Friday 6 March 2020 – Taroudant to Marrakesh via the Tizi 'n Test Pass

Taroudant to Marrakesh - 146 miles

A relatively early start for us into a dull morning but which was forecast to clear later, which turned out to be accurate. No servicing here so after breakfast we set TomTom for Marrakesh and followed another excellent road out of the city, pausing to refuel as we were down to half tank.

As the sun came out we turned onto the N7, initially an excellent road, towards the High Atlas mountains that were just appearing out of the haze and clouds. The guide books told us this was not a road for the faint-hearted so initially we were surprised at how good the road was, but of course it wasn't long before it was back to the more normal metalled single track road as we started to climb. Thankfully there was next to no traffic; although this is a main connecting road there is a weight limit on it so no large vehicles can be expected – just as well as it soon became a real twister with blind bends and some steep inclines, lots of 2^nd and 3^rd gear work with the speed never getting above 20mph for many miles, but Bertie never missed a beat.

As we climbed higher and higher so the scenery became more and more stunning and Bren took many photos. As always pictures do not do it any justice, you just have to see it for yourselves. (Please excuse the odd wing mirror or teddy bear/flag in the picture, mostly taken on the move and editing them out would have detracted from the view).

Mountains appearing out of the mists

This is the N7 - a Route Nationale!

Along the way we passed several villages (what on earth do they do up here?) and a few enterprising locals had set up small cafes and stalls – several were signed “nice views” and indeed there were but we didn't take advantage. The summit is 2100m, or just under 7000ft amsl. About 5km from the top the road suddenly deteriorated into no more than a rough track, single file with passing places and no safety barriers! Fortunately nothing came the other way and we reached the summit, with it's somewhat under-patronised restaurants and souvenir shops, safely before finding a much better road heading down.

Once again very twisty and long descents, taken slowly to save overheating the brakes which is easy to do with almost 4 tons of motorhome! Still more superb scenery, the camera clicking away, and about halfway down we stopped at a spot where we could get off the road for lunch, overlooking a river which supplies a reservoir and a small hydro-electric plant further on. 

As we descended so the road became much better and became two-lane although there were still rough patches we had to look out for. Traffic seemed to increase too as we encountered several small lorries, some grand-taxis and lots of mopeds, the staple transport for Moroccan man/teenager/boy. No helmets either! Towns and villages became more frequent and finally the road once again became smooth, straight and level as we covered the last twenty miles or so into Marrakesh.

Now as if the mountain drive hadn't been enough, we had to deal with the late afternoon rush hour in and around this major city. Fortunately TomTom was on the ball and we're sure a few drivers were somewhat taken aback at how nimble and quick a motorhome can be – we can match the best (or worst!) of them. For our overnight stop we'd chosen a site just to the north of the city we'd used on a couple of occasions before and the satnav took us unerringly there, arriving shortly after 5.00pm. We chose a pleasant pitch next to the swimming pool, noticing a number of improvements and additions to the site, and decided to book in for two nights after a long and tiring drive.

We think that this was perhaps one of the best trips we've ever had in Morocco but, and it's a big but, it's as promised, not for the faint-hearted and only in a vehicle that is capable of handling the terrain. Bertie managed very well, although it sounded like he was rattling himself to pieces, but anything larger would have been a real handful, and we'd also not recommend it either for those drivers with less than full confidence. But the experience was fantastic.

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After the debacle with the dashcam a few days ago we made sure it was running but sadly when we later tried to download the trip we found the files all mixed up. We've downloaded what we can and hope to make up a video of much of the days travel.