Erg Chebbi

The planning for the Marrakech trip continues, sporadically, when I get a chance. So many things to sort out. It's no wonder that people simply book all inclusive holidays with flights and hotel and insurance. It's been fun doing all the research ourselves though. what I can't find though is the information that I am looking for regarding hammams. Some things I've read suggest that one needs to take ones own bucket, soap, scrubby things etc. Other accounts I've read would indicate that you just turn up and pay and it's done for you.

The other thing which I am really looking forward to is the camel trekking. I've been in touch with 2 other people who are joining the same trek and it is making it all seem a little more real. I've also been trying to research the area and what we can expect to see. I believe that we will be driving over the Atlas Mountains which may well still have snow at the highest points. We will continue our drive until we reach a village called Merzouga and from there we will pick up camels, trekking out into the Saharan desert and the sand sea of Erg Chebbi. We will sleep in a nomadic style Berber tent and then trek back to Merzouga the following day. The picture above is of a camel train near Merzouga. I hope to be able to post some photographs of my own on our return.

But for the moment, back to reality and back to London. I am writing this whilst watching In Her Shoes but as TJ is also cooking, I can't hear it too well. I will have to wait for an evening on my own and I will watch it again. Have been trying out a DVD service from Blockbuster, which is free for two weeks. It is one of the offers which can be sampled here at the free gifts website which I mentioned the other day. I signed up for the offer on Monday and had three DVDs in the post yesterday which I then post back, in pre-paid envelopes, and I then receive the next three DVDs on my list. An excellent service and well worth at least a trial.

Just one more thing to mention: won an Ecover tea-towel which arrived out of the blue yesterday morning with a note attached stating that I was a winner in their December newsletter competition. A lovely surprise and a much better way to start the morning than today (when I was woken up by a phone call at 9.30am and was late). I left early enough yesterday morning to walk to work through Regents Park in the sunshine. Although it was cold it was not unpleasant. There was some residual ground fog over the field which was being slowly burnt off by the sun, backed by the grand buildings in the middle distance and the more blurred office blocks in the far distance. A much better morning 'commute' than getting the tube!