Berber cliffs, land of the headscarf!

So after touring around cities and smelling the rich wonderous smell of civilization, it was well overdue that Els and I had a go at a bit of a vertical challenge. Not that we didn't have an amazing time in Fez, but cities are just not the natural environment for climbers... you feel out of place, hassled, tired, busy... We needed some relaxation, time to take our time and just cling on to rocks for dear life.

So, off to the world-famous Todgha Gorge we left. Nice CTM bus, with heating and reclining seats and all the trappings, friendly smiling locals, and distrustful, frowning tourists. At four in the morning, freezing weather, out we get chucked into Errachidia, right to the hands of the desert-tours hawkers. I have never had to face such persuasive people with so little energy in such a confusing frame of mind. A delicious mint and green tea later, much refreshed, we boarded another nice little bus going directly to Tinghir, the "big city" right close up to the gorge.

After being dazzled by the amazing landscape being slowly lit by the rising desert sun, we dropped off at a town nothing like anything we'd seen in the northern parts of Morocco. The architecture here is much more straight-forward, practical, and, to my mind, looks a wee bit cozier. As we boarded a taxi with a hilarious Syrian-Canadian man we got climpses of the ancient villages and their old-school adobe-built houses, crumbling away in abandon, as new villages rose up to take their place. Shame, the old adobe houses look so much friendlier...

No camels around. :(

I knew you were wondering about that.

As for the entire reason for us being here, the Todgha Gorge... WOW!!!! It is beyond description... three hundred metre walls facing each other for 6 kilometres (I was told, others said more, others less) of winding awesomeness. Slabs, overhangs, verticals, single pitch, multipitch, sport climbs, trad lines, beautiful ochre rock with splotches here and there of white, brown, black and pink. The sun is an occasional visitor in this place, coming and going as it pleases, either roasting you or chilling you, so you can choose where you'd rather climb (Mexicans favour the sun, English seem to settle more comfortably into the shade). The rock is as abrasive as was promised but comes in a variety of forms, from sheer featureless behemoth till scramble-easy chunks of boulders massing up to the heights. The sky is a blue so amazing it does deserve to be called turquoise, and the combination of wind and sun I find amazing.

So far we have only begun to flex our muscles a tiny bit on the rock, however, since we have been caught up  in a whirlwind of a social life we didn't have even back in london. We have been asked for tea by any number of people, talked about the climbs with at least five of the locals, been treated to dinner and pizza-breakfast, given dates and advice on most about everything. The people here are remarkably nice, but there is still sometimes a gritty feeling of tourist-local that leaves a bitter taste. Anyway, we are foreigners, and that means business. We don't just camp out on the hotel's rooftop because it's fun, we do it because we can't afford these awesome travels staying in nice cozy rooms all the time... ok, we do kind of love staring up at the stars last thing at night. They are amazing!!!

Tomorrow is the day we attack the hard climbs, then, we have been recommended a good choice of overhanging 7a beauties, with soft grades around to warm up on. Here we go!!!!