Midelt

We are parked up tonight in Midelt on the Municipal campsite. It's ok although the facilities leave a bit to be desired so we are using our on-board loo and showers. The site itself is a little reminiscent of Granada insofar as we have a backdrop of snow covered mountains. That's as far as the similarities go because it is scorching hot and we have storks nesting in the trees, mosque and ariel pylons just behind us. Recently we have been awoken by the call to prayers and donkeys braying. This morning it was the bugler from the barracks round the corner and the clacking of storks. Makes a change I suppose. Despite the all day sunshine here the local folk are walking about in wooly jumpers, hats and parkas and they reckon it's cold! Us Europeans on the site here are in shorts and t shirts and in danger of getting sunburnt.

There is a Sunday souk here and we walked the mile or so to have a look this morning and although we weren't too sure where it was the policy of following the crowds led us to what I can only describe as the biggest car boot sale I've ever seen crammed next to stalls selling clothes, shoes, pottery, glassware furniture, animal feed, fruit, veg, car parts, doors, jewellery. In fact just about everything was on sale with vendors shouting each other down with megaphones. The place was rammed with shoppers and browsers although amongst the thousands of people there we were the only Europeans we saw. After half an hour of dodging bikes, mopeds and donkeys we escaped and walked back to town for a coffee. No sooner had we sat down than a well dressed guy comes over and asks where we are from. We told him and he chatted with us for five minutes or so telling us all about the local area and friends he had in, coincidentally, Yorkshire. He asked where we were going next and he told us a few places to look out for and then, wait for it, you'll never guess. He has a shop selling Berber carpets and jewellery and would we like to have a look? No need to buy anything, just have a look, no pressure. We explained that we had some more shopping to do in the small market next door and he offered to wait at the cafe for us. Off we went and bought our bits and pieces; rice stuffed chicken off the rotisserie which will last us for three days,a kilo of dates for £4 and some fruit and veg. We took a different exit from the market and would you believe there he was, our friend with the Berber carpets. We went to his shop, took tea with him while he showed us some great carpets, camel wool, sheeps wool and cactus silk. But we only have a small camping car! Out came the small carpets and I must be honest I would have bought one but common sense in the shape of Phil prevailed and we left on good terms despite not having bought anything.

The Souk at Midelt:

 

 

I mentioned a couple of days ago that we were going to take the national roads from Chez Pauline, our last stop, to where we are now rather than the "scenic" route but our hosts said that the longer but far more interesting route was on ok roads so we took their advice and we were glad we did. We drove through an impressive gorge after a few miles and noticed how the landscape changed afterwards and as we came further north, leaving behind the desert with its oasis and palm trees and fertile irrigated land for the High Atlas Mountains with sheep and goats scratching around in the almost barren surroundings. The few villages we came through looked like the poorest and least developed that we had seen so far, real subsistence farming on the small parcels of land that were available in the valleys. We climbed to nearly 2000 metres before we dropped down again quite rapidly to where we are now at 1500 metres.

Tomorrow we are heading off for a campsite mid way between Azrou and Ifrane. We met a Russian guy and his wife when we were in Ourzazate a week or so ago, as you do, and he recommended this site. He's been to Morocco before and was a mine of information so we'll take his advice and look for the apple orchard campsite.

Finally, many of the dwellings here are still built with traditional mud and straw blocks. They're long lasting and have good insulation properties. Here's a photo of some drying at Chez Pauline's before being used to complete the building in the background.

 

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