Wet Feet

Spent a very peaceful night in a Kasbah hotel. Mud walls, bamboo/rattan ceilings, Camels in the stables and the obligatory tagine. The place was called the Kasbah Panoramic as it had fab views of the surrounding desert and Erg Chebbi. I got up at dawn to walk round and see the place before the light got too strong.

I set off on a piste towards Erfoud about 25k away. The hotel staff said it was easy so I decided to give it a go. Seemsed easy, just follow the GPS trail....except the GPS trail and the piste were not the same. And there were hundreds of pistes as this is a real 4x4 excursion area. The desert round here is mostly flat with lots of baked hard mud, small rocks & stones. The whole place is cris-crossed with them....and there is plenty of my old favorite....sand.

And then I saw this. Crap, I thought. The choices were to cross or go back the way I came and it had just taken me 1 hour 40 mins to do the piste. I looked for a while and say that the water was not that deep but quite fast flowing. Cars were able to cross but they were detouring round two big holes in the cement. If I put a wheel in one of them, the bike would be down the river before I could do anything. I did the white man thing & waved money at some kids and arranged for two strong ones to walk either side of me and prop me up if anything went wrong. 30 secs and 2 wet feet later I was on the other side breathing a huge sigh of relief. Best £1.80 insurance I ever bought.

I decided I had had enough excitement for one day so headed back to Bikershome in Ouarzazate for a good shower and good company and to plan the route back home. We went out for a milkshake ( very tasty! ) and whilst the ladies were browsing smelly things in the souk equivalent of Boots, I spotted this little number on a shelf.....who would have thought there would be a market for that?