This year, to avoid the festive tidings of turkey and stuffing, I decided that a change of scenery would be in order. I fancied something a bit more adventurous than usual. The brochures were examined closely and the decision taken - I'd go to Morocco!!

I'm not the touristy, cultural type, so the chosen holiday was trekking in the Djebel Sahro, with Explore Worldwide.

 

First stop was Marrakech! Timing of the holiday meant that Ramadan was in full swing, so the city was fairly quiet.

However, there's nothing quite like the Koutoubia Mosque blasting out the Call to Prayer at 5am!!

 

Soon it was time to move onto the real reason for being there......

A day was spent driving through the High Atlas mountains - passing roadside stalls, through the town of Ouarzazate and on to Ait Youl

This is where we spent our last night indoors, before braving the prospective days of camping.

 

The first night's camping brought with it an extra surprise in the morning, when to our surprise, we awoke to a covering of snow!

The mules, which were loaded up with our bags and provisions for the trip seemed to look somewhat surprised too, as they passed us en route.

As Christmas rapidly approached, all our plans of totally ignoring the festive season were rapidly fading. In a fit of madness (which may have had something to do with the copious amounts of Irish Whiskey being consumed each night), it was decided to perform a nativity play for the muleteers' entertainment.

There was to be no escape from taking part in this epic. Having declined the option of being in the choir, I was most surprised to find myself then cast as the Virgin Mary!

 

All too soon though, we were coming to the end of our trek. Another night at Ait Youl, where we began our adventure, with a trip to the Hammam at El Kelaa des Mgouna, before finally making the journey back to Marrakech.