On to the Dades valley

22^nd March

Woke to another fine sunny day. Said our fairwells to Burkhart and Sabina as we are both off on our own travels today. We drove to Boumaine de Dades which is at the start of the Dades valley. A souk was in progress and supplies were needed so we took in the atmosphere of this friendly town.

The drive up the valley immediately became extraordinary! The winding road through ancient ksours and palmeries led us into geological wonders strewn with houses and boulders, hotels and gorges ending the 30 kms at the gorge de Dades. Rather touristy to say the least, so we drive up the impressive and quite famous hairpin bends which have been a dream of mine for several years now. The van goes well and takes the 180 degree turns with ease. Arriving at the top we find, needless to say, a road which goes on into the Atlas and we prefer the idea of staying somewhere more tranquil. So we drive on 30 kms more along high mountain roads up to where we already know the tarmac road finishes and true piste takes over. On the way, 5 young entrepreneurs pop out from nowhere, and offer their wares enthusiastically!
Fossils monsieur? How could we refuse their charms. So we buy a fossil from each of them and wish them well and they us!

Its as far as we can go on this road, we know but go a little farther just to see whats around another set of hairpin bends! We also could use some fuel, not a problem but I do like a nice full tank! We are told the next village has diesel so aim for that. If we were expecting a fuel station we were to be disappointed, what we found was a fuel pipe coming out of the side of a mud building and a shopkeeper happily willing to sell us fuel. How much would I like? 30 litres I say, no problem. He puts the pipe into my tank and takes me into a room where he pumps 5 litres at a time , ensuring I watch the amount going in. At 25 litres I overflow and enough is pumped. The tank is full and I am delighted at the experience. The finest fuel station we have yet to see. He needs some change so runs off to another shop. He returns and the service is complete.

It is now we meet Ibrahim, the other shop keeper who invites us to park outside his shop and have some tea. How could we refuse, its getting on for 5 oclock and we need a rest after these incredible roads. After tea in his house, his wife, Lehoe makes us a dish of scrambled eggs and bread which we eat with pleasure. Ibrahim speaks french as well as Arabic and Berber, Lehoe only speaks Berber so the usual translations are in order and many looks are shared as we stumble through conversation. Now my french isn't great but without it we couldn't converse above hello and how are you! So I do my best to understand and chat as best I can. Would we like to have supper with them? Well, what can we say? Should we decline politely or accept gracefully? We are only concerned about doing the right thing! So we accept and dinner is at 8!

To fill up an hour, we walk the dark streets of this high Atlas village, Ait Margad, chatting to everyone we meet. It might be dark but we feel totally safe here and are greeted with many a labes and ca va. With very little street lighting, these tiny shops erupt with life as we pass by. Not for us, they appear to be meeting places for locals to chat! At 8 we turn up at Ibrahim's shop and sit in his tiny 'boutique' of general supplies and chat with locals until 9! Supper takes an hour or so. The whole family sits on the floor with us and eats the large dish of cous cous Lehoe has prepared, washed down with glasses of Moroccan whisky naturally! ( tea in case you wondered ). We got to our beds absolutely exhausted as you can imagine. It's been a very long day, a quite extraordinary day for us! Its also very cold here with snow on the mountain tops so extra blankets are in order.

Wishing you all a warm goodnight brrrrr