We arrived safely in Mexico, the Baja peninsular to be precise. The first night spent getting to know the other group members some of who were thankfully looking as unfit as me. Day one’s sea kayaking went well but when the Mexican members – including none other than the French Ambassador from Mexico city – and yes we did crack all the jokes possible about dodgy 70’s Ferrero Roche adverts, appeared next morning with their full suspension bikes, walkie talkies, Platypus backpacks and all the proper gear, it was obvious that this was going to be no ordinary holiday.

This superb desert biking adventure focuses on the deep south of Morocco, a land of big skies and stark mountain ranges where mud-brick kasbahs appear to rise up out of the desert, sitting in tranquil palm oases and framed by dramatic backdrops of snowcapped mountains. We ride along Morocco’s dirt roads, taking us from Marrakech to the Tichka Pass, the highest in the High Atlas, and then southward, descending along the Draa Valley to the fringes of the Sahara Desert.