Had a great meal in the Jmaa Al Fna last night and walked around on my own for as long as I could to find my way around the Medina. Good fun and the hawkers are all so good natured and have so many victims available it is good fun.

Spent what was left of the evening enjoying the perfect hotel location by sitting drinking Coke while watching the square. That is a whole 9 days off the beer you should note!

Couldnt just hang around Marrakech all day since the bike (am thinking she needs a name right now but worry that this could be a really bad sign for my mental health) was calling to me from the smelly garage that she wanted to play. We set off with open minds just intent on exploration with a half plan to head out of the city and find some mountain roads. We headed toward Essaouria more by luck than anything and then turned off onto the R212 into the mountain. Rode a potholed tarmac road for miles and got the pay off when it finally headed for the hills. More stunning views and silence to savour, almost tempted to get off and climb a mountain but didnt have the right shoes.

Determined not to just turn around when the road ran out, which it did, we plotted a route that in theory would link either back to Marrakech on a different road or if really lucky link up with another mountain pass. Looked great on the map but yet again the confidence from the Lonely Planet map of Morocco proved to be entirely false. Going to compare some of these with the Michelin Map when I get the chance since once again a Yellow Major Road quickly turned into Piste. Stubborn as ever I carried on riding as the Piste got worse but even enjoying the off road riding more than I thought possible I quickly had to start thinking of ways to escape. Chose a piste with the mountain behind me and eventually refound the tarmac.

Back in the city now and just booked a car to pick Jackki up at the airport tomorrow and to whisk us both off to the SOS Childrens Village at Ait Ourir. Donations have now topped 400 quid so thanks for all your support. Will sign off now until the weekend.