3 hrs, 8.0 kms



After the bustle of Immouzzer, the landscape get's very quiet . There’s pine forest on the ridge to my left and a rocky sloping valley to my right.   A path up the hillside might be a shortcut, but I don’t want to risk it. Finally I go around a bend where there’s a canyon and the road does a big loop to get to the other side. Should I try it? It looks pretty rugged, but not impossible. I head to the rim, to assess the challenge.

… Not sure if this is going to be a good idea. It’s got lots of thorn bushes and sheer drops… I guess before I make my decision I could go ahead and play some music and take a videoclip of myself perched at the rim of the canyon. This videoclip can count for whatever the next town I explore is…

After a beautiful concert, playing music to nature and the vast emptiness, I gingerly make my way down the first set of boulders, always making sure that I’ll be able to climb back UP again if I reach a dead end… don’t want a repeat of my near disaster in Armenia last summer, with my foolish venture down a slippery slope to try to take a picture of a stupid waterfall . This time, it’s a challenge, but I never feel in danger as I work my way down layers of squarish rocks to the bottom and up the other side…

I continue on for miles of vast panoramic views, sometimes all the way to the ocean. There’s a side road leading to a forgotten village far below—tempting… but not for today. Finally a sign says that I’m entering the commune rural of Aqesri, where there’s a scattering of lonely houses dotting the landscape. The road continues down until I finally reach small sections of flat farmland and small orchards—but it still looks like a tough area for living off the land.