Today was a day to stay in Tinghir, and ride the 10 miles or so up to the gorges, up in to the mountains, following the river, mostly with green pastures and palm groves down in the valley.  The Gorges de Dades are definitely a tourist Mecca, and there were lots of buses, cars and people up there, and one or two cyclists like us.  Without our bag and baggage, riding was nice up the canyon.  At the narrowest point of the gorge there was a traffic jam, and I was amazed at the size of buses that were trying to make their way to the most scenic parts.  Up on the rocks of the gorge / ravine, there were climbers with their ropes and tackle, all very precipitous.  Further up the gorge, away from the madding crowd, it was quiet and peaceful, and beautiful.  Other than that, we did very little, except eat the formulaic tagine / couscous, although we did manage to snaffle a couple of small beers from the posh hotel, but two little 25 cl bottle each were enough.  I am certainly out of practice.  Coke Zero is my preferred drink here, along with eau gazeuse.

Now that Ramadan has finished things are a bit busier in Morocco, and the tourist season is in the commence de saison phase, although I sense that things don't really pick up until a little later in the month.  The weather is nice, but still chilly in the morning and evening, and maybe the European tourists want it a bit more balmy all day and night.  I think that happens in later April / May / early June, and then things really hot up and it become uncomfortable, until things settle down in mid September and October.  Not that I really know.  It's just what I'm guessing.  I'm just wondering to myself what all the tourist infrastructure of auberges, hotels, chambres d'hotes etc do outside of those narrow windows.  Certainly, the places we have been staying have been quiet, often we are the only guests.  However, even the smallest places will offer the full service - dinner in the evening  and breakfast in the morning, even if we are the only people.  I guess Mrs Mo, the femme de maison, is cleaner and cook, so she is on hand to whip up a tagine and couscous at a moment's notice.  Out in the countryside, our accommodation has been rustic, to be kind, and in the towns a little more cosmopolitan, although always with the usual Moroccan lack of attention to detail.  Charming, when you get used to it.  Or, so I'm told. It is not expensive, very reasonable, and I usually book through Booking.Com, just to make sure something is definite.  I keep getting discounts on their website, I guess because I use it so often.  I am some level of Genius with them.  I'm not so sure it is a good deal for the auberge owner, because I think that Booking.Com takes a hefty levy on every booking, but how would the auberge have such exposure without it ?  I certainly couldn't go back to the days when you had to go to L'Office de Tourisme and ask them what is available in the area, have them phone up and talk to the Madame, and then go there.  The internet makes travel so easy.  I'm all for it.  Even if Mr and Mrs Mo have to pay a levy for my booking.  Anyhow, if they've any sense, they will factor it in to their pricing.  Very Trumpian, aren't I ?!

You can follow my route via my Garmin satellite tracker at  https://share.garmin.com/chrismarsden1954    Choose "View All Tracks" in the top right hand corner of the map to see the full route.

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