It’s Tuesday morning of the second week in Morocco and we
awaken to yet another beautiful day. Being in a valley, the sun has not risen
high enough yet to warm the hotel. It is draped in shade and cold enough to see
your breath. I have on all my layers – tights, gloves, even shoe covers. I know
it will warm up quickly but I don’t care; we are starting on a downhill and it
will be chilly.
After a basic breakfast of bread and jam, eggs, juice and
tea, we quickly get on the road. After a short climb, we descend roads whose
steep drop-offs as the road contours the ever-changing shape of the mountain.
Eventually we get to a tropical valley. A river flows past the road
surrounded by dense clusters of palms trees. I stop to regroup and notice the
warmth of the sun and lack of wind. It's good timing: as the van pulls up some layers are removed before moving on.
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| Tropical valley |
When Abdoul arrives we continue riding through the valley until we
come to a left-hand turn. Adboul tells us it’s okay to ride on but to wait at
the bottom of the hill. His directions are vague but we wait in another valley
at a river crossing. We’ve had our fun and now it’s time to work again climbing
and taking in more spectacular views. We get to a cross-roads and have to wait for directions. By now Scotty, Brian, Evelyn, Charmaine and Wei are all standing around wondering where we are heading. None of the locals seem to have French. The van arrives tailing Steve, Donna, Jackie and Mark. We make the required turn and climb again along a road that winds around a rocky precipice.
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| The crossroads |
Eventually a large body of water, unlike
anything we have seen in this country, is visible in the distance below. We descend
gradually until we arrive at a massive, horse-shoe shaped hydro-electric dam.
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| Scotty at the dam |
Scotty mentioned that lunch was not far after the dam. Once
the dam is out of sight, I stop and wait not sure where the van is. Brian and
Anne approach and we all wait together. When the passenger van arrives, he says
we can proceed. Anne and I ride together for quite some time not seeing the
white lunch van. I am getting quite hungry having only eaten bread for
breakfast plus an orange and a Cliff block en route. There is a mosque at the
top of the next climb that Anne and I ride up to expecting to find the van. But by
the top there is no van, and more mountains loom. Anne stops to take a picture and
I continue on, my mind set on finding the lunch van.
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| Endless road |
It would be fair to say that by now I am getting pretty frustrated when kilometer after kilometer of
climbing does not get me any closer to the lunch stop. Despite the cool start to the day, it has turned out to be one of the hottest days so far. As I approach what looks like the very top, a small vehicle
pulls up from behind beeping its horn. The driver says something
unintelligible and I ignore him. He pulls up beside me and tries again. This time I can hear the passenger
say “Abdoul là-bas!”. It hits me that Abdoul has asked him to pass on a
message. So I turn around and head back down.
Soon I meet up with Abdoul who is fit to be tied. In his
broken English he asks me if I know where I am going. What am I doing? Do I know
how far off route I am? After he finishes his angry rant, we ride back down the
mountain together. He stops at a turnoff and shows me where I should have turned. He asks me if I
think we rode 10 km past the turn. “AND ALL UP!”, he points out. Not far down
the road, the support team is working and the entire group of riders is
enjoying lunch under a shady tree. It is hot today and I am thirsty having nearly
run out of water. Abdoul reaches for my hand and we ride across the bumpy field
together. He puts on his best smile and raises my hand, indicating his victory:
what’s lost is now found.
After another exceptional roadside lunch, we get in the vans for a short drive to the Atlantic Coast. We reach Imessaoune, a small hippie surfing town where we will spend the night. The hotel is set back from the ocean but the
coast is just a short walk down the road. Jackie, Donna and I walk into town to
find an ATM. I’m wearing shorts, but the wind blowing off the ocean is cool. This
early in the season the surfers are wearing wets. We discover from a local
merchant that there is not an ATM anywhere in this town. Donna buys herself an orange juice, Jackie a coffee and me a banana juice at an ocean side cafe.
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| Jackie and Donna |
That evening, Scotty has planned for us to have dinner at a
pizzeria where we will treat our support crew to dinner. It is the pizzeria owner’s first
night opening for the season. She only makes individual pizzas, which are quite
large. Thin-crust vegetarian pizzas are the best but we have lots of left-overs
to take back with us.
Tomorrow would be our last day of riding and what a day it
would be!
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