Today we began our cycling from the hotel in Tafraoute, and began climbing, up and up, until we came just short of 5,000 ft.  Quite a morning of hauling ourselves up the slopes of the Anti Atlas.  And then down all the way to a point where we were met by our guides and buses, with a welome lunch, followed by a drive in to Agadir.  There was rain on the way, coming in from the Atlantic, winds too.  By the time we got on our bus, the rain was pouring down, which must be a welcome sight to the Moroccans.  Water is all important here.  The occasional reservoirs that we have passed have been low, and that towards the end of the winter when they should be full.  Anyhow, they got a real dump of rain later today.

Agadir is on the western Atlantic coast of Morocco.  I remember its name from school history lessons and the Agadir crisis of the years before WW1, when the British engaged in some gunboat diplomacy against the Germans who were seeking to gain influence and territory in this part of the world.  The French were involved somehow too.  Panther was the name of the German cruiser that turned tailed at the sight of the British gunboats, as I recall.  Those were the days !

Our hotel in Agadir was modern and up to scratch.  I had a large suite.  We had planned to go in to the town to eat seafood, but the weather was poor and I was tired, so I bailed from that and had a light supper in the hotel. As did some of the others. The hotel was mostly populated with French tourists.  I suspec this bit of the world is for the French as the Canaries are for the Brits.  A place for winter sun.  There are lots of high end beach front hotels, all very modern, and the place has a generally upmarket feel to it.  It's a very different place to those Atlas Mountainlittle  villges where we have been, where much of life is as it has been for hundreds of years, ekking out an existence, looking after the small fields, herding the goats and the sheep.  Places like Agadir are much more developed and cosmopolitan.

DAY 1 - London - Marrakesh

DAY 2  - Marrakesh - Ait Ben Haddou

DAY 3  - Ait Ben Haddou - Amsouzart Valley

DAY 4 - Amzouzart Valley - Oulet Berhil

 DAY 5 - Oulet Berhill - Tafraoute

DAY 5 - Tafraoute Rest Day

DAY 6 - Tafraoute -Agadir

DAY 7 - Agadir - Immouzer

Day 8 - Immouzer - Marrakesh