No hurry this morning and plenty of time for breakfast and a shower.
We were out of the camp by 9.30, almost the last to leave, and on our way but having stopped by the side of the road to put on my jacket as it was rather on the cool side, we were overtaken by the Unimog and a few vans that had been to the Marjane supermarket. Ray has threatened to change the name of the tour to 'The Marjane tour'.
Up in the hills by the side of the road we began to see, intermitantly, some strange looking piles of stones topped by even stranger looking small containers. Stopped to have a look and almost immediately, from out of nowhere, appeared some Berber lads. They were selling honey which we eventually purchased at a far too high a price. Should have bargained but.......
The scenery was lovely and as we drove on up to Ifrane the temperature dropped lower and lower.
In the middle Atlas region, about 30 miles from Fes at a height of 1655 metres, Ifrane is a small, very exclusive, expensive town often known as mini Switzerland. The King has a Palace here and there is a university. Successful footballers and rich Moroccans also own property here. Not far away in the direction of Mischliffen is the ski centre which is open January to March but, this being Africa, snowfall is very unreliable.
The Ifrane lyon.
Through Ifrane and we were onto the Azrou road, driving through the cedar forest on the snow line and in the clouds.
Descending slowly the landscape becomes quite rocky due to the large number of dormant volcanoes which make up the countryside.
We stopped for the night at 'Euro Camping', also known as 'EuroDisney', a huge modern site built by a sheik from the Arab Emirates, who donates his profits to the local people. He has managed to purchase a lot of land and has also built himself a very nice 'pile' indeed.
We are glad of the central heating in the van as it's freezing here, the coldest night yet.
Himself has cleaned the windows which are now sparkling and whilst there is no signal from the dongle there is a strong signal from vodafone. Hurrah.
