Awoke fairly early and swapped pressies over breakfast. Got an amazingly compressed travel towel from cousin R. Then it was time to pack up the car and hit the road. Things were a little cosy, as the four of us and luggage and pressies were in the Tiguan, but not unpleasantly so. We took a slight detour via the site […]
Read moreWoke up goodly rested this morning. Slowish morning, before a frantic trip to Drake’s shopping centre in central Plymouth for last minute stuff. Then great aunt J’s friend D invited us all over to have Christmas dinner with all the trimmings. ALL ot them. Started woth champagne and canapes, then pinot noir with turkey, onion and sage stuffing, chestnut and […]
Read moreThe travellers: First there’s me, and you’re reading about me here. Then there’s L, and you can get her take on things at http://twoweeksaway.wordpress.com/ We’ve also got a third companion, at least for another few days. Mum. When Mum passed away in May, one of the things we felt would be a good idea would be to scatter some of […]
Read moreThe last couple of days having got to me, and stuff and life and headachhes and not enough water meant that I was awake at 2.16am and never properly got back to sleep. Tried a number of ways, different positions, turning upside down on the bed, propping myself into a chair with a blanket, couldn’t get comfy, couldn’t relax, couldn’t […]
Read moreMick Thomas got it right when he said, “there’s no point writing postcards on your bad days”, which is why there’s no post from yesterday. The first rule of travel is that change happens. The second thing is that it’s difficult to leave everything behind when travelling. Had we started our travels in Marrakech, I’m sure I’d be writing about […]
Read moreTyped while driving into the High Atlas mountains, so not all typos are due to my usual clumsy typing. High Atlas, wow, and we haven’t got close to the snow yet. These mountains aare quite steep, mostly barren — some trees but generally just shrubbery. The road is cut into the side of the cliff, with only a foot high […]
Read moreSurvived our night out in a Berber tent undder the stars — it only had a single layer of blanket for the roof so we could see stars through. The bed had at least 8 blankets on it, which made it warm but very heavy. L described it as having the cat asleep on you, but on every part of […]
Read moreTonight your intrepid reporter sits in a Berber tent among the dunes of the Sahara, at a secret location that can only be accessed by camel. Ah bollocks, the truth is a little plainer than that but it’s still damn cool. We’re in a Berber tent, under the billions and billions of stars (thank you Carl Sagan) after a fairly […]
Read moreI’ve also been remiss in fully conveying the experience of driving through Morocco, especially the mountain country. There are several kinds of road signs giving advice on the road ahead. Some are a weird house type arrow with a perpendicular crossbar, and I have no idea what that means. Some are an s turned sideways, and I think this means […]
Read moreI’ve been a little remiss in not fully describing the riad, Dar El Hana. Aside from being quite beautiful and possessing wonderful, friendly staff, it does have its individuality. Somewhere quite nearby is a mosque, and at 5.30 every morning they crank out the call to prayer. It’s par for the course when travelling through Moslem nations, you just deal […]
Read moreOur first full day in Fes, and we have a guide booked to show us the sights. But before Ben and the other amazing staff person, Fatima, will let us leave the riad we must consume our body weight in breads, crepes, james, preserves and mint tea (L scored with rice cakes and coffee). Josephine popped up and asked if […]
Read moreVolubilis is pretty cool. One minute you’re driving along, the next there are a bunch of Roman columns and walls rising out of the farmland. We skipped paying for a guide, choosing instead to wander the streets in search of mosaics. One one level, it’s sad that Roman ruins are just that: ruins. Having previously seen Pompeii, where a lot […]
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