Day 11 - A Love Affair with Nature
Based on the beautiful scenery of the previous day, I could hardly wait to start biking. In addition, my plan was to make it back to Vienna by December 11th, as a friend of my was visiting me in Vienna on the 12th, in addition to me missing my loved ones back home. For getting to Vienna, I had to reach Malaga to return the bike, Tangier to take a ferry to somewhere in Spain, Marrakesh to reach Tangier by some means of transport and Marrakesh was still some 400 kilometers away, somewhere across the high Atlas - and it was already the 6th. St. Nikolaus Day. I was a bit unsure not sure how everything would fit, but I put a stick in the sand by booking a flight for the 11th from Malaga to Vienna. I therefore found myself on the bike at 5:45 in the morning - I put all my warm stuff on.
It was quite a breathtaking sight watching the sunrise, coloring the Sahara in bright red color. Well, this is my problem, this photo does not reflect what I experienced.
Sunrise highlighting the Atlas mountains
Soon after 8 am, I reached the town of Tazzarine, having made some 50 kilometers, and enjoyed a double serving of an omelet - was a bit surprised by the small size of the single portion. It was quite a lively town - which was surprising, considering how quiet and lonesome the roads were. This was something quite typical in the Saharan towns - you'd never think the place is inhabited, then you meet a crowds of people.
Town of Tazzarine
Moving on, I met a whole herd of dromedaries, gazing on the scarce vegetation.
The views were spectacular, I will paste in pictures, but again, you need to actually get out there and get a feeling of it for yourself...
As I was enjoying the ride in the amazing scenery on this deserted road, I heard the sound of a car coming from behind. Unlike the other few cars that passed me, this car became ever slower and felt I was being followed. Images of kidnapped Europeans by some extremist groups flashed by and then I turned around. It was a lady, evidently a tourist, she and her husband took photos of me while riding. As we were practically the only two vehicles on the road, we started talking while riding - I felt as if I never wanted to stop riding that day! She was Miriam from Germany and she was kind enough to send the pictures she took via WhatsApps.
The picture taken by Miriam, the German tourist, of this wonderful stretch of road
Later, I rode by the small town of Nkob, a Berber village which hosts some 40 Kazbahs. By about 14:30, I reached the town of Agdz - and had already 150 kilometers behind me, with quite a few level stretches of road. I did not stay too long, drank just a freshly squeezed orange juice (apparently, the double omelet was quite a lot).
I saw interesting things:
More oasis
More bike lines in the desert
More Kazbah
Someone praying on the side of the road
A huge palm forest
After Agzd, I expected the road to continue as a relatively level one - but as faith, and the Atlas mountains, would have it, a serious incline awaited me now. I thought that I'd make it in an hour, thinking the edge of the road near the top of the mountain was the summit - I could not have been more wrong. The road went up and up and up - for some 20 kilometers, there was no mercy. The sights were still beautiful.
At the bottom of the hill, midst the palm trees, is the town of Agdz
The road looking back - with the shadow of the mountain indicating the sun was now close to setting
A deep gorge
It was close to 5 pm - sunset - by the time I had reached the summit and after a short downhill, I reached the small village of Ait Saoun, I've had ridden about 180 kilometers. There was a guy at a restaurant speaking fairly good English, he said he had a room to let - you can image how the it looked like when I decided not to stay, but head for the town of Ouarzazate, some 40 kilometers away. He told me there would be one more pass coming, but the room was anything but clean, there was no shower and just a pit for a toilette. I suffered up some 5 further kilometers and even then there was only limited kindness, though I was able to roll for a while, there were yet a number of climbs. I arrived in a busy street, only to find out the center of town was yet another 2 kilometers away - it was close to 8 pm when I ended some 225 kilometers that day, with 1750 meters of climbing and 1500 of descending, you can follow the map here.
The center of town looked were European - and was not quite busy (it was getting cold in the evening). I was not sure as to where to say, as I saw a modern VW Beetle parking on the side of the road - went up to the young driver. His name was Brad, was a Moroccan-English guy, we struck up a nice conversation and he took me out to eat on the corner of the main square (yes, more kafta, was really very good). To retaliate, I invited him to a nice patisserie opposite the restaurant, we had some nice juices and cakes. Brad told me about his two Rotweilers, and showed me pictures of him taking the dogs out to the local lake - and how the dogs protected him from the attack of a wild boar. A hotel was on the main square, and for a really reasonable amount (80 dirhams, I think), I was given a room - of course without heating.