In Morocco you are never alone. Sooner or later a Berber will come out of nowhere!

We awake to the hustle and bustle of a sleepy Moroccan town on its way to work, which for the most part means or going into the fields or taking produce to market. Compared to our hectic cities, this is a rather casual affair.

After packing up the car we continue on our way approaching the Gorges du Dades from the North. The route takes you through spectacular High Atlas mountain formations:

Of course the most frequent guests along the road also happen to be Katherine’s favourite:

Impressive are also the way people live, be it in small rural towns or out in the country completely:

The tour takes us through the famous Gorges du Dades, well described elsewhere, but I suppose no blog would be complete without at least one picture (see blog entry September 14 for a breathtaking gorge off the beaten track).

After filling up with supplies again in Boumaine Dades, in which my Colombian trader again proves her unwavering, ruthless and pitiless approach to bargaining even for a dozen bread rolls, our city shelf life comes to an end and it is time again to escape.

Driving south to Djebel Sahro we found an area to camp and made a beautiful camp fire. However, as the night was dark and silent, some dogs in the neighbourhood continued to bark, and while my Colombian princess can handle austerity travel, she does not handle well not feeling safe.

So we packed up campsite again and continued our trip, this time continuing in the dark trying to find a Gite or hotel to stay. But we are in the middle of the Atlas, there isn’t much. Eventually towards midnight we end up on a road that is barely drivable. It turns out the next morning that in fact it was a pass under construction. The only other vehicles driving that road are caterpillars :-).

At the point at which we cannot continue we also realise that there is a small town alongside. It is, as it turns out, an abandoned mining town. The guard comes to greet us and welcomes us to stay in his boutique hotel… and to us it is *****!