Olives to dates or a wow moment round every corner.

Woken at dawn by the Bugle Boy over at the barracks so shot off on the road to Meski. Well we got about one kilometre before a very inviting crystal and fossil shop swallowed us whole!
Much later we were on our way and climbed our first "tizi" or mountain pass. Incredibly high and just a tad frightening but we made it and as we descended there were camels being washed in a river and ladies doing the family wash a little further up stream.
Around almost every bend there was a sight to take your breath away. There has even been our own version  of a mini Grand Canyon and the bluest lake we have ever seen.

Olives have given way to date palms and they are being cultivated using underground water. Long stretches of deep green make a splash of colour on an otherwise beige landscape.
We have driven a hundred miles between traffic lights and the purple line on the sat nav is the only tarmac trail to be seen.
Finally Meski and the source of the Blue River. Unfortunately it is Sunday and hundreds of people from the surrounding countryside have come to spend their day of rest in the shade of the palm trees and to splash in the clear waters with the sacred fish!
There are camp fires and tea pots, wood smoke and music. Young men drumming and clapping to unusual rhythms, small tents with sleeping children and then along came Mohammed,who guided Delfin to a parking space next to a juicy fig tree.
Later he invited us to meet his brother Idress who appeared wearing the desert tribesman costume of a Tuareg.They invited us into their home and we had a chicken tagine meal with them. Such hospitality.