I'm sure many have seen a picture of the sign that says "Timbouctou 52 jours"

You find it in the town of Zagora .
For centurys the caravans started there journey across the sahara desert from here and the town was an impotant centre of trade It is mainly occupied by berbers and you can feel there is a more relaxed and friendly atmosphere than north of the Atlas mountains.

The town is very modern and a park with an arena, kids playground and a big pond with geese and ducks has just been opened and invites for a stroll in the evening Zagora is built along the Draa river and on the way from Ouarzazate along the valley you can see one Kasba after another

A stretch of palm trees about 1mile wide grows all the way along the riverbed likea big carpet.

We decided to leave the main road and try a dirt track that leads along the river. It was merely wide enough for the bikes but to small for cars
We got on very well at the start,the track ran smoothly though small towns and along palm trees, we stopped for some water and people came walking along to see the u usual visitors.
And man invited us even to have tee in his garden

But we were on a mission to get south so we kept going and the track started to get twisty

Soon the smoth hard surface turned into big loose bits of gravel and we had a few brown trouser moments before we reached the to of the hill.

We were later told that this track is usually done on smaller lighter bikes, not heavy ones like ours. The local berbers, of course drive two up on there small 50cc mobilettes and even overtook us

Or they use donkeys as they do forthe last 2000 years.

Well ,we did fine and after a rest by the river it got easier again and we decided to get back to the main road

After this we needed a rest and spent an extra day at the pool in the lovely Fibule du Deaa hotel