Hi,

Just gotten back from doing this trek and just wanted to share my experience as may be helpful to others.

Getting to Imlil: most have noted the grand taxi/ mini buses now leave about two blocks from bab Agnaou (from the gate go to you right till the roundabout then a block further. Much easier in my opinion and closer to djemaa el-Fna is the triangle shaped park on the intersection of rue Moulay Ismail and Sidi Mimoun (to the right of the mosque if your looking on a map). We took a minibus which left at 10am. Took just under 90 minutes with a change in Asni for 50DH.

We stayed a night in Imlil (well actually in Ait Soukka) which I would recommend called Dar Adous Guest House, cost 300DH for two of us including dinner and breakfast. It is probably not useful if you are doing any other walks as it is in the wrong direction.

The walk:

We never actually found the start of the path but from where you get dropped in Imlil you can just follow the road up and then left over the river and continue on - the road goes always to the top of the pass - on the way up you should see the trail, if not no matter it is still a nice walk up the road but probably a bit longer. It took us spot on 2 1/2 hours up.

From the top you can follow the road around Ouaneskra which is the third village you can see from the top or can take the trail directly below which takes you to a few of the other villages but is longer (took us around 1 1/2 hrs to Tacheddirt) with a few stops along the way.

In Tacheddirt we stayed at Tigmmi n' Tacheddirt which I have mixed feeling about was beautiful place but no one seemed to be there. Some random villager let us in and sorted us out but never felt 100% safe. In saying that everything ended up ok. The dinner was one of the best tajines we have had. Cost 200DH each.

Day two: in Tacheddirt there is a road that runs directly above you, you want to get up to the road and follow to where it bends and starts to head back to the pass you walked up yesterday, here you will find the pass. Just before the corner you will find the trail to follow. It is marked with regular blue dots all the way up (although most seem to be for people heading down so just check opposite faces of rocks as you head up). It gradually zig-zags up and you should be able to see where you need to go most of the way up (the river should be on your left all the way up). It took exactly three hours for us from Tacheddirt.

Again heading down the trail is marked (on a good day you should be able to see timichi from the pass, well think it was timichi.....). You will cross the river (low) a couple of times and the path is rocky but ok. Eventually you get to the red section and then to your first village around 40-50 minutes you should reach Labassene which should be just below you or you can carry on to timichi which is on the other side of the river. Before crossing over is a great gite to stay, chez Oussalem Brahmin (signposted from where you reach Labassene) which was 100DH each for matters on floor, breakfast and dinner and very friendly host. It took us four hours from the pass which included quite a few stops.

Day three: cross river over to timichi (if you have not already) and follow the road. In I think the third village go through the village rather than following the road (as it goes up and over the village and means going up then back down which is a little pointless, you should be able to see the road do this so the village I am talking about should be obvious) after this the road really starts to head up and up eventually reaching another village. As you leave this village you will have two roads to choose from, go on the second which stays kind of flat opposed to the other that heads up. You wi see the valley that setti Fatima is in before you start the proper descent. Another option is to follow the river from the third village (before the road heads up). I don't think there is a path per say but the river goes directly to setti Fatima and I imagine is probably a lot quicker. Just to note as you walk you will notice the river branches off and there is a town on the right this is not where you need to go. Keep the river on your right and the next bend you should see setti Fatima. Walking the road took us 3 1/2 hours with stops to setti Fatima (the last village in the valley.

Overall it is not a hard trek and we had neither guide nor map (all the ones we saw were pretty crap). It does involve obviously walking up and walking down a lot and we found the down harder as seemed more rocky.

You need some decent trekking shoes and light trekking clothes/layers as can get cold - also recommend you ladies have long pants and tops might save you some hastle. You also need some warm clothes to wear at night (everywhere had blankets) as it was cold - I wore thermals most nights or a very decent sleeping bag.

Setti Fatima to Marrakesh: we got a grand taxi. We arrived at 11:30 and were on our way before twelve and back in Marrakesh around 1pm. To note grand taxi fits six people at 30DH per seat, if you are bigger or want more comfort you can pay for two seats (which is still pretty cheap any way). We were dropped just by Kasbah mosque and not far from mellah market.

Anyway hope that helps if you wanted anything further please ask.