We're Clean Again

We felt quite sad saying goodbye to our camels and it felt quite strange to be sitting in our minibus again. Everyone's priority was to get to our hotel where we could de-sand and have a much needed shower, but we had a couple of stops on the way. The first was to see an ancient Koranic library and school and the second was to a potter's co-operative. The trouble was, that with sand in our eyes, it was difficult to see properly, especially in the bright sunlight, which made us squint. We hope the potters didn't think we were being rude, but it was difficult to give them the attention they deserved. We did buy a mini tagine cruet set though to support them.

Our hotel was situated right next to this sign advising we were 52 days away from Timbuktu. We recognised the sign as we'd seen it in the Explore brochure. We thought we'd pose for a photo to mark the significance of this spot on the ancient trading routes between Morocco and the southern Sahara.


Showering, lunch, clothes washing and relaxing in, and by, the hotel's pool occupied the afternoon very pleasantly and then, in the early evening, Khalif took us on a a lovely walk through the local palmeries. It was a lovelty relaxing day.

The next day we were on the move again and had an interesting day with lots of stops as more aspects of this fascinating country were revealed.

We stopped at some waterfalls and were very tempted to join the local children diving from the rocks.


We were quite glad we'd decided to press on, when we got to our next hotel and found that the swimming pool had just been filled. And the water was considerably cleaner than that river water!

Waterfalls were definitely the theme of the day as we found another one while strolling round the town of Tata.


As we were experiencing a bit of a heatwave and temperatures in the high 40s, any water had a great attraction for us and we made the most of any chance to cool our paws. Have you spotted us?

Lots of love, George and Yorkie xxx

Sirs George and Yorkie of Arabia

As evening approached, the following day, the new headscarves came out again, this time to be worn for real. They were rather large for us bears to wear, so no photos of us wearing them as you wouldn't see us, but we thought we might be able to make use of them at night to wrap ourselves in.

And why were we thinking this way ? It was because we were about to head out into the Sahara desert on a desert adventure. We were very excited for 3 reasons:

a) we'd never been to a desert before, so this would be an important new chapter for The Friendly Planet Guide

b) we were going to stay out in the desert overnight in a temporary camp, and

c) we had a great mode of transport to get us there, and here it is - or rather, one of them ... (still trying to work out which one of us is the most handsome!)


We were travelling there in a camel train. There were 2 small trains of 3 camels each. We both elected to ride with our female minder and were very glad we had after our male minder's camel couldn't get his footing on a muddy stream bank and fell over, causing our minder to roll off into the mud. We were very relieved he wasn't hurt; once we'd established this, we had a good laugh!


It felt very strange camel riding. As the camel's head and neck went forwards and backwards so did we, and combine this with a bit of up and down, and we felt like we were describing circles as we rode.

Although we had our sleeping mats on top of the saddles, our minders found they had very sore bottoms after a while - not a problem bears suffer. They were therefore glad when the camp came into sight, and it was time to dismount ...


The camp was exclusively ours, and there was no-one else in sight and nothing to see but sand for miles. There was a white tent for our crew where they did the cooking, a black nomad style tent for the the tour group and, a sensible distance away, a toilet tent. As you can see from our next picture, that was all there was, apart from our camels - by now hobbled - and lots of sand.


There was time to explore before dinner - part 2 follows shortly.

Lots of love George and Yorkie xxx

In the Steps of the Stars

Thanks Suffolk branch for their news from the West. The references to the Norfolk Branch and Yorkshire pud will be understood by anyone reading our sister blog 'Bears on trig points' which we hope you are all following. We also hope you are thinking about possible contributions from your neck of the woods.

But for now, back to the land of mint tea and tagines. After the ruins, it was time for another of our cook's spectacular picnic lunches and this time, some yummy lentils accompanied the salad. After lunch, it was off to yet another historic site, but this one was definitely not in ruins.

Our destination was the UNESCO World Heritage site of Ait-Ben-Haddou. This is a 'fortified city', or ksar, which grew up as a stopping point for the caravan trains travelling between the Sahara and Marrakech.


If it looks familiar, many films have been shot at Ait-Ben-Haddou including Jesus of Nazareth and Gladiator.

The buildings are largely made of mud, and they do tend to sustain damage when it rains, so lots of restoration work is required. Given the tendency to erode, it's very impressive that some of the buildings may date back to the seventeenth century.

After the view from the wadi outside the town, it was time for a climb through the narrow streets to take in the view from the top.


Only a handful of families still live in these buildings. We were lucky enough to take tea (mint of course) with one of them, and even luckier when we found out that the 'cave' inside the house where we were drinking our tea turned out to have been Russell Crowe's prison in the film Gladiator.

We rather like our next picture as it shows us in the cave with our new Moroccan friend Khaled and Russell Crowe's sword, which was a bit heavy for us to manage on our own.


Our lady hostess was kind enough to let us look round her house which was typical of these old mud houses.

Believe it or not, the animals, which we went to say hello to, were kept upstairs, not down ...


... and there were lots of fascinating rooms, mostly quite small and very traditional. We were particularly impressed by the old kitchen with oven, although we didn't fancy waiting for a meal, as it might have been quite a long time coming.


It's quite a few years since we saw the film Gladiator so we were very pleased to note it in the T.V. schedules the other day. We recorded it and look forward to watching it soon and seeing how much we recognise.

Lots of love, George and Yorkie xxx

Minarets and Mint Tea

Our goat tagine was simply delicious and, after it, our leader Khaled, gave us a potted introduction to his country which covered geography, history, religion and politics. It was all fascinating stuff and there was so much to say that it was about 10.30 p.m. before we reached a suitable place to break.

The next morning we retraced our steps, this time on paw rather than hoof. Everything looked different the other way round and also from a much lower vantage point.

Before we rejoined our bus, we stopped for refreshment and, guess what?, another glass of mint tea.


I think our cook thought we might fade away after an hour's walk with no food, so he prepared a lovely plate of dates, figs, nuts and, our favourite of all, some nutty/toffee balls - we never did get to find out their official name.

When I turned back from the plate, I discovered Yorkie had disappeared. I soon found him, or rather heard him. He had found a replica minaret in the restaurant and was practising at being a muezzin, calling the faithful to prayer.


Unfortunately though he was out with his timing, as it wasn't one of the hours of prayer, so I shut him up and called him down in case anyone thought we were being disrespectful. Fortunately no-one seemed to have noticed - there are some advantages to being small!

We travelled a sort distance in our bus before stopping to explore the ruins of an old palace which had belonged one of the Lords of the Atlas. This man, an Arab, had collaborated with the French and oppressed the Moroccans. He therefore had no local friends, so when he died his palace was left to fall into ruins.


It was all quite sad, especially as mud buildings don't last long. We had fun though clambering over the ruins, finding traces, such as this painting, of its former grandeur, and meeting the current inhabitants: donkeys and storks.


When it got a bit hot we took refuge under a very shady fruit tree. It was easy to doze off and we were very lucky that the bus didn't go without us - thank you minders!

Lots of love, George and Yorkie xxx

Switching to Four Legged Drive

Well rested and fortified after our siesta style picnic, we were ready for the first active activity of our trip. This was a real treat for us as it was mule riding, which we don't get to do as often as we'd like.


So here we are aboard our charming steed, who with such a light load as Yorkie and myself on board, was champing at the heels of the mule in front (mounted by a rather heavier minder). It was a bit unfortunate therefore, that we got stuck at the back of the convoy, but we soon settled down into plodding, rather than racing mode, and it was all extremely pleasant.

We rode for a good hour and enjoyed looking at the amazing Atlas mountain scenery all around us. We had red earth hills above and, down in the valley below, fertile flood plains beside a river.

All too soon we reached the gite where we were going to be staying, and it was time to dismount and say goodbye to our new 4 legged friend.


Our mule friend went back to his home, as he was a genuine working animal rather than a ride for tourists. No doubt he had a few more hours work to do on the farm before his day was over. For us though, it was time to relax at the gite. While our cook got to work preparing a goat meat and vegetable tagine, we took, yet more, of the Moroccan drinks staple - mint tea - out on the balcony.


As you can perhaps deduce from our next picture, it wasn't long before the skies turned dark and there was a heavy downpour. It was quite mesmerising watching the rain and watching the locals hurrying for cover - there were no fancy Goretex waterproofs in sight!

Our mouths started to water as aromas of tagine began to waft up the stairs. It was a good job there wasn't too long to wait.

Lots of love, George and Yorkie

A Double Dose of Yummy!

Our special surprise was cute, small (but bigger than us!) and furry. For almost the first time in our travelling career we had a fellow bear traveller, who wasn't a member of Bears Unlimited.

We first became aware of our new friend as we reached our lunch-time picnic spot and settled down in a shady spot with a glass of mint tea. We spotted some squirming in a rucksack and, a few moments later, out popped a bear. We were especially excited to find it was a female bear, as we do tend to be a bit short on female company.


Bear hugs and introductions followed, and we discovered our new companion was Helen Spencer bear. Seconds later we were all chatting happily as if we'd known each other for years. We discovered that compared to us old bears Helen was a spring chicken and she'd only joined her minders a year ago for their wedding.

It was a good job there was plenty of mint tea on tap, as talking nineteen to the dozen made us initially, very thirsty ...


... and before long, very hungry. It was a good job we had such an excellent cook who worked hard to prepare delicious picnics for us while we lounged in the sun.

One of his staples, which was to become a firm favourite, was the beautiful and delicious plates of salad that came to us looking almost too good to eat.


Needless to say we did eat them, and they were as good as they looked.

Back soon.

Lots of love, George, Yorkie and Helen xxx

Passing over the Tizi N' Tichka Pass

It was well into evening as our plane started its final approach into Marrakech's Menara airport, so we were rather surprised when our pilot announced that the temperature was a rather warm 40 degrees! Our minds boggled at what the midday temperature msut have been like.

It was perhaps quite fortunate then, that we left Marrakech at 9.00 a.m. the following morning, as for bears, cities and scorching temperatures don't mix well. First though we had to meet our tour leader and fellow travelling companions.


So here we are with Khaled our tour leader in local dress, and 4 British tourists (plus one of our minders was taking the picture so we could be in it). As you might guess, this wasn't actually Marrakech and you will also note that we were a small, but select group.

Introductions didn't take long with it being a small group, so it wasn't long before we were climbing into the bus and heading for the High Atlas Mountains and some altitude moderated temperatures.

Our route took us over the famous Tizi N' Tichka Pass. We made lots of stops to enjoy the great views such as this one ...


It wasn't all rocky mountains though, there were also some rather lush meadows such as the one in our next picture which was very close to a natural spring where our cook filled up his water containers ...


Perhpas we should say that accompanying us in our minibus we had Khaled, as leader, a cook, and also our driver Mustafa. They were a fine crew and looked after us so well.

It was shortly after our last picture that we stopped for lunch and got the most wonderful surprise. Find out what it was next time!

Lots of love, George and Yorkie xxx

P.S. we'd like to wish our lovely friend Caroline Muggridge every success for her cross Channel swim that starts at 6.00 a.m. tomorrow. She's made of sterner stuff than us bears but we will be rooting for her every stroke of the way and hope you, our readers will too.

All Change!

We think we'll leave Spain on the highlight of the Alhambra, particularly as we now have an exciting new adventure to report on.

We all had a great time in Almeria and hope it won't be too long before we're back. The Holiday Property Bond's El Pueblito complex really is something special and we hope our next picture, shot from just outside our front door, conveys something of its charm.


When you see our first two pictures from our latest adventure, you might be forgiven for thinking that we liked the Alhambra so much that we'd decided to return. The other way of looking at it, is that southern Spain was the warm up for a trip to a close neighbour.

So here we are in the Grand Imilchil hotel, not a million miles from southern Spain.


Does the fine Moorish tiling remind you of the Alhambra as it certainly did us? Has anyone spotted the link? What we'd done was to travel a bit further south and cross the Straits of Gibraltar (albeit in a plane) to reach Morocco. Our starting point was the exotic city of Marrakech and Marrakech's Grand Imilchil hotel certainly has some Moorish influences, just like the Alhambra.

And it wasn't just the Imilchil hotel? Just 10 minutes walk from the hotel was the city's Cyber park and just look what we found there: a mini version of 'General Life'!


We hope we've seamlessly moved you from Spain to Morocco and whetted your appetite for more news of our latest travels.

Lots of love George & Yorkie xxx