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the trail , over cooked on the bends and this caused us to nearly come off the bike due to rocks hidden underneath the ever-present fesh fesh . After rising to over seven hundred metres , we dropped down into the beautiful valley that we visited on day two but this time from a completely different direction . We stopped at the same wonderful Berber family ’ s smallholding . The children came out to greet us , smiling as always , such beautiful children .
We had a fantastic early lunch of home-grown salads followed by barbecued brochettes of chicken and beef . I don ’ t think we have ever eaten so much tasty food , ever ! We will have added quite a few kilograms when we get back to the UK . As Julie made friends with the children , I suggested we should abstain from meat for a while when we got back home , perhaps even fasting . The children continued to gravitate towards Julie , perhaps because she is the smallest of our group .
After saying our goodbyes and giving the children some money , we left this beautiful family and climbed up and out of the valley that we had descended three days ago .
We let the group get well ahead of us as the trail became sandy . One minute we would be riding soft sand , the next we would come across hard rocks and poor Julie was taking a real beating as she sat behind me . On one bad bend I took the wrong line completely resulting in me hitting and running over a large rock on the far side of the bend . Incredibly we managed to stay upright with both our legs flapping all over the place until we managed to stop . Shaken but not stirred , we continued for a couple more kilometres until Julie signaled me to stop for a rest . She transferred to the rear of the support vehicle , accompanying Ali , so I could have a bit of a solo blast .
I quickly caught up with the others
and eventually reached the tarmac at Skoura . Julie got back on our bike as we rode on into Ouarzazate , transferring to our new hotel , a beautifully restored Kasbah called Dar Karma . The last day of our tour ended . What an amazing experience to have had and what a birthday for Julie .
The following morning Julie and I went in search of a local trader who
I had met twenty-two years ago and who I had spent a couple of hours with in his wonderful shop opposite the Kasbah .
We were sorry to leave Morocco , we ’ d had such a wonderful time off-the-beaten-track among the mountains and valleys . And on return to the UK , we found we had not put on any weight . MB
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