MyLife News

Kids of all ages will love our Easter half-term activity club at our Standish site.

There is the opportunity to learn all about our animals, incubation and hatching, planting in the fields, making chocolate eggs, egg rolling, creating an Easter bonnet/hat for our Easter Parade, and a special invite to our Mad Hatter’s Tea Party.

Cost is just £10 per day for My Life members, or £15 for non-members. Activities run from 10am to 3pm, kids under 8 must be accompanied by an adult.

Places are limited and must be booked in advance, so please book early to avoid disappointment. Phone 01257 472900 or email info@my-life.org.uk

Please note:
We will be closed Good Friday and Easter Monday.

Day 7:

M’hamid is as far as you can go by road, there is nothing but desert after here. This little town feels and looks like a frontier post. Our 4×4 for the next few days arrived on time all kitted out, we loaded her up and headed off down a dusty road toward the Sahara.

Dusty road turned to dry river bed, which turned into sand, then scattered rock, then slowly we began to see small dunes appearing in the distance. After a few hours rocking around in the 4×4 we arrived at an oasis. It wasn’t an oasis as Jason had imagined it: a shimmering clear pool of water with beautiful ladies serving you drinks…in reality it was a small river leading to a tiny shallow pool and hundreds of beautiful palm trees. After this we visited another adjoining oasis where we had another beautiful lunch in the sun and set off again.

Next was the dunes of Chegaga. These are the highest sand dunes in Morocco at around 300m. Our guide let us loose in the desert, merely telling us to be back in 2 hours. After hiking up to the top of one of the taller ones and scanning the horizon, we really felt isolated as there was only sand in every direction as far as the eye could see. After about an hour in the hot Saharan sun and a multitude of the highest dunes conquered, we found our way back to the vehicle and it was onwards to sanctuary! Our home for the night was a Bebadin camp consisting of 8 tents, a fire pit and a mess hall. We rocked up and quickly took the opportunity to get horizontal in our tent which had more holes than a piece of Swiss cheese and a door that wouldn’t stay shut, come on in scorpions!

Every single place we had been so far had taken us in, looked after us and offered us Moroccan tea, and even here in the middle of the Sahara it was no different. After tea we set off to climb the dunes and watch the sunset over the desert and attempt (and fail) to get some ‘holding the moon between your fingers’ pictures. When we got back to camp we were shown a new desert bush craft skill: making bread in the sand like the Nomads. Very interesting and more importantly, tasty. Could have done with a knob of butter and some jam though!

Day 8:

After a cold night’s sleep and a visit from half the animals in the desert, we were woken up at 6am by the German couple staying in the camp trying to bump-start their vehicle by going round and round the tents. After breakfast Lincoln thought he would check out how the solar panels in the camp worked and almost fell into the 30 foot deep cess pit which had simply been covered up with a rug and had sand sprinkled on it make it look like the rest of the desert. If it weren’t for the quick response of one of the locals, old Linc would have been spending the next few weeks scrubbing 25 different nationalities of poo off himself.

After breakfast we set off on foot through the dessert looking for fossils. After 3 hours of wandering about, everybody was marching back to camp, pockets bulging with all kinds of different fossils. After this we bade au-revoir to the camp owners and headed off in the 4×4 to the camel camp.

After arriving and being served tea (of course) our 5 camels arrived, at this point some of the party started to get a bit jittery, there were definitely some longing looks at the 4×4, but Nyle stepped up and jumped on his camel first and everyone followed soon after. We rode the camels for a while and soon became attached to them, even christening them with names (Connor, Cliff) and we rode our trusty steeds all the way back to M’Hamid where, exhausted, everybody turned in for the night.

Days 9 and 10:

Our final two days weren’t as exciting as the rest of the trip. The penultimate day was mainly driving, eating and sleeping. However on our last day we did visit a heritage site in a small but busy town where we stayed the night before. This was an ancient building built many years ago which had been the setting for numerous films including Gladiator, Prince of Persia and Game of Thrones.

Afterwards we set off for the final leg in the car, dropping off Paul in Marrakech to await his flight in two days and then heading off to the airport without any hiccups other than John forgetting to get his passport back from the car hire guy, but it was quickly remembered and he came back to give it to him. Nice easy 3 hour flight and the boys were all tucked up in their own beds, and the adventure was over.

Day 5:

The next morning we left the snowy climate of the atlas and headed south. Within an hour of driving we came across a half collapsed rope bridge over a dry river bed, so of course we pulled over and jumped out to have a go!

It was 60 km to Marrakech (one hour) where we hit the huddle of the city and boy did we hit it, cars, busses, motorbikes, kids running in the street, donkeys, carts. Poor John had the worst of it by offering to drive first! After the bustle of the city (we made it out unscathed) we headed on for Ouzarate. This road would take us up into the mountains and back down the other side, through the tik tik pass, from hot weather to snow back to hot again, incredible scenes.

After a long days ride we found a good Riad for only £8 each then off out in search of sustenance and found out for a meal, chicken, chips, egg & bread all for £3.50, magic.

Day 6:

Next day, the Riad owner woke us up sharp at 8:30 for breakfast, then we packed the car and set off (not before discovering and repairing a puncture on the car). After a few hours uneventful driving, we came over a hill and Paul had to slam on as there was a local man stood in the road waving us down. He told us his car had broken down and tried to climb in the already overloaded car with us! After we told him there was no way we could give him a ride to the next town, we offered to take a message for him to his cousin. After following his directions we arrived at a fabric store, went in and gave them the message. The owner immediately sent someone out to rescue his cousin and invited us all in for tea! After a good hour of relaxing and enjoying some real Moroccan culture, we continued on for M’Hamid on the edge of the Sahara.

Here now it literally feels like the edge of civilisation as the road actually just comes to a dead halt and the desert stretches out as far as the eye can see.

Found a lovely Riad to stay and they sorted out all our desert trip so we are all set and ready for the next part of our adventure!

DAY 1: Morrocco

Great easy flight for the 4 boys, after a solid hours queuing at passport control we made it through to meet Paul and his pink hat and set off to spend another hour in the van climbing up to our 1700m home for the night Imlil! The lads sat down for a beautiful home cooked Morrocan 3-course meal and headed straight for bed ready to begin the trek bright and early tomorrow morning!

DAY 2:

Up early for a beautiful hearty breakfast, met our guide for the trip Abdul and get ready to set off on a 6 hour trek from Imlil (1600m) to the lodge at the base of toubkal (3200m).

After Paul and John made us an hour late setting off because they were packing hairdryers and moisturiser we set off on the first leg of out journey!

Spirits were high and soon it became apparent that there was no need for all the thermal gear and wooly hats as the sun was beating down something fierce, everybody trekked solidly with no troubles for 3 hours until we hit our first bump in the road, the mules that were carrying all our gear could go no further because the snow was too deep. The boys and the guide pulled together to form a plan: Abdul told us we were stopping for lunch in a small village shortly so we should carry everything to there, then we could strip our bags down to the bare essentials and send the rest back. We had another gorgeous meal (the food here has been incredible) then set to work, all the makeup hairdryers and even Paul’s pink sequinned hat were hailed into bags ready for taking back, and the lads soldiered on with a good 5-10kg each extra in weight on our backs.

The next 3 hours proved gruelling as the heat continued to pour down on us, the snow thickened and the hill steepend. The new added weight hit everybody hardest, especially Paul who was carrying two full rucksacks front and back. Nevertheless the group trudged on and soon enough the sun was hidden behind a mountain, the hill levelled out to a nice incline an we could spy the our lodge in the distance which gave everybody a final push.

There was a nice chill out in the fire lit room another delicious meal then an early night ready for the real deal tomorrow TOUBKAL

DAY 3:

Due to bad weather forecast out trip up Toubkal was brought forward a full day this not giving us our planned time to acclimatise.

6am rise ready to hit the mountain before the weather was due to turn nasty around 1pm. Everybody in the party was feeling seriously crook from the altitude and carrying the extra weight yesterday but most of all Paul. Generally for this trek you would stay at the lodge (3200m) for 3 days to acclimatise to the lack of oxygen and altitude but due to the treat of a storm the next day it was now or never. Paul had complained of headaches and illness last night and this morning claimed they had gone worse, after a thought and a talk with Abdul he made the decision to head back down to Imlil before he got worse, the mountain had claimed it’s first victim!

The rest of the team soldiered on after stripping down to one bag of the bare essentials (crampons, water, camera) we headed out to conquer the beast. Weather was great, clear skies but the snow had come down heavy in the night which meant we were having to dig our own path up to the mountain. The altitude and severe change in steepness was killing everyone and at 3700m Nyle caved to the altitude tiredness and couldn’t continue and turned to his bum to slide back down to the lodge, victim number 2!

The three musketeers trudged onwards up towards their goal, all was well until around the 4000m mark when Lincoln’s insides couldn’t adjust to the altitude and decided to leave his body via the mouth. He insisted that he felt better and wanted to keep going but Abdul advised against it saying that if he had more problems at the top there’s no way to get him down, Linc decided to trudge on until after 3 more vomits he couldn’t continue and called it a day, victim number 3!

The gruesome twosome Jason and John powered on, determined not to let the team any MyLife down and conquer the beast that had slain three of their brothers and after another hours slow, painful walking they finally reached the summit!

I am writing this from a freezing bedroom where everyone is in full winter gear inside sleeping bags, absolutely exhausted but safe and sound ready to strap on the 15kg bags again and make our way back down to Imlil hopefully before the storm gets any worse!

DAY 4:

The wind was howling and it had been snowing all night, there was at least three feet of new snow outside the lodge and drifts of six feet. Everyone in the refuge was wondering wether or not we would have to stay put until the storm abated. Around 10 all the guides got together and decided to get all hikers together and head down in one big group. So, thirty minutes later we wrapped up and set of in unbelievable conditions.. it was snowing and blowing like you wouldn’t believe with gusts up to eighty miles an hour knocking you off your feet and with the wind chill factor it was a frosty -30 degrees. Everyone’s eyebrows and eyelashes were frozen and John even had an icicle coming out of his nose! At several points we thought we would be turning around and heading back to the refuge but the guides kept us trudging on. People were falling over every 5th step and we could hear tempers flaring up and down the line as the conditions got worse.

About the halfway point one of the hikers got hypothermia and you could see him in the distance being supported by two guides. Eventually we made it to a little Berber hut with a nice fire burning and tea which have everyone chance to warm up for 10 minutes and the guy with hypothermia to potentially save his life. Eager to get down our group volunteers to leave the warm first and continue on in the blizzard, after another 2 hours of similar conditions we saw Imlil in the distance and knew we had made it. Abdul took us for another fabulous lunch, we shared photos and videos with him and said our goodbyes, but not before he took us to the new hotel which was a significant upgrade including heated floors! Just what you need after 6 hours in -32! Another meal was had, then everybody jumped into bed to get ready for the next part of the quest, the desert…

Luck is on our side, we have a window of clear weather on Wednesday and hopefully Thursday when we attempt the summits of the two highest mountains in Morocco. If you look at the image below, Thursday afternoon forecasts heavy snow and -24, so an early start is a must!

If you want to sponsor us and raise money for My Life, please do so through our Local Giving page, or you can send a cheque to My Life, c/o Thompson House Equestrian Centre, off Pepper Lane, Standish, Wigan, WN6 OPP.

On February 16th, our own My Life outdoor instructor Lincoln Yates, will lead a team attempting to scale the two highest mountains in Morocco – a total of 8,200 metres!

It’s a massive challenge. Mount Jebel Toubkal (4167m) is the highest peak in North Africa, and is a snowy climb in the winter months so they will be using crampons and an ice axe to aid their ascent.

As well as Lincoln, the team includes John Lowe, Jason Hough, Nyle Yates and Paul Horridge, and they are trying to raise money for My Life. Following the ascent, the team are heading to the Sahara Desert, where they will be heading by camel to spend 2 nights on some of the highest sand dunes.

Lincoln said: “To prepare ourselves for this challenge, we’ve been training on the snowy ridges of Mount Snowdon. 

“The hardest part of the climb, besides the weather, will be the effects of altitude, as we haven’t got a great deal of time to acclimatise. At this time of year, the temperature on Toubkal can reach -28 degrees with windchill, and 100 km/h winds.

“To make it an even harder challenge, we are attempting to climb not just one mountain, but the two highest mountains in Morocco, one after another – a total of 8,200 metres. In doing so, we hope to raise lots of money for My Life.”

If you want to support Lincoln and his team, please do so through our Local Giving page.

Once the challenge starts, you can also follow Lincoln’s blog on our website to see how they get on.