Another SUPERB day today, with around 280km of great riding. We were going to stay near Merzouga for a few more days but last night we were plagued by people wanting to sell us things and then this morning we had several kids wanting money. They woke us up early by running around the tents shouting and when we looked out of our tents they demanded money. We said ‘no’ so they just kept making a noise, running around the tents and even started throwing the occasional stone at the tents. It was really annoying so we decided to leave.
Because Merzouga is a very touristy area I suspect that ‘begging’ has become a business with children, especially so because I suspect many tourists don’t have the resolve to say ‘no’. We were pretty annoyed at this as we really did want to stay but because we were on the outskirts of the town and not on a proper campsite, we didn’t trust leaving the tents and our kit behind if we wanted to explore the area. Especially with these children, who were still begging for money while we were packing.
We headed into the town of Merzouga first to get food and water and when we parked at a food shop we got surrounded yet again by kids wanting money and then guys wanting to sell us 4×4, quad or camel trips into the desert. We were glad to be getting away from there, which is a shame as I would have liked to visit the shops, maybe buy some things or even had lunch or evening meals, but because of the constant begging and hassle all we wanted to do was get away. And we did.
After getting fuel and a quick discussion we decided to head west towards the Atlas Mountains. Along the way we stopped at the Gara Medouar Afrdu, which is an old volcano with a large hollow in the middle. It’s been used as a prison and it was used in one of the Bond films – as the enemy HQ. We had to ride about 2.5km off-road each way and fortunately for me the going was quite firm with little sand. Phew…!
We were hoping to camp overnight but as soon as we stopped we started getting pestered by a guy wanting to sell things, plus there were several guys there with noisy cars. We’re in the middle of nowhere and yet this guy just appears from nowhere to sell things. It was also very hot inside the hollow with little shade so we decided to leave and look for another site to camp, somewhere with shade.
Looking on iOverlander there seemed to be a possible place to camp about 100km further west but when we found it the place was a construction site so we decided to go to the nearest town of Tinghir and stay at an Auberge.
And what a great decision…! It was around 10eu to camp for the night, and there are toilets and HOT showers, which I am looking forward to using. We are staying at HOTEL CAMPING LE LAC GARDEN OF EDEN and it’s lovely. Peaceful, very friendly, clean and no one hassling us for money. There are also two French bikers here, man and wife, who have been touring Morocco for a month on their BMW GS 650’s and they told us about some good roads to ride.
Tomorrow we are thinking of heading north to Agoudal and then heading south west as apparently there is a really good road running down to Boumalne Dades with lots of bendy bits – which reminds me that I need to put air back into my tyres tomorrow as I was running them at 10psi when I went off-road. More sunshine today and even more expected tomorrow. Yeah, I know, I know – shut up about the sunshine….
