The Atlas Mountains

Make no mistake about it, the drive through the Atlas mountains from Midelt to Merzouga, is a drive to be relished! The landscape and the views are simply, stunning. Anyone who has done it, will tell you the same.

Different world

We had the Sat-Nav set with co-ordinates for 'La Tradition' camping site, set at the base of the dunes, at Merzouga. We needn't have bothered. It's pretty much one road all the way, with just the occasional turn to make.

Peaceful

We hardly saw anyone else, apart from the people who live up there. If we saw one other vehicle every hour, that was rush hour. This allowed us, in places, to crawl along at 15 or 20 miles per hour, just so we could take it all in.

Lunch Break

It's hard for me to adequately describe what it's like to take that journey, in terms of what you see, and how it makes you feel. If you get the opportunity to do it. Take it with both hands!

Amazing sights

We had to keep pulling over to take pictures but, trust me on this, as good as it might look in a photo', it's impossible to do it justice with one.

Crop fields

It's fascinating to see how the people in the mountains live. Live near water, grow crops, feed your animals. As we all would have done in times gone by.

Washing

Seeing the women doing the washing in the freezing cold waters of the river, served to remind me, just how lucky we are, and how we take things for granted.

The two of us.

It felt as though we were driving through a history book, and I'm sure that it's a tough existence for the people living this way. It was also nice to see the children in the villages come running to the roadside as we drove through, mostly to wave, some hoping for sweets etc!

Mountain Village

It's a long drive through but, for the most part, worth every mile! It took us more than seven hours to complete our journey but, that included a couple of breaks and, driving ridiculously slowly through some of the more amazing areas.

Road Out

You do, however, reach a point where there's no turning back. There was only one road out, and this was it! A tad daunting but, soon put behind us.
A long day but, we could rest soon enough, once we reached our next stop before Merzouga, which was to be, Hotel-Camping Le Soleil.