Well, I got back on the road today after a full week in Marrakesh. I was in two minds to spend another week at the campsite as the facilities were great, the weather was hot and Marrakesh has a really good buzz about it, but time stands still for no man so I decided to break camp and get back on the road. The camp site is 100dms a night (£7.40) and if you stay over two nights you get a discount so I ended up paying around £45 for the seven nights I stayed, which is pretty good.
First I headed north east towards the Ouzoud Falls, where you have to park-up and then walk about half a mile to get to the falls. There’s NOT a lot of water in Morocco at the moment so the falls were not as good as they usually are (or so I was told) but it was still an impressive sight. There is a good vantage point at the north of the falls, but the best vantage point is to the south. A narrow alleyway leads you down and there are stalls to buy trinkets, drinks or food. About half-way down there is a large vantage point where there was lots of monkeys. I have a feeling they are Barbary apes, and the ones I’ve seen before in Gibraltar were pretty nasty, but these were extremely tame towards people and quite happy to pose for the camera.
After that I headed over to Bin El-Oudane, which is a huge dam and lake. Unfortunately, the lake is mostly empty. This is the product of two very dry winters, and looking where the water level should be I’d estimate it’s a good 150 to 200m below where it should be.
IOverlander suggested a campsite near the lake and when I found it, it was actually a building site as they are widening the road so as it was getting late I decided to stop at a hotel in Oudane, but they wanted £50 for the night, so I left. Yes, in Europe £50 for the night is pretty good, but in Morocco it should be cheaper.
Riding around the countryside and the hills for about 40 minutes I chanced upon an olive grove with some flat ground around the trees so I left the road and rode into the grove. I waited for a good 30 mins to see if anyone came past but it’s quiet with no one around – so I pitched my tent.
I know there’s people not too far away as there are dogs barking. I’m about 100m away from the road and it’s eerily quiet, which means I’m going to get a good night’s sleep. It’s just fine dark (7pm) and I’ve had my pasta, had a big mug of tea and now it’s time to crawl into my sleeping bag. I even bought myself some chocolate today, so I’m going to have a small feast…
It was another good day on the road today. It was only around 125 miles, with much of it going a little slow to take in the scenery. Once you got off the main roads and got into the hills the scenery was simply stunning and I’m so glad I headed this way instead of heading towards a city.
Tomorrow I may head for Casablanca or Rabat, but I haven’t decided yet. I’ll have a think about it in the morning while I’m eating my muesli… Its been a great day today, with lots of good riding, lots of great sights and lots of things to see.
