The High Atlas

 30 April - 1 May - two days of riding through the Atlas mountains to a day off the bikes in Marrakech.

Amazing scenery these two days with dramatic changes as we went over passes and into different valleys. I'll let photos speak for themselves.





Over 1100 meters of climbs each day - here we head into a series of switch-backs to get up and over the top. 
Most of the villages have a mix old and new buildings and ruins. There are always carefully managed water conduits running along the rivers to irrigate the fields, sometimes not much more than ditches but other times more elaborate such as below. 
Lots of donkeys are used to carry loads to, often tied up when the owner is busy with something, seldom just wandering as is this one - not a dumb animal - it is going downhill while Ursula works the uphill direction. 
The highest pass of this segment of the journey, a bit over 2200 metres... 
...before we start the descent towards Marrakech...
...an amazing 35 km of descent on beautiful new road, most of it even with a paved shoulder, here a tangle of switchbacks around the valley... 
...and Ursula coming around the bend that is in the middle of the photo above...
Part way down we find a cafe that is open - it is still Ramadan so most are closed - and we can enjoy a break in the sunshine... 
As we continue towards Marrakech, the valley opens up... 
... and we get to the lunch stop well before noon. At that point, it is a van trip for both us and the bikes into Marrakech because of expected heavy traffic in the afternoon, taking into account that Ramadan is coming to an end and people may be travelling to spend Eid with families. 
After settling into the hotel on the southern utskirts of town, most of us found our way into the medina area. Here we are enjoying a pre-sunset dinner overlooking the Jamma El-Fna square.



Hopefully a bit more exploring in Marrakech tomorrow but uncertain if I'll be able to post anything before things have to be packed up and loaded on the vehicles for an early start the following day. We'll be on the bikes for six successive days before the next day off - six days, nearly 600 km and 10,000 metres of climbing (you never get it back on descents) to Essaouira on the Atlantic coast.


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