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We all get the glad rags out and the makeup bag is dusted off. Quick glass of vino in the bar and then Mohammed and Rashid hurry us along to the minibuses. We arrive at the Dar Marjana Marrakech restaurant for our celebration. We have a welcome non alcoholic cocktail on the roof terrace and rush around taking photos of everyone in their posh frocks. We are then led downstairs to a large beautiful private dining room with big round tables and lots of cushions. We are in a “Riad” of sorts with a lovely garden area and fountain. The meal started with bread and Moroccan salads, one of which was lambs brains, we felt like we were in an Indiana Jones film!! We had lots more food and wine, of course, with the highlight being a belly dancer who managed to get a few of us up and also a double music act Moroccan style!! They were amazing, dancing and singing, leaping in the air and trying to get as many people up dancing as possible. Max is hiding in the fireplace because her worst nightmare would be to get up and join in, unfortunately she is wearing white trousers that soon turn black with the soot! However the usual dance suspects obliged, Sam B. Kerry, Sam A, Sam S, Fi and Rachel. Sarah H is going to become a belly dancer and live in a small Riad near the souks and Medina. Sam B led her own dance ignoring the actual dance the double act were performing! Sam then says a few words followed by a 15 verse song composed by Tessa. The song is amazing, well done our talented friend. Angela then concludes by thanking Sam and congratulating her on such a fantastic achievement. We still didn't get Sam to cry but Pippa was a bit choked when handing out our gifts of tassel key rings from action challenge. We were then asked to leave as it was suddenly 1am!!!! We arrived back at the hotel making an awful lot of noise and were quickly reprimanded by the front desk and sent on our way to bed.

The day starts with a mountain of bags in the reception of our hotel, a pile to leave in Marrakech and a pile to go on the mules. We have a 2 hour triple convoy of minibuses to our starting point which is very windy and bumpy. One casualty on the road and a quick stop for her! Suddenly, we see the mules and guides waiting. Lots of local children come to greet us. We set off about 10.30 in 40oC; it is incredibly uncomfortable in this heat. The first two hours are so hard purely because of the intense heat. We have a couple of minor casualties but nothing a bit of assistance by the mules doesn’t cure. Thank goodness it clouds over a bit and it becomes slightly more bearable. The scenery is stunning, a real mixture of green, brown and red. We arrive at 2pm for lunch in a shady spot where we are treated to salads, fruit, bread and mint tea. It is a very welcome break and we all soon feel re energized to start on the afternoon's walk. Most people need to relieve themselves much to the giggles of others queuing behind to wait their turn. The afternoon is much cooler and feels more relaxed but still some tricky bits to negotiate. We go through some villages and find a shop where Sam A and Hazelnut buy 10 Mars bars for everyone to enjoy later on! We arrive at our gite in Tizi Oussm and soon get sorted in rooms of various numbers. There are two dorms of seven - that will interesting!! We are all feeling a bit grubby so the fact that there is a Hammam here is very welcome. The swimsuits are grabbed and soon discarded as we set about with hot and cold taps filling buckets and chucking it over our heads, shampoo and shower gel is thrown around the small steamy room. The laughter can be heard down the valley. We have just finished our lovely meal and tucking into warm drinks before bed and its only 9pm. We have a hard day ahead climbing from 1000m to 3000m and then back down a bit to our second gite for tomorrow night.