A change of day, a change of plan

Riding for us tends to broadly fall into two categories. Bimbling and Bimbling With Intent. Very occasionally though, we switch into Get There mode. That was our plan for this section, but less than a week after hatching our plan for Morocco and beyond, we are changing tack. Essentially, we planned to ride through Morocco pretty quickly, on bigger roads than we normally ride, to get to Western Sahara and into Senegal as quickly as we reasonably can. Then, in a few months, after heading north again, we would spend more time here to better explore what Morocco has to offer. This is in order to somewhat ‘beat the heat’, both in Senegal and when we head back up.

As of tomorrow, we leave our route and head to an auberge in the hills, increasing our trip by a day, in search of quieter roads and a more pleasant journey in general. This comes after a—pretty much enforced—rest day, after a killer day yesterday. Plus it is the first of many such detours on our way to the west coast. We’ve decided to suffer the consequences later, rather than kill ourselves riding into a brick wall headwind with rain and insane traffic to boot. Yesterday the weather delayed us so badly that we rode for a couple of hours in the dark, struggling to even stay on our bikes (s/o to Beck for her much improved handling skills), while also looking behind to make sure we binned it off the edge if two vehicles passed simultaneously. There’s a reason why we got off-road capable bikes, to fully take advantage of tracks and passes, but we’d set our minds on getting some distance covered and the (unseasonable and multiple amber warning) weather has stopped us from risking already sketchy sections. Peanut butter mud isn’t fun but Morocco has also experienced a fair bit of flooding lately, so we’re sticking to the black stuff more than normal.

We are lucky. We have the luxury of time to change our plans and we can stay at places in Morocco without overstretching our daily budget. In fact we can also eat out (to avoid cooking in the driving rain - note: there is often no cover at all for ages…) and still remain below budget. OK, our budget is generous (£30 each per day) but this has certainly helped.

The main reason for the change is just to add to our enjoyment of Morocco while we are passing through it, maybe sacrificing a few days in Senegal as a result. We love stopping to chat, take photos, record sounds and just chill out. The riding and the getting there is kinda secondary to us...as much as we enjoy that too.

Here’s to a more relaxed pace again, some more time to engage with our surroundings and, hopefully, some better weather too :)