Draa Valley

Posted on November 10, 2024 by Clunegapyears

06/10/24 – Tamnought became nought

We were packed up in under 1 hr 30. Pretty slick at this camping lark now. I was taught how to pack by my father on family camping trips. Sadly, this talent will not be passed to my daughter. She’s vehemently non camping.

We had not planned to come down the Draa Valley, but I’d read a bit more and the road looked interesting on the map. It didn’t disappoint. Wide plains. Distant mountains in warm ochres and then black. Different to what we have seen due to the many many ksars – mud villages. It was a main caravan trade route. Most were inhabited but where houses had been restored or replaced with a modern build, often mud covered breeze blocks. So an interesting mix of ruins and new.

We stopped for brunch. The host explained his 2 eldest children attended boarding school an hour away. His eldest daughter is studying medicine. The 17 yr old was home for the national holiday and showed us his maths exercise books. I’ve never seen such neat work from a boy. We gladly praised and I was rewarded with the gift of scarf. A nice encounter.

We stopped at Tamnought Ksar. It had paintings from a film production.

*Corrie saw parked motorhomes and checked them all for Brian and Zoa*

*Gradually returning to dust. Piles of rubble and sand*

*We intended to wander the restored ksar but a guide wouldn’t leave us alone, claiming he had keys, that entry was by ticket, that due to harems entry was by guide etc. Enough! We about* *turned*.

We arrived at Zagora but struggled to find our Riad. A young lad showed me the way through ever increasingly narrow paths. Despite my pre booking enquiry, the car wasn’t going to be very close. It wasn’t so I ended up pulling things from my large and heavy suitcase to a shopping bag. Our room is in a tower. Dark and only two tiny windows. We were both disappointed, but it has air con, a powerful shower and a nice shady courtyard. And is all of €24 pn. We had pre-ordered supper. The best soup I’ve had so far, followed by a beautifully cooked and tasty chicken and veg tagine. Too full to touch the fruit. All for €10 each, so we’re coming around to liking our accommodation.

010/24 – Tamed in Tamegroute

After breakfast (included), we drove South to the end of the road. M’Hamid is a border town now devoted to camel and 4×4 trips to the sand dunes. We just had lunch.

However, on the way down we stopped at Tamegroute. Home to a library of ancient Koran’s and a mausoleum, making the town a pilgrimage site. It is also renowned for pottery with a green glaze. Had we not accepted the services of a guide, we would probably have missed the library and the pottery kilns. We had to buy and pay our guide and so came away several € lighter. With the question as to how to keep our purchases safe from breakage over the next months unpacking / repacking and the bumpy roads!

*Tomb of Mohammed Bou Nasri who founded this centre of Islamic learning.*

*Confusing narrow streets of the Ksar. We would got totally lost without Abdul our guide*

*Abdul in the pottery making area. The local clay is dug from 8m, whereas building clay from the surface. The green glaze is from 3 local pigments*

*A lot of the potters were in trenches. Cool and saves back ache, I guess*

*7 kilns in the centre of the Ksar, owned by one family. Palm leaves are used to fire them up.*

*Morocco* *is much larger than anticipated – today was 2hrs each way.*

Ouarzazate

Posted on November 5, 2024 by Clunegapyears

02/10/24 – Ooh Are Mrs Ouarzazate

Drove from Tinghir to Ouarzazate (try pronouncing that with a mouthful of crushed ice)… just south of the High Atlas, gateway to the desert – no sign of Charles Atlas – some might remember – if a manly bloke didn’t send Chas Atlas money for bodybuilding, he got sand kicked in his face on the beach! The town was built by the French Foreign Legion in 1928 to quell the troublesome south. Didn’t you go to the Foreign Legion to disappear? The town was on major trade routes. There are telltale signs as we arrived – wide roads, lack of rubbish and sense of prosperity – the lack of rubbish is unfortunately not common in Morocco, sadly.

*We passed through a major rose growing area. We only saw a tiny strip of roses but lots of distillation and cooperative shops*

Arriving at Ouarzazate, we called into a good Carrefour, which was full of USA students all cluttering the crisps and cakes aisles. Which, of course, was fortunate as not where I wanted to go!

Brian had preceded us to the campsite – a good size with plenty of room for our tented villa! We took Zoa and Corrie for a walk but had to change route due to wild dogs – another feature of Morocco and they don’t look or sound friendly! Supped and retired for the night…..quiet until some unruly (drunk) behaviour – and the local airport launched an aircraft at 1:00 am!

03/10/24 – Kasbah and in search of the resevoir

Today, we didn’t go far – Dropped the laundry off at the local ‘pressing’ … Two loads c.€7. Straight into breakfast … K went for the tagine cooked Eggs Berbere … again I had a cheese omelette – managed a little Arabic language with Abdou – Salaam a Lekum…

*Omelette berbere served with chips this time! More scrambled than poached but still 😋*

we succumbed to a guide to visit the only historic monument… the Kasbah. Only built since the 1780s. 50 families used to live here. Our guide had very good English but slightly difficult to understand.

All the houses had secure store rooms for the treasure brought on the caravan routes. Hundreds would kip down on any square in of floor. They did have wash before entering each kasbak, thankfully. A Unesco site, but some floors were not accessible as unsafe.

Back to the tent for a bit. Then we attempted to walk to the reservoir, but the path became a mud bath. We found paths to the river.

04/10/24

What a commercial, touristy day! What – us?
The Atlas Film Studios was €8 pp, and the compulsory guide told his he had no wage, just tips. A 45 min tour, which told us not a lot about the film set industry. Just looked at a few sets and were told which films have been partially shot here. Definitely not MGM! Didn’t look like much had happened for a while. One of our tour group acted as Cleopatra for the guide’s video film… There was another studio down the road with high fences and security gate which looked a lot more in business.

We drove up to Ait Benhaddou. We had lunch overlooking the Unesco mud village on a hill. Stunning. Except for all the bus loads of tourists from Marrakesh. And well restored.

*Another typical dish … chicken pastilla. Spicy shredded chicken coated with icing sugar and cinnamon. Actually delicious*

05/10/24

Easy day. Early farewell to Brian and Zoa. They’re off in search of the sea. They are here less than us. Found a replacement SIM for the next month. Brunch … not a proper omelette berbere – basically scrambled with tomatoes and not a tagine or hint of spice.

A bit of tent cleaning … first floor wash shock / horror. New area tomorrow.

Gorging

Posted on November 1, 2024 by Clunegapyears

30th October 2024 …

*Lovely hotel breakfast is a good start to the day. Most left untouched as too much and too sweet, but liked the savoury hot flat breads.*

*Our hotel was the Kasbah Panorama. The only one on a mound with views of the dunes. Very traditional decor, but comfortable. £30, bnb.*

We were later than planned to leave the hotel as we chatted to a French lady, married to a Canadian, living in New York. She was travelling solo to try to cope with grieving. She’d lost her mother to brain cancer in August and her 42 year old sister only a month ago, also to brain cancer. She had thought for years about having a retirement plan / home. Now thinks travelling and experiencing is the way to go.

We thought we were getting omelette for lunch, but delicious tagine of veg with poached eggs. And a no cook day as Brian cooked tonight. Yay.

*I was so taken by this dish that I thought about buying a tagine. But I could do this in a slow cooker. I do NOT need more kitchen gadgets.*

I am still reeling from the amazing scenery from yesterday. Nothing will ever beat that. EVER. But today did not disappoint.

Amazing colours and textures. But initially, so barren. Not life supporting. As we approached our destination, Tinghir, lots of palm date plantations.

Lovely walk up a wide dry river bed with Brian and Zoa. Ladies carrying bundles of leaves up. Two laden donkeys, but all ladies, and one small girl, all laden. Bent over. Baa … we established the greenery was to feed the sheep.

And we’re back in the tent for 3 nights. Glad we brought an electric heater, as the evening has turned chilly.

31st October – Todra Gorge and Palm Oasis

Brian poorly, so we took Zoa. We started with a 7km walk in the date palm oasis. After 20 mins, Zoa settled and stopped trying to go back and look for Brian. The palm oasis is basically a long fertile valley. Lots of predominantly women working the fields. A really lovely shady walk.

*We had expected it to just be palm trees. But most of it was small fields (really small) with a massive network of paths and irrigation channels.*

*Twice we had to wade and J wouldn’t remove his shoes … guess whose shoes are now sodden! Zoa looked for fish.*

We drove up the Todra Gorge. Busses and coaches disgorged (!) tourists at the bottom and waited for them at the end. One side was wall to wall sellers.

It was actually a main road, and we headed up, intending to drive to the next town 26km away for lunch. The road got slower and slower as the surface got worse and worse. At that rate, it would have been dinner time before we ate. And I’d promised Brian salmon fish cakes. About turn. Found a good place for lunch. And into Tinghir for a little shopping in the main dirt track street.

1st November – Easy day

Brian much better, so we walked to the Palm Oasis from the campsite. Of course, there was more river crossings. J had to remove his trainers as he’d no other dry shoes. Brian sensibly wore wellies and I’d walking sandals to slip off.

*This time we were higher than the mud village and then back through the valley*

Two properties had been rebuilt. Presumably, locals still own the derelict buildings and plot of land. It’s amazing how mud houses could support 3 storeys. Reading, they need repair and work annually.
More women carrying massive bails of foliage on their backs up the sides of the valley. One lady explained she does this daily to feed sheep and a cow. She makes cheese. When we have seen men with foliage, they’ve had a donkey.
60c equivalent for 3 ice creams on a stick. 2 mint tea and a coke at the campsite €4. Dinner out in Tinghir.

JEZ UPDATE

He is fixed. Hooray. Much quicker than anticipated. The insurance even paid for the hab door to be repaired … wouldn’t lock. The only problem is that the repairer will charge £50 per week to store it, and we’re not back until Christmas. The insurance broker has agreed that we can store it at a 5 pitch site that we regularly use in Chichester. Normally, they state that any storage has to be cassoa Gold storage compounds. Hard to find and also expensive. Great result as a) it’s a LOT cheaper and b) it will be where we want him for when we get back. I have asked, out of curiosity, what the repair bill was. We only pay £500 excess.

1C and Snow to 24C and Sand

Posted on October 29, 2024 by Clunegapyears

29th October 2024

What a drive. And, what a long drive. 385km. Sat nav said it would take 6 hours 45, but it was 9 hrs travelling. Including a breakfast stop.
We know we will take longer than the Sat nav estimation as we are fully loaded, so go slow. The aged Merc got up to 61mpg!

As we left Azrou at 7.00 in pitch black, we navigated around flocks of sheep being walked to market. We wondered how far some had come / how early they had started. Tuesday is the proper farmers market.

One major factor in our slow pace was SNOW. I’d seen a single snowflake on the weather forecast for 3.00. But this was more than a single snowflake. It was a dump of about 5″. The roads had obviously been salted, but there was the odd patch of icy stuff. We spotted one taxi that had bounced off both sides of the road. And 3 stationary snow ploughs. The snow barriers were manned, and we had a 30 min wait at one before they let the convoy of traffic through. Many of whom jostled like an F1 starting grid. Some interesting overtaking.

Not much habitation, but we saw droves of donkeys grazing on odd tufts.

*We had started in pitch black and watched the sun come up*

As we started to descend, wide plains with distant mountains. Landscape changing colours

*Thought we had left snow behind, but fortunately,* *not much* *near the roa*d

*The mosque is probably concrete, but lots of villages are made from mud. I’d think they were deserted till I saw the washing*

Around Midelt, we saw lots of piles of soil. Some reminiscent of coal mining slag heaps. Massive mineral mining. A side shoot is fossils. Museums and shops along the roD.

*Gorge* *with majestic rocks. Not been to* *Arizona, but it looks like it.*

*Our hotel is the highest around on a mound with views. interesting to get to as the sat nav took us virtually off roading and scraping our undercarriage. Cosy Berber decoration. Mint tea on arrival.*

*A serene sand walk with Brian and Zoa, who arrived yesterday. The desert has the same soothing effect as meditation. The colours with the shadows and smooth curves soothe your soul*!

Early evening is when dromedary (one hump!) take guests to tent encampments for supper and star gazing. We did this in Jordan, so didn’t feel the need. Not sure how Corrie would have fared on a camel!

There were also all sizes and styles of dune buggies and jeeps charging up peaks of sand for the sunset. Apparently, tourist development here has tent encampments and hotels springing up weekly.

*Meat and vegetable tagines at Brian’s campsite. Yummy, but not the cheapest… sign of where we are.*

Star gazing on Corrie’s last walk and I could see the milky way.

And so to bed; tired, happy and full

27 to 7.5C

Posted on October 28, 2024 by Clunegapyears

26th October 2024 – a climb in altitude, but plummet in temperature

We drove up to the Middle Atlas. Leaving sunshine and my shorts behind. To fog and some rain. J still in shorts! Shopped at Mr Bricolage to buy some nylon rope to replace chewed and knotted guy ropes, damage courtesy of one of the campsite dogs.

Stopped at Ifrane. Built in 1920s by the French. Ski resort so orange pointed roofs as against the standard flat concrete ones. Could smell the money – nice villas and a Maserati.
Picked an empty restaurant for lunch, hoping they would let Corrie in. 7.5C and J still in shorts! A good lemon tagine. €20 incl tip.

*Ifrane, built in 1920s … a weekend destination for Moroccans.* *And skiing here from December*

Changing landscape and monkeys onto Azrou.

*Onions piled up, drying on long stone walls, covered in plastic*

Met Brian at the luxurious Emerates Euro (! – name covering all bases) campsite – chat about routes going south – and we repossessed our wine stock, which is slowly dwindling….. winedling… Then on to Azrou for the booked accommodation – very spacious with bright pink living room!

27th October – Dayet, Day-not

Sunday dawned like a brass monkey at 6.0 centigrade!!! Summer Time finished in UK but no actual summer time here… we breakfasted and drove to look at waterfalls, lakes and rocks. The waterfall had disappeared – the lakes were dry (apart from me peeing on the side – J obvs). Arabic for lake is dayet. Apparently, most of the water is re-directed for irrigation. We saw a LOT of apple trees.

And the rocks were not exactly rocking in the distance, blurred by fog. But loads of sheep and hungry wild dogs..

*Rocks, just visible top left. The others are lost in shrouds of mist*

Back to the apartment for lunch. Tomorrow will race up to 10 degrees centigrade – whoopee – bikini time?

28th October -Another bloody cold day

A short drive to the Tioumiline Benedictine monastery. The King had inaugurated it as a museum to bring Muslim and Christianity closer. There’d obviously been some investment, but now the museum was shut, and looking through the window, some displays were on their side. Testament to global peace and understanding!

*The monastery had originally been been a boys boarding school for colonial drop outs. And then a large conference centre. Finally closing in 1968. https://www.archnet.org/sites/20485*

The place is now inhabited by monkeys and dogs. The joint barking and squawking were unpleasant. A tiny thin puppy. We gave him the dog biscuits we had. As we left, we spotted another dog, with what looked like entrails hanging out his bottom. Animal welfare here is worse than I’d anticipated. I read that Islam states that if a dog licks a plate, you should wash it 6 times and then with soil. 😔

The cedar forest museum was also shut. We drove and walked the track to a dead tree! Notable for its size and age. More monkeys and dogs.

*Lovely blue green of the ceder trees and grass*

Back at Azrou, the local museum was open. A few artisans were working in a neighbouring building. Lovely smell of the ceder being worked.

Being cold (c. 10C) with the promised rain arriving, we had lunch out. Well in, and Corrie allowed in. My tagine was full of potatoes and acted like porridge, warming from the inside.
Lovely landlord brought us an oil filled rad for the apartment!

Clune Gap Years

A journal and reflections of our motorhome travels

Category Archives: 2024