Day 6 – Dades Valley to N’kob

Ride: 61 km Climb: +800 m / -1430 m

Another 3:30 a.m. wakening alas. Nodded off to sleep again at 5:30 and the alarm went off 15 mins later, can’t win!

After caffeinating, it was time to tidy and pack up and put luggage outside room as instructed yesterday. Buffet breakfast fairly meh but got some protein in the form of fried egg and yoghurt so not complaining. Hauled luggage upstairs as apparently communication last night was incorrect, we all handle our own. Represents a bit of a theme, communication is not the most clear or consistent and it has nothing to do with me not being on whatsapp. Meeting at 9 a.m. to discuss the day’s route – some km at the beginning are going to be chopped off as the road is in bad condition and there isn’t enough room for cars to pass without cyclists having to drop off the edge of the tarmac, and it is fairly busy with traffic at the moment. We were all good with that, safety first!

So we loaded into the vans and buckled into our seats – a bit of a joke now as the seat belts are very hard to attach and cinch one like a boa constrictor once latched in. We headed along the busy touristique strip and passed the French cyclists from yesterday as well as several stork nests strategically located atop minarets. We got onto a secondary road after about 20 mins and headed towards the “anti-Atlas” mountains – the “extremely tough” approach to the pass on a dirt road was dropped too as it took us onto the bad road (not disappointed about that!). The message hadn’t been given to the bike truck though apparently as he had stopped at what we assumed was the normal start point and unloaded most of the bikes – he was waved on by Havid. Poor Abdul, he would have had to put them all back on the trailer…

dry country with outcrops along the way

Another 20 mins through extremely arid country took us to a spot where we had tea – we think killing time whilst waiting for the bike truck to get past us.

Havid concentrates on the double handed pour

Welcome tea is very important in Morocco, made of verbena, tea and mint as well as sometimes safron. First squat toilet here, feel sorry for those with knee issues…

The final stop was at an artisan shop where the owner was busy making water cups from wood; using mostly juniper but also cedar, they smelled divine and were beautifully crafted. Other wood creations on display were also amazing.

So on to our bikes we got, finally, and of course headed straight uphill. I got dispensation to head out early and for once felt GOOD! My body actually did what it was asked to today. I was passed by everyone, of course, before the top but wasn’t much behind and more importantly, made it under my own steam. Admittedly it was a better road than we’ve had, with better grades, but progress is being made 🙂

interesting rock formations at the top

We gathered together just past the top for snacks (it had been 1/2 hour, after all!) and then shortly after at a coffee shop seemingly in the middle of nowhere which produced espresso for 10 dirham (about $1.50). Tasted suspiciously like nespresso but went down nonetheless. Interesting rock formations here.

We suspected that again, some of the stops were in place because the kitchen truck needed to get ahead to set up, but it was all very pleasant and leisurely.

There was a fairly steep but pleasant and long descent next, taking us down to the first plateau seen in the vistas; we all remarked on the temperature change from cold to warm air as we descended, as there appeared to be quite a sharp demarcation zone.

It was an intermediate pedal then to lunch – which was as always the best meal of the day, and we had seats and shade for this.

Then it was off for more undulating riding through a narrowing valley in a stiffening headwind – because of the narrowness of the valley it felt like a wind tunnel at times. Another hill up a pass with stiffer grades and we were onto a very large second plateau.

our goal was the far side of the valley

it was beginning to get warm.. pleasant pedalling for about 15 km took us to the end of the valley and we turned onto a red dirt road which after 2 km took us into the town of N’kob.

Early to the Kasbah today! The usual chaos on checking in with some folk with twin rooms being given singles, all the ac not working (it took a year to get a needed part for the split duct system and a year later the owner is still looking for someone to put them in) and some plumbing not working… my room is a monastic cell with barely enough room around the single bed to move, but it has everything I need and I was very quick to hop into a shower today while there was still hot water… got the laundry done and hung up, I suspect it will dry very quickly here.

reception area

The Kasbah is fairly new, only 10 years old and owned by a retiree from Germany who built it from the ground up.

We were interested to learn later on that there are water restrictions in place as the river running through town does go dry on occasion; one side of the street gets water in the morning, the other in the afternoon and it is carefully monitored.

down the lane beside the Kasbah (palace)

Because the owner is European, there is a bar on site and inevitably we congregated there, on the terrace, for an after-workout drink; most elected to try the Moroccan beer (stork beer, meh) but a few tried the Moroccan white wine (the verdict was that it was “quaffable”).

water of course wasn’t potable from the tap so we had to go down the hill to the vans to get potable water fillups of our water bottles.

hotel pool was small but well kept – unfortunately I didn’t find out about it until dinner time.

Helene and I went for a walk in the town nearby and again found the people much friendlier than early on in the trip.

Dinner was at 6:30 tonight; we’d requested an earlier start in the hotter spots as well as earlier dinner whenever possible. Once more no vegetarian option, and when it did come after I prodded the spice roads rep there was no protein… two hardboiled eggs eventually appeared after the owner’s wife tried to get me to put the chicken flavouring sauce on my couscous telling me it wouldn’t have any flavour… she was not impressed that I wouldn’t comply! Last course was a plate of white pomegranate which tasted citrusy, a nice light end to the meal.

The cold virus is marching through the ranks and I have a scratchy throat tonight – fingers crossed it’s just from gulping very dry air during the cycle today. I heard from most at dinner tonight that they really enjoyed the lighter day after some intense pedalling, and tomorrow’s has been rejigged as well so we start directly from our kasbah and do the transfer at the end rather than the beginning. Tomorrow we will be on the edge of the Sahara so we all boned up on the history of the Western Sahara/Moroccan conflict.