Hoher Atlas, Cathedrales des Roches, Lac d'Isli & Todhraschlucht

At 2,500m the heating actually comes on at night and the next morning we continue. The landscape is barren and the wind is icy. On the way, we see a shepherdess who passed by our overnight spot in the evening.

She asks or signals with an empty bottle if we have any water and food for her, and we stop. I rummage through water bottles and get some bananas and dates from the car. Suddenly, 3 little children with holey clothes stand next to her.

I still have some winter clothes and shoes from Mia in the car and I feel that they are perfectly suited here. In addition, a sweater from me and some stuffed animals and a doll - everyone is happy, they try on the shoes right away, and the grateful look of the shepherdess speaks volumes.

We continue driving and Mia asks us countless questions as always - she is particularly happy that the children were so thrilled with her doll and stuffed animals, and now another child gets to keep her long-worn and beloved down jacket and her heart-shaped pom-pom hat in Morocco, where they will be greatly appreciated 😍.

We drive through beautiful valleys and small villages, passing by farmers who still work their fields with mules, and it never gets boring to look out the window. We stop at a weekly market and buy some fruit and marvel at all the things that can be bought there - often used.

At some point, we turn off the paved road onto our next off-road track (although we honestly wouldn't recommend anyone to travel around Morocco without a reasonably off-road capable vehicle, given the unpredictable road conditions)

We go through pine forests towards La Cathedrale des Roches, an impressive rock dome, and later we come to a beautiful river, where we spend the night in the river bed and only hear the sound of the water.

This is also the start of Basti's absolute dream route, which makes me a little nervous because the narrow road (you can only be a maximum of 2.60m wide here) runs parallel to a river - on one side cliffs, rock projections, and narrow passages with a maximum height of 3.60m (we are 3.40m with roof boxes 😳) and on the other side a sheer drop - and unfortunately, I have a fear of heights 🙈.

In the event of oncoming traffic, this can mean extremely challenging reverse driving to a passing place... and they are few and far between.

We mount our mobile reverse camera on top of the roof box, so at least we can check on our phone if the height fits 🤪 and off we go.

The route is truly breathtakingly beautiful, the weather is great (it's going to rain here tomorrow), and apart from a motorcycle, we have no oncoming traffic, which really surprises us, as we saw quite a few vehicles coming in and out of the track at our campsite yesterday.

When we take a break by the river, a group of French off-road vehicles pass us (whom we see again later) - so it's perfect timing for them to pass us.

At one point, the track is completely washed away, and there is a sporty detour through the riverbed - definitely not feasible for vehicles that are too big, but it's really amazing how quickly these detours are created at all.

The route is definitely a highlight, and my pulse also drops back to normal when we get back on the 'normal tracks'.

We drive through some villages that exude a bit of an end-time atmosphere and here we are approached a lot by children, who come running as soon as we get close...

We want to make it to Lac d'Isli today - one of two lakes at 2,400m, which are said to be very beautiful.

We also briefly had contact via WhatsApp with Christine and Martín, who have been there for days and are planning to drive the same route as us but in the opposite direction.

As it turns out later, however, they had no network, and their message that they are still at the lake was sent 12 hours too late because suddenly the two of them come towards us.

We are all very happy to see each other, even if only briefly. Both of them have had Corona one after the other, so they have secluded themselves by the lake and since they are not fully recovered yet, we keep our distance.

Since they also want to leave Morocco at the end of May, we once again rely on chance that we will see each other again.

We continue to the lake and as promised, the weather gets cooler. The low-pressure system that is hitting Italy and other regions hard is also affecting us in the coming days.

On the way to the lake, it is clear how quickly rain has a direct effect here - there are huge puddles on the roads and in the villages, it becomes extremely muddy because the water does not drain away.

While we sit in our functional membrane clothing in the warm car, the people here usually wear several layers of cotton and wool on top of each other... really absurd.

We cross a pass and see blue sky again, the thermometer is at least hitting double digits - so our plan to escape the bad weather has worked.

We read in the travel guide that in this valley and also parallel in the Dades Gorge, there are often reports of children throwing stones, and in one village, we actually see a little boy picking up a stone and another one showing us the middle finger in a very aggressive manner.

Basti hits the brakes hard, and the boy runs for his life. I tried to find out what the deal is with this and how the adults feel about it, but it's not that easy to find reliable and reputable information, and unfortunately, my French is not good enough for a conversation on this explosive topic...

Begging - and also throwing stones - is strongly condemned by the king here, but some children are apparently encouraged or used by adults to do so.

We have also experienced well-dressed boys with new football jerseys, who were out on mountain bikes, begging us aggressively for money and putting on a - really bad - show as if they were about to cry.

But when campervans have been driving through the country for years, distributing pens, sweets, or even money (and a child can earn more money in a day than their own father's weekly wage), we are also part of the problem - and since we have already distributed donations, I don't want to exempt ourselves from it. It's a really difficult issue that continues to occupy us and accompany us.

We reach the impressive Todgha Gorge without any further 'incidents', and we hardly encounter any vehicles or people - until we reach the narrowest point, where it becomes curiously touristy because busloads of tourists quickly walk through here - past souvenir stands offering a lot of 'made in China' products 🤪.

We drive to a nice campsite in a small village, right by the palm grove, and enjoy the pleasant temperatures around 20 degrees.

It is also noticeably cooler here than in the past few days, but the sun makes another appearance, and we take a short 'hike' through the palm grove to old village ruins that are increasingly deteriorating here.

Because maintaining and repairing the adobe buildings is so labor-intensive, it often happens that after being destroyed by bad weather, the 'new village' is rebuilt in close proximity in a modern style, while the old village is abandoned and left to decay.

Back at the campsite, we eat outside and then spend a quiet night - except for the calls to prayer at 5:00 am 🤪.

The next morning it is supposed to rain, but for now, we are sitting outside in the sun and follow the 'stone strategy': when everything is going well and you can't think of anything better to do... don't move 🤣!