Jones

The weather when we woke was very weird. Low sun underneath thick clouds on the horizon, blue skies above and mist on the nearby hills. It made for a good colour show. The rainbow felt very close. 

We braved walking flynn through the low clouds and then set off for the village of Amtdi with its berber castle and fortified granary: Agadir Agellouy. 

There are lots of these granaries throughout Morocco. Agadir means “fortified communal granary”. It’s originally a Phoenician word and you can find places with derivatives of it up into Spain. I’m not sure the granary in Agadir itself (Agadir Agadir?) survives though. Although they are called a granary, the Amazigh communities here in the middle atlas used these fortified buildings to store all their valuables including documents. 

Agadir Agellouy is perched high above the village of Amtdi which is nestled in a a narrow canyon. As we climbed to the agadir, the call to prayer started and echoed from cliff to cliff. 

When we reached the agadir we found a note: please call Hassan to get a tour. Hassan is a ~12 year old boy we’d met earlier, down in the village, when we were looking for lunch. We’d brushed him off then – he was offering to guide us to a swimming hole up the valley. But, like the shopkeeper in Mr Benn he appeared just as we turned around to leave. 

Hassan opened the locks and took us round the granary. The ceilings are very low and the inside is very dark. If you’re a 12 year old boy who knows the place like the back of your hand, that’s not a problem. If you’re a 59 year old idiot tied to an eager dog, you bash your head, a lot. If you’re really unlucky, you might draw blood.

Still, it was a fascinating trip and confirmed again that Jane’s fear of heights is cured. Hassan left us and took a direct route (i.e. vertical) down the mountain – in his flip flops. We stuck to the path and then along the riverbed back to Jones.

From there, it was a short drive to Icht our stop for the night. We’re in the camping Ferme D’Hôte Amerdoul. It’s a nice place, we’re surrounded by date palms in a walled enclave. It’s finally warm (22C when we arrived) but the wind has picked up and is sand blasting everything.

Dinner at the Ferme D’Hôte Amerdoul was booked for 18:30 but when we got to the restaurant we had been rebooked for 19:00. No problem, we’ve ordered soup and then kebabs – no problem cooking those “early”. The soup arrived on the dot of 19:00 and the kebabs 30 minutes later. The whole restaurant was pleasantly chaotic but the food – when it arrived and had salt added, was good.