Monday 27 January 2014

Western Sahara

Marrakech to Dahkla is about 1500km, I think, I never looked it up, all I know is that I'm going to Dahkla.
Driving down the Weatern Sahara, after waiting to visit this area since my first trip to Morocco 12 years ago, I was buzzing.
I left Marrakech mid morning and floored it all the way to Dahkla, the forecast was for wind in Dahkla (not that unusual) and this I did not want miss out on.
Leaving Marrakech on the newly built toll road all was going well until, boom speed trap and the first speeding fine in Morocco for this trip. There's so many speed traps in Morocco, including the middle of the blinking Sahara Desert where there's not a camel in sight.
Stopping my first night in the dark somewhere past Tan Tan, bush camping god knows where, I had no clue to my location, until the morning when I looked out the van and there was a huge 50mt drop into the Atlantic. Not a bad start for my little adventure.
Continuing another 650km I finally arrived in Dakhla after another marathon 12hr drive, the last 2hrs in the dark, with my battery light on the dashboard, it was squeeky bum time.
I made it ! stopping 25km short of Dahkla town in the free camp, managed by the Moroccan government, I had no clue of my surroundings and slept peacefully. Waking in the morning to find myself right on the edge of the lagoon, which is why I'd made this huge drive to get here, the kitesurfing in Dahkla lagoon is world famous for it good wind,flat water and 40km in length.
Let the fun begin.




 

Friday 10 January 2014

Camino Del Rey (Spain)

We've just driven through Spain as we make our way to Morocco for the start of our Winter Mt Toubkal and Sahara trekking season.
This time we decided to visit El Chorro in Southern Spain about 50km inland from Malaga, El Chorro is a world famous sport climbing area, so we were pretty excited about visiting the area.

We weren't disappointed, before our arrival in El Chorro we wild camped on the shores of a huge reservoir, made a huge fire ate well and drank some great Spanish plonk. This was to be one the best camps throughout our drive from London to Marrakech.
The following morning buzzing with excitement we head off for El Chorro with the plan of climbing a few routes and checking out the famous Camino Del Rey, which is a walkway built in 1902 and situated 100m up in the El Chorro gorge and possibly the most dangerous walk in the world.
Rather than explaining our day on the Camino Del Rey I added a video link below so you can it for your own eyes, but whatever you do, you should put Camino Del Rey and El Chorro and your list of places to visit.