Saturday 12 January Marrakech to Topsham

Usual cacophony at 7 from competing mosques, as we pull the blankets snugly over us in our cold room. Happy Birthday to me (Clare doesn't remember....I won't let her forget!). After breakfast in the Riad courtyard we take a short taxi ride ( price negotiated by Fatima) to the Palais Bahia, with its beautiful courtyards, ceilings and fountains. Then we walk back to the souks, after a short stop at a local spice merchant to buy saffron and mint tea. We wander around the souks before lunch at another roof top cafe terrace where we have fruit juice ( no wine available !), kefta (meatball) couscous with side serving of harrisa and onion relish, and really delicious tagine of beef and prunes with almonds. I count 8 nearby mosques. The high Atlas Mountains with their dusting of snow are hazy in the distance. Completely clear sky, hot sun. After a final tour of some carpet shops, where we manage not to buy anything (quite an achievement!) we head back to the Riad for final mint tea, which we pour from as high as we can before Hassan picks us up and we make our way to the airport for our 7 pm flight. Unusually we have to scan our bags even before entering the terminal. We meet Sergei and his girlfriend in the check in queue. They have been to Marrakech and Essouira. Flight on time . I get an exit stamp in my passport from Morocco with the date of my birthday! We say farewell to Izzie, met by Luke in a hire car just outside the terminal, and then we all share the drive back to Topsham where we arrive at about 2 in the morning.

Friday 11 January: Marrakech

Stereo Call to Prayer at 7am before breakfast in the courtyard of our Riad. We negotiate a taxi ride out to the Jardin Marjorelle and are pleased to have arrived early before the crowds. Lush cacti and cobalt blue and yellow paintwork (we try not to think of IKEA!) and exotic citrus groves in the gardens of Yves St Laurent. I buy some perfume created from the orange blossom flower heightened with notes of Fes jasmine and roses, Atlas cedar, pepper and Agadir saffron. Exotic memories. Another taxi ride out to the Menara with a charming driver who waits for us while we visit (we now know he must be getting a good deal). A beautiful lake in front of a pavilion in the imperial gardens although sadly the sun is in the wrong direction for truly arty shots. Back to the Souks for a spot of tabbing: baskets, rugs, pouffes, lamps, bowls and mugs. Ellie is the master of bartering. Simon and I are not very good. Fun is had by all and we have some lovely souvenirs. Feeling weary we decide to try a local Hammam. The girls and I apprehensively descend some steps into the female Hammam where we enter for 10 dirham. We strip and are led through into a warm wet steamy room filled with naked women and children washing each other and drenching themselves with buckets of hot water. We are led to some mats and women wash us with Savon Noire before exfoliating us with great enthusiasm which verges on the painful! Then a massage with oil and hair shampoo and scalp scrub. We feel totally and utterly cleansed when we return to the Riad to find poor Simon patiently waiting. The male experience sounded a lot more lonely and less exhilarating. Drinks and supper at Bazaar Cafe on the roof terrace. 

Thursday 10 January: Agdz to Marrakech

Breakfast with the heaters on as it's -2 degrees outside. Another gin clear day. At 9 we meet up with Abdul our guide who takes us on a walk through the palm groves and he explains all about the crop rotation system used by local people here, and how they plant pomegranates near the palms to counteract the fungus that can attack the palm trees. We walk through a ruined mud and straw village with most of the minaret of its mosque intact. Abdul has a degree in mathematics from Marrakech university and he is happy to talk freely about life in modern Morocco. After nearly two hours we meet up with Hassan and begin the long drive to Marrakech . Firstly through the low Atlas Mountains, and then we see the curious solar light from the 40 kilometre squared solar mirror focused on a water tower near Ourzazate, and then we begin the tortuous ascent of the High Atlas and the Tizi-n-Tichna pass. We stop for something to eat and buy some Argan oil and black exfoliating soap (well the girls do!). We arrive at Marrakech in the early evening to a different Riad with orange trees in the courtyard with a little fountain. We have some mint tea before going to our rooms. Then we walk to the Koutoubia mosque and through the hectic Place Jemaa el-Fna. We have a drink on a rooftop terrace as the sun sets over the city. For supper we go to the restaurant just next door to the Riad, hidden behind an imposing door. It has a beautiful interior and we sample pigeon pastille, chicken tagine and couscous, with harrisa and bouillon and sweet mint tea to finish with.

Wednesday 9 January 2018: Erg Chebbi to Agdz

We set our alarms in order to watch the sun rising over the Sahara, which feels like a once in a lifetime experience. Spectacular. The scramble up the sand dunes helps to warm up our cold bodies. It is freezing and we eat our breakfast wearing our hats and gloves which feels a bit like playing the Chocolate Eating Game. Hassan enjoys using the 4 wheel drive to steer us skilfully through the dunes to the tracks and then on to the very straight rather boring main road. This is real camel country and we see several large groups of camels grazing by the side of the road. We begin to feel blasé.Today we drive west along the southern slopes of the Low Atlas Mountains pleased to have the sun warming us up through the car windows. We have a Moroccan Flat White coffee called a Nos Nos (half and half) which is delicious and lentil soup on a roof terrace. Then into the Draa Valley, the area of Southern Oases, where the valley is filled with hundreds of different types of palm trees and crops are grown in the fertile soil beneath. We arrive at Riad Sofar in Agdz and relax in the sunshine on a terrace by a swimming pool. It is icy cold and we are not tempted.

Tuesday 08 January Todra Gorge to Erg Chebbi (Sahara desert)

A very dark night's sleep in our cave! Izzie and I go for a walk along the dried up river bed before breakfast, cracking the ice on the small pools of water. We drive down through the Todra Gorge, and see the nomads' goats and where they live in the caves above the source of the wadi. Our journey continues through more and more arid country and little towns with breeze block and mud and straw buildings. All flat roofed. We then stop at a curious museum of water off the main road. It's owned by a flamboyant Moroccan artist. He has assembled Berber and Moroccan artifacts, but the most intriguing part are the springs that bubble up from the desert into beautiful bubbly pools. He shows us how to use a water clock and gives us some Jericho roses and tells us to put them in water overnight. We pass through Erfoud with its Arab women dressed in black (rather then the more colourful attire of the Berber women) and then visit a fossil factory, where they cut and polish marble encrusted with fossils. Then on to Rissani where there is a market complete with donkey park, instead of car park. There are many Berbers here. We walk round the covered market and see goats heads and trotters (freshly cut!) spread out on the ground. We buy some tagine spice mixture and some saffron from a spice market. Then we continue to Merzouga where we buy some red wine which we take to Erg Chebbi, where we meet our camels and ride on them through the dunes before opening one of our bottles of red wine as we sit on the dunes to watch the sun set. For supper we have prunes and beef tagine with noodles with cinnamon and an aubergine and tomato tagine as well (also our second bottle of red!). It's icy icy cold as we sip our tea under the gin clear starry skies even with a log fire. After some drumming and singing (including by us!) we head to our freezing tent for a very chilly night.