Camels in the distance....

First port of call today was the site of Morocco's Klondike. We headed 25k up a valley to the site which was mined for lead and silver until 1979. The road steadily deteriorated with big chunks of it eroded away by floods. The nearly deserted mining village was occupied now by 4 families and this old man introduced himself as the 'Guardien' but I cant see what he could possibly have been guarding. We managed to communicate with pidgin French and by writing in the sand. Where we were standing was under 20 feet of water in September 2008 and the surrounding trees had lots of the rubbish trapped in the branches swept by the floods. Almost dropped the bike in a huge puddle of slippery mud....nearly left same in my trousers.

Headed on south over the High Atlas on a very good road with a bit of lying snow on the north facing slopes. The next valley was a little warmer and saw first camels of the trip. I have been told there are no wild camels.....somebody owns them all as they are worth between 800 and 1500 euro. They are used for transport, their hair is used for tent making and apparently camel tagine is very tasty but I have not seen it on any menu yet.

Ended up in a tiny unheated hotel in Tinerhir and paid DH150 for a twin room. Bargain :-) After dinner, I got the whiff of a Sheesha pipe and the owner kindly invited us to share. I don’t speak any Arabic and his French was a little rustic but we managed with hand gestures and he taught us the finer details of how to set a sheesha pipe up. Apple flavored tobacco has a good hit if you don’t smoke. Woke up in the morning wearing every thermal garment I own (socks, leggings, helly, fleece & hat) and was lovely and toasty. Sadly, seems like I was the only one with the foresight to go to bed fully dressed as the other guests (Aussies) seemed to have rather a bad night.