Welcome to 'Bloody Freezing'

Did you think we were just in Morocco
for the souks, hammams and sunshine?
Well - you were so wrong.

These are the foothills of the Atlas Mountains...
Or, as they refer to it locally,
"Bloody Freezing"

We set off from Marrakech,
modelling a variety of hat options
for extreme weather conditions

and were soon surrounded
by geographical features
and no-one to tell us about them.
The shame of it.

We walked through several villages
and over a gorge by a rickety bridge
on our way to a charming waterfall.
It was not arduous,
we were overtaken en route
by elderly ladies wearing slippers
and enough children for a small school.

According to our local guide, Hassan,
the trees will be beautiful in the spring
with cherry, apple and quince blossom.

Hassan speaks five languages, has eight brothers,
and lives in a nearby village on the snow line.

The tour included lunch in a guest house:
a bright salad of tomatoes, rough bread,
lamb tagine and fresh mandarins.

It was rather odd to find
this high altitude juice bar.
There was nobody around
but if we had stopped for a drink
somebody would have materialised
to propose an appropriate price.

On the path I met an elderly Berber man
selling small bags of mountain thyme.
He was wearing a white hooded coat
and it was like negotiating with Gandalf.
The thyme smells of wild places and sunshine.

And finally...

here we are on our camels:
Godfrey, Humphrey, Michelle and Claude.

Enjoy the view...
it is probably the only time
you will see me on a camel.