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

Our World Turns Brown

As for exploring, there were really only a couple of choices: we could checkout the toilet tent, which we did - the hole that had been dug looked fine for small bears, but we weren't sure it would suit our minders. We could also climb sand dunes. As we'd never done this before, this is how we passed the hour before dinner, along with visiting the camels to get to know them a bit better. Now they were off duty, they were happy to chat, and they really are fascinating creatures.


Climbing up the dunes was quite hard as the sand was so soft, but running down them, or somersaulting, when our momentum got too fast, was great fun, and the sand was soft that we couldn't hurt ourselves.


We had dinner out in the open sitting cross legged on mats. It was a fine dinner but not exactly authentic Moroccan cuisine; we had spaghetti bolognaise. This had a more to do with the cooking facilities available than the wish to give us familiar food. After dinner we did some star gazing with occasional interruptions from a camel spider which kept running over the mats and scaring some of our party.

When it was time for bed, as it was so warm, we decided not to join the others in the nomad tent, but to join our minders on top of a dune. We had only just settled down when the wind got up and started blowing sand everywhere. We were particularly exposed on top of our dune and had to go back down. We didn't want to disrupt our fellow travellers, so set our mats down just outside the nomad tent, using it to provide a bit of shelter from the wind.

Although it was still windy, this proved to be a good move, after the tent started to collapse - there was quite a 'plink' as the first of the wooden supports holding up the fabric was blown down. More followed, and the tent occupants had to rebuild the tent - more than once! We wrapped ourselves up in the touareg scarves to try and keep the flying sand at bay, and tried to get some sleep - it wasn't easy, especially as we were half expecting to be nuzzled by a hopping (because of the hobbling) camel.


We did get a bit of sleep, and when we woke up it was to find sand everywhere - our minders' sleeping bags were full of the stuff, but the worst part was finding that sand had got into our eyes.

More fun followed when we went to visit the toilet tent. We had to fish out a huge beetle which had fallen in, before we could use it.

After breakfast we struck camp and re-mounted our camels for the return journey. It had been quite an adventure and great fun.

Lots of love, George and Yorkie xxx

Keeping Cool at the Kasbah

Another of our cook's special picnic lunches followed the film studio tour, then it was time to drive to our next overnight stay. We had various photo stops on the way and we also stopped off at a shop to buy headscarves to wrap round our heads touareg turban style. We needed these so as to be ready for a desert adventure - more about that soon.

The accommodation that night was a real treat and the best yet. We stayed at a kasbah which had a great location and a lovely swimming pool. As it was very hot, discovering the pool and finding it empty was a real treat.


We spent hours in the pool cooling off while our minders left earlier, to rinse through their touareg blue headscarves, having been warned that the dye might not be that well set and might leave them with blue faces.

They returned to join us for dinner, appearing rather traumatised and more than a little blue of appearance - and it certainly wasn't because of the cold.


Apparently the scarves had run rather more than expected and dyed not only our minders exposed skin, but also the terracotta un-glazed bath, blue. Much scrubbing had then ensued, to return the bath to at least a paler shade of blue. We knew that we'd had a lot more fun swimming.

The rural location of the kasbah meant it was lovely and quiet. There was farmland right behind and, while we dried off from our swim, we enjoyed watching the local sheep and donkeys.


It was a rather idyllic pastoral scheme and we were very content, even more so when we discovered we could have our evening meal of Moroccan chicken and couscous outside, at a table right by the pool.

Sheer bliss, although sadly no beer in the bar - despite the pool it was a dry hotel!

Lots of love George and Yorkie xxx

Small Bears Need a Tandem

Our Ait-Ben-Haddou accommodation was rather grander than the home we visited for tea, even though it was full of charm and history. We stayed in a kasbah just the other side of the wadi. Our room had 3 beds which was great, as it meant there was a bed exclusively for bears, and we also had a private courtyard just off our room ...


... the only trouble was that there was no light so we couldn't make much use of it after dark.

We thought the person who had left a bear sized version of Ait-Ben-Haddou in reception was very thoughtful ...


... so we arranged a private tour and sat to attention under the Moroccan flag.

The next day was completely different. We had a morning of mountain biking ahead of us. A truckful of bikes was laid out for us to pick one which best suited. We rushed over to have first pick, but weren't quite as fast as our female minder who got there first, but then was so indecisive we did actually pick first ...


Apart from the first 100 yards our ride was all off road. There were a few ups and downs to test us, but the biggest problem was all the rocks on the track that we bumped over. After the first hour we had extremely sore bottoms and jarred paws.


This picture will give you an idea of the terrain we were cycling across, although as you will see it was one of the early, rock free, sections.

About 20 minutes ride from the end, we had a welcome break after Khaled, our leader, spotted an orange lizard darting into a hole. Together with the driver of the support vehicle who had numerous tools with him, they started to dig into the hard ground to unearth the lizard. Apparently, if they captured the lizard, it could be exchanged for a lot of money.

We kept our paws crossed that the lizard would not be dug out, and fortunately he wasn't. The 2 Moroccans eventually gave up their pursuit and we set off again for a rather unusual final destination.

You'll have to keep reading to find out where we went.

Lots of love, George and Yorkie 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.

Shore Side Adventures No. 2

As Eddie doesn't like to be away from his boat too long, we left him in the playground where we found the oranges and lemons. He seemed very happy playing on one of the pieces of play equipment as you can see.


Yorkie and I were up for a bit of land based exploration. As we had arrived in harbour by boat, we didn't have any other form of transportation other than our legs, and as you know, in our case, we are talking very short legs, not designed for covering distance.

We therefore looked around for some convenient transport and this time we really did hit the jackpot. Not only did we find wheels, we found wheels with style and attitude. Look closely to see us near the steering wheel.


There was a deep throated roar from the exhaust as we set off to explore. It was a hot day and it was great to feel the wind in our fur as we climbed the road into the interior. We called out 'kalimera' to all the Greeks we passed and we always got a friendly, albeit a rather surprised, response. Greece clearly isn't on the tourist trail for the average bear.

We looked in a few of the Orthodox churches and they were amazingly ornate and well cared for.


In the grounds of this church we found a very large Greek pot, which we both really liked and we knew Tommy would love it for the garden. It was very tempting therefore to try and negotiate a deal with the local Priest.


Don't worry though, we did realise it wasn't for sale - in any event it was far too heavy for us to move and we wouldn't have fitted it into our hand luggage!

Keep reading the blog to find out where we went next.

Lots of love, George & Yorkie xxx