unconditional helpfulness that we have found in Morroco.

Interestingly while Rashid was under the van working on it I set about providing breakfast which we ate in the sun in the midst of this busy breakers yard, fork lifts and tow trucks going in all directions. Strange place to have breakfast……….I thought it was strange when we had breakfast on the Paris ring road, but this is even stranger

At the end of this quite surreal day we returned to the Ocean Bleu campsite where we spent a lovely evening watching the waves of the Atlantic and took a long walk along the Esplanade.  

              Sunset at the Ocean Bleu

3 punctures in 24 hours 

Having raved on about how reliable the van is, we found to our dismay that even having brand new tyres does not stop us from suffering from punctures. Noel has a view on this (email him for the details). Our first one happened on the day that we arrived in Rabat, followed by the 2^nd one a few hours later in a supermarket car park. Working together, it took us half an hour to put the spare tyre on and we went to the local “pneu” shop to have the puncture dealt with. We were on our way to the Mauritanian embassy to camp for the night, when we made a brief stop on the way to find that we had a third puncture.  With much swearing and cursing, we dealt with this last one with little patience and were beginning to wonder whether this is the start of the unreliability of Pegasus 2.

The men who fixed the puncture were neither surprised or curious when we turned up for the 3^rd time. The just repaired the puncture and sent us on our way. 

    

                  Third time around I think this makes me a good customer

Needing a holiday

Having got our visas for Mauritania, we are now camped about 25 km from Casablanca, once again at the “ Ocean Bleu” campsite. We thought we deserve a break from driving and staying here is absolute bliss. I am not intending to do anything – well, watch the waves of the Atlantic, maybe read a book, listen to Radio 4 on the internet and wander over to the restaurant to see what’s for dinner.

We’ll stay here for a few days, then maybe we’ll set off.