Saturday, July 21, 2007
Day Seven; Aguersioual To Tizi-Oussem
It’s Father’s Day and my Dad’s birthday, so I manage to manoeuvre myself on the terrace until I get a sufficient signal to send him a text. God knows what the locals think of us with our mobile phones and vibram soled walking boots!
The night skies here are absolutely amazing… the clouds clear when it gets dark, and the vista is stunning. The sky is absolutely full of stars. Far more than you could ever imagine; we see nothing like this in the light polluted UK, not even in the country. Ali told us it’s even more stunning in the desert- guess I’m gonna find out in 2009...
Today was another 7:30am start, and I was concerned my bag wasn’t going to make it as it kept being left on it’s own. We descended through the village and over the river, which was another rather precarious crossing for those of us who are rather more vertically challenged, then climbed using a road, which was a lot gentler than some of the tracks we had used. We were climbing up through the valley, passing a village strung out on the slopes opposite, with the usual minaret tower and crop terraces. There were also lots of cherry trees with juicy looking cherries.
Heading Up To The Pass
Our mules passed us, and I was so relieved to see my bag! The road finally ended in a rough track, which took us to the pass of Tizi Oudite. A rather rough descent took us to our lunch stop on the hill side. We ate and watched shepherds herding large numbers of small black and white goats on the barren red hillsides before passing the time playing cards. Pudding was a nice surprise- Omar had bought lots of cherries from the village we passed earlier!
The night skies here are absolutely amazing… the clouds clear when it gets dark, and the vista is stunning. The sky is absolutely full of stars. Far more than you could ever imagine; we see nothing like this in the light polluted UK, not even in the country. Ali told us it’s even more stunning in the desert- guess I’m gonna find out in 2009...
Today was another 7:30am start, and I was concerned my bag wasn’t going to make it as it kept being left on it’s own. We descended through the village and over the river, which was another rather precarious crossing for those of us who are rather more vertically challenged, then climbed using a road, which was a lot gentler than some of the tracks we had used. We were climbing up through the valley, passing a village strung out on the slopes opposite, with the usual minaret tower and crop terraces. There were also lots of cherry trees with juicy looking cherries.
Heading Up To The Pass
Our mules passed us, and I was so relieved to see my bag! The road finally ended in a rough track, which took us to the pass of Tizi Oudite. A rather rough descent took us to our lunch stop on the hill side. We ate and watched shepherds herding large numbers of small black and white goats on the barren red hillsides before passing the time playing cards. Pudding was a nice surprise- Omar had bought lots of cherries from the village we passed earlier!
Shepherd with his Sheep and Goats
After lunch, we descended further to a village just above the river. It had become quite cloudy, and as we stopped to hear Ali explain something, a dog appeared and watched us from the rocky outcrop nearby.
We followed a rough ‘road’ to our village, Tizi-Oussem. All the villages seem to be built on hills, and this one was no exception. In fact, it felt almost medieval, with small archways and little stone bridges between houses. Three of us ladies went for a saunter, and were accosted by two teenage girls, who followed us, grabbing at our jewellery saying “Donnez-moi!” At one point, they blocked our path and we had to squeeze past. We didn’t exactly feel threatened, but it wasn’t comfortable either!
Brightly Coloured Woven Rugs Hung out to Dry
After tea and a shower which lost more water out of the hose than the shower head, our muleteers treated us to a traditional berber songfest, using plastic bottles and metal trays for accompaniment. They wanted us to sing in return, luckily one guy knows all the words to ‘Ilkley Moor Baht’at’ so he sang it while we joined in the chorus!
Tomorrow is a half day, when we complete our circuit and reach Aremd again…
We followed a rough ‘road’ to our village, Tizi-Oussem. All the villages seem to be built on hills, and this one was no exception. In fact, it felt almost medieval, with small archways and little stone bridges between houses. Three of us ladies went for a saunter, and were accosted by two teenage girls, who followed us, grabbing at our jewellery saying “Donnez-moi!” At one point, they blocked our path and we had to squeeze past. We didn’t exactly feel threatened, but it wasn’t comfortable either!
Brightly Coloured Woven Rugs Hung out to DryAfter tea and a shower which lost more water out of the hose than the shower head, our muleteers treated us to a traditional berber songfest, using plastic bottles and metal trays for accompaniment. They wanted us to sing in return, luckily one guy knows all the words to ‘Ilkley Moor Baht’at’ so he sang it while we joined in the chorus!
Tomorrow is a half day, when we complete our circuit and reach Aremd again…
Labels: Aguersioual, Morocco, Tizi Oussem, trekking
