14 JAN – Yesterday I rode around the area and had the best of days riding around the countryside in a large loop. I headed south towards Ait Mansout, and then circled back through Tarsout and Ait Daoud. I was all P-roads and it was just brilliant, and one of the best day’s riding I have ever experienced. I’ve had great days riding my bike on this trip but today I had no luggage, no clock ticking and no destination so I could take my time.
15 JAN – I left Tafraoute a little later than I wanted. When I was having my breakfast beneath the morning sun it was so peaceful and warm that I was tempted to stay another night or two but last night it was a little TOO cold for comfort. Apparently it was around 4 degrees because we’re in the mountains and it gets really cold at this altitude. So, I decided to press-on and head for the coast, but before leaving I ended up chatting to a Brit couple who I met when I was shopping in TanTan, and then a German guy came over and he wanted to chat bikes, and then another German guy came over to chat about bikes. It was almost 12 by the time I left.
Heading north then north west, I got into the R105 – and what a great road. The first 12 miles were nice, but the next 20 miles were superb with lots of bendy bits and hairpins. In Morocco there are R-roads, which are two lane A-roads, and the P-roads, which are single lane roads which serve the villages and small towns. If you come to Morocco on two wheels, the temptation is to open up the throttle and have some fun, but you still have to be very wary.
Yesterday I was on P-roads and sometimes the road just finishes and all you’ve got is gravel because that part of the road has been washed away and they’ve temporarily filled that part of the road. Scary, especially as you come around a bend and suddenly discover that the road has disappeared.
And then there are the drivers… In the countryside of southern Morocco you rarely encounter another driver – but when you do it can be a bit of a shock. Most drivers here like to drive fast, and I think they just assume that no-one else is coming the other way, especially on the other side of a bend. Wrong…! Three times yesterday and three times today I nearly ended up as a bumper sticker on the front of someone’s vehicle – because they were going too fast and didn’t assume someone else was coming the other way around that bend. A scary couple of encounters and fortunately I managed to find a bit of space each time.
On one occasion this morning I came around a bend and there was a 4×4 where I wanted to be. I didn’t have much room but steered slightly to the right and my left pannier bounced off his left front wheel arch and I wobbled into the side of the road – with a huge drop down a mountain to my right and no barrier. He just carried on and I stopped with mere inches between me and the drop. A bit further down the road I had to stop to change my underpants and have a quiet talk to myself…
I eventually got into Agadir. The driving here is… ‘enthusiastic’… and gets more ‘enthusiastic’ at roundabouts or junctions. Not as bad as Senegal though, but I do love nothing more than playing Tetris with lots of other cars… The roads here are wide and open and the city is big and extremely modern. At one point I saw a McDonalds coming up, and somehow the bike steered right into their car park, so while I was there I decided to go in and order a Royal Cheese and a lovely cold milkshake. The shake was so nice I had two. And after those few moments of madness I got back onto the bike and headed into the centre and to where I’m staying.
At my lunchtime break outside a boulangerie in a small village I had looked at campsites and there were two about 10 miles south, but that meant a trip each time I wanted to come into town. The one to the north was over £10 a night – so I looked on booking dot com and found a hotel room, en-suite, for £58 for four nights. No contest. I’m slap bang in the middle of the city, it’s a nice hotel with a private balcony leading onto a garden, it’s clean and comfortable plus it’s got a nice comfy bed…! So that’s me for the next four nights.
My priorities while I’m here is to wash all my clothes, find some oil for my bike and if possible, do my oil and filter change. But, if not, there’s always Spain. Now for some R&R…
