20 April 2001 - Todra Gorge

The restaurant turned out to be more comfortable than I imagined. I woke a couple of times during the night, when I heard rain on the roof. It only lasted ten minutes or so, but I'm still convinced it was rain, although the other people I shared the restaurant with denied it emphatically in the morning. Sunrise over the gorge is beautifull, there are dramatic shadows as the sun illuminates individual walls of the gorge. I grabbed my camera and walked down the gorge until I came to the entrance and the start of the palmeries. The clash of bright green palm trees, bright red rocks, and a clear blue sky should make for some extraordinary photos.

I had decided to spend the today chilling out in Tinerhir and getting some good photos on film. To this point my 35mm camera had been buried in my rucksack, and the hassle of removing and replacing my helmet, goggles, snood and gloves had meant 1 usually couldn't be bothered to dig to the bottom of my rucksack, and I just used my point & shoot digital camera instead. I wandered back to the hotel and completed my daily maintenance on the bike; check the oil, chain tension, and just pull on things to see if they've come loose. The French group were preparing to go, so they were enthusiastically pulling their bikes apart on the front steps of the hotel. I watched as air filters were bashed clean like dusty carpets, tyres were removed and replaced, and lots of seemingly unnecessary spannering was performed after only one day on the piste.

I pulled on my helmet and rucksack and headed out of the gorge. The piste soon becomes tarmac, but not until it has crossed the oued a few times. Unencumbered with luggage I used the opportunity to clean the bike (read: I gave it some to see how big a wave I could make). After the scrub and mountains of yesterday the road to Tinerhir is an experience in full Technicolor. Under cloudless skies the palmeries were vividly green against the orange and brown mountain backdrop. Each corner produced an "Ohhh!" or an "Ahhh!" until I stopped on an elevated bend with views down over the oued, the palmeries and the desolate plain beyond. The touts were waiting there as well, but not for me. Soon enough a caravan of French 4x4 came around the corner and pulled over. Their brake lights were like the start lights at a Formula 1 Grand Prix, as the locals sprinted across the road, determined to beat their competitors to the first tourist. Strangely I wasn't bothered by the locals, who concentrated on selling indigo wraps to the French women, while their husbands caught the transaction on video cameras. Good as the view was, I did my snapping and got on my way, before the urge to let off some handbrakes got too strong.

Eventually I got to the centre of Tinerhir, where there is a small shadey garden, in which I reclined on a bench to read and watch the world go by. Whenever a group of children game over a gardener would come to my rescue and shoo them away. I finished my book and was kicked out of the garden by a bloke with a bunch of keys. Why the garden is closed at midday I didn't ask. I wandered around a bit, and spotted a sign for "Internet", and so decided to send an email home to my mum. Being the only customer, the owner booted up the modem specially for me. While all the computers are networked together, there was only one modem link to the outside world. If more than one person starts surfing it would get mighty slow very fast.

I headed back to the gorge, having to dodge the day trippers in huge European coaches. By the time I got back to the hotel there were four coaches in the gorge and numerous campervans. I spent the afternoon wandering around, taking photos, and observing the tour groups marching line astern from coach to viewpoint to Berber tent to coach. I also think I've finally worked out why people have been referring to jeeps as kat-kats. I believe it's a shortened form of Quatre-Quatre, or 4x4 in French. It makes sense to me even if it's not correct.

After chatting for an hour last night with an Italian bloke, who was bus-ing around the country with his wife, tonight has been devoid of contact with other travellers. The hotel seems much emptier than yesterday, so I could probably get a room. However the 150 dirham price puts me off. Whilst you'd never get a three star ensuite room in Ambleside, or a room with a view over Trafalgar Square, for £10 a night, I need to preserve the cash I have, and the traditional cushioned benches of the restaurant are really quite comfortable. The room at the Hotel Rif is beginning to look like seriously good value, at £4. However the Todra Gorge must be up in the top three tourist attractions outside of the royal cities in Morocco, so really it's dirt cheap.

Thoughts for the day; I have roughly twice the luggage I need. All my tools would fit into two slimline boxes mounted on the engine guards. A pair of tank panniers would hold enough water for several days travel. The sleeping bag, matt and tent combination is overly bulky, and so far completely unnecessary. I've duplicated all sorts of things like guide books, camera equipment, tools and water storage. However the best purchase I made for this trip was the hydration pouch-cum-rucksack. Easy access to squash and water all day long, even on the move. So far my GPS has only functioned as an expensive compass and speedo. However tomorrow I'm following a piste described in Sahara Overland, so it should come into it's own then.