Mules, mint tea and 1440km of Atlas mountain paths all in one volume ...
Hamish Brown is a real veteran of the Atlas mountains. He’s been trekking, climbing and generally exploring the range since most of us were in short trousers – well, from 1965 onwards anyway – and his latest book draws together his Moroccan experiences in one volume, The Mountains Look On Marrakech.
The book impressed the judges of the Boardman Tasker Prize, who’ve short-listed Hamish for this year’s award, and the overall winner will be announced next week in Kendal. In the meantime, what did we make of it?
Never mind the drama ...
Well, if you’re looking for a great mountain epic with high drama, edge-of-your-seat moments and considerable risk to life and limb then this isn’t the book for you. Benighting and blizzards aren’t part of the action, and Hamish’s ice axe features most frequently as a stake for tethering two insubordinate mules, not as a means of clinging to an icy precipice. But in many ways, his account of life in the Atlas is all the better for it.
The book tells the story of a traverse of the entire Atlas range - a mere 1440km in case you were wondering - but it's not just about that. If you want historical anecdotes, whether of the doings of Arab rulers in centuries past, or of twentieth century explorers, then this is the place to look. Ditto if you're looking for people as well as landscapes - bring on a cast of local children who insist on taking the place of your compass as the expedition’s chief navigational device. Or you might just want to find out how the perfect cup of mint tea is made…:-)
Shattering the myths
Hamish dispels a fair few myths along the way as well. He dabbles heavily in natural history – or at least the floral side of it – to show that Morocco’s arid image does no justice to its meadows full of flowers.
Other broken myths, of a more amusing nature, fall closer to home. For local villagers, there’s the shattered illusion that all Western tourists are wired up to their cars, while to us visitors Hamish points out that “there’s more to Morocco than Toubkal.”
On the downside, the book’s rather a blow by blow account, so you need to be a patient reader to make it along the full length of the Atlas. Having said that, a journey with hundreds of miles of mountains, four travellers, two mules (one adolescent), some rather small-scale maps (mostly 1:100,000) and only three sleeping bags between four people, can’t be all that dull. In fact, it’s a pretty winning combination – unless you’re the man without the sleeping bag.
Where and how much?
If it sounds like your thing, Whittles Publishing are behind the venture and you can buy the hard back copy for £25.00 a time. Something for Christmas maybe?
Just one warning: Hamish says “nobody visits Morocco once” and although we aren’t sure if he counts imaginary trips, made with your nose in a book, it’s as well to consider the consequences before getting stuck in:-)
