Morocco

* This city is unreal. Fes is believed to be the largest carfree urban area in the world. Fes is classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

• Alley way after alley way. The main form of transport through the thousands of alleyways is by donkey. These donkeys are loaded up and are the equivelant of transport trucks where we come from. These donkeys with all their gear just fit through the alley ways. When the bloke behind the donkey yells out àttention`you know to jump into a shop or you will get trampled by a donkey.
• Went to a carpet store, a Medicine man, a tannery (where they dye the leather - check out the photo) and a pottery. The artisans are very skillful and great to watch. Learnt the Moroccan equivelant of calling someone a stingy Jew , it is a you are a ´berber´ (the original inhabitants of morocco before the arabs arrived).
• One of the boys, Jack, was accosted by a dagger salesman. The bloke left his shop and followed jack up the alleyway trying his best to get him to buy something - when he realised he wouldnt get a sale he said `the next time I see you it will be with god´. One thing about ramadan - the locals cant eat until night fall so some of them get a little hungry and aggresive throughout the day - but rarely towards the locals - over the course of the trip I saw 3 -4 fights between the locals - i felt like giving them a mars bar a saying chill out dude!
• Went into the main town for a 5 course dinner and entertainment at a Moroccon restaurant - was very nice.
• The birth of taxi grand prix! This would have to be a highlight of my trip. Whilst coming back from the restaurant to the camp site - all 26 of us jumped into taxis. I was with Jack (19) and Les the writer (circa 50) - the taxi drivers and the general driving in this place is chaotic like most backward Countries - but we decided to spice it up a little by offerring him an extra 10 Dirhams if he got back to the campsite first. There were a couple of close calls expecially an overtaking manouvere that put us in 2nd place but could easily have ended with us hitting the oncoming truck.The taxi driver loved us as we yelled out taxi grand prix´´ and called him Schumacher. At the campsite he offerred me a drive in his taxi and some hash - i decided to call it a night.

* Stopped off for a coffee along the way, loads of donkeys etc and young local boys who took an interest in the girls on our bus. One of the young boys took his ring from his finger and proposed to one of the girls on our group.

• Stopped off at the ruins of the Ancient City of Volubilis - an ancient roman city dating back to the period 0 - 300 AD. Was mostly destroyed in the Lisbon earth quake cicra 1757. Rediscovered in the late 1800s by two passing diplomats. Very modern for its a age - one of the first things I noticed was an underground drainage system complete with man hole lids.
• Arrived at the campsite in Fes, nice camp site with a pool.

* The trip heads around Morocco in a clock wise direction.

• CH means `looking through the horns`and comes from the shape of the mountains nearby.
• Arrived in CH, set up campsite. The King was in town ........ and so too was his entourage, all 700 policemen who decided to use the same camp site as us. They made good use of the toilets to!
• Had a guided tour of CH. The place has a Med look about it with the walls painted blue to stop the flys - apparently flys dont like the shade.
• The hills leading down to CH are dotted with grave sites, all the Mulslim ones point in the same direction, towards Mecca.
• High up on a hill is a an old Mosque that is not used. The story goes that the Conquering Spaniards built it for the locals - but the locals refused to use it because it is not facing Mecca. I think it also has something to do with the fact that it is high up on a hill making it a bastard to get to 5 times a day!
• My tent buddy was Les, a travel writer who has written several books including one about his journey across the trans siberian railway. Top Bloke, from Canada and has the funniest stories to tell. Hell of a Snorer though, I ended up sleeping outside of the tent for half the night.
• First exposure to Prayer tinme at 4 in the morning. The sound of Air raid sirens, drums and wailing make for an interesting way to wake up. I thought the king was under attack! Welcome to RAMADAN!

London to Gibralter to Spain to Morocco

• A day of Travel - up early, 3 Countries and a British Overseas Territory in one day.
• Gibralter was interesting, the runway goes right through the middle of Gib because it is so small. As the plane touched down, I could see tennis courts running alongside the runway.
• Arrived in Tangier, Morocco after a ferry ride. Plenty of dodgy looking dudes and scammers around. Walked from the Port into the city to the place where someone would be waiting to take me to the hotel. The walk was like being on parade. Every scammer wants to show you the way or carry your bag etc etc all for a fee of course!
• Got to the Hotel Tarik where we would spend the night and meet the rest of the people on the group. Matt Damon was in town filming the third sequel to the Bourne Supremacy.The film crew were staying in our hotel.