A night under the stars

Today was a drive through a pass in the Middle Atlas Mountains, which was spectacular, we had coffee stops and walks and photo opps, but our main plan was to arrive at the auberge where we would leave our luggage and mount our camels for our ride into the desert for a night.

We had lunch there and then sat around, snoozed, rested and bought scarves and practised tying them Berber fashion. We (Abdou) didn't want to set off while it was still too hot, so we waited till about 4:30 to mount the camels and ride about an hour into the desert to our camp for the night.

This, for many, was the highlight of the trip. It was the one I'd been quietly dreading... But a nice Berber helped me by kneeling down for me to stand on his leg to clamber up on my camel. What an effort, but I made it. And I remembered to hang on as I suddenly lurched backwards then forward as it stood up. So far so good.

We set off over the dunes. What a great experience! Amazing colours, long shadows, only the sounds of the camels plodding along in the sand. I very soon became aware of great pain in my nether regions. I was sitting right on the camel's boney backbone. This became more painful as the ride went on, but I resolved to double my blanket seat in the way back and fix the problem.

The camp was several Berber tents round a carpeted centre with a long table. We had plenty of time to go climbing up the huge dunes and run down them before dinner. I went up a very small dune.

Dinner was terrific - a tagine (surprise surprise) of chicken and vegetables, lovely bread, then the local huge juicy oranges. There were three Berbers looking after us, and after dinner they lit a fire and we sat round while Abdou joined them on drums and they entertained us.

Most people then carried their blanket and mattress out on to the dunes to sleep under the stars. A very special evening.

And the biggest surprise was .... A sit on toilet! Though not flushing, of course...