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Morocco - Day 11

06/10/09 - Ameln Valley - 104 miles

Cartoon Rocks and Berber Hospitality

The day started with a pleasant walk to visit a traditional Berber house which was balanced amongst the ‘Loony Tunes’ style cartoon rocks of the hillside just beyond the village. After being greeted by the current owner we learned that the house had stood for over 700 years and many generations of the same family had lived there. It was fascinating to walk through the individual rooms stooping due to low door lintels and see the traditional cooking utensils, pots, pans and animal traps hanging on the walls. The final room we viewed was a large living area decorated with brightly coloured carpets and cushions with Mo noticing a strange musical instrument hanging on the wall. I can only describe it as a cross between a banjo and a violin with a bow used to strum the strings as was demonstrated by our guide. Before saying goodbye to the guide we posed for photographs and gave him some money to show our appreciation of his hospitality of allowing us to look around his home.

Morocco - Day 12

07/10/09 - High Atlas Mountains - 138 miles

Twists and Turns

I was still feeling ill when we were having our breakfast but I wasn't going to miss riding the Tiz and Test pass, possibly the highlight of the whole trip.  The pass runs  north through the High Altas Mountains to the summit at 2100m.  The journey started by continuing over the flat plains running along side the river and in the distance the mountains could be seen rising upwards into the sky.  The road surface varied from smooth tarmac to loose gravel along the edges but each bend flowed into the next allowing the bike to be kept in third gear and simply using the throttle to control our speed.  Near to the summit the leading group stopped at a cafe situated on a large bend giving a fantastic view of the plains 2000m below.

I spent my time resting in the shade with a cold orange, whilst Mo sat in the warm sun drinking her coffee taking in the view.  John was asking how I was feeling and made comment that it hadn't affected my riding in anyway.  Thing was I was enjoying the ride so much that I had forgetten about being under the weather.  It was just a short ride to the summit where we all posed for a group photograph before starting the long decent that follows the course of the Oued Nfis.  For over forty miles the twists and turns continued through the high sided mountains and eventually we stopped for a break in a small village, sitting in the shade to avoid the scorching heat of the sun.

Morocco - Day 12

The last stage of our days journey led out of the Altas mountains for the last time and it back to long straight roads for the time being for our run into the cultural city of Marrakech.  The quiet roads of the mountains were soon replaced with the busy hectic traffic of the city with vehicles coming from all directions.  Once we found our hotel we had the task of packing all the bikes into the small parking area where we could leave and forget about them for the next two days.  It had been an exhausting day so after our evening meal I decided to go to bed so that I would be fit for our day exploring the city.