Day 5 – Rest Day

To Dades Valley

Slept until 6:30 am with only a quick interruption to close the window in the early hours as a fire had started nearby and the smell was permeating the room (prob the bakehouse, I was told the next day).  Relaxed breakfast at 8 a.m. on the main terrace and then with luggage being packed into the vans most of us set out for a hike.

The geology around about is like Utah, with large red rock monuments and we were taken by our guide to the nearest one. 

It was an interesting route, through the town we were staying in which was a labyrinth, but which looked quite poor.  

We crossed a cement bridge designed to allow water to run on top of it during flooding, and through the forest amongst crops (corn, squash and other crops planted in amongst the trees in small openings), fig trees and walnuts.  We passed many people heading back to town with loads of willow (for family baskets), hay and bamboo, and passed willow posts which were drying in the sun and used in the construction of roofs.  Then through another town which looked more prosperous, another labyrinth, but people in both towns seemed much more friendly. 

this town only across the river looked cleaner and more prosperous

this cat waited very patiently for its owner to come out and leave the door open…

Then it was out through the back of town where we were met by the bike truck driver on a bicycle delivering walnuts and dates (delicious – do they ever feed us well!) and up a dry gully winding around eventually to the top of the hill.  Lovely views of the valley and the inevitable green strip surrounding the local river.

It was beginning to get warm again…

waiting for the slower ones at the back

We scrambled down a fairly steep path for a more direct route back and to make a loop. 

Somehow I managed to put a foot wrong and twisted something in my right hip, which had been bothering me for a couple of days.  It’s now very painful to weight bear on it and I’m hoping a night’s sleep with help…

We were met with a cooked lunch near the bridge – delicious frittata (I’m popular for bringing this in), tuna salad, carrot salad and grapes.  The leftovers went to the local kids, we noticed, who ate until full and took the rest away in a bag (takeout!).  Then we were off for a transfer to Dades Valley via the Valley of Roses.  Well, in actuality we had a vote and decided that the cooperative selling rose perfumed products in the Valley of Roses wasn’t of much interest to us so we went directly to see the sights of the Dades Valley.

Quite a touristic area, with restaurants and hotels spread up and down a long strip.  Not super busy though, apparently this is towards the start of high season.  We first stopped at the “monkey’s fingers”, an area of differential erosion leaving behind interesting rock formations.  We saw goats frolicking on the rocks as well, and they looked to be going straight onto the faces; their hooves have adapted well to be able to stick on rock.

Next stop was Dades canyon, and this was truly spectacular – the storm from yesterday had made the river levels higher through it and it was that much more spectacular. 

two lanes of traffic + pedestrians and no problems!

On the way to the canyon we watched a couple of fully loaded cyclists pedalling up the switchback system up one hill – on the way back we stopped at the top and I found them there so started chatting to them.  They were French cyclists, here with mountain bikes for a week, had gone over the mountains yesterday in order to avoid a 250 km detour here.  It involved carrying their bikes some distance, which they had expected, as it was far too steep – however they hadn’t factored in the storm and were wet and cold by the time they packed their bikes to the top, and the nice downhill that they expected didn’t exist by then as the trail had turned to mud.  Every 500 m the mud would build up between the frames and the brakes so they would have to stop and clear it; eventually the disc brakes stopped working and they had to run 5 km downhill beside their bikes. Then, the simple stream fording that they had expected turned into a rushing frenzy from the runoff so they had to scout a different crossing… Epic.  So the comment was that today was a piece of cake!  They sounded like a very resourceful couple, in their 30’s, with one of them an ICU doc and the other a mountain guide.  But both said it was their first bike packing trip and they wouldn’t do that trip again 

All to say I guess I can’t complain about the grade tomorrow!

Back to our hotel we caught some interesting light on the hills from our room balconies when we had figured out where we were slotted into. 

Wifi is as usual spotty, so after a couple of tries of uploading info I gave up and had a shower – no hot water alas, the rest of the group must have depleted it!  Time for a quick laundry before dinner – we had a nice variation on tagine with excellent presentation and Spice Roads seems to have finally figured out the vegetarian protein experience… there is obviously a real chef in the kitchen tonight.

dining room at Panorama Hotel

Hoping that the hip settles down overnight as it sounds like another tough day tomorrow.  Back to work!