Marrakech Express

Daniel and myself returned last week from a successful trip to Morocco to climb North Africa's highest peak - Jebel Toubkal. We are also pleased our efforts managed to raise £1500 (so far) for MacMillan Cancer Support.

Rundown on the trip below -

Having been concerned for some time about hiking up a mountain in the considerable summer heat of Morocco, I was relieved to hear that the forecast for the trip was 44c with a wind chill factor bringing it down to a cool 42c. Nae bother, I thought.

Friday

We abandoned the luxury of the moving oven (bus) when we were all ‘well done’ and the road ran out at the mountain village of Imlil, some 1700m high in the Atlas mountains. I passed up the opportunity to have a mule carry my guitar as I decided that just wasn’t in the spirit of the event and I felt sure I’d be spurred on by my fundraising promise to carry the guitar to the top. As we hiked up through the village, passing numerous stalls selling rugs, trinkets, shoes & tagines, the views steadily improved, from terraced slopes of herbs, spices and walnuts giving way to cooler air and the dry rocky valley walls of Toubkal National Park.

Sweating our way up the long twisting path, passing various fuelling stops where local Berber people squeezed the most refreshing orange juice into a glass for about 20p. My favourite being the Charles Bronson look-alike’s O.J.

Our guide Aziz led the trip with a steady pace up to the packed Mountain refuge (10,000ft) where an army of locals threw much needed pasta at us before we spent the night ‘acclimatising’ or rather just passing out.

Saturday

The 5am alarm hit like double decker bus, marking the start of what was to be an extremely long day, so I downed my high energy shot of caffeine and other ‘stuff’ to help me up and away. So with guitar strapped to my back and cloaked in darkness we tackled the steepest section of Toubkal. The problem with the caffeine shot and the burst of energy it unleashed was it caused me to talk at 100mph and that it lasted for 5 hours oh and I had 2 more bottles of the stuff. There was nearly a mutiny.

As we neared the top the cloud broke and the sun and blues skies spurred us on. There was a party atmosphere as we reached the summit of Toubkal 4,167m (13,671ft), with bottles of Irn Bru being fizzed up like formula 1 winners and bodies lying crashed out all over the place. Once I got my breath back I played the song I had penned for the trip 'Call Me A Doctor' and then savoured the views as Andy Robbie of Glasgow band, The 4/5’s took a turn on the guitar with a few tunes which was much appreciated by all.

By 6pm the group of weary souls & soles had reached our beds for the night at the spectacularly located village of Armed. Not even a huntsman spider stalking the bedrooms prevented me from getting any sleep - the spider was in someone else's room.

 

Sunday

A casual morning stroll of about 2hours the next morning took us through the village and back to the bus-oven, which inturn took us back down into the inferno of 52c of Marrakech where the sweat started all over again...

Armed School

A brilliant trip, with a great team of people so a big thanks from both Daniel & myself for all those donations.

Next year – hillwalking in the Netherlands.

www.justgiving.com/aintnomounatain

Stonemason's Blues

It was with great sadness that i learned of the loss this week of Scottish Bluesman Tam White.

He was a familiar face on the Scottish music scene and i had the pleasure of opening for him a few times. I first discovered his music at his gig on my 18th birtday in The Old Athenaeum in Glasgow. We had been given complimentary tickets as he worked as a stonemason for the same company as my mum. (i should add that whilst my mum is a Glaswegian she was not a stonemason - she did the bookkeeping!).  I was well impressed with his performance and  blending of jazz and blues styles with his usual Scottish take on things.  More recently I have seen him perform acoustically with fellow Scot and harmonica player,  Fraser Spiers, where these intimate gigs fitted perfectly with Tam's story telling and humour.

A great character that will be sorely missed in the UK music scene.

Tam performing Stonemason's Blues

Ain't No Mountain High Enough

A group of friends & I will be heading for North African for North African skies this summer and am aiming on climbing North Africa's highest peak - Mount Jabel Toubkal (4167m) which lies high in the Atlas mountains in Morocco. We will be leaving for this trip on the 8th July.

Through this challenge we will be raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support who work tirelessly to improve the lives of those affected by cancer.

For an added twist to this adventure, i've had the crazy idea of playing a song on guitar at the top of the mountain assisted by Daniel on double bass.. ok ok now that would be impressive but seeing as he can't play that he has opted for the tambourine.

At the moment i'm still undecided as to what song is best suited or indeed on the practicalities of actually doing this... any song ideas? please leave a comment.

Please sponsor on my just giving fundraising page 

Thanks

John

No Passport Required

It's not often you get to leave the country and return home in one night, but that's what I did late on Thursday. A nice wee jaunt over the sun drenched hills at beattock summit on the M74 to the lovely village of Keswick in the Northern Lakes. 

Nestled in the winding streets of Keswick is Cafe Bar 26 - a great place for food, sophisticated beers, live music & great humour (that’s where I come in).

I always enjoy visiting the lakes & I’ve spent a bit of time there over the years, mainly in caravans - one time as a young ‘un holed up in a rain lashed caravan for my summer holidays and again in the summer of 1998 undertaking my final year mapping project for my Geology course - for which i was affectionately classed as a ‘rock tapper’ by the locals. But it seems to me that this part of England is largely forgotten about by the masses of Scots who head up north for hill walking trips, day trips and holidays.

It’s quick to get to via the M74 where you can blast past caravans and lorries – try doing that on the A82 to Fort William. So for an alternative day trip to another country, where the scenery is fantastic, the pubs are great and no passport is required. why not head south of the border for a change?

Best comedy name for a band

Here's a few funny band names that i've seen, not all are cover/tribute bands but all real band names.

1. The Govan Spoonful (used to play in the Scotia Bar in Glasgow)
2. Peatloaf
3. Rebel Without Applause
4. el vez  amongst other classics sings 'you aint nothing but a chihuahua'
5. Rawmones (Ramones tribute) i love the explanation in brackets.
6. Samba Ya Bamba
7. By Jovi
8. Ceilidh minogue
9. Red Hot Chilli Pipers
10. Fakebush 

El Vez even has his own documentary..