Sahara Expedition Easter 1978

at one who, not being a Member, had the temerity to "Sit in the Commons".

After lunch, we scrambled to exchange our vouchers for Gallery Seats; "Hats off—Strangers! " was called by the Bobby, and that curious anachronism, the Speaker's procession, shuffled through the Lobby, with Wig and Mace.

Then: up the narrow staircase: Your briefcase, Sir? Your handbag, Madam? Take an Order Paper, and into the Gallery. Quiet Please! And the muttering from the Floor of the House below becomes clearer as you lean back in your pew against the microphone.

Wedgie Benn is answering Questions. Energy Secretary; he's no fool, whatever the Tory Papers claim. Innocent Question and Barbed Supplementary are too easily deflected. The sharpest darts come from his own left-wing, his erstwhile companions-in-arms, the "Tribunites" below the gangway, Dennis Skinner and his henchmen, merciless and ever present.

Three-thirty p.m.; the end of Question Time. But, Lo! The House does not empty, as expected. On the contrary, it fills. It must he a Great Event; we are in luck. The Opposition Parties are uniting to defeat the Government on a Clause in the Finance Bill. They intend to squeeze the Chancellor until his pips squeak, with a penny off Income Tax. So, in they troop, the household names: nod to the Speaker: Enoch, and Joe Grimond and Dennis Healey of course. But even they have to wait for Parliamentary Procedure. First, two Private Notice Questions, a bonus for Politics students; then one Andrew Faulds, by profession actor but, while "resting", occupying himself as an M.P., is in the limelight again, bearded like Keir Hardie, with a veritable Red Flag of a necktie. He is apologising for a Breach of Privilege, rudeness in the House. A good melodramatic performance.

At last to the serious business. The House goes into Committee; the Speaker's Chair is vacant, the Mace removed, and the Chairman of Ways and Means takes his seat. Geoffrey Howe, the Shadow Chancellor, rises to speak: sneer and counter-sneer. We leave before the Division, but the Opposition get their penny. The cost of the next election? Who knows?

Next, into "Another Place" to see for ourselves. Is the modern House of Lords really revitalised? Alas, it seems moribund. "End 'em or mend 'em! "—if you can be bothered.

Then came the excitements before we caught the Low Speed Train to York. If you want to hear some Fiction, ask the others. For myself, I had a cup of tea. J.P.R .

At 12 01 a.m. on Thursday the 23rd March we assembled at St. Peter's Grove to start our journey to North Africa. From here we were driven down to London Heathrow by Mr. Dawson and Mr. Hubbard, with Mr. Daniel accompanying us to ensure our safe arrival at Malaga. We arrived in London at 7 00 a.m., very weary from the journey, and we settled 56

down for the 11 40 plane to Madrid. This was a little late, but with great excitement and a heavy sense of expectancy we set off for Spain, finally leaving England ten months after the party had been brought together.

We arrived in Madrid at two o'clock and departed for Malaga at 4 30. There we met Mr. Bulcock who had driven the Mercedes bus and trailer through France and Spain with all the provisions for the trip, and the bulk of the luggage.

From Malaga we arrived at a small Spanish town, Marbella (which we had passed an hour before) where we settled down to a large meal of chicken and chips washed down with some local Spanish wine. We slept our first night's sleep-41 hours—on a roadside. The next morning after an early start we arrived in Algeciras to take the ferry across the Straits of Gibraltar to Spanish North Africa (Ceuta), where we explored the duty free zone. After a few hours we left to make the border crossing into Morocco. Having entered Morocco we made our way to a camp site near a village called Asilah. Here some of the more tired members settled down to sleep after a meal cooked mainly by Mr. Daniel, who showed to us for the first time that culinary expertise which blossomed over the three weeks, whilst others explored the village.

When we woke next morning we saw the first bargains of the trip, particularly notable was a fine set of beads acquired by Richard Craig, who was assured that they were amber. Some local traders gathered outside the camp and several of the more intrepid among us went to have our first attempts at haggling, a facet of the Moroccan life which made buying souvenirs hard to resist just for the sheer pleasure of it.

That evening we travelled to Tangier where we explored the medina (walled inner city) and had our first Moroccan meal, in the Hotel Tangier. This turned out to be a memorable evening as we met a school trip from the Blue Vale School Toronto, with whom we made many friends.

The following day was spent travelling by road to Marakesh. Our day in Marakesh was one of the most memorable of the trip. It started with a tour of the old city, where many sights—and smells—of the squalor and destitution showed to us for the first time the true poverty of Morocco. Also there were thousands of little shops filled with potential "bargains"; it was in a place like this that the party first became aware of the haggling expertise of Nigel Denison, who impressed us by the price for which he had bought an impressive leather pouffe. In the afternoon we split up to explore the famous Marakesh Square, which contained many varied acts, ranging from snake charmers to a dentist operating without anaesthetic.

The next day we travelled, stopping on a patch of land 6,500 feet up the Atlas Mountains, whilst some fearless mountaineers, under the lead of Mr. Daniel, and with John Abbott bringing up the rear, set off for a walk. The rest of us who stayed behind had time to ponder over the trip, and write our letters. We spent a pleasant evening by the campfire listening to music and eating another of Mr. Daniel's delicacies. We finally settled down to a quiet night's sleep.

The following day we travelled to Goulimime, in Southern Morocco, hoping to travel Tan Tan Plage, but unfortunately the military stopped us going further south because of a war over the Spanish Sahara. So the next day, despite Mr. Bulcock's efforts to get us through, it was decided to travel eastwards to Zagora in order to try and search the 57

sandy desert by some other route. Yet again we were stopped, at a road block, near to the desert fortress of Foum El Hassan—the most southerly Moroccan outpost. After a while we were let through, and under the guidance of a Moroccan soldier, we found our way over the rocky desert to the fortress. We were given the hospitality of the camp by the commander in chief and the army doctor. We were offered a military escort to Tata the following morning at 8 30, but the route was too rough, so we declined. That afternoon we were guided for a walk through the desert by the doctor to find some ancient carvings. We returned to an old building in the oasis to spend the night. We were joined after our meal by the commander and the doctor, to whom we sang some British folk songs. The next day we washed in the oasis and travelled back to Goulimime where we saw the Camel Market the following day. Only Marcus Tyson dared to show the desert nomads the way to ride a camel.

For the next two days we travelled towards Erfoud in search of the sand dunes, seeing on the way some of the most spectacular scenery in Morocco, around the Quazazate area and in particular in the Dades Gorge where we cleaned ourselves in the river. Also Nick Squire managed to catch a scorpion, which he also managed to put out of harm's way.

On day thirteen (4th April) we reached the sand dunes, at a place called Mozouga, and spent our time climbing up them and rolling down. The next day we arrived at Fes where we went for a true Moroccan meal in a Muslim restaurant. The next morning we wakened early to the sound of rain on our tents, and started to travel back to Tangier by crossing the Rif Mountains. Whilst in the Rif Mountains we passed through the village of Ketama, the Marijuana centre of Morocco, which showed to us an all too obvious source of wealth to the Moroccans. Finally we arrived back in Tangier that night. We made our way early next morning to Tangier harbour to catch the Hydrofoil to Gibraltar. We spent a hectic and expensive time in Gibraltar. Returning to Tangier we spent our last Moroccan Dirhams and had a four star meal in the hiotel Africa.

The following morning we crossed out of Morocco into Ceuta and from here back to Algeciras. From here we travelled to a quiet Spanish town Los Barrios. Here we had a meal and after the meal we sampled the local "Jerez" and explored the town. Here we were quite a shock to the local Spaniards, in particular the hairy figures of Stewart Andrews, Colin Bean, and Martin Ellison in their Moroccan sheeps wool waistcoats who caused a few eyebrows to be raised. The next day we travelled to Seville to see the bullfight and explore this beautiful Spanish town for a few days.

On 1 1 th April we travelled to see and sample the Gonzalez Byass sherry Bodega, after which we drove to Antequiras where we spent our last night in Spain in a small Spanish hotel.

On our last day we returned to Malaga to catch a plane to Madrid and from here to London Heathrow, where we were met by Mr. Squire and Mr. Armstrong who drove us back to York.

In twenty-two days we had travelled seven thousand miles, four thousand of them by air; we had motored one thousand miles south of the Straits of Gibraltar, beyond latitude 30° N; we had experienced a 58