{"id":9849,"date":"2025-06-26T13:26:02","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T13:26:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/?p=9849"},"modified":"2025-06-26T13:26:02","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T13:26:02","slug":"transafrica-1975-morocco-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/?p=9849","title":{"rendered":"TransAfrica 1975: Morocco part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For this post I am showing the second part of the trip through Morocco where we went into the Atlas Mountains via Dades Gorge and Todra Gorge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Transit ascending a long straight road in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains. About 29th March 1975<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This next scene shows the Land Rover on the unmade road where we stopped to admire the view. Striking were the few buildings scattered through the scenery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By the road is a green river valley in contrast to the brown barren land around it. About 29th March 1975
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As you might expect, we camped wherever it was convenient:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Camping for 1 night . Possibly 29th March 1975<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A stop to admire the view on the way up Dades Gorge. About 30th March 1975<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Further up Dades Gorge the transit is ahead on the dirt track. About 30th March 1975<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Further up I decided to ride on the roof rack; the views of the gorge were just amazing. For the next photo of Dades Gorge I wrote about it in my post of 31st May 2025 in response to someone posting a very similar, modern view: https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/?p=9495<\/a> – this is what gave me the inspiration to write about the trip 50 years ago<\/p>\n\n\n

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View of Dades Gorge showing the river far below. About 30th March 1975<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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Another view of Dades Gorge showing the river far below. About 30th March 1975<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The next photo is where we stopped for lunch high up into the mountains. This was the quietest place I had ever experienced, even now I still remember this quite vividly. With nobody talking you just couldn’t hear a thing, not even the wind:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Where we stopped near the top of Dades Gorge with distant mountains, the green valley and villages in the far distance. About 30th March 1975<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But on the track crossing from Dades Gorge to Todra Gorge we had a big problem. On the Land Rover, the nuts on the U-bolts that hold the axle to the suspension had worked loose and the U-bolts had straightened out – They couldn’t have been tightened correctly when we had some work done on the springs. These were not in our spares kit – what should we do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Serendipity or good fortune: another Land Rover came in the opposite direction driven by a kind Frenchman. He stopped to ask what the problem was then gave us 2 spare U-bolts and a set of nuts that he was carrying. Such generosity:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Replacing the U-bolts. 30th March 1975. Photo Steve C.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We journeyed on to Todra Gorge camping near a hotel:<\/p>\n\n\n

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Setting off from an overnight stay in Todra Gorge<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The following photo was also taken at Todra Gorge, possibly further down from the hotel:<\/p>\n\n\n

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Todra Gorge, about 31st March 1975. Photo Steve C.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

When we stopped at the roadside, boys would come (out of nowhere!) to beg or sell us something:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Boys crowding around the Land Rover. Possibly 31st March 1975<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Atlas Mountains were a wonderful diversion off the main road which would then take us on the the Sahara Desert…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For this post I am showing the second part of the trip through Morocco where we went into the Atlas Mountains via Dades Gorge and Todra Gorge. This next scene shows the Land Rover on the unmade road where we stopped to admire the view. Striking were the few buildings scattered through the scenery. As … Continue reading “TransAfrica 1975: Morocco part 2”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[148,3,146,147],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-landrover","category-photography","category-trans-africa-1975","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9849"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9849\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9890,"href":"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9849\/revisions\/9890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}