Day 18 Sunday 04/10/09

We left Tabant at 10am after Abdellah finished shopping for provisions. We drove down the valley before having a 10 mile off-road track to a shepherd hut, high in the mountains. The Land Rover spent all of the time in low ratio 2nd gear with the occasional bit of diff-lock. JC managed to get the bike plus Abdellah up the track. At the hut we met the two Mohammeds and their mules. The walk was supposed to be 3 hours until at the hut it was now a 5 hour walk! The camping and caving gear was loaded onto the mules and we all set off for a 4.5 hour walk to our camp at 10,000 feet in the High Atlas, arriving at camp at 6pm.
Moroccans do not name their mules, but EP decided that ours were Muffin and Eyore much to the amusement of their owners! Upon arriving at the camp we were told that a French expedition had been there 15 years ago.