Tuesday afternoon a short ride out past the amazing granite rock formations around Tafraoute.

Thursday we did a 95km loop out to the Ait Mansour gorge.

There are three lush oasis like gorges on the loop and stark rock outcrops high above.

Between the gorges is an open, desolate plain, but the folded rock formations in the hills are impressive.

The road back involved more than 20 km of poor road, often washed away by watercourses or at least 8km which had never been paved as it ran along the riverbed. We broke a timing chain in one creek crossing and were lucky to be able to fix it. Then we had to climb over 600m out of the gorge and over the pass back to Tafraoute. A long day.

Friday at 5pm: We took the easy way out of town and got a "grand taxi" the first 18km to the top of a 600m climb.

Our campsite near Madao about 40km from Tafraoute on Saturday morning after we'd packed ready to leave.

Shepherds with flocks of goats and sheep were a common sight.

A panorama with two ksour (castles) and a mesa.

This Ksar (castle) is in obvious disrepair. There is a mesa behind.

The newer, or a least repaired ksar (castle) is now a hotel called "Kasbah Tizourgane" and a lone woman selling almonds approached us on this quiet road.

A common sight on the roads is these large (40mm long) beetles which play "chicken" with the cars as they scavenge the remains of there luckless relatives.

Another common site as we reached the plains was nomad camps with donkeys as pack animals and hers of sheep and goats.

The first young bike mechanic in Ait Melloul

The second older mechanic on the road to Agadir.

the scene looking back at Agadir and the beach as we climbed out of town in a strong headwind Monday morning

The contrast in transport is acute when a donkey crosses the road in front of modern cars. Horse and donkey drawn carts and everything in between that and modern cars and trucks.

The small surf along the "Banana Coast" in a sheltered cove out of the wind as we head north about 30km from Agadir.