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We will leave Marrakech in the morning, after one last walk through the souk, when the alleys of the medina still smell of mint, spices and bread fresh from the oven. The city will fall behind us quickly: within a few hours the plain will give way to the first red hills, and the road will turn into gravel climbing towards the High Atlas.

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The first great pass will take us to Telouet, an old stop on the caravan route that once crossed the mountains between Marrakech and the south. Here stands the kasbah of the Glaoui, the family of pashas who ruled these valleys for a long time: an earthen palace, half in ruins, with rooms still covered in tiles and carved cedar. From there we will ride east across the high plateaus, through Amazigh villages built of earth and stone, where life follows the rhythm of the fields, the flocks and the seasons.

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Then we will drop down towards the south, through a canyon, into the valley of the Drâa, with its palm groves and its ksour, the fortified villages that once guarded the trade routes towards the Sahara. We will climb again to Tazenakht, the town of carpets, where the women of the Ouzguita tribe still weave by hand the colours and patterns of their families, and we will stop for a day to rest, drink mint tea and listen to the stories behind each rug.

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The second half of the journey will take us along the red tracks around Jbel Siroua, the old volcano that links the High Atlas to the Anti-Atlas, close to the saffron fields of Taliouine. From there we will head back north, up the high valleys on the southern side of the Toubkal massif, to cross the Atlas at the Tizi n’Tichka.

The finale will be a sequence of great climbs: the Ourika valley, the climb to Oukaïmeden at over 2,600 metres, the Tizi n’Tamatert pass with the first views of Toubkal, the highest mountain in North Africa, and the village of Imlil.

Then down towards the lake of Lalla Takerkoust and across the stone desert of Agafay, back to Marrakech, with tired legs and our heads full of mountains, faces and tajines shared along the way.