Ramble on

This is going to be an exciting blog entry! Arriving on Monday 29th April and staying with us until Thursday 9th May, Jaimie and Storm travelled in the Magic Bus with us from Marrakech, over the Tizi n Test ( wow ), through Talouine and Tazenacht to Agdz. On down the Draa valley to Zagora and ending at Mhamid Gheslane which is as far as you can go without 4x4. Returning then up Draa to Tinfou, Zagora and on to Ait Benaddou, before crossing the Atlas via Telouet, the Tizi n Tichka and down into Marrakech in 40 degC heat! What an adventure we have had.
So many photographs will illustrate this journey and writing too, as we are still here and have just one week to go ourselves.

Arriving at Marrakech

Arriving and settling in at the Riad in Marrakech, four excited travellers pose in a magic mirror, ready to take on what comes. Well sort of ready, this is Morocco and it never ceases to surprise us!

The entrance to the Riad was sometimes busy!

Wandering the souks and visiting a museum

Jaimie adds to the beauty and atmosphere of the moment with some impromptu dancing!

Love you Mum

Love you Jaimie

Jaimie and Storm 'lost' in the backstreets of Marrakech after visiting the tanneries. It took us a long time to find our way back and was very warm.

But back at the Riad, Jaimie shows off with glee, her new bag which she so successfully haggled the price on. She drives a hard bargain.

Audrey and Paco, the charming owners of the Riad

Ever so handsome and lovely Storm

Three lovelies waiting for the goodbye photo-shoot

Douglas and Cordula who 'happened' to be sharing the Riad with us and might just have given us a chance to change our lives !

Beautiful people. As the group photo shows, we all connected with each other at The Riad Chraibi, Marrakech.

And with one last shot, Jaimie is a picture herself. She in our bedroom and taking a picture across the open courtyard to her bedroom. A stunning start to the trip but our two nights here have come to a close and we leave the tranquility of the Riad into the mayhem of the streets of Marrakech to continue our journey into the unknown. The route across the Atlas we intend to take is new to all of us

So lets overtake that donkey and cart and get on with our journey.

The Drive to the Tizi n Test

Tip that hat to keep the setting sun outa your eyes Jaimie. As we climb out of the Plains of Marrakech and up into the High Atlas, the sunshine dips lower into the sky. Its getting more dramatic as the day moves on. Our target is the mountain pass of the Tizi n Test at 2100 metres above sea level. We stop for a while at Tinmal and wander an old Mosque before climbing higher and higher into the mountains.

The drive is a new one to us all and is fascinating, At every turn is another wonder. At every corner, another oooh, that's a good drop. !

The sky, the mountains and the road are amazing. We're on the road as a foursome and the magic bus pulls well.

Up and up, higher and higher. The sky seems to be the destination.

As the mountain pass gets closer and the happy snappers get snappier, the old man driver gets more tireder and tireder!

And so to rest and it's become very cold too as the down jacket implies in this shot of the snoozing old man taking a well deserved break outside the auberge at the top of the pass. Jaimie and Storm spend the night in the comfort of this multi blanketed hostel as the wind howls all night.

The morning greets us with sunshine but looming in the background is the real deal, thick clouds are building and they are to be the main influence of the descent rather than the expected views of impressive drops and hair pin bends that this route is renowned for.

Breakfast is taken in the nearby cafe, all of which is run by Mustapha including the gift shop of fossils and stuff.

As we shop and bide our time at this most notorious spot, the locals carry on their daily business as normal. We hope the cloud may clear but Mustapha says it will only be a little way down and it will be fine !! How does he know? It looks pretty thick from where we are waiting and Jaimie looks like she agrees.

So from here on down to the bottom! Well almost the bottom, we dropped through thick cloud with visibility down to a couple of meters at times. Seeing the road in front of us was a challenge, that alone the huge drops and potential traffic coming the other way. The lorry we met let us squeeze through with hardly an inch to spare and as for the bus, well we were just lucky to meet it at the spot we did. No images here as nothing was to be seen and we were all rather quiet. The descent takes us down to nearly sea level, best part of the 2000 meters and all on a single lane road of extremely dubious repair with some passing places here and there. Fantastic!!! We made the Tizi n Test.

But our day's journey is not over. We have set ourselves the task of driving to the Draa valley starting at Agdz. The route is up and over the Djebel Sirwa, peaks reaching over 3000 meters!, so it's another up and over which vanny takes in her stride. It's a bleak and unforgiving landscape with miles of very little except awesome views! It does grow saffron near Taliouine, crocus of course, so we stop and buy some at great prices. Not in this picture though as this is a food break in the middle of...........

In the middle of............................ mmm, where on earth are we? Only joking, we're in the middle of the Djebel Sirwa!

And as these driving shots show, there is a lot of the Djebel to cross before we get to our destination. The road becomes single track and the traffic is a challenge whichever way it is moving! The scenery is out of this world.

Safely settled in at Agdz

It's the start of our journey along the Draa valley. A timeless land of date palms and African people, mud settlements and sand. Ending in the Desert! How exciting.

The first part of the journey turned into a piste, a rough track, just to add to the excitement! It did however take us to unknown parts of the valley and is just what we wanted for this trip. A new adventure. Fortunately, the road, piste, did lead somewhere and a way out of the palmerie appeared before us as the following sequence of photo's shows.

Made it, back on the road again!

And the views are just as amazing from the main road as we head towards Zagora.

The sheer size of the palmerie that follows the Draa river is breathtaking.

And all this makes us very hungry, so we stop for a meal in Zagora. It is also getting very warm.

Storm seems to be loosing the plot as the temperature rises and the food is taking too long !!

Even after a fine meal, the two young ones insist on going to the Souk even though it's not Souk day !!

It's too hot, Krysia says. But no mama, come this way, the spirit of the Souk is calling us!

And who could resist this souk spirit?

So Storm entices Krysia onto the ' rack' and promises shade and good fortune, if only you come and lie like this! It works and as the Souk spirit wanders in the hot midday sun, these two are at least cool if not daft for being in the Souk on ' not ' Souk day!!
I, being the camel leader, should take these fair folk out of the sun and on to Mhamid asap !!

So, after stocking up on supplies under the shade of this awning, we are ready to make the journey to the end of the road and the beginning of the harsh desert.

Mhamid el Gheslane, here we come.

The landscape becomes more arid as we pass Tinfou and locals, climbing over ridges to drop down into even more desert like conditions, if that's possible!! It's a one lane road all the way from Zagora to Mhamid, which is fine as long as no one comes the other way, which when they do, one has to be polite and pull over as much as they do!!

sometimes, that's a game of bluff and as we're often the larger vehicle, we rather insist that we all give way to each other. You get off the road a bit and I'll do the same!!

Anyone seen David Attenborough? He's probably hiding in the photo below!!

Desert roads, we're almost there.

And we've arrived, tired but glad to be stopped

Storm is very happy to be stopped!

But a bit alarmed

As the locals appear to be cooking up................... tourists?

No, fortunately they are only cooking up whole sheep!! We happen to have arrived on party night for a tour group, which is ok, but a bit on the busy side for a quiet evening to calm down from a long, long day. We'll stop here for a couple of days and the young ones have a room to keep them safe from the scorpions!
and the dust, it's so dusty here.

So Storm starts off the 'day of rest' ! with a spot of domestic stuff while Jaimie takes care of the annual tooth ritual, mine that is. This year, I have decided to crack a crown clean off while chewing a date! Brilliant.

Jaimie is seen here trying to work out the potential repair, that is if a repair is possible!

She bravely attempts to glue the offending tooth back into place using a tooth repair kit I happen to have brought with me this year.

Still, she makes a good attempt at fixing the old fools tooth and only time will tell if it stays in place. They will all fall out one day so it's a loosing battle but if we can keep them glued in place, it will slow down gummy bear Beynon.

So while all this emergency repair goes on, Storm is keeping things calm with some cool guitar playing.

And at last we all can go out to explore Mhamid, ' Are you ready now ? ' Krysia asks ' which way shall we go? '

So we look out of the gate and.......

Left or Right?

So we decide to go straight on and into Mhamid as it looks the safer option and we need proper kit.

We go Straight to the desert man/woman outfitters shop where we get that authentic look! 4 meters of cloth a piece, we soon learn how to wrap the turbans and look the part.

This smiling chap is a street corner shoe repair man, who is mending Krysia's sandals as requested. He is happy to have his photo taken and would appreciate a copy being sent by post. Address? Mohamed, Mhamid, Morocco!!! well there's no harm in trying!

And these three lads were so impressed that they wanted the same treatment, all I insisted upon was a smile!

Back to the campsite for some lunch before we take on the walk to 'old' Mhamid. No doubt the original town before the road was built.

Storm is seen here striding off into the sunshine showing off the new Bristol Berber look, and thats before the heat got to him!

It's very hot now and I have started to wonder if we've made the right decision, mad dogs and welshmen, go out in the midday sun!!!

Covering up is the better option although one local did call out ' You bought the wrong colour ' !!!

White? maybe

At last we find old Mhamid and the cool shde of it's crumbling streets.

It's from another age here, time has stood still, not at all like the newer Mhamid el Gheslane.

We sit in the cool and take stock of where we are. Locals are friendly and we are happy.

Put the camera in the hands of a local and all the lads want to be in the shot alongside this smiling Welsh Berber.

As we walk back from the old town, we pass a school. All children and teachers call out to us to come and say hello, so we do. The children are all sat down in front of us as we enter the classroom and in my usual way, I take charge of the class like the clown I am, and start the count, in Arabic from one to ten. Wahed, zuz etc with all the class keeping up and chanting the numbers they proudly know. It's a moving experience and I'm glad that I'm a clown.

Back at the campsite and yes that's a swimming pool with Jaimie and Storm cooling off from the day's hot encounters. Krysia and I too take the plunge and marvel at where we are and what we're doing. Edge of the Sahara in a swimming pool! As soon as we are still, local swallows dive down to drink from the pool and Krysia manages to capture them in flight. Which requires some patience

And as the sun sets, we slowly amble to our van while the two young ones settle into their air conditioned room!!

It's been a beautiful day

From Mhamid to Zagora, not a long drive but an epic day, Jaimie wants to ride a camel so we're heading for Tinfou and an isolated dune which somehow seems to stay where it is without blowing away!

The drive north is awesome, so desolate. Heat comes to mind. No water.

The dune of Tinfou

Ride that camel Jaimie, led by Mohamed. Now we met Mohamed a few years ago, Krysia and I had taken a motorbike ride from Zagora to have a look at Tinfou, we chatted with this chap for a good while without hassle or hard sell. He was cool then and is just as cool now. So glad it's him who leads us around the Dune, which turns out to be a lot bigger than we thought and the full hours ride is more than enough. It's very warm and sunny. We are in the midday heat and are baking but very happy. Such good fun is this camel riding.

Mohamed and Krysia, he's a genuine chap.

And pours a mean cup of tea as well as wearing the coolest turban. He says that 10 meters of cloth is sometimes used to be really fashionable. !

Krysia of Arabia

So good to have ridden the Dune of Tinfou on camel back, led by Mohamed.

So we settle in to a lovely campsite at Zagora, under the shade of the Date palm trees. We're heading north as we have to, its Sunday evening and we still have loads to do.

Monday, a travelling day. We've set our sites on Ait Bennadou. It's a good drive and an interesting stopover for the young ones. Such films as Lawrence of Arabia and Gladiator were filmed there, so it's worth the effort.

But before Ait Bennadou we have a day's journey. We start with breakfast, as you do, in the most delightful surroundings. Palm trees and sunshine, corn flakes and organic soya? ( brought with us ).

Well fueled up, we stroll around the palmery with it's narrow alley ways. This is a working place, not just for us tourists, although camel rides do take place even on these small paths.

The atmosphere is cool and full of birdsong. All around us are small fields of crops under the palm trees. This is desert agriculture at it's most typical. A river, surrounded by date palms under which grow all kinds of food. A sustainable habitat? Long may it last.

We move on to the town of Tinzouline where we know a Souk is in progress. We must take the young ones to a Souk even if it is rather hot! Maybe that's very hot. So we follow Krysia in to this tourist free market ( except for us that is )

And immerse ourselves into the goings on. It's a great souk with friendly folk and it's all happening under the midday sun. We can't always plan ahead so as to miss the lunchtime heat !

So dressed accordingly and trying to stay under the shade of billowing tarpaulins, we, as Storm shows, are very happy to be here.

The two young ones try to make sure that the spice man is asking the right price. Will they ever be sure? mmm. It can be very hard to know, one price for the locals and one for the tourist is a well known norm. Everything is still on the cheap side but a fair price is always wanted and none of us likes to be overcharged!

So maybe he charged a few dirhams more than he should have but the spices are good and the food they will add to will be lovely. Happy bunnies I think.

A last photo of a typical souk scene and we head for the van and some shade? What shade. And where's Krysia? we seem to have lost her somehow!

Ah, there she is. She just stopped to buy some eggs at the last minute so she hasn't been sold off into slavery! or married into a harem!

So we drive on to Ait Bennadou, it's a long way of incredible scenery but this is where our photos end for the next 36 hours, no doubt Jaimie and Storm have plenty but they are now in Bristol!

We arrive safely and settle in to a camp site/ hotel which even has a swimming pool. So we swim and cool down, I even start to feel a bit cold! I fiddle with the engine as a fuel problem has been travelling with us for some time now. Not enough to stop us but we are getting air in the fuel lines somehow. Something I'd rather find and fix rather than wait and see!! Take a rest, the team call out, you've been driving all day and now it's time to relax. Fair enough.

During the night I feel unwell, stomach heaving but I get some sleep. I wake with shivers and I can't tell if I'm hot or cold. So I wake Krysia and ask her. 'Am I hot or cold, I'm shivering like mad' ' You've got a fever, you're boiling up' ' you can't be ill here! not now! ' Aaaahhh I'm ill !!!!!!!

So we cool me down with wet flannels, enough to calm the camp. Ironically while sitting next to the van, Krysia spots what turns out to be the fuel problem. A leaky fuel pipe attached to the fuel tank. I can fix it! Which i do even though I'm on the road to delirium! As soon as I stop the repair, I'm down and out for the count for the rest of the day. It's hot outside and I'm boiling up on the inside! Krysia works furiously to keep me cool, Jaimie makes me drink gallons of liquid, coke's and water. We send them off to do some sight seeing, better than hanging around waiting for me to break the fever.

We take a room in the hotel, it's just too hot for me. The room is cool and in the shade. I sleep while the others treat themselves to a cooked meal from the hotel. I sleep. They swim. I sleep.

During the night, I wake drenched in sweat, the fever has broken and I'm only left with the Moroccan quickstep as it is known. There's a loo in the room, phew.

And I'm going to be able to drive these good people up and over the Atlas mountains as we have to go that way now to get the young ones to the airport by tomorrow afternoon. It's Wednesday morning and I'm up for driving.!! Just.

And what a drive it was! The next 20 or so pictures capture the experience as we climbed up the valley to Telouet, our destination this day. Krysia took the photographs and it has been difficult to cut them down less as she took so many interesting shots of a truly memorable drive.

The Ounila Valley from Ait Bennadou to Telouet is amazing, there now is a road all the way which allows vans like ours to experience one of the most beautiful and wild valley drives in Morocco, we think!!!

As the following photos show, around every corner is either another geological wonder or village from another age.

The river is life, without it there would not be any here!

The new road follows the original route for anyone wanting to pass from the desert to Marrakech

It was only in the 1950's that the route became open to all. Before that, the glaoui family of Telouet controlled all access with absolute authority.

They were lord and masters of their domain. They took slaves readily to work the land and do their bidding! We met descendants whose fathers and grandfathers were slaves.

They were very glad that the last glaoui died in late 1950's, freeing them from slavery even if their home lands were from the desert. Touaregs living in the Atlas? Calling themselves Berbers as well!

Now we, as tourists can freely visit this valley and are welcome here. Sometimes a bit too enthusiastically, like the touts who bar the entrance to Telouet wanting to sell you something.

Auberges ( small hotels amd rooms ) are springing up all along this valley as the valuable tourist euro floods in to see this wonder,

The old road is joined near the top and its state of repair is much to be desired but this is Morocco. It is very beautiful and we wouldn't want it changed for the benefit of our tyres!

And so we come out 20 kms from the Tizi n Tichka at the town and old residence of the Glaoui Family. Telouet.

Breathtakingly beautiful.

As are these two lovelies who are relaxing in a shaded cafe at the entrance to the village.

You've seen better days Ted but then you were only yesterday laid out for the count and I have to admit that today is a bit of a dream for me. I'm fine driving but don't ask me to make any decisions! Drink plenty of fluid and have a nap, there's a good fellow.

As soon as we can find a suitable stopping place, I'll do just that, until then, Storm can make all the decisions as he's obviously got his head together. !!!

He's even chatting up the local talent just so we can get rid of some empty water bottles!

You are a star Storm, a real treat to have on holiday with us.

So to finish up pictorially, her are three shots of krysia and I inside the Glaoui palace, or whats left of it. It overlooks its kingdom and is ridiculously decorated, opulence of the all powerful. Now turning back to dust in the main, with some reconstruction evident for the sake of tourism one assumes. Health and safety would have a field day here, a crumbling old palace free to wander, well 20 dirhams entry fee.
The floors are a bit bouncy! ah, all that tiling is on wooden beams and mud! Still, it's very impressive if you like that sort of thing but give me old Mhamid and that lived in feel every time. I am wandering the place in a total daze so i'm probably not in a position to give a good account of the place, but what was to come that evening was to take the dream onto a new level. Carpet buying!

And buy carpets we did! Mohammed had brought me tea earlier to help my obvious state of health. no mention of carpets from him. It was only when Krysia and I had returned from the palace did we find Jaimie and Storm in the Womens co op, set up by Mohammed and Rachid. All prices marked down in a book and no haggling please, these are the prices. Lovely lads, touaregs by colour but locals thanks to the Glaoui's. We could not resist their charms and after choosing beautiful carpets for all, we listened to them singing and playing music till well into the evening. My dream state was complete. To sleep I must go. Tomorrow we go to Marrakech and rumour has it there's a heat wave waiting for us. !

Thursday 6th May

A beautiful sunrise starts our day in our sweet camping spot. We have the last part of this adventure to do today. Get to Marrakech airport by 4 pm.

I'm feeling a bit better today and the drive presents few problems, unlike the Glaoui palace which seems to have a lot of problems! ( above ) It's falling to pieces which is probably the best thing for it. I'm no fan of power mad rulers.

A shadow shot of me outside the womens co op, what a lovely last night here for Jaimie and Storm.

And to top it off, Mohammed comes with us on our way out, to the weekly souk and guides us to the best prices on veg and spices. It's a lovely sunny day.