Centre Commune Rurale
Ait El farsi,
Morocco
1 Night
It was a chilly night inside Priscilla, but we were well wrapped up in bed, and when the sun came through, it soon started to warm up. Also, the clocks went back last night for Ramadan, so it was lighter earlier.
Today was going to be a full driving day up into the High Atlas, and through two gorges; the weather was just right. Not a cloud in the sky, and the wind had died down.
First, we had to fill up with water, and that seemed to have annoyed a French woman who had to comment on how long we were taking. We told her to f@$k off, and carried on. Well, actually, we didn’t, we were extremely nice, but she was still a sh!t head, so we then carried on and they left.
I actually got some sympathy from the Moroccan Riad man, which was nice but it makes you realise how easily conflicts break out if the filling of water tanks is an issue.
Next stop, Shell for diesel, and we were off. The first leg of our gorge trip took us out of Boumalne Dades and headed for Dades gorge. I have seen this gorge in pictures, videos and have looked forward to driving it. Four or five hairpins, and you are at the top, where there’s a car park and cafe, with a view of the gorge below. We stopped, had a lukewarm coffee and sat in the sun with the view of the gorge below.
Back on the road heading upwards, and across to the highest point in our route, the summit at 2600m, where we parked up and had lunch. Some snow about, I even made a snowball and threw it. Not long before our stop, there was a patch of sheet ice completely across the road, where no sun had got at it.
Lunch done, it was time for the descent. This took us to a remote town, where we had stayed during our last visit. It seems a poor area, with a fair amount of young children begging for sweets.
We did stop at one point, when three children came out of a Berber tent off the side of the road. Jo got the sweets and some colouring books to give them, something we have avoided up until now, but these guys looked like they needed a bit of a treat. The mother then asked for money, so we brought our charitable endeavours to a close, and I floored it.
Back down in the Todra Gorge, we stopped, had a coffee, made a promise to a dog that we would take him home with us, then chatted to a young German couple who we had met earlier going the other way. Showed them our route, for them to do and chatted to some English walkers who were curious about how we dumped our toilet waste.
Our final stop for the night was a bit uncertain, but we ended up on a piece of land up in the hills. Just us, and very quiet.
An excellent day today, will go down as one of the highlights.
Tomorrow, James Bond, Spectre.
