Into the High Atlas - Eventually

Today’s plan was simple. Get up early, head South in to the High Atlas to Oukaimeden in the Ourika Valley and take the winding road up to the foothills of Mount Toubkal before heading back North to Casablanca and Rabat. Plan scuppered from the start as John’s Atom wouldn’t start. Battery dead as he’d left the ignition switch on all night. His take on it was that in the night someone had removed the full-over body cover, fiddled with the switches, then replaced the cover perfectly. Yeah, right. Push starting the Atom isn't an option as the immobiliser needs power to switch off and get the fuel pump working, so we try to elicit help from the hotel porter - his lack of English and our lack of Arabic/French has us resorting to the international language of hand gesture. (Really should have paid more attention to French at school). After an hour of negotiation, the hotel porter rides off on his pushbike in search of jump leads. Arriving back another half hour later brandishing the ropiest set of jump leads we've ever seen (with claws at one end but not the other), the hotel chef is now involved as he has a van and we can use the van's battery. Looking like something out of a Carry On movie, with the porter and the chef holding one end each against the battery terminals (with lots of smoke pouring from the Atom's battery), they eventually succeed and the Atom fires. Smiles and claps all round (we've attracted quite an audience by this time), and we have another cup of strong Morroccan coffee before setting off, after having suitably rewarded the chef and the porter for their troubles.

Head South out of Marrakech for some 60kms, we start to climb up in to Ourika Valley and on to Oukaimeden - a truly stunning area with views as far as the eye can see - we climb to around 4,000 metres and the lake at the base of Mount Toubkal, where the road runs out. On the way back down we see dozens of Berbers brandishing rifles as they head off to hunt. I drop the bike in soft gravel as I lose my footing. A fully loaded 1200GS is a heavy beast and I am helped by a local who appears from nowhere, laughing at my stupidity. The photos below show various images from the route up and down the mountainside - too difficult to pick the best photos from so many we took (spot the Atom in the second photo below - the "long and winding road"):

Back into Marrakech and on to the Autoroute for a 200 miles blast to Casablanca and Rabat. John's Atom predictably attracts attention from everything we pass, and we are followed for 50 miles by a group of young guys in their hot hatch - waving and photographing us at high speed.

We eventually arrive in Rabat and search for a hotel. Failing miserably, we are helped by a couple of young boys on their push bikes who lead us to the Rabat Hilton - 3kms of slow, but entertaining riding, where we reward them with a fistful of Dirhams and they leave us howling with delight.

Tomorrow Tangier, the boat to Spain and Grenada (if we can eat the miles up).