The long and winding road.......

 

We left  Bini el Ouidane and began the drive  northwards, firstly by crossing a huge barrage, guarded by Moroccan soldiers

 The recently surfaced R304  wound it's way along  and up the mountainside, whilst the river below, meandered it's way through a steep sided gorge.
Despite the new tarmac, the road was being dug up and, as has been our way, we met the digger!! The driver gave us a cheery wave, arched the hydraulic arm, and under we went.

Once at the summit, 34 kms and two hours later, we looked down at Morocco's "bread basket".

The vast Tadla  Plain lay before us, criss-crossed by irrigation canals and intensively farmed.

There were acres of wheat and barley, peaches, oranges and every vegetable that you can think of. Two old girls still attract a friendly wave from the farmers!  A yellow flowering cactus is cultivated to attract bees and a special honey is produced.

 

We drove through wealthy large towns and shopped in an Acima, a Moroccan supermarket. The plan was to spend the night at Camping Les Maggots, if only for its name.

Our plans have a strange way of coming unglued.

Having bowled along N8 towards Azrou, we made a right turn on to a single track road which appeared to go into the middle of nowhere. When Sue said that we had quite a few miles to bounce along it, alarm bells gave a slight tinkle but the scenery was magnificent and we were enjoying the views, so we thought no more about it. Threshing is done by hand in the fields, donkeys

 collect the wheat so there's not much in the way of large agricultural machinery, apart from the ones we get stuck behind, in these remote places. even turkeys, that are used more than chickens, can stroll about without fear of becoming "road kill"
Eventually, we looked at each other and decided that perhaps we had turned off the main road a tad too early!! Hey ho. By now we had driven so far that it was pointless to turn back and anyway, the road had to go somewhere. It did...... up a mountain, just like a mini Tizi n Test all over again!!
We came across small Berber settlements, where smiles and waves were exchanged and young children tried to run alongside the van. Goats leapt over ditches to avoid us and  small lizards scuttled to cross safely. Suddenly, the long and winding road became a rutted track..
but still we ploughed on. Forgive the pun.
Finally, on the horizon we saw a large town, which according to our map,( we had given up on the GPS miles back,) was Ain Leuh and the campsite. There was still the problem of squeezing through the narrow streets and at one point I had to do some serious headlight flashing to stop a taxi bearing down on us!  After all those bone shaking miles, when every screw in the van probably requires tightening, the campsite did not materialise!!Deep breaths were taken and a few gentle expletives were vented and it was off to the Cherry Orchard at Azrou, where we had stayed last year. A final glimpse of nature in Morocco for today.... a tree full of egrets in the main square of the town.

To our delight, the fruit was ripe and being harvested.

 Those of us using the site can pick them straight from the tree, and gorge as many as we like from the 100 year old trees. Even the chickens eat them but there are no pink egg shells as a result.

That was yesterday. Today,  the trees are full of lithe young lads, employed seasonally by the owner , to pick the cherries

. Their chatter resounds around the orchard and their iPods are playing local music as they clamber amongst the branches, filling small buckets which are then transferred  to punnets

. Two girls sit under the shade of a tree, taking off any leaves and then box them for roadside sales. We have just found three children up our well laden tree. They have been sent there by the chief honcho because they are lighter and can collect the cherries on the thinner branches One of them has given up the harvest and is drumming on his empty bucket. Throughout our travels here in Morocco, drumming is a favourite pastime, and on Sundays, groups of youngsters gather in parks or by rivers, and play intricate rhythms with others clapping to accompany them.
To conclude, we have just been given our third punnet of cherries by the lads and Sue is taking tomorrow's avocado off the washing line, where it has been ripening all day in the sun.
Oh and today's piece of practical motorhoming advice, which you might get to see if the Internet signal improves tomorrow,

 ...when needing to hold down your awning if the wind gets up and also to provide yourself with warm water for washing, fill two large water bottles and string them to your awning ends and leave to roast in the sun.