Sunday 18th
November
Well
here we are in deepest Morocco. I have to say that we have travelled long
distances and Morocco really does not disappoint. We had first thought that we
would just drive down the coast and have a nice time travelling down to the
Sahara. Instead our present travel
companions Oyvind and Sheelah have shown us a thing or two.
Sheelah
is South African and she is going to her old home with her beau Oyvind who is
from Norway. They are confident and willing to try a much more adventurous
path, and with them we have experienced good roads for long distances and
desert tracks, we have taken mountain passes, travelled through the most
exquisite gorges in the whole wide world. Camping in the wild has been a new
experience and we have gained much more confidence to take these paths and to
camp under the stars.
On
one of our daily drives, we were all surprised to find ourselves driving in a
snow covered area. Thick snow on the side of the mountains and as far as the
eyes can see. It became apparent that we
would not find a pleasant campsite any time soon. Suddenly we saw a sign for a
‘Gite’ 1.5 Km up a steep snow covered path.
.
The beds were excruciatingly
uncomfortable it was also terribly cold. Despite all this we had such a lovely
time there and the family who lived there and ran the place were delightful and
generous in their hospitality, the kind that one would not expect in England.
Up that hill
Great Gite
So deciding that what we need was a good Gite, up we went. Our van performed well as we drove up this hidden track making the steep incline and soft ground easy.It was a very strange
experience, the ‘gite’ was almost medieval in appearance. Built on the side of
the hill with low mud walls and basic electricity and plumbing. There was a
wobbly toilet with a flexible polythene seat. 
True re cycling a farm gate made from a mattress spring. I think it came from my bed.
So
after a jolly good gite we set off back down the track with the owner of the
gite on board as he wanted a lift a few miles down the road.
We
drove over the mountains and down into the desert. It can seem in this part of
Morocco that the vast Atlas Mountains are always all around you. Later that day we camped in a wild and remote
part of the desert. The sky alight with a myriad of stars and two blokes on
donkeys staring at us as we prepared our meal. I did also make the mistake of
carrying out what should have been a quite minor repair. Before we left my brother donated some super
duper heat reflecting fabric that would
protect our spare tyres, mounted on the roof, from the persistent hot sun ,
which we are yet to experience.
Unfortunately we found that it was not terribly durable as we passed
under a low tree which ripped it to shreds.
So
I set about replacing it with some other fabric
I climbed up on the roof of the van to do what should have taken ten
minutes of undemanding work. Instead as
I got up an icy wind blew up. This meant that I had to chase around on the roof
of the van on my knees. Have I ever
mentioned that I am a martyr to my knees! The sheet of fabric about 2m x 1.5m blowing violently around in
the freezing wind as I wrestled with
numerous straps and rolls of Gaffa tape. I managed to put my foot through the
vent cover, more than once which of course meant that I had to fix that too.
The whole operation took over an hour but did not break the concentration of
the two blokes on donkeys. I am sure I have been as cold before but I really
can’t remember when. Oh I forgot that I
also had to push some mastic into some of the joints in the roof as we had a
couple of leaks and the process of doing this under such freezing and blowy
conditions meant that quite a lot of mastic ended up in places that were not
intended, but that’s a story for another day.
Why do i miss all the good bits? Can Ping video it i'm sure it would be a hit !
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