Typically, didn’t sleep the night before travelling – up between 2:30 and 5 a.m. and was in a deep sleep when the alarm went off at 6:15. Coffee to resuscitate then carb-heavy breakfast on the terrace before heading out to the airport with Mardi & Rob (Seattle, going to London for a few days), Tony (Vernon, same flight to London) and Ray (White Rock, Iberia Express flight to Madrid to overnight then will be on the same flight to Vancouver via Montreal tomorrow). The Edmonton contingent of 4 left this morning at 2:30 a.m. We are dispersing like dandelions in the wind.
Marrakech airport was a-hummin’ but no long lineups until the boarding areas. Changed Moroccan currency to Euros as you can’t change them out of the country then through security; a bit confusing as they have different rules and didn’t explain but got through eventually. For some reason the status update on Ryanair online had the boarding gate as gate 5 instead of gate 9 which was also confusing. There were few places to sit near the boarding gate and it’s one of those airports where you walk out to the plane and climb rickety steps to board. There was priority boarding at a price but it was a joke as everyone got onto a bus and were bussed out to board so there was no order to the boarding, practically. I had an extra legroom seat and it turned out to be the bulkhead – bonus! and nobody in the two seats beside me so it was a pleasant flight. Took 1.5 hours to get to Madrid with a 2 hr time difference.
Terminal 1 in Madrid airport turned out to be very quiet so proceeded through customs and immigration without stopping – the joy of being at the front of the plane! Baggage retrieval was also quick so I was able to phone the hotel to find out where the transport shuttle was in short order. That part also went smoothly – it’s a bit spooky after all the glitches on the way here – the shuttle van appeared in about 10 mins. and delivered its passengers to the hotel in another ten minutes. Glory be, the hotel had my request for a quiet room and I am at the back on the top floor. There is a pool out back, and an area of green artificial turf beside it which had a pleasant breeze and was nice to sit out on. Dinner in the overpriced restaurant was at last non-tagine with some protein – I do love tagine but 16 days in a row has made it less desirable in the immediate future. I will try it with some fish or tofu at some point, but not for awhile…
And on the journey went. Shuttle to the airport again 9:15 a.m., check-in at AC, through security and the obligatory duty free; to the lounge to get some breakfast; onto the plane and into the pod. Duty frees are such a scam, they take the profit that the govt. normally takes so it costs as much if not more there as it does outside…. Air Canada was 1.5 h late leaving Madrid so connection was tight in Montreal – there were a lot of people running after deplaning. I high tailed it to the departure gate, which was literally on the opposite end of the airport, of course, and found out when my boarding pass was rejected that I had been rebooked on another flight FIVE hours later without consulting me…. I had 25 mins to spare at the gate, I got there when my zone was boarding so I figure it is Air Canada’s responsibility to deal with the luggage since it was their fault we were late…. went back to booking and complained and miraculously a seat was found on the 6 p.m. flight. I was told my luggage wouldn’t come with me, but got a notice just before leaving that the bag was put on board. A little time in the lounge in Montreal (a very basic one) and then finally the last leg home, another completely full flight and crazy lineups to get on. Bonus though, there were pods on this plane so got a few zzzz’s en route, as it will be 6 a.m. Madrid time when the plane lands in Vancouver. Baggage came out fairly quickly – last leg to catch an uber and finally decant in familiar surroundings. We are done, bar the clean up!
Woke at 5 a.m., not an awful night, and after a couple of cups of coffee headed out at 7:30 a.m. to check out the fishport activity thinking there would be lots of unloading going on. I passed a large part of our crew sitting in front of a cafe in the main square drinking coffee and socializing – the group has been really cohesive with no clashes and a vast depth of travel experiences to compare notes as we went along. Some really interesting travel tales…
Most of the boats weren’t back in the harbour and the only unloading was of sardines. Some others appeared to have already offloaded and the salting and icing was in progress. There was a really slick system for the sardines; the back 1/3 of the boat was filled with water and sardines, a wicker basket full was scooped out of the water and tossed to person 2 who flipped it up to person 3 on the pier. An empty basket simultaneously was tossed to person 1 for another scoop and on it went, in perfect unison. Alas, this website doesn’t allow me to post video.
I joined the coffee team for a somewhat expensive “ness ness” (20 dirham, nearly $3) – tourist town…. then headed back for final packing. The mist was hanging around and had made the seats on the terrace wet but still an interesting view. Breakfast a repeat of yesterday’s and drinkable coffee!
morning mist provided a limited view from the laundry drying area at the very top but you can see that most buildings are about the same height – no high rises here
Because of the stairs we had been offered luggage towage down with our pieces but when it came down to it there was only one staff present at reception and he looked very dubious when asked so we all helped each other down the tortuous staircase. Then the baggage went onto carts (4 in total) and were wheeled through the streets to the waiting buses. Our same driver and van were there, and I asked if it had been fixed – I was assured that it was, that the fuel filter had been changed (!). So luggage loaded and people stowed in their places and we headed for Marrekesh, about a three hour drive away.
In the hotel room
We had barely gotten out of town when the engine hiccuping started up again, resulting in the van pulling over to the shoulder with no power. It restarted readily, but went for shorter and shorter distances and it was pretty evident that it was going to be a long way to Marrakesh today. No ac to save engine so the windows were opened and it was akin to parachuting at times with the force of the wind blasting the face. The downside to being windowside! We had one long stretch on the flat after limping up a hill but as soon as the engine went under any kind of stress it caved. There was much discussion on the phone and after about 2 hours of this we limped into a roadside rest stop and disembarked. The other van was there, and apparently hadn’t been there too long; we were told another van would meet us there and we could change over.
And it duly arrived, after about 1/2 hour; transfer occurred and we set off again, arriving in the outskirts of Marrakesh in another 1 1/2 hrs. Traffic was very dense and it was hot. There was a zone of fairly intense housing construction and modern buildings as you moved closer to the centre, the medina, which is of course the oldest part of the city.
A “high rise” here is four stories, like in Agadir, both for cultural reasons and earthquakes.
We wove our way through traffic, and construction zones towards the medina and finally got to areas recognizable from my treks to Maroc Telecom. We managed to pull our luggage through tourist groups into the medina and our Riad which was also busy with piles of luggage and milling tourists. The inevitable welcome tea later, we were assigned rooms and thankfully this time I’m away from the main foyer – up two floors via a convoluted route that appears to use the servants’ staircase… it will be a two trip extravaganza to get down tomorrow. The 3 hour trip took 5 altogether.
Having not seen the bazaar before, I headed out as soon as I could, with the Victoria group who had spent a couple of days there before the trip started. Noisy, crowded chaos with throngs of pedestrians – both tourists and locals – and weaving through them, giving little in the way of speed are motorbikes and frequent mini front loaders that occupied the whole alley. They too were unyielding – they would happily run over your toes if you don’t scoot out of the way.
almost everything imagineable was for sale, and then some
There are multiple main passageways winding to the central square, then it’s into the souk which has more utilitarian goods as well as tourist and decorative items. There are some expensive “stores” and some exotic hotels leading off as well. In the back alleys you can find many of the goods being made by crafters. The Victoria group were good guides as they had taken a tour when they first arrived.
a quiet side alley
beautiful displays of fruits, nuts, legumes, produce, spices….
for tourist goods, the prices were sometimes higher, and sometimes lower than those in Essaouira and Taroudant but of course bargaining was the name of the game.
We made our way into the central square, which was overlooked by several hotels with rooftop bars, and populated by a traditional piper (you could imagine the cobra swaying to the music!), quite a few beggars, artists with displays, and just noise in general. There were rows of fruit stalls ready to juice and we got some pomegranate juice to wash down the multiple nougat samples that the Victoria crew had generated as they bought some bars. That was lunch! The pomegranite juice was delicious; pure juice, squeezed in front of you.
main square
We headed down one alley and walked for what seemed like miles, then turned back – it is an ENORMOUS complex and would be easy to spend a couple of days wandering around. Much of course is cheap glittery stuff that would come apart quickly, but if you want souvenirs you could carefully choose some interesting things.
Back to the hotel for a quick happy hour before dinner, after acquiring bottled water – great to put the feet up and enjoy the ac. The Victoria crew had acquired some Moroccan wine in Essaouira that wasn’t bad – hard to get alcohol in Marrekesh, apart from the odd rooftop bar in the central square. Dinner was on the rooftop terrace of the hotel and had tasty salads as starters, the usual tagine without protein for vegetarians although at least couscous this time, and a lovely fruit salad and custard for dessert. Redouanne had arrived for dinner, Yousef had been leading a one-day bike tour today and had left early in the morning with Kamm who caught a plane to Portugal to meet up with a friend. We gave Robin, the tour organizer, a gift and thank you card, and then dispersed – some are staying another day, others leave tomorrow at 2:30 a.m. (the Edmonton group) and others to London (I am catching a ride to the airport with them). I’ve already received a notice from Ryanair to expect long lines in Madrid at the airport due to the new EU security system – hoping that having done it once I can enter the shorter lineup but not holding my breath. Travelling from A to B sucks. And so to the final packing, hopefully will meet Ryanair’s regulations!
Another decent sleep, though late to start. Quite warm, and very late dinner contributed to some tossing and turning initially.
Breakfast on the terrace was fairly basic but the coffee was drinkable. We dispersed afterwards and a group of 6 of us headed towards the souk to explore.
entry to the souk
At 10:30 when we got there, it was just opening and fairly quiet, but by noon it was starting to get busy. We split up and wandered around – multiple alleyways and directions to go, lots of fun! and wares of every kind on sale.
I had fun in the spice stores but managed to restrain myself to getting only two types – karmoula, a mixture of 27 spices we’d come across in our food, and a mixture for vegetable tagine that I’ve enjoyed. Prices were very variable and negotiation was needed.
The souk filled up with tourists, and trying to find my way back to our meeting point I went by a store with coffee beans in the window – for 10 dirham (about $1.25) I got an excellent cup of “ness ness” (the equivalent of a cappuccino). The beans were ground on the spot.
I accidentally got into a section that sold chickens for meat – the conditions were execrable. Vamoosed out of there quickly and recommended to some of the other tour members to go visit – hope it puts them off for life. A quick trip back to the hotel with the rug and other purchases next and another go at the 4 flights of stairs. Ironic that after 9700 m of elevation gain cycling we are all complaining about the stairs LOL.
A few of us met up with Redouanne and Yousef, to try and get some decent prices for carpets and silver. Helene and I both bought a rug – mine small, hers larger despite saying she didn’t have room for it in her luggage! Then it was a trip to silver alley – off the main souk a bit, two corridors of silver shops side by side. What a choice! There was some serious purchasing from some of the Victoria group – one member was counting out Canadian, USD and dirhams to pay as they only took cash!
Lunch after this; I went to the cafe recommended by Kamm, the Spice Roads rep, and got a vegetarian empanada (meh) and ness ness (double the price of my last one and awful). Another point off for Spice Roads! We had a conversation this morning about the impression of the trip and none of us would ever use Spice Roads again – for easily remediable things like poor communication (why are we stopping here? What is the program for tomorrow? Could you tell us something about the place we’re in and its’ history or importance?). Sad, as the personnel on this trip are really nice people – the hotels/riads have been pretty basic, albeit we have been in smaller places but there were too frequent snafus like not enough rooms for everyone, disorganization at checkin, etc. We are all hoping we’ll get a trip evaluation questionnaire.
A couple of the Victoria ladies went back to silver alley to get more earrings for gifts and I headed towards the fish port. I knew vaguely where it was and just followed my nose… busy with people baiting hooks with sardines for the next day’s fishing (BTW those were apparently sardine balls last night in the fish “tagine”).
The harbour was full as all the boats had returned from today’s catch.
Every type of fish imaginable was available, including some fairly exotic looking stuff.
a small assortment of more usual looking fish
Near the harbour tents are set up for grilling and many people come for lunch and dinner – cannot get much fresher!
It was getting warm at this point and I was starting to flag – headed over to the tower on the medina wall which was recommended as a good viewpoint. After a few more stairs I got to a media room which had a presentation about the history of the port in alternating Arabic and French. It was cool, and the chairs were REALLY comfortable so I sat through 2 rounds of the presentation being little the wiser at the end but definitely better rested! The view from the tower was indeed good.
the harbour – the far side of the bay is popular for windsurfers as this is known to be a windy city – the city stretches all the way to the far side of the bay.
I was interested to watch the photoshoot going on in the lower left corner, on the rocks – modelling some clothes
Having resuscitated a little I trotted back to my bank’s ATM to get reinforcements – yesterday I only got enough out for the remaining tips and we are all trying to figure out what we will need and not take out too much as you cannot exchange dirhams outside of the country. Across the road was a lovely beach – huge stretch of sandy beach, and lots of people enjoying it and the hot sun. There were plenty of umbrellas and reclining chairs, I’m sure rented out. I wonder how polluted the water is.
It was quite a stark contrast to the beach on the other side of the medina, north of the souk, which I went to in the morning; also a nice sandy beach but littered with garbage.
Back through the city walls to pick up some last minute items and then to have a siesta after another round of the 4 flights of steps (my third today). They get steeper and steeper! What makes them worse is that they are very uneven, some large and some small. Tea was very welcome; the immersion heater, which in the 220 V system heats in a flash, literally under a minute, has been a godsend on this trip.
Did a practice pack to make sure everything fits in – it does, no problem – then a last wash as I calculated I’ll need 3 more days of clothes. Happy hour at 6 on the terrace upstairs was lovely – there is a heavy sea mist now and it’s cooled nicely. Some enterprising members of the group found a liquor store on their travels and picked up supplies. Dinner was at a restaurant within walking distance, where we were serenaded by a duo with a guitar and violin singing Spanish songs – talented duo. The dinner itself wasn’t fabulous – there was an eggplant starter which was fabulous, a seafood pastilla and then a chicken pastilla, main course of grilled prawns was overdone, sadly, and came lukewarm; dessert of Moroccan pastries was pretty meh.
This is the last dinner with our guides – they both live in Marrakesh and will be travelling in the vans tomorrow but I am sure will be very thankful to be back with their families afterwards. They have never done a two week tour before and I suspect won’t again as it’s too long to be away. They have been unfailingly helpful, cheerful, and supportive with big smiles every day – and are amazing riders.
group photo at last lunch, with all the staff
our star – best lunches ever, produced by our cook Hassan
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.
Restless night, it was fairly stuffy in the room and sinus headache woke me in the middle of the night. Able to eventually obliterate it.
Excellent breakfast today! We had an early start today and were as usual about 15″ late getting going but eventually rolled out, heading for Agadir and the start of our biggest climb.
The countryside was very agricultural, with crops of potatoes, onions and bananas seen. A good proportion of the country’s produce comes from the region; water on each field comes from individual wells.
After a ride of about an hour, we began to enter the ‘burbs of Agadir. Agadir is a city of about half a million, and has been rebuilt since the earthquake of 1960 decimated it. It was nice to see the Atlantic Ocean for the first time this trip! and very busy ports. Fishing, LNG, then container ports evident. We stopped for coffee, which was good! then headed out of town to our start point. A new stadium being built for the next FIFA tournament was evident and the city looked prosperous and well kept. The last leg of our journey, once Havid corrected his directional mistake, was through a tony residential neighbourhood with large and expensive looking houses; over the horizon however was major construction on a bridge/overpass. The bikes were partially unloaded so we got ourselves organized and mounted our steeds.
It was almost immediately uphill, and 28C by the time we started, and this was the theme of the day. Hot, and up. And up. And up.
The temperature gradually increased, as did the grade of the inclines. At least there was little traffic….
Up and up and up. We went over a ridge, along the top of it and then had an exhilarating ride down. At this point we passed another two cyclists who were bike camping for a week – one from near Inverness and the other was Welsh. On tattie roguing holidays (time off to pick potatoes, traditionally). We had an interesting stop where we got an explanation of how argan oil extraction was done, and tried some of the local honeys. The cactus flower honey was very interesting, quite spicey with an afterkick – a small amount was acquired to play with in chocolates.
through a small village
The industry of extracting argan oil is a woman’s and although the milling has now been electrified, the majority of extraction is done in small villages and provides a source of income for women. The hard nut, size of a walnut, falls from the argan tree (famous for its’ “goats in trees”) and the outside shell is cracked open and fed to animals. The inner shell is harder, like a pistachio shell, and is also cracked – that one is used for fuel for cooking/baking fires. The inner nut, about the size of a squished almond, is then roasted (for consumption) or put into an ingenious milling stone to pulp it. The demonstrater is holding here two different discs of pulp made with argan; the darker one is roasted, and the lighter one will be used in cosmetics.
Back on the road again…. fairly gradual up until we entered a canyon where we met Hassan and had lunch. He was easy to find today…
It was a beautiful ride through the canyon
We followed a river and there were geese in small groups with ducklings – didn’t recognize them at all (nor did I stop for a picture!)
There was a bit more traffic in here but the drivers were almost universally tolerant and polite to us cyclists.
This was lovely cycling, cooler and lovely scenery to look at.
Then we were out in the full sun, and the climb was on. It was hot! There was more traffic until we reached a park site where there was an obviously popular trail to a waterfall – the lot was full and there was a parking lot attendant directing traffic. The poor muscle bikers were suffering – hot and relentless climbing.
We gained elevation steadily, and watched the profile slowly tick down the meters gained. Strategic stops helped and water was readily provided – there were also roadside cafes along the route where water and other drinks could be purchased if doing the ride on ones’ own, like the UK riders (they were stopping in the valley below, called Paradise Valley, tonight).
view from part way up – road can be seen on the right
We had another incident near the top with groups of boys – this time riding at them at full speed didn’t deter them. It’s always unclear what they’re trying to do – push us off the bikes? Whack us in the back? Whatever, not fun.
Not a lot of pictures of this part, as energy was focussed on getting up the hill. It was a relief to get to the pass, I won’t lie, even on an ebike though it was a piece of cake compared with the muscle bikers – what an effort they put in.
from the pass
There was a brief downhill at the top then another small climb before the start of a bigger downhill – but our hotel was not far down so we thankfully parked our trusty steeds for the night and went to check in.
The proprietar was a little odd, and insisted we individually complete forms to register before being given keys – although he had been provided with the list of passport and police registration numbers of the entire group. It has a spectacular view, and if it had rained recently we would see a beautiful waterfall, apparently, for which it was named after (Cascades Hotel).
assiduously completing our registration forms on the terrace
the rooms are older, with outlets that are not to current code; in mine everything is working but one unfortunate put the shower on and the entire piece came off the wall. Wifi only works near reception.
After cleaning up happy hour with the Victoria group commenced but turned into high finance pretty quickly as tipping amounts are being prepared and calculated. We have one last lunch from Hassan on our last ride tomorrow, and another of the drivers is leaving with the bikes immediately after we finish (and the saddles, pedals etc are removed).
It was a spectacular sunset, and after a short briefing about tomorrow we moved into the dining room to get an excellent dinner – soup, salad entree, then main dish of fish tagine for me and chicken for the others (Yay! no eggs!) and actual dessert of apple pie (more like apple tartine) and orange slices with cinnamon. Delicious.
Quite an energetic day! Tomorrow is mostly downhill with two short climbs and then cycling is done.
I slept again!! Feel like a new person (with a cold) 🙂
The hotel we were in last night was amazing – had some time to walk around this morning. Apparently there are peacocks living in the grounds though I didn’t see them.
Plumbago, cape leadwort
We loaded into the vans for an hour transfer to ride near Taroudant, with a Plan A and Plan B. Plan A was to do a loop, depending on whether or not the mine was working today (it’s a Sunday so there was optimism it would not be), and if it was working we would do an out and back to avoid the heavy volume of dumptruck traffic on the return route.
The drive to Taroudant was quite uninspiring – the countryside was polluted with lots of garbage, abandoned buildings, dying trees and many greenhouses with banana trees that looked like a light breeze would take them down. Full of people, though, on all modes of transport – donkey and cart, bicycle, motorbike, tractor, rickety truck/bus, etc. etc. and when we passed through Taroudant a carnival was going on with rides etc. which was mobbed. We got onto a secondary road that had beautiful pavement but was also uninspiring with lots of garbage and abandoned building materials, arid vegetation and Argan trees. We started from a random pullout a short ways before a medium sized town, and it was a gradual pull uphill to start, then once we were through town we dropped down a rickety road and then started to climb.
And did we climb. Up, and up, and up. It reminded me of the first day where we also first climbed to a dam, but it was 27C today and not 39C thankfully. And of course it is nothing on an ebike – some of the gradients were really wicked so the muscle bikers had a hard haul.
From the dam it was more haul uphill, occasionally losing elevation again as we wound our way up the side of a hill up a valley.
Some parts were quite pretty but the general theme was up, up, up….
One of the easier sections
Ed from Edmonton, one of the superhuman muscle bikers. Most of the time he kept up with the ebikes, even up most hills.
We went through some small villages that looked quite impoverished, and the roads through them were always terrible.
This one was actually quite pretty with bougainvillea out and a well kept section.
On and on we went, with a stop for dates and water refill, and we were to meet Hassan and the kitchen truck for lunch and make a decision at that point between Plan A and Plan B. Unfortunately there was some confusion about where Hassan was setting up – one of the van drivers, Havid, parked at an intersection and directed us all up one fork (incorrectly it eventually transpired) so a small group of 6 or so of us at the front kept going, up and up … accompanied by Yousef. We got to a major intersection which I suspect was the intended turnaround point for the loop and suddenly were told by Yousef that we’d already passed Hassan (none of us had seen either him or the kitchen truck) and we probably had to go back… but without confirming this he left with 2 or 3 of the group. The rest of us, which included most of the muscle bikes, had just toiled up some significant hills and wanted to be sure we needed to go down again so we waited a little. There was no sign of Yousef going back so we decided to turn around and descend after trying to get hold of the leaders by phone and getting no answer. So back we went, and then got a return phone call part way down – we were asked to pin our location and send it so did, and Redouanne eventually met us and took us back down to the intersection where Havid had directed us one way, and back up on the other road. Quite disorganized… We gathered that the group had splintered when one rider had a flat and it needed to be repaired – a small bit of metal in the tire had to be removed and the tube replaced. Surprising that we haven’t had more flats, given the debris on the roads.
It was another lovely lunch with the appearance of lentils for the first time, under the shade of some acacia trees. We were told here that we had a CHOICE of food for dinner, and were sent an extensive menu by whats’app – the hotel wanted our choices in advance. The menu even had a vegetarian section! Orders duly sent in after much discussion; I chose vegetarian lasagna in the hopes of getting some cheese at long last other than the laughing cow sections we get at breakfast…Thanks to Maroc telecom I was able to connect to the internet and the tracking check of the Chicago marathon here showed Etienne having completed about 24% of the course.
Due to the volume of trucks that we encountered on the initial highway stretch the decision was made to do the out and back (Plan B) and down we went. Though down wasn’t strictly true as the ups and downs we’d made on the way up became downs and ups on the way down and there were some wicked hills up on the way back too.
They were largely not too long though so we made good time and were at a cafe in the town at the bottom in time for the finish of Etienne’s marathon – he finished just as we left for the last leg. (A cafe I boycotted after observing the proprietor, and coffee maker, coming out of the toilet and going directly behind the counter to serve without handwashing…).
Back onto the bus for a short transfer back to our hotel, which is just inside the medina walls. Taroudant has a 7 km circumference medina wall (vs 21 km in Marrakesh) and is known as “little Marrakesh” but has a reputation for better prices in the souks (markets) so after unloading, checking in and the usual shower and laundry I decided to walk to the markets. The reception told me that the Berber market had burnt down, so I headed for the Arab souk with some of the Victoria contingent. We got through a gate in the medina wall and it was full on traffic and pedestrians/bicycles.
medina walls in background
It got busier and noisier and the Victoria ladies lagged further and further behind until at the next intersection they decided to abandon and returned home, except for Johanna so she and I proceeded on until we reached the souk. It was typical developing country chaos with bicycles, motorbikes, pedestrians, caleches, carts and cars all competing for the limited road space. We made our way into the souk, and had fun wandering through.
Honey was a big item on offer, as I had heard it was, so I got some orange honey (from orange blossoms ostensibly) – quite funny as the store had bees buzzing around the honey jars. I was given samples of eucalyptus, flower and orange honey but liked the latter best so that will be used in chocolates for Xmas.
The store owner told me the honey came from his own beehives in the mountains. Near lunch we had passed a large collection of hives and they were buzzing around as we ate.
As always, the spices and foods in the souk were fascinating.
some were identifiable, and some not – some stall owners were helpful and answered questions and others not. Fair enough, it was busy and there weren’t a lot of tourists around, mostly real shoppers.
lentils, beans and couscous; turmeric, ginger and garlic
several unknowns in this batch; this stall owner didn’t speak French or English. The one that is being pointed to was identified as wormwood by our guide later on, and am still waiting for an id on the mossy substance next to it.
As we were winding our way back through the souk I happened to look into a jeweller’s and saw Yousef, one of our guides. He was in a silver shop, buying a replacement wedding ring as he had lost his yesterday during prayer ablutions. With his help in negotiation both Johanna and I bought a pair of silver earrings, made by local artisans – Taroudant had been recommended by Aziza as a good place to get these. We headed back to the hotel for dinner with Yousef, though I have to say my route was definitely faster and shorter than his! We ended up doing a loop with a fair amount of walking but very interesting.
Dinner was slow, and although nice to have a change the cheese layer in the lasagna was about the best part of it. The creme caramel for dessert wasn’t to sneeze at and it sure beat boiled eggs and veggies though 2 boiled eggs were delivered to me by Kamm, the spice roads rep.
In our dinner briefing it was noted that tomorrow’s climb has the biggest elevation gain of all – 1600 m, and over a short distance so portends to be brutal. I have no fear as the ebike takes one up anything, but the muscle bikers will have a challenge, especially after such a lot of climbing already on this trip. It’s our last major climb, though, the next day takes us to the coast with downhill and undulations.
A good night’s sleep! Briefly woke up at 3 a.m. but got back to sleep within an hour so no complaints at all. Congested ++ but it always clears when on the bike and sucking in air!
As is often the case, when we were briefed last night about today it sounded like it had been rejigged and the total mileage was more like 70 ish km. Not too much elevation gain, I could likely have done this on a real bike, but with energy levels still reduced from the cold I’m not unhappy to be coasting. And coasting it was, in several senses of the word. A different world from the muscle bike; you can do anything, without much effort. The trick is to do enough to give yourself a good workout, but not so much that you are completely knackered…
After hotel checkout we had a 1.5 hr transfer to the starting point, in the high Atlas mountains. The first part of the road was much like what we’d seen around Ait Benhaddou; arid and scrubby. It was Saturday, market day, and we went through some very busy villages. When we turned off into the mountains the traffic volume dramatically decreased, and we started heading up. There is a large national park in the area and the highest peak in North Africa is in there (Mt. Toubkal, 4167 m) – the flanks of the mountains just go straight up, pretty impressive – in this case into the clouds as they were shrouded all day.
After a lot of winding and twisting roads with hairpin bends, we met up with the bikes in front of a private school. The kids were all jammed onto the balcony watching with wide open eyes as we got ready to leave on our bikes.
Of course, we started with a climb – laughable on an ebike but I was imagining it on a muscle bike…. We got to the top and then had 16 km of downhill through spectacular countryside.
Radouanne and Yousef at the top of the pass
The top part was fairly barren but the sheer magnitude of the Atlas mountains rearing up to the right was breathtaking.
Once over the edge in the picture above, the road hairpinned down a valley interspersed with villages and the terracing was reminiscent of the Himalayas.
The road surface was unfortunately fairly rough so care had to be taken going down with a controlled descent. Most of the hairpin curves at the bottom were washed out and a mixture of sand/rubble or mud. At frequent intervals we would pass through a small village, most of which were fairly busy. There were a few incidents with teenage boys again but none affecting me.
a typical hairpin curve
the road goes ever on and on – where we’ve come from. Navigating the roads also meant dodging goat herds and at one point, a flock of sheep with a shepherd who castigated his dog for going after me – the dog obediently fell back
We came around one corner to find the kitchen truck setting up lunch – rain clouds hovered on the horizon but although we were intermittently cold (clouds) and boiled (the sun shone directly onto us and was quite strong) we remained dry during this part. Bonus for me, the tuna was dressed up in a tomato sauce today!
I had noted before lunch that the road started up again afterwards – however not an issue on an ebike! We set off on the next part, an up and down extravaganza that took us down one valley, and then up the next with a fording in the middle.
Reminiscent of Mongolia, we had to take our shoes off and cross on foot, pushing our bikes (Redouanne grabbed some bikes and rode them over)
The road weaved up and down the valley, and I felt sorry for the muscle bikes as it was quite a bit of elevation gain each time. The further we got up the hillside, the windier it got, and of course it was a headwind.
as always, green wherever there’s a river and otherwise arid, although with the last few days’ rain some of the hillsides were already beginning to green up.
We had enough rain on one section to stop and don raincoats, but we were out of the rain shadow in about 20″. Happily, as wet roads were another scenario to slip on. We had one cyclist fall on the way down the first section, garnering road rash on one leg and making her quite cautious for the rest of the day.
more villages on this side of the river
Eventually we moved up the hillside to a very exposed section with a strong headwind. I offered to draft a couple of muscle bikers but they declined – purists! I would happily have taken this option had I been on a muscle bike, it’s the least the ebikes can do… This last hill looked to be the outlet to the head of the valley but it seemed to go on and on. Easy on an ebike, but glad to be able to use someone else’s power going up as I suspect mine would have been depleted by now…
Directly over the pass we started descending again and shortly after arrived at a dam under construction; major objective to increase capture of mountain runoff to hold in a reservoir for drinking water and agriculture in the region. This one was due to be finished in November 2026 though it doesn’t look it’s that near completion – and there are plans for another in a different region later on.
Here we met with the bike truck and loaded up for another hour transfer to Oulad Berhil. We passed Argan trees, a species native to Morocco and famous for attracting goats into the trees to eat their leaves. There was another busy market in progress in Oulad Berhil which we pushed through and snaked our way to tonight’s riad. It has a lovely garden, and is a converted residential palace with spectacular tilework (hand made) and traditional bench seating in the dining room.
the wide bench seating is traditional, accomodating more people when needed and also acting as a sleeping area in a crunch. Likely more comfortable than some of the (very) firm beds we’ve been sleeping on!
Dinner menu was – surprise – soup (carrot this time, very tasty), tagine and fresh fruit for desert (melon, grapes, bananas). I got a plate of spaghetti, purloined some veggies from the others and eventually a couple of boiled eggs appeared. I going to start clucking soon.
My room is spacious tonight, with plentiful outlets TG – after only one, half hanging off the wall between one bed and a window for the last two nights I’m happy to be able to access them easily as well. Laundry is distributed around the room for drying.
We all agreed this was the most scenic ride today – the first few days going through the high Atlas were spectacular but the scenery was barren and forbidding whereas today was r
Alas another disturbed night with the cold symptoms keeping me up this time; it seems to have settled in with a cough and head congestion again. The rooms as usual are a bit stuffy and airless so I turned on the split duct which worked well until it decided to disgorge water on the corner of the bed in a torrent. There were two single beds in the room so I swapped out. When I discussed it with staff in the morning they seemed to know all about it so I suspect this is ongoing – they took the key to ostensibly fix it but I doubt if anything will happen. Fortunately it’s a cooler few days due to the rain so although it would have been nice, it’s not essential.
sink in bathroom
Breakfast at 7:30 buffet style, as usual meh. Bread is a predominant part of every meal. Coffee undrinkable but at least there were regular teabags instead of the mint green tea that is the usual offering.
We walked over to Ait Benhaddou, a Unesco site from the 11th century and in the 20th century where many movies have been shot (Gladiators, Game of Thrones, Lawrence of Arabia, The Man who Would be King, Indiana Jones etc etc). Construction of arenas will occur for a movie and it is all carefully taken apart afterwards… Yesterday going through Ourzazate we passed several large motion picture studios, very incongruous but a big part of the local economy now.
A bridge was built over the river in 2010 to access Ait Benhaddou; previously it was accessible only when the levels were low enough, by horse or donkey. There were a steady stream of tourists with guides heading that way – by the afternoon both the town and the site were mobbed with tourist bus traffic jams on the only road through town. Surprisingly, there was no admission fee – there are large scale renovations occurring to repair damage from the Moroccan earthquake of 2023.
not too busy when we were there but it was really busy after lunch.
lots of climbing but streets were well maintained
The location was superb – excellent vistas in all directions to see oncoming enemies. This was a major stop on the route to Europe from the Sahara with caravans of 200 camels arriving at once, and they would be stashed safely within the city walls (one of the attractions of coming here was safety). The passages twist and wind, and their labyrinthine qualities were part of the defence system as enemies penetrating the walls would get lost.
the river was relatively full again today due to thunderstorms and rain last night and during the day in the hills
our local guide Sayed takes us around with explanations. The pouch on the front of his robe is used for tips!
We were taken to see an old Berber tradition of burnt paintings, made with indigo, saffron and tea with sugar then burnt to fix the colours.
the finished product after burning to fix the pigments (and caramelize the sugar)
There were tourist stalls up and down the streets, of course, and in town but rarely aggressively selling. After exploring for an hour we climbed the hill across from the arena and got great pictures of the whole complex.
We wound our way through increasingly busy streets to get back to the riad, freshened up and I got an exceptionally good coffee next door at the coffee bar (15 dirham, or about 2.20 CAD) before heading out for a lunch rendezvous. It had rained on and off (short bursts) at Ait Benhaddou and thunder and dark clouds were rolling in so we were nervous about another lunch in the rain however the clouds held off and another excellent lunch was enjoyed by all.
lovely site
After lunch we walked over to a nearby deserted palace, owned by a previous dictator supported by the French regime – when the French pulled out of Morocco he fled and it was abandoned. Story has it that he executed anyone who disagreed with him and put their bones in the walls of the palace.
ruined old palace in front with modern palace behind (belonging to someone different).
another very basic soccer field
huge storks nest in the ruined palace
There were a number of sorry looking dogs lying in a stony field here, and a pack roaming around as well as the usual local cats, skinny and tiny.
Back to the riad for a free afternoon. I wandered around town after visiting the local pharmacy for cough lozenges – hot in the sun when it was out, but the clouds kept moving in and out. There is a huge new touristique quarter being developed, but traffic control and parking is going to need to be sorted out. Looking up at Ait Benhaddou it was just mobbed with people so becoming more known and popular, likely exacerbated by the movie productions there.
What was left of the afternoon was spent relaxing by the pool. The fountain was turned on so there was lots of white noise. Back home, the stork was at home. Their nests are enormous.
Dinner provided pasta with cheese sauce again, a nice break from hardboiled eggs as protein, and there was a brief celebration with a cake for Aziza and Meryam who are Moroccan friends of the trip leader, departing back home to Rebat tomorrow.
Glory be, I slept last night although the Neo Citran may have helped… made it through until 5:30.
Breakfast at 8 then we headed out for a major climbing day.
The riding started out fairly pleasant and undulating.
pleasant temps!
Castle above town, soccer field in foreground – like many, stones and pebbles are the surface of the soccer field. At least this one is level!
Then we hit the first hill which was 12 km and 700 m up (not outrageous, approx. Cypress Mtn?). At the start it was 23C which was reasonable, but it got hotter going up especially working so hard. The ebikes and superhumans disappeared out of sight fairly quickly and that put more pressure on the pace; I laboured up with Yousef gallantly accompanying me. My goal given my congestion from the cold was to get ½ way up at least, which I managed, and then bailed. To get up the rest would have taken a lot of time, though the grades after the bottom part weren’t bad so it was definitely possible but my pace vs ebikes/superhumans would have meant a lot of waiting around for the others. The problem I suspected at the outset.
a false summit near the top
The stop that Yousef had promised repeatedly appeared about 100 m up from where I bailed. Interesting rock formations around in varying colours although there didn’t appear to be much growing on it.
at the rest stop
there were vendors spread out at the rest stop, selling fossils amongst other things.
At the top I was able to retrieve my bike and ride down; not much traffic so lots of fun.
from the lower 1/3 of the hill we could see this town as well as the solar power plant, glinting in the distance; rain clouds were forming but we wondered initially if it was an optical illusion, a mirage in the distance. Apparently it is the biggest solar power plant in Africa, and feeds via underground cables most of Morocco.
Undulations next, never too big hills to complain and fun pedalling hard at the bottom to see how far up you can get – then lunch. It was hot there, feeling pre-storm like and menacing clouds were definitely building where we were going. The forecast had said rain by 2 p.m. Another excellent lunch – there are requests for Hassan to do a cookbook as this is by far the best meal of the day. Another can of tuna for me, and the local cat was very happy to lick it clean.
the fruit salads are always excellent!
At lunch we had some discussion about bike swapping; the Spice Roads rep (Kamm) had decided not to ride any more and had an electric bike. Johanna, one of the Vancouver Island grannies 4 Africa, had been given a bike that was too tall for her so the suggestion was for her to take Kamm’s bike and pass her ebike on to me. It seemed worth a try so with a few minor adjustments and swapping bags we were off. I had crossed to the dark side.
It definitely is a different experience on an ebike. Not sure I’m thrilled about it but at least when I saw a hill coming I don’t say “oh shit”. So easy….. I now see how everyone (but the superhumans) got up those hills the first few days. It took awhile to figure out some of the ins and outs, and you can definitely tailor it to make more work for yourself with the settings. I’m definitely not converted but will continue for this trip as the speed of the ebikes is incompatible with my uphill pace. The terrain after lunch was undulating, which is fun on a real bike, but can be sometimes ponderous with an ebike. The rain came down quite hard so after getting soaked we pulled over to shelter under a metal canopy beside the road and fortunately it stopped. However it was very noticeable both here and below, how quickly the washes and rivers filled up and the streets when we got below were reminiscent of flash floods in the southern states.
wet farmland
Fortunately, the rain stopped – we rode about another 10 km then stopped as the storm clouds gathered again and there was thunder and lightning. Bikes were loaded onto the trailer and we had a 1.5 hr transfer to our final destination for the next two days, Ait Benhaddoue. We had a stop at a carrefour in Ouarzazate and it was interesting to see there a plentiful collection of cheese and fish…. hard boiled eggs are still the only thing showing up as alternate protein in the evening. Not sure I’ll be able to look at an egg for a while when I’m done this trip….
storks nest on top of minaret
courtyard of the riad
Dinner at the riad was very bland – and cumin missing from the table as an add-on, unfortunately. It’s been there with the salt and sometimes pepper up until now. Vegetarian option was penne with cheese sauce – not a whole lot of cheese but nice to have a change of taste.
Tomorrow is a rest day; some touristing then a free afternoon.
Up between 2 and 4 a.m. with cold symptoms but managed to get back to sleep.
Meh breakfast and out the door by 8 a.m. first to visit a medina under restoration.
Lots of work still needed on it, quite dark passages but because of the construction is cool inside. The medina is a labyrinth, with 6 families who are direct descendants of the original medina still living there; some are temporarily out for restoration and will move back in when their dwellings are finished. There was a museum to tour around, with artifacts and info posted.
These have not changed substantially in centuries – we were shown this in the Atlas Mtns and still making delicious bread.
We emerged from the dark (and cool) medina into a blast of heat and walked uphill a little to retrieve our bikes. We headed off uphill in 29C. Ugh.
it was cool amongst the date groves
Cycling was fairly easy with gradual ups and lots of undulations and there was a bike lane on both sides! Granted you still had to pay close attention to the road as there was vegetation, sand, rocks and potholes intermittently but generally it was pretty good surface and we made rapid time.
view over Daar valley from the top of an undulation
An inevitable snack stop after we turned off the main highway saw dates and bananas scoffed in short order. We followed this secondary road for some time, bunching up to go through villages. Although there were a lot of kids on the road (apparently a half day and school had just let out) they didn’t seem as aggressive.
By now it was 31-32C and the hills were pretty deadly going up without the breeze created on the flat and downhill. Although I pushed fluids (despite the unappetising option of warm water or electrolyte solution) it was very dehydrating work. I rode with Dan and Yousef who rode pointguard through villages when there were kids on the road – Dan was like the goodwill ambassador calling “salam” to all the kids who stopped and watched us (many just wanted a greeting).
After 42 km with the temps drifting up to 33C I was done. Fortunately it was lunch time, and there was some shade. There was only 25 km left to go for the day, but between the cold virus, the heat and lack of sleep I elected to hop in the van – riding in that is really no fun and the scenery wasn’t super interesting. In fact, it got more arid and less and less grew as we rolled out after lunch – I found I saw more in the van anyway as riding requires concentrating on the route ahead.
the mountains loom ahead, looking like they support little life – perhaps with rain in the spring they would look less hostile?
At lunch, we discussed getting cold drinks once a day using the registration fund, as it was so hot, and warm water wasn’t so inviting. Today we stopped at a gas station enroute for the first installment and it was delightful. This date tree in the parking lot shows the stages of ripening of the dates, which are starting to be ready to pick. I thought they would ripen all at once, but apparently not, which makes picking more challenging. Nice to be able to pick dates though and eat them in a gas station parking lot!
As we neared the Kasbah for today the mountains looked more like heaps of slag – not supporting much life of any kind.
Today’s Kasbah, Itrane, apparently has a pool though it is currently raining and windy. We saw clouds gathering as we came up towards the end of the valley – the rain will be as welcome here as it was at home; it certainly has relieved the feeling of being in a furnace that we had during the day today. The dates look quite dry so will happily accept a watering. Washing is done and hanging up to dry, a double lot as I didn’t feel well enough yesterday aft. to tackle it. This Kasbah has ac, showers with good pressure of water and lots of plug outlets in the room as well as places to hang wet clothes. All important things!
At dinner there was an actual vegetarian dish… good food! May have been helped by the fact that there was another group in the hotel with 5 vegetarians… might have gotten results quicker if I’d had company. Then the Moroccan women on the tour (friends of the leader) arranged for a troupe of musicians to come in to play some authentic local music as a surprise for us. It was lovely, complete with some sword work. Very enjoyable way to end the evening. During dinner I was asking the guides what the hottest temperature they’d cycled in was; 56C. They then asked me what the hottest temp I’ve cycled in was, as it’s become a bit of a running joke that I don’t tolerate heat, and I now have a new record – 39C (the first day, though I didn’t last long). They are very amused by the inability to tolerate those temps which are mild for them. I told them my Scottish blood has a low boiling point 😬
