Back to Tafraoute

Every journey is so scenic (if you like rocks) 

It's  cold up here though at 1850 metres

Tafroute is always spectacular and now the almond trees are in blossom 

  

                                                                                                                                                             

We cycled out to the Blue Rocks, can you see the Lions face in the rocks behind 

After a long hot walk we ended up in town just in time as the hot doughnut stand was setting up, we were the first customers, our order for 10 cost less than a pound and they tasted great.

19 days in Tata

I have had a good long time here with good company and plenty of walks and bike rides. Its very dry and sometimes dusty when the wind whips up. Last night it rained for about 3 minutes, all that really did was cover the van with sand. Here's a few more pictures from my days here.

Great mountain bike country

It takes a long while to get anywhere here, at least you don't have to worry about the traffic.

There are so many off piste tracks to explore, but it's hot so I go in the morning and carry plenty of water. I usually manage 20-30 miles each day.











Strangely enough I rarely meet anyone else










but this is one of the camels I saw the other day.

It's so dry and barren but then you can go over a hill and come across palms growing next to a dry river bed.













It hardly ever rains here and is hot even in February but there are always things growing. There are water channels that can be directed to water what looks like bare soil and suddenly make the desert green.

My camping place for the last week

Hot at last

I got to my most Southerly place in this trip and I always bring a bottle of this to celebrate.
Oooh that wonderful smell & taste after 2 months of tasteless colds fizz. Great thing is I still have 2 more bottles.

I listened to Burnley v Brighton with Kev a big Burnley fan. We both had our own teams biased commentaries streaming on our laptops. 

First half his was 2minutes ahead of mine, second half mine was ahead. As the result was even I was happier than him as we have already beaten them this season, and at least we are still talking.

The forecast along the coast and a bit inland was for wind & rain for a few days, not what I came to Morocco for. Heading inland eastwards it was looking much better as it is a much more arid region. I decided to head towards Tata where it rarely rains and there are now some good new campsites. Peter & Mary were heading that way so we left and got to a very good new place in the middle of nowhere called borj biramane at Icht. Its a large hotel, restaurant & campsite with good facilities and interesting looking hills & tracks to explore. 

Unfortunately we were on the edge of a sandstorm so there was no sitting outside and the vans were rocking all night. There was a big four wheel drive rally due in with 140 vehicles but in the end only about 50 of them made it through for the night.

The next day dawned sunny & Blue skies and the wind was easing as we headed further East on the single lane paved road. There was very little traffic, mostly stragglers from the rally coming towards us and a couple of mad loaded up touring cyclists having to cycle into the wind. 

Fantastic scenery mostly rocky escarpments arid plains and small oasis palmeries. Seen a few camels today and some interesting birds, don't know what they live on.

At last there is a decent site at Tata, the municipal site in town is horrible, crowded, surrounded by big walls and very run down facilities. We stayed once a few years ago, last time we passed we opted to wild camp about 20 miles out of town rather than stay at that site again. The new place is about 3km West of town, its an Hotel with about 20 camping places with palms and surrounded by small vegetable plots, rosemary & basil plants to help yourself to, very friendly owners and good facilities. 

There are some good off piste trails, perfect for mountain biking, yesterday on my ride 3 camels crossed just in front of me closely followed by their owner who was running trying to keep up with them. There are 4 British vans here so plenty of company and yesterday we all had a very good couscous lunch in the courtyard. The temperature is in the mid 20's everyday with barely a cloud and its very dry heat which dries out the skin but its not sweaty. At night as there a few lights the stars are so bright. I will stay here a while as its such a nice climate and there's good company and more people we know due next week. Fresh peas today, bought in the weekly souk.