The Bear Catapults (rather than the Human Cannonball)

It was a great party, but it's time to return to Morocco now, and tell you all where our cycle ride took us.

It was a place where this happens ...


... although we suspect the equipment used nowadays is rather more modern. Yes, we had arrived at none other than the famous Atlas film studios.

Before a tour, we needed to rehydrate after all our cycling in the hot sun. While our minders downed a coke beside the swimming pool (yes, you can stay at the film studios), Yorkie managed to get himself into a spot of bother.


As you can see he was in danger of being cooked alive in a cauldron. Had I not come to the rescue he might have had serious need of that pool close by.

As our tour got underway, Yorkie got his turn to repay me. I was testing out the posts for tying slaves to, from another Gladiator film set, when I got stuck and had to ask Yorkie to release me.


The tour was great fun and we saw lots of interesting sets. We racked our brains to recall scenes from film such as Kundun, The Mummy, Cleopatra and the Kingdom of Heaven so we could perform some re-enactments.


Despite all the fine sets, our favourite thing was the catapult we found. We took turns to see how far we could travel and at what speed. Looking back at it now, we really should have worn crash helmets!

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