Today’s journey took us to a whole new world. After crossing over the High Atlas mountain range at some 1,900 meters we found the sun shining, the weather warmer and the landscape taking on the look of the desert. It was like being on a different planet from Midelt where temperatures were near freezing and the mountains covered in clouds. The hassle factor also made us happy to get out of Midelt. We couldn’t take two steps down the street without being stopped as our bikes are obviously just vessels for carrying pens, cigarettes and dirhams to give away and of course plenty of room for that large fossilised shell they’d like to sell you. In these situations we find ourselves becoming uncharacteristically rude in an attempt just to have a few seconds of peace. Once out of Midelt we rediscovered the tranquil Morocco we so much enjoy and had a nice climb up to the Tizi-n-Talrhemt pass, then down the other side through the mountains and a few tiny villages. A strong headwind meant we had to pedal the whole way, even on the downhill stretches, but the sunshine more than made up for the extra work.