Day 24 Saturday 10/10/09

After seeing one of our neighbours pass us with their flock and violin, playing as he walked, the search for fuel continued....JC used his jerry can of petrol to extend the range of the bike and we set off, guessing which way to turn at junctions. We came to a village that was of reasonable size (with no fuel station). Asking around, we discovered we could buy diesel and were shown to a shop where a man sold fuel from barrels. We bought 20 litres of overpriced diesel to keep the Land Rover going (we still had a couple of gallons in the reserve tank, just in case). Setting off, the Land Rover started emitting clouds of blue smoke for the first time and we suspected it was due to the poor quality fuel. Luckily a few kms further on we came across a fuel station and road signs!
After filling up both Land Rover (plus reserve tank) and bike (plus a jerry can) we headed for the town of Sefrou. We were finally on maps that we had! An hour was spent walking round the Medina and having a coffee at a cafe before setting off to find a road back towards Taza.

Late in the afternoon we stopped 25km outside Bab Boudir to look at a depression next to the road. We met a local shepherd who told us to camp here on a grassy patch below the road. He also told us of a large cave one hour’s walk up the mountain. We set up camp and started to cook tea in the dark when along came the shepherd and his two sons to see the strange English cavers. They were none too impressed with Earl Grey tea and decided instead to practice their pyromania on some nearby bushes. Given all the signs warning about not having fires, we were even more surprised when other locals started doing the same!