The small hotel was immaculately kept and we enjoyed tea on the sunny terrace taking in the impressive gorge as the rocks changed colour in the setting sun.
An easy downhill soon had us back at the Hotel Atlas where our laundry had dried and we made preparations to move on the following day.
On departure we picked up a cylinder of gas for £5 which would have been £60 back home - they are rather dilapidated Camping Gaz cylinders so I hoped they would fit my regulator as our 2 European cylinders were almost empty and then headed across the Moyen Atlas towards Alnif and then west to Tazzarine passing through stunning but barren mountain scenery with the odd goatherd, several groups of wild camels and some very simple dwellings.
Camp Serdar a few miles south of Tazzarine was reached by a rough track that wound across the desert for several miles - situated behind high walls against the desert winds the large camping area had been extended since my last visit. The works included a new toilet/shower block only opened the previous week - they were of a standard and quality that would put many European sites to shame and the friendly gardien seemed to genuinely remember me from my previous visit. We tucked away in a corner as we had no need for a hook up - with such cheap gas and really only the fridge to run there seemed little point and we enjoyed the hot solar showers before taking a walk across the flat, dusty landscape as the sun set. The local gas cylinder was fitted and worked a treat which is great as it means longer stays off grid are now entirely feasible. Better still by laying the empty GB cylinders on their side I was able to fit all three in to the gas locker which avoids the need to strap one on the bike rack.
Next day we set off on the bikes following the tracks shown on the Satmap 1:25,000 Moroccan mapping and enjoyed the emptiness and far reaching views to sun baked mountains away to the south. Beyond these lie the Algerian border, long since closed which seems such a shame as it denies us the chance to explore another country and those locals a chance to benefit from visitors. Tourism is clearly an important part of Morocco's economy and the people seem to genuinely appreciate our presence and interaction and are always keen to help or advise.
We reached a small marble quarry where the couple of machines lay idle amongst huge blocks of the coloured marble that contained hundreds of fossils best seen when the surface was wetted.
A hot few miles north and a dusty track through a dried up palmery brought us in to Tazzarine where in a cafe at the quieter end of town we enjoyed a superb meal on a shady terrace, good bread, a salad and a meat tagine for two was followed by fruit and coffees for around a tenner.
This fuelled us for the 12 miles back home where more hot showers and an evening walk finished off an excellent day.
We took a road that my old Tom Tom didn't show but which took us across to Zagora through even more remote surroundings where on one occasion we gave a guy a lift in the middle of nowhere to the middle of nowhere and donated a couple of bottles of water to shepherds, also in the middle of nowhere.
On the edge of Zagora we stopped to visit the enormous market spilling across a large area of waste ground, with Mandy buying some earrings from a lady from Mali and the usual huge bag of fruit and veg bought for rock bottom prices. These markets are colourful,absorbing, noisy and stimulating and it is very easy to spend hours at one but we had a fair way to go and headed west towards Tata, stopping briefly at Foum Zguid.
Of even greater interest to all of us was the sudden arrival of a tough, wiry and dusty touring cyclist who turned out to be a German lass (Heike) four months in to a four year overland ride to Cape Town. She had last year finished a multi year ride across Asia to Japan and was currently concerned as to how to extend her 90 day Moroccan visa to give her time to get south to Mauritania. Over a good meal we all discussed the various options and enjoyed a good conversation as her English was excellent - however with very little French she had made no progress on the visa extension and was having to consider a brief flight out to Europe to reboot the visa period.
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The road through the Anti Atlas to Igherm was a cracker climbing through tiny villages, passing flowering almond trees and finally reaching the col via a series of tortuous S bends. Igherm is at the junction of a couple of trans Atlas roads so was busy but not crowded - we parked up and walked through the town which seemed to have quite a strong military presence. Down a side street we came across a shoe shop with the most remarkable display of traditional footwear and scarves and had soon bought a few items at the rate the locals pay. A small cafe incongruously playing UK Christmas hits did us a delicious scrambled egg before we dropped towards Tafraoute our next destination.
Mindful that up in the main town sites would be busy we pulled in to an empty courtyard where the toothless smile and warm welcome of the owner was enough to convince us to stay despite everything looking rather run down. Again we tucked away in a shady corner before walking across to explore a couple of the Amelm valley villages on foot passing crumbling ksours and shady palms.The following day we offloaded the bikes and followed the Amelm valley taking side tracks in to the various villages before reaching the road back to Tafraoute. Just before the town we turned right to pick up a dusty track round to the Painted Rocks that provided endless photo opportunities. A few vans were staying up there but we were content just to cycle round (and occasionally climb) the dramatic formations before having tea at a former cafe that looked closed but whose owner seemed very happy to produce a brew for us and two French couples on his simple wood fire.
An easy downhill back to the campsite had us back before dusk - we were pleased to see three other arrivals, one of which was a German couple in a tent who we guessed were getting about by public transport. We got bread, sardines and biscuits from the small shop before watching the sun set on the famous Lion's Face formation visible across the valley on the impressive cliffs. In a touching link with one of my favourite parts of mid Wales a fellow bothy enthusiast is currently writing a climbing guide to this amazing area but unfortunately this year our visits did not coincide.
During the day we have been experiencing temperatures in the mid twenties and single figures at night with almost zero humidity which has been very comfortable.
After breakfast outside we walked up to the main agadir following a group of French tourists who had hired mules - somewhat unnecessary as it is less than an hour's walk and later we noticed that they were too afraid to ride back down so walked whilst their amused guides took to the saddle.
The old gardien took six of us round the impressive structure with dozens of tiny rooms leading off dark passages, numerous stone beehives and pigeon coops. Water was collected from all the flat surfaces in to a cistern and touchingly several small round pools were incorporated to provide water for the bees. It was a fascinating experience enhanced by the cordiality of the two French couples and we took full advantage of the panoramic viewpoint looking back to the camp area and dusty plains beyond.
Returning by an alternative path we reached the gorge and decided to follow the concrete irrigation channel until its source at the river and then follow the intermittent river through the superb gorge. Occasional pools contained various fish and dozens of small frogs leapt in ahead of us. The guide books mention waterfalls and we now realise that these are the first cascades reached along the route that involve a steep climb up one side rather than a huge single drop waterfall that we expected. We walked another couple of miles before turning round as the valley penetrates many miles in to the mountains and we were rather hot and thirsty.
A German couple we had passed were now swimming in a pool - clearly oblivious to the risk of bilharzia that is endemic in the area. Back at the village we collected bread and a refreshing soft drink before arriving quite gratefully at the van for a relaxing evening.
I decided to give my old pair of binoculars to the gardien as sight was his only usable sense - he was very grateful and waved us off as we took the road south and then west to Guelmin which the sat nav bypassed to put us on what it thought was the way in to Fort Bou Jerif. However it didn't look familiar to me and after a few miles the road descended in to a valley that had been badly affected by flooding 5 years ago leaving the road impassable. Thus we turned round and on our way out found the tiniest of shops to get bread and water in an area where huge amounts of fruit and veg are grown under cover for export to Europe.
Using the Maps.me app on my phone I worked out the right track we should take and soon we were off on the rough 14km track to Fort Bou Jerif.
This remarkable complex is miles from anywhere and springs out of the harsh rocky terrain like a mirage. A diesel generator provides the power with water from a borehole and a large courtyard accommodating rooms, a small restaurant, elegant function room and set to one side a small but very beautiful hotel.
It was clean and well kept with good toilets and showers and as we were the only guests we chose a spot away to one side where we could enjoy the next three days. We walked down to see the old French Foreign Legion fort that was built in 1935 and only occupied for 30 years. It is huge with three distinct areas, one a large parade ground, then a collection of rooms and stores and finally a central garrison with motor inspection pit, officers quarters and the munitions store. With the setting sun and isolation it was a very moving and thought provoking experience. Down at the river a couple off road trucks were parked up, somewhere to consider for a future visit although mozzies might be a problem and the surprisingly loud croaking of frogs might eventually prove tiresome.........Back at the camp we settled down outside to enjoy the sunset and then amazing starscape, particularly impressive after 11pm when the genny stopped running and all light was extinguished.
The next day after an early morning sea mist had burnt off we were away on the bikes heading for the coast at Foum Assakka which was at the end of the flood damaged road from yesterday. The Satmap took us along a mixture of tracks and trails - some with deep sandy sections, some very rocky but all generally rideable. It was gloriously sunny - again - but with more humidity due to the coastal influence.
A steep drop down to a bridge that meets the new road in to Foum Assaka from Sidi Ifni 20 miles north then put us on the last half mile of track to the tiny beach side hamlet. Numerous half finished buildings and a few occupied ones gave the place a very low key affair and the owner of the simplest cafe imaginable produced an excellent squid tagine for me and grilled fish with rice for Mandy. The bill was beyond reasonable and he explained his plans to enlarge the cafe to include a panoramic roof terrace and possibly one day rooms to rent. As access from Sidi Ifni is good now I hope his plans will succeed as he had four young children to support and the location was stunning. We pushed the bikes back up to the cliff top, diverting briefly to a look out point with amazing views before retracing our route back to FBJ for another starry night. Two other vans had arrived including a German family with 2 young children in a Land Rover based camper, it looked very cramped and both parents were particularly loud in the desert stillness.
Our final day was one of rest and recovery with the tempting pool proving a little too cool yet but we sorted through photos, dealt with the loo, gave the shower a good clean, changed the gas (one cylinder having provided showers, hot water, cooking and the fridge for a week at a cost of £5) and did a couple of loads of hand washing which quickly dried in the hot sun and gentle breeze.
We also lazed in the shade of a stone semicircular structure with comfy cushions on stone benches and bright rugs forming the roof where sweet mint tea was thoroughly appreciated.
We had arranged to eat in the small restaurant and although delicious it was priced at more European levels - I had a camel tagine whilst Mandy settled for more conventional grilled chicken.
A 4WD T5 high top camper had turned up with another Land Rover based camper and I was glad that trade continued for this amazing place - the Paris-Dakar Rally used to pass through but the politics of North Africa means that this event is now I think based in South America. After dark we walked down to the old fort again with the ruins looking dramatic against the moonlit sky with nothing to disturb the silence.
We decided to leave via a different route as part of our bike ride had brought us out on a piste that the Satmap indicated would take us out to tarmac and this in fact proved to be a much easier route out than the bone jarring way we had come in. Bulldozers and graders were improving the sandy track and we kicked up a lot of dust - reminiscent for me of the Outback almost a decade ago and we needed to power though the odd section of deep sand but the sealed road was reached and we were soon on the way to Guelmime.
Here we went to a branch of the only Moroccan supermarket chain - Marjane - and were amazed at the variety of goods and produce available. 90% of the clientele were European vanners but we only bought some essentials that are hard to find in the small villages as we much prefer to shop daily for the freshest fruit, veg and bread. The town seemed very hectic as we passed through - traffic weaves and wobbles without apparent incident but any notion of driving in a polite western style has to be abandoned as the locals just don't expect it.
I nipped in to a satellite TV store to get my data allowance topped up - £16 for 20Gb as the same allowance had lasted almost a month. Having internet access, Whatsapp, email, mapping, Spotify and the BBC Sounds service available almost everywhere has been an absolute bargain for around 50p per day. Morocco's 3G service is remarkably comprehensive as most of the population have skipped the old copper wire technology and masts are near almost every town.
We took the road out to Sidi Ifni where the crowded overwinter campsites start in earnest and only stopped briefly for lunch above the port before heading north and taking a rough side track down to a cliff top for a night wild camping. Out to sea almost a hundred small sardine boats were bobbing on the gentle swell and we enjoyed the view as the sun set with just one interruption from an old guy walking south with all his belongings in a simple shoulder sack. He was very grateful for a bottle of water and the four pain au chocolat we offered and hobbled off as the sky darkened.
So today has been our last full day together and after a lazy breakfast outside we drove to Tiznit, parked under the watchful eye of an old gardien and explored the large walled town with its maze of alleys and numerous small shops. There is a jewellery quarter with dozens of tiny shacks displaying tray after tray of intricate rings, brooches, necklaces and bangles and a clothing and garments section with every colour imaginable on display. It all felt very relaxed and we spent a fair time ambling round before settling in a cool side street for a lunch that cost £4 for salad, paninis and chips, soft drinks and water.
A final hour north to Agadir has put us on a small campsite within half an hour of the airport ready for Mandy's departure to Manchester tomorrow. We called in briefly to get our bearings and were pleased to find it is small, compact and well signposted which should make the logistics of tomorrow quite straightforward.
My onward plans are fluid as I have 5 weeks until I fly back from Malaga in late March so I expect to spend another month over here and then return to Spain as the van will need an oil change and I would like to catch up with the friends recovering from a pre Christmas accident.
Thus pictures from the above can be seen here and I will try to report my locations over the next few weeks here.
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