Moving Mountains

Brits don’t have to travel far to find off the beaten path adventure and exotic cultural experiences, as Bev Fearis discovers on a trip to Morocco

“Mules” came the command from the guide at the front and we all shifted to the side of the winding, dusty track to make way for another colourful caravan of mules, loaded with luggage and provisions on their slow and steady journey up to Base Camp.

We were also taking it slowly as we gained altitude, our expert Berber guides setting the pace and making sure we stopped regularly to acclimatise. It gave us a chance to take in the far-reaching views of majestic craggy peaks, dotted with shrubs and sleepy mountain settlements, which reached up to the blue sky, turning gold or purple when touched by the rise and fall of the sun. The only sound was the clip clop of the mules and the call to prayer. We were only a day into our G Adventures Atlas Mountain trek but already it felt like a different world to the hustle and bustle we’d left behind in Marrakech.

We were here to climb North Africa’s highest mountain, Mount Toubkal, which at 4,167 metres above sea level took us into yet another world when we set out at 5am the next morning, in thermals and fleeces, our head torches leading us through the darkness as we clambered over boulders and up rocky paths. It was steep and a cold wind made it hard going, but the guides and the rising sun kept us motivated and five hours later we reached the top. On a clear day, hikers are rewarded with views of the Marrakech Plain all the way from the High Atlas in the north to the Sahara in the south. We weren’t so lucky with the conditions but it was still utterly exhilarating to reach the summit, where we hugged and took selfies with newly-made friends with whom we’d shared this challenging but wonderful adventure. As we descended, the fog cleared and we were rewarded with breath-taking views of the peaks around us, covered in a light dusting of snow. My knees were feeling the strain but I promised myself I would return and do the climb again, hopefully on a clearer day.

The sights, sounds and smells of Morocco are so wonderfully unfamiliar, it’s hard to