Reminiscing

I was lucky enough to be invited recently up to the beautiful Skinners Hall in London to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Judd school, my old school. Despite having attended several other schools, the Judd is the school that I feel most attached too. My two years there were filled with good memories, wet rugby matches, fierce friends and all round fun. It was wonderful to attend drinks with some old friends, to see some familiar faces and to meet others who are also unfailingly attached to the school. 

The Skinners Hall is an incredible location, filled with unique portraits and little tucked away corners, the perfect setting for a game of hide and seek! I have heard that you can book it for your wedding.....here's hoping! 

Please excuse the quality of the photos, they are snapped with my phone. Also, how wonderful is St Paul's Cathedral looking? 

Thank you TS for organising!

Mood - the oldies are the besties! 

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Morocco - Part 6 - Sahara

Zegora was our next stop on the road trip and was our final point of call before heading out into the desert. 

We stayed the night in an original mud-walled Kasbah on the way to Zegora in a town called N'Knob which is pronounced rather rudely. The Kasbah was an interesting insight into traditional Berber life as goats were kept in the gardens and dinner was served in a berber tent. 

The hotel in Zegora was a little slice of heaven for us, now weary, travellers and we had a half day relaxing by the pool, enjoying the view of the desert and relaxing in the beautiful garden, filled with fresh flowers. 

The following morning we woke up to rain. I repeat, RAIN! In the desert! Apparently it hasn't rained in over a year so we were a little unlucky really. We decided to view this as a positive thing as we gained a little snapshot of Morocco that other tourists never get to see, I mean rain in the desert is pretty much a once in a lifetime moment. We used the wet morning to venture into the buzzing metropolis that is Zegora in order to stock up on desert supplies and to snap a pic by the famous Timbuktu sign. 52 days by Camel to Timbuktu, we decided to give that one a miss. 

Later we hopped in our 4x4 to venture into the desert and enjoyed a wonderfully thrilling and bouncy ride over the dunes with our friendly guide Majoub! Thank goodness we had a guide because there is literally nothing as far as the eye can see and no tracks to follow. After a day's driving we were well into the dunes and found our camp for the night, which was very basic and wonderfully peaceful, that is, if you don't mind sharing a toilet with hundreds of creepy-crawleys!

The camels took us for a ride over the dunes and into the sunset, which set beautifully over the sand, despite the rainy morning. 

Camels are very funny looking and make the oddest sounds but are nevertheless a wonderful companion and amazing creatures. 

That evening the camp hosts whipped up the best tagine we had during our whole trip, no mean feat considering they were in the middle of a desert! We were then treated to a little song and dance and enjoyed watching the guys beating out a mean rhythm on a few drums. 

The next morning we woke early to watch the sunrise and I celebrated my 23rd birthday in pretty much the most awesomely beautiful place on earth. The guides made me feel very special by playing happy birthday on their drums and presented me with a handmade henna plate. Sadly we only had time for one more barefooted run up the dunes before we had to head back out of the desert to continue our journey. 

Mood - Missing the peace 

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Morocco - Part 5 - Trekking in Dades

Our journey took us up over the Atlas mountains into the gorge area, known as Dades where we drove some of the most incredible roads of the whole trip. The Moroccan driving experience is not easily forgotten as each turn delivered a new surprise and a new challenge. At best you find yourself on a lovely dual carriage way that tops British roads and at worst you are on a crumbling mountain track with a cliff one side, blind corners and a crazy Moroccan taxi driving coming directly for you at 60mph. We quickly learned that driving required no skill other than having nerves of steel and a passion for playing chicken, which we suck at. 

To get to the gorge you have to drive up the sleep side of the cliff and down the narrow road the other side. The views at the top are breathtaking and well worth the drive, even just to look back at the roads and congratulate yourself for arriving safely and to muster up the courage to continue back down. This road happened to be my first driving experience in Morocco and it was terrifying, it did, however, give me the courage to take on any other challenges that came my way! 

After a semi-comfortable night in a rather basic hostel balancing on the edge of a very blustery cliff, we set off for a days trek down into the gorge. The walk was several hours long and was full of surprises and character building tests, such as wading through thigh-high ice water from the mountains. 

We paddled through shark turtle infested water

Crossed delicate make-shift bridges over raging rapids 

Scaled cliff-faces 

Pushed our way through the jungle 

and discovered eerie abandoned buildings 

Needless to say, that's the last time I agree to go on a 'little ramble' with Mamma T. 

In all seriousness, the gorges are incredibly beautiful and so impressive and we definitely would not have seen then in all their glory if it hadn't been for our trek! 

Mood - Exhausted just thinking about it 

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