Immouzer – Essouaira

Ride – 45.5 km, elev gain 549 m

We were up early and had a fairly basic breakfast presented to us – devoured nonetheless then luggage packed up and we mounted our faithful steeds for the last ride of the trip. Comments on the hotel were “spooky – like an old insane asylum” and “definitely had an ick factor” (the pillows were actually bolsters covered over with sheets). I didn’t mind it – it reminded me of East African hotels, faded glory.

And so we were off, downhill. The first part of the road was quite good with only the occasional washout in a hairpin bend – lots of fun descending but arm covers were quickly removed as it got warm quite quickly as we dropped into the valley.

warm and dry when off the ridge.

there was the opportunity to get a bit of speed as the stretches were quite long and the hairpins not too messy

At the bottom we had a look at the waterfall that the area was named for, but the recent rain had disappeared and there was no water in the falls. Going through this village we got a companion, a dog that had apparently had puppies some time recently, who frolicked beside us with great joy. She was a bit of a nuisance at times as she popped across the path of cyclists but looked in great condition. We thought she would drop off at the edge of the village, and indeed at one point there she darted into the bush after a cat, but rejoined us and stayed with us for the next 20+ km….

going down the next part of the hill – the road on the opposite side of the valley is our goal

It was here that we started to run into road damage from the recent rains and flooding – every hairpin was a mess and there was gravel and debris frequently strewn across the road. When we got lower, there were also mud patches to cross, and several streams forded (riding through).

waiting at a junction for the slower riders

starting through a canyon

the happy dog is seen trotting alongside a rider

this species of pomegranate, with pale seeds, appears frequently in our fruit salads and has a nice citrus flavour

After the canyon it was time for climbing. Of course. The road was in quite bad condition making for interesting biking – going uphill on pavement and running into huge patches of loose large gravel required some concentration to get through. I’m amazed the bike truck and the vans made it around some of the obstructions. We passed a school bus abandoned at the side of the road with the windshield indented and completely smashed – obviously a large rock had landed on it, that would have been quite frightening to be in.

It was a fairly long climb up, then another nice descent although with the washouts and road debris it had to be taken cautiously. Our new dog accompanied us all the way, and was faster than the riders at the back….

At the bottom of this hill we had a fruit, date and nut stop and gave our lolloping dog some water. She was quite fearful about taking it but when we left her to her own devices she cleaned it up. It was HOT by now, 34C and little shade – our new dog found about the only shade around.

And so it was off to climb the last hill of the trip – 37C on this slope – we pulled to the top and fortunately when we rounded the corner it was a little cooler. The top was a plateau and a lovely run down on decent road.

great views

riding along the plateau

It was surprising to round one corner and see a lake, with a beautiful turquoise colour, amidst all the arid countryside.

some interesting rock formations to the side of the road

It turns out that the lake was actually a reservoir with a dam, and nothing going through the spillway. At the bottom of the hill was Hassan and the crew with lunch, and the bike truck to take the faithful steeds home to their stable. The saddles and pedals that were brought by riders were taken off speedily, and at the end of lunch Robin, our tour organizer, did a presentation of tip envelopes to Abdul Rashim, the bike truck driver, and Hassan, who were both leaving the group at this point.

The dog disappeared somewhere between the bottom of hill two and the 1/4 way point – we all hope she found food and water somewhere there.

Abdul atop his amazing bike truck. Getting those heavy ebikes up onto the platform by himself was done nearly daily

We sandwiched into the vans for the 1.5 h drive to Essouaira on the coast. It was an eventful trip for our van – on the positive side, we saw the goats in trees finally! On the negative side, the van had mechanical difficulties and the engine kept cutting out – we had 4 or 5 episodes where we had to pull over to the side of the road, wait a bit and then try restarting. Then on the next the hood went up and the driver and Redouanne conferred and decided they had gotten some “dirty gas”; the van had gone to refuel last night and they suspected fuel impurities. The ac was turned off to save power and the windows were opened, blasting air across the front row of seats. It was a relief to make it to Essouaira.

Essouaira was a bit of culture shock after the rest of our trip; a large, modern city with a beach (lots of wind surfers, it was quite windy there but blissfully cool – we’d noted the drop in temp as we dropped down during the last part of the trip). And full of tourists, which we haven’t seen apart from at Ait Benhaddou. The city also has ramparts and a medina, so we were dropped on the outside, two staff came running with carts to move the luggage and we hiked in to the hotel. It was quite a hike, and very confusing – small alleyways and multiple turns. I didn’t notice that we had been rehoused in a different hotel, Les Terraces d’Essouaira, from the itinerary – more on this later.

I was sent up to the third floor for my room – the top floor – a long hike up uneven stone stairs, but the terrace one floor up has a lovely view, and the hotel is quite charming. Not so practical, as I can’t lock my door – it’s a French door with nothing to moor it to the ground…. there is an inner atrium which is bright and light due to a glass ceiling at terrace level, and plants everywhere. I have a sitting room and a bathroom that is as large as some of the accommodations we’ve been in… but it’s proving to be quite noisy with voices and sounds carrying throughout the floors. This is our home for the next couple of days.

I’m currently working in this sitting area

interior courtyard

Fortunately, the young hotel staff helped us old ladies up all those flights of stairs with our luggage – we are going to be quite sure we have everything we need when we leave tomorrow as it’s no joke doing those stairs. In the dark, I finally found light switches for the stairwells but they don’t stay on long enough to actually make it to the next one, so phone lights are going to be essential.

Dinner was scheduled for 7 pm so after the obligatory laundry and shower (finally feel like I got clean, the soap yesterday was absolutely useless) I decided to head out to get some money from the nearest ATM that was linked to my bank. It was a bit of a hike but very interesting, following breadcrumbs through the medina and out through the city walls onto the waterfront walk…. the ATM worked, amazingly, so I thought I’d do a quick shop through the medina for some things – interested in trying Moroccan pastries and had passed a shop. They are miniature – for 17 dirham (~$3) I got 5 tiny but interesting looking pastries (they are sold by weight). Then into another honey store, this one a women’s collective in the high Atlas, for some argan honey; it was good to have bought others before as I was able to negotiate a reasonable price which was not the asking price… then I headed for home and when I returned to the place of origin on my map (the original hotel) was totally confused. Our hotel is off an alley and has no name on the outside – the original hotel is a block away and well marked. I got there and the reception was as confused as I was – BTW it looks like a nicer hotel so not sure why the switch was precipitated. Fortunately I was able to text Johanna and she told me the name of our current hotel and I was eventually able to find my way back to find that dinner was pushed back to 7:45 p.m…

We gathered in the lobby at 7:45 p.m. and had a short walk to a nearby restaurant – there are many around – where there was chaos, as they’d not prepared enough seats for us all, and apparently hadn’t gotten the orders we’d been asked to send in. There was much discussion, eventually more chairs were brought out and it transpired that the original chef/restaurant had had some problem (undefined) so we’d had to change restaurants at the last minute and the new one hadn’t received the orders. All was eventually sorted out, apparently, as food finally appeared. It was fairly decent, and another fish tagine was brought out – which turned out to be the oddest – fish balls. Reasonably tasty but certainly unlike anything I’ve ever tried… the grilled fish (?perch?) that came later was good – the fish port is literally right outside the medina walls.

And so the trip winds down. Tomorrow is a free day, and I’ll probably join the Victoria group for a walk around the ramparts, a visit to the fish market and some poking around the medina.