The walk itself followed the Ait Mizan river, climbing steadily as we went. As it was early, we didn't see too many others on the track - only a handful of locals and no other tourists. There are magnificent views both up and down the river, with plenty of photo opportunities taken.
The locals make good use of the river with a couple of man made irrigation ducts built high up the river that feed the fields down river. They've also installed hoses for direct connection to houses for their water supply. It looks a but weird as there are individual hoses running alongside the river that feed each home, rather than having single supply??
Our guide had estimated that would take around two to two and a half hours to get to the shrine, but in a little over an hour and a half we were there. It's a very picturesque little spot with small waterfalls tumbling down and with large mountains set in the background.
Chamharouch Toubkal shrine is at 2500m and is estimated to be 500-600 years old. The shrine is the resting place of a man who is known as King of the Ghosts. Much like an exorcism, people come from all over Morocco to rid themselves of bad spirits. There are tiny little block rooms or caves which people can rent and stay for several days as they go through the process of getting rid of bad spirits.
The shrine is also a stopping point for people wanting to climb Jebel Toubkal. From here it's about a three hour climb to the Refuge, a place where climbers will usually stay the night before climbing to the top the next day - about another three hours from there.
After a stop for a rest and an energy boost with a glass of rich nous nous, it was off back down the mountain to the guest house and meet up with the rest of the crew. We had been in shadow until then which was pretty fresh, so it was nice to head back down with the warmth of the sun on our backs.
After an early lunch of Moroccan omelette, salad and bread made by Marrika, all of which were absolutely delicious, it was time to head back down to Imlil to meet up with Mustafa, our driver, for the last time.
Our destination today is the seaside town of Essaouira (pronounced s-o-where-a) where we are staying for two nights. Mustafa is leaving us today and taking the mini bus back to Marrakech. We'll be using the public bus to get to Marrakech in two days time.
As we pass by Richard Bransons mansions, we see a helicopter parked in the cleared space. Maybe he popped in for a visit?
Our route to Essaouira takes us past the outskirts of Maraakech. There's massive development going on all around the outskirts with huge new subdivisions being built, some of which include a golf course. The advertising shows that you can buy (assuming entry-level) at 850,000 dirham which is about €85k. The top of the line home, including pool was advertised at 2.8 million dirham, or €280k, which sounds pretty good.
We did a quick stop in Marrakech to go to the bank. As soon as the door of the air conditioned van opened up - wham, we were hit by a massive heat blast. Definitely the hottest so far on the trip. Apparently it was 43 degrees!!!
After leaving the outskirts of Marrakech, we quickly slip into our usual travel pattern where everyone starts to doze off. The rocking of the van makes the eyes droopy and pretty quickly 10 or 15 minutes have disappeared as you doze.
After about an hour the wind starts to really pick up and out of nowhere we get hit by a sand storm from the south. It's pretty cool. The van started rocking from the increasing wind and then we were surrounded by a thick blanket of sand. There was one poor bugger on a bike, laden down with panniers and a backpack, that we passed - it must have been awful for him. It only lasted a few minutes, but pretty spectacular stuff.
Today turned out to be one of the longest in the mini van. We left Imlil at midday and it wasn't until around 4:00 that we stopped for a 30 min break for nous nous. Following that it was another hour and a half until we made a quick stop at an argon oil cooperative.
The cooperative was pretty interesting. Around 60 women work there and they share all the profits equally from the business. The process for extracting the oil is completely manual using stones to break the nut to get to the kernel. The kernels are then crushed using a stone wheel, which is hand turned to produce the paste which is squeezed by hand to get the pure argon oil - whew! All pretty exhausting really. The oil is then used to make food and cosmetic products.
After our visit it was on to Essaouira, for two nights. We stayed in the old city, the Medina , which is inaccessible by cars. Mustafa dropped us off at the gates to the Medina and we said our good byes as he took off back to Marrakech. Samir had a arranged a couple of local guys to meet us and transport all our packs in hand-pushed small trailers the 5 minutes walk to our hotel.
After checking in, it was off for an orientation walk around the narrow alleyways of the medina and then on to dinner on a terrace restaurant overlooking the sea. It so nice to see the sea again after a few weeks away from it.
The restaurant overlooks the old Spanish fortress that makes up part of the waterfront and has been used in a number of movies and also for some scenes in Game of Thrones. It's a pretty spectacular spot and the fortress is very impressive, cannons included! Dinner was great fun with live Moroccan music which made it that much better.
After dinner we ambled back to the hotel for a relatively early night. Since we had the early start, we were feeling pretty knackered, so the early night was most welcome.
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