Morocco Tour – Day 4 – Driving

This evening we finally arrived at a hotel that has wifi so I am finally able to get caught up on my blog postings.  The place we stayed at for the past two nights, though lovely, had neither internet connection nor cell phone connectivity.  I know it is good for me to be disconnected for a while, but it just felt very strange to not be able to talk to people at home.

Today was a day of transit as we moved from our nature retreat in the High Atlas mountains to the Anti-Atlas mountain range.  We will be here for a couple of nights while we experience the area.  We left our hotel bright and early being picked up by “local transport”.  On market days the van usually carries shoppers and vendors (with their chickens and sheep) to the local market town.  Coming down the hills took 20 minutes to drive which the other day took 1.5 hours by mule.  I don’t think we appreciated the scenery quite as much though.  At the junction of the main road we then picked up our private, more luxurious, van (ie it has cushioned seats instead of wooden benches!).

We made a few stops along our 8 hour driving route to stretch our legs.  First stop was the 12th century Tin Mal Mosque.

As we were arriving at the mosque, a group of motorcycle riders was leaving.  It was reassuring to see motorcyclists on the road today as this was the first I’d seen.  I was starting to get worried that we would be the only ones on the road when we head out in a week or so.  The only people who ride full motorcycles here are tourists.  The locals ride scooters or little motorcycles and almost never with a helmet or protection.

We then headed further south through the Tizi N Test pass which is one of the major passes through the High Atlas mountains.  We stopped at the top to enjoy the view and hope we didn’t fall off the edge.  The pass crosses the mountains at 2100 m.  You feel you are on top of the world.

By late afternoon we reached the Anti-Atlas range which is lower but no less dramatic for scenery.

This evening we arrived in Tafraout which is the local centre for exploring this part of Morocco.  We are actually further south than the resort area of Agadir where I will finish my journey in a few weeks.

I’m feeling much better.  I still have a cough which gets aggravated by activity and too much talking.   It is hopefully just winding down though and will run its course soon I hope.