Heading for the hills

Once we've picked up our hire car we'll head East, towards the desert, via the High Atlas mountain range that separates the plains from the dry arid interior. A night stop in Ouarazazate plays a staging post to rest & water before a push onto the Todra valley where we'll stay for a couple of nights to Trek the gorge & surrounding countryside.

The dunes of Erg Chebbi are our eastern goal. We'll stopped first & stay just outside the desert at a small hotel in Hassi Labied. The hotel have organised an overnight Trek into the desert via camel & 4x4.

Our route then heads north up through the Mid Atlas through Fes to a recomended destination of Chefchouen, situated in the Rif Valley; we then turn south, arcing via the coastal roads through Rabat & Casablanca towards Essaouria where we'll relax a few days before coming back into Marrakech. Based on our experience of Marrakech as a Moroccan city (not that has was bad in anyway) we'll stay outside the cities, opting instead for countryside locations so we can hike, bike, ride & surf.

As for our time spent here in Marrakech, well it's been an education with more than a few stories to tell too. Having got over the initial shock of arriving in the old town in the dark we quickly realised the Marrakech is actually a viberant & cosmopolitan city with high aspirations of becoming European. We've expored it all & definitely recommend just visiting the old town as the new is a Madrid wannabee.

As for stories then, yesterday's Hamman experience (a total body wash) has to rate in at least the most talked about. The "properness" of English culture met the traditions of Arab hygiene. Whilst i lay in the sun on our hotel balcony Emma, Liz & the two Sarahs went off for a clean up. I gather the woman-handling was slightly beyond the expected body wash boundaries that any of the group had been expecting, but the laughter & the story swapping continued to fill most of the evening's conversation as I tried to enjoy my Calamari!!!