After we had a nice BBQ, or braai as the South Africans call it, some of us had already retreated to bed early, while I was preparing the route for today, we started hearing drum beats and then singing and clapping. The hotel attached to our camping had put up a Saturday evening after dinner show for their local and Spanish guests. Fortunately, it all stopped before midnight.
To experience the desert sunset, last night many quads, 4x4s and motorbikes went high up into the dunes. With enormous noise they came back at the last bit of daylight. Until late, we heard engine noise in the dunes behind us and then again early this morning to see the sunrise. Very annoying, but I guess that is what brings money to the region.

The night was not as cold as the previous, but still quite chilly. The rising sun warmed everything quickly. While having breakfast, we packed up, said goodbye to the neighbours and hit the road. We did not even leave the hotel and already had to encounter the first obstacle. A caravan of 14 dromedaries,led by three men, crossed our path on their way into the dunes to welcome the tourists for a ride.

A quick stop to fill up at the last petrol station before the desert, bought some fresh bread and bottled water and we were ready for our adventure. We drove south with a beautiful view of the magnificent dunes to our left. Soon they gave way to rocky mountains only. Sparsely an acacia tree here or there but for the rest only rocks and emptiness. After we passed Taouz, the last village before the road runs out, we turned off the National Road towards Jdeid. Until here, the road was in excellent shape and was tarred. Shortly after the village, however, the tarred road turned into a piste. Our tires needed to be deflated to get better grip and provide a softer ride. First, it was wide and clearly visible, mainly due to many dump trucks using it regularly, as we saw. The ruts were deep accordingly. We went straight, while the trucks headed to the right, into hills. We followed the valley, its floor was filled with many pebbles and rocks. Not much vegetation to be seen. Once in a while we encountered sandy patches. Our tires threw massive clouds of white dust. Trevor stayed way back to actually be able to see something. Occasionally, I stopped to make sure that they were ok and that they followed the right piste. They did to my relief.

The rock turned darker and darker. We came across two more dump trucks. The first one signalled to advise us to take a piste that we had just passed. We turned around and took that piste, as it meant a time and kilometre safer. Now the rocks were black as the night and when you picked them up, they were really heavy. They must contain a lot of iron. Could the dump trucks have something to do with these rocks? Who knows. We drove through beautiful small and large valleys, small hill passes with not a single sign of life in sight, except for the occasional dromedary. Often we were so stunned by the gorgeous view, that we had to stop to snap some more pictures.

The track changed rapidly, from rocks to sand to dried mud, as it practically lead us through dried river beds or pans that collect water when it happens to rain here. Then we reached the famous and feared Qued Gheris. At our spot the dry river bed is at least five kilometres wide and filled with little islands of bushes, dried mud, pebbles or the notorious fine deep sand.

In a zigzag course we encountered all of the above. Sometimes it felt like a rollercoaster ride. When you reach the pebble banks, you often loose the track and you need to search for the continuation around you. Shortly before the end of the crossing, the sandy part came. There were a few tricky spots requiring a bit of momentum to pass through them. But we managed just fine. We were joyful, when we had passed the last meters of riverbed and had arrived on the riverbank. In front of us a massive flat valley and to our right a tall brownish-red mountain range.

We followed the dusty piste along and arrived at the first sign of habitation, the sign to our hotel/camping. A few more kilometres and we entered a small gap in this massive mountain range. It looked like the mountains opened just for us. Here the track became sandy again and we saw a European lady on a mountain bike in the midday heat. That she hadn’t burned yet or suffered from a heatstroke is a mystery.

We arrived at the campsite, where we, after some deliberation, chose a spot with some shade to set up camp next to a palm grove. It provides some shade, but also comes with a bunch of flies and ants. The attached nice hotel has a swimming pool. And that all in the middle of the desert. On the parking we saw the Mercedes van parked of a French bicycle group and later more members of this group. They seem to run some kind of competition here. How do some people get into their mind cycling in the the desert in the midday sun for pleasure, is beyond me.
We had an easy lunch with fresh bread, crackers, terrine and cheese.
Afterwards we took our leisure time to read, write blogs or diary, rearranging the back of the car or just having a nap while being bothered by thousands of flies that are looking for any bit of moisture they can find, even in your face or eyes. Very unpleasant!
In the afternoon wind picked up and made the heat a bit more bearable.

In general cell phone coverage in Morocco is excellent. Even in remote places you get a signal from either of the two big providers. Today, for the first time, we are staying at a place without a cellphone signal. The hotel has, however, wifi connected to a very slow satellite connection.