// Trip Reports  

Report name	Ysgol Bro Myrddin
Date submitted	Sep-06

The team meet at school on the morning of the 14th July 2006 at 08:00, only to find that one member of the team had only left her walking boots behind. I’m not sure what she thought she was going to do on a 14 day trek in the High Atlas mountains of Morocco! Fortunately the school staff felt it important enough to allow her to go back for them.

Without further ado, it was off to Gatwick, picking up both myself & Tessa en route and meeting Tracey at the airport. By 16:00 the team was complete (23 in total) and ready for the 3½ hour flight to Marrakech. Well, with the exception of a few who could not resist the temptation of their last McDonald’s meal for 14 days - I can see I am going to have my work cut out!

We arrived late in Marrakech to be met by our Guide (Mohamed). This led to an even later team briefing at the Hotel Ibn Batouta before retiring to sort out bags in preparation for the next morning – the beginning of the trek. It was an early start for some of us as we needed to load the minibuses with all our food and equipment etc. Some however, had a very early start due to forgetting to adjust their alarms to Moroccan time (GMT), and still they managed to be late!

The road journey to Oukaimeden (2,610m) took us through the Ourika valley as we made out way to one or Morocco’s ski areas. With our tents erected and following a good lunch, prepared and cooked by our two cooks & some team members, it was time for an acclimatisation trek for the team. The team were very enthusiastic about this short trek, to the extent that the speed at which they walked was not given too much consideration initially. Huffing & puffing at the first col, it was agreed to take a slower option – a pace at which they were comfortable. 2½ hours later, we returned to camp, having been rained on for a while. No sooner had we arrived back the ‘Uno’ cards were out – let cheating begin!

Our first evening meal really set the scene for what was hopefully to follow – plentiful and very tasty. Team members continued to help the cooks in their preparation and cooking of all the meals throughout the trip. All returned with 8 fingers and 2 thumbs, although someone did lose a plaster one night – only kidding! Despite the mating calls of the many frogs, a good night’s sleep was had by all.

The trek began – the team made their way up the Tizi-n-Eddi (2,900m), some 300m above Oukaimedem before descending some 900m to the village of Ouaneskra and our ‘Gite’ for the next 3 nights as it was here that the team were to spend 2 days on a community project. Following lunch and a freshen-up in the stream, the team headed to the village of Tacheddirt to have ‘mint tea’ with the local villagers. Despite not being lovers of mint tea, they all held their noses and gulped it down! It does grow on you after a while – honest! Some of us just can’t get enough of it.

The next two days were spent on our community project in the village of Tamguist – the cleaning up of the environment (refuge collection) and the preparation of ground in readiness for a school to be built for the children of Tamguist. A footballer from Casablanca has offered to cover the cost of building the school providing the ground has been prepared, hence our involvement. It will be good to visit again in the future to see the benefits of our hard work or perhaps for future teams to carry on where we have left off. The project went very well – the ground was closer to being built on and the village of Tamguist was a lot cleaner.

The weather seems to have settled into a pattern – warm & cloudy with sunny spells until around 15:00, followed by the biggest of thunder storms with spectacular lighting strikes up and down the valley. We were thankful of staying in a Gite for a couple of nights – lets hope the pattern changes as the team begins their Duke of Edinburgh Gold Expedition.

Wednesday 19th July saw the beginning of the 4 day D of E expedition. The team of 19 had separated themselves into 3 teams of 6, leaving 1 member of the team at the Gite due to illness – he would join us after the 4 days when he was fit and well. Each team left at ½ hour intervals under the watchful eyes of at least 1 leader, utilising both our local guides and Adventureworks leaders. The following is a brief itinerary of the 4 day expedition: