Eid Mubarak !  In the morning, it was bright and sunny, and everybody was out and about in their finest, some of the young men in the most outlandish dishdash and slippers.  Lots of lemon colour !  I'm not sure they have any sense of how camp they look walking around swathed head to toe in sherbert lemon.  And, an all pervasive whiff of Middle Eastern cologne, a bit too strong and cloying, and lingering forever.  The kids were all in their new clothes for the feast day, the lads in football track suits of their favourite teams, definitely  knock offs. But, who is going to check ? The little girls in Cinderella dress, or however the latest cartoon film heroine dresses.   All very happy and they were meeting and greeting, and kissing each other at least three, if not four times, on the cheeks. I don't know what else the day would bring for them, but it was definitely a day of celebration after their weeks of fasting during Ramadan.  And, the Muezzin was having a field day.

The route to Tinghir was pleasant and reasonably flat.  I kept to the main road, but Richard headed off on some track so that he could experience the real countryside !  He does that. For most of the route there were spectacular mountains on both sides, but thankfully we were following a valley of some kind and largely kept to the level. Eventually I  joined RN10 which has been resurfaced and widened, so it was a pleasant ride in toTinghir.

Tinghir is quite a big town, perhaps a provincial centre.  Our auberge was on the edge of town and very pleasant, although even in the nicest of places the plumbing is always deficient in some way - hot and cold taps reversed, even though they say hot and cold -, intermittent hot / warm water, toilet bowls that move underneath you, the smell of sewer lingering in the background, electrics patched together and wires hanging about.  I think attention to detail is not the Moroccan forte.  I know, you're going to tell me it's all part of the charm !

We met a couple of French Canadians, a him and a her, who were doing our sort of thing, and they were fulsome in their distain of Trump and how he has dissed the Canadians.  I wonder does Donald J even know that King Charles is also King of Canada, and before he takes it over as the 51st State, he will have to ask The King, and then Charles might think again about inviting Trump to tea at Windsor ?  I suspect not.  Just like most of the other things he's up to, all with little understanding of the consequences and implications, just a childish bullying desire to wreck and create a scene.

We are in Tinghir for two nights, so that we can do a day trip up the Dades  to see the gorges, which were really quite something, the little river having cut through the mountains over the millenia.  It was very busy and touristy, but we went up further and there it was quiet and magnificent.  Nature's cathedral.

There was some beer to be had at Tingher in one of the upmarket hotels, small bottles, and to be honest not a wonderful experience.  Maybe I am losing my taste for alcohol ?  I don't miss it when it's not there.  There was also some Moroccan red wine, no doubt from the vineyards from French colonial times, but my experience of Moroccan wine last year was that it is ropey stuff.  The food experience on both days was nothing to write home about, either.  Moroccan food, largely tagine and couscous, and a few variations of omelette and salads, is pretty ordinaire and predictable. So, I guess, don't come to Morocco for the food and drink.

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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