Quote: On reflection I'm not entirely sure it was a good thing for our guide to explain our following day's route in such detail on a map each evening before. On the one hand, it was very good to know where we were going and when the end of our pain was likely to be. On the other, it made me realise just what an undertaking we had signed up for.

By day 3 I was feeling very unfit and a little sorry for myself but chirped up a bit when one of the women in the other groups having climbed Mt Kilimanjaro confirmed that our hiking schedule at Toubkal was far more punishing than that route had been.

Anyway, so it was that on our first evening at our Marrakech hotel, our guide Mohammed arrived with map in hand to explain our route for the first day’s "easy" opener. First came the 90 minute drive up into the Atlas Mountains, to a ski resort Oukaimedne, at around 8,200 feet (2500 m), before hiking over the Tizi Nou Addi Pass at 9.800 feet (2980m) and then dropping back down to our campsite near the village of Tacheddirt.

Our walk began on a warm and sunny day. The temperature was actually getting into the 30s which was unseasonably warm and one of the reasons why we had delayed the trip into September. Too much heat takes the speed out of my legs, but we only had maybe 4 hours walking ahead of us.

We were very surprised to realise that Morocco has quite a large skiing industry and we passed by one of the larger winter ski resorts, although at this time of year all was barren earth with a few sheep and goat herders moving their flocks around to try and find a few green shoots for their charges. Apparently by the end of October the ground should be covered with snow and the flocks moved to lower ground.

Our route on the first day was pretty clear and easy; a rough made road which looked like it had been built for trucks or perhaps for the construction of the chair lifts in the area. Anyway, much of the walk was on rough made and largely unused road, with a few steep and rougher short cuts to avoid some of the slow twists and turns of the main route.

Enroute our luggage passed us by on the backs of 4 donkeys, each carrying around 100kg. The donkeys were struggling up the hill rather wild eyed and bow legged, but they got into the swing as the 5 day hike progressed. Mohammed explained that the donkeys were carefully looked after as they cost their owners around 1000 Euros to replace, and that additional food stuffs for them were not cheap. As very expensive commodities it was not in their interest to mistreat them.

A camel costs around 2,000 Euros; our travelling companion remarked that his dreams of exchanging his wife for a couple while on this trip was going to be hard to realise.

We stopped for lunch in the middle of an abandoned ski drag lift which offered us a little shade and respite from that relentless sun. We were astonished by the quantity of food on offer; an 18 inch diameter plate stuffed to the gills with fresh salad, pasta and tinned fish, and bread and lovely hot mint tea to accompany.

The five of us in this walking party didn't clear a third of the plate between us. Breem our cook later explained he cooked a lot as he didn’t know what our appetites might be like! To be honest, I'm sure the "left over" food found a home somewhere, so I didn't feel it was too extravagant. Our evening meal was also huge, a mountain of Cous Cous that required crampons to reach the summit, plenty of vegetables and some lovely rich lamb.

After our slightly punishing 1600 foot hike over the pass, we dropped down into the village where a stream allowed locals to irrigate the land. Again, we were impressed with the simple terracing and channeling of the water to allow it to be used to best effect. We could not but wonder about how many generations of Berbers had lived in this village with this irrigation system and when it was first constructed.

Finally, we arrived at camp which was rather unimpressive as it seemed to be little more than a steep boulder field by the side of the village road. Thankfully there was plumbing in the form of a simple cold tap and a couple of squat toilets in an outhouse and a kitchen outhouse for the cooks. Unfortunately, most walkers didn't appear to realise that the toilets were "flushing" and that a bowl full of water poured down the bowl worked wonders in making the toilets a more sanitary experience. In total, I guess about 20 guests and a similar number of "support staff" camped on the site.

The campsite was too rocky for the "camp shoes" that our tour company recommended we carry, and as such I didn't trouble to slither down to the stream to wash. As on following nights, our personal supply of "wet wipes" would have to suffice.

Our night was slightly uncomfortable given the rakish angle of our sleeping platform and the unfamiliar braying of the donkeys tethered around our tents. Also slightly annoying was that there was always someone around who forgot that canvas didn't act as a noise barrier. While the slightly homoerotic conversation between the two lads in the tent near us (one had awoken "touching" the other) might have in other circumstances have been mildly entertaining, at 3:00 am with a hard days walking ahead, it was merely irritating.

From journals An attempt on Mt Toubkal in the High Atlas