Swings and roundabouts…and then some more swings

The alarm was set early. We woke up as dawn broke in a really beautiful and peaceful campsite under the canopy of an olive tree. Quietly we got our stuff together and packed down the tent whilst campers slept around us.

On leaving we started our ‘Gravel Ride to Tanger’ that we’ve very roughly mapped on Komoot which took us along some dusty and stoney tracks through the Moroccan countryside.

We had lots of lovely interactions with people as they went about their business, farming in the fields, collecting firewood and travelling by donkey.

It was going so well until we started our first climb up a track. It got steeper and steeper and rockier and rockier until we had no option but to push (Sam gave it a good go to begin with).

It even got so bad that Sam decided to lighten his bike by removing some luggage. Something that we haven’t done before in over a year of touring.

A guy with a donkey did try and give us some alternative directions in Arabic but we understood only a little and had no signal to double check - we were also stubborn about going down after all the effort to come up. It ended up taking us about 1.5 hours to do 1 km. I was cross that we hadn’t turned back earlier on and frustrated that I needed Sam’s help to push over some of the enormous rocks. We were counting down every metre to the summit.

There, the track shallowed (rideable) and we filtered some water from a public tap trackside. However, this joy was short lived.

The track twisted and turned and once again became rocky and steep (but downhill). I was a bit grumpy after all the effort of pushing up with no reward of a rideable down but two boys ran over to us. Mohammed and his brother walked and chatted with us all the way down to where the slope became shallower, pointing us in the right direction for the tarmac. Their distraction muted the horrible descent.

The shallower bit was no good for riding either! Solid underfoot but with loads of jutting stones and rocks which made for slow and uncomfortable riding. We had to clean our belts too as they were making a racket from the dust and starting to feel a bit rough.

Finally, we reached the road and cycled our way into Bir Kouate looking for some much needed sustenance. We stumbled upon an amazing cafe and were served by the super kind Hamid. We had the best omelette in a long while and a deliciously strong and sweet Moroccan tea. After a really great rest Hamid kindly offered us some milk which we carefully declined as we have no way of keeping it but gave him a sticker instead (he’s already been in touch!).

We stopped at a petrol station where we bought a cold drink and intended on asking about to camping there for the night (something we had done multiple times before in Morocco). But whilst sat here, someone gave us some cakes, tea and olive oil! Moroccan generosity is off the scale and after a bit of a ‘down’ day from a riding perspective, the people have turned it around again!

But unfortunately the answer to the question about staying the night at the petrol station was a ‘no’. They said that the police didn’t like that kind of thing in the interior despite us having camped in these places multiple times before. We rolled on, passing a swimming pool and cafe that had a symbol of a motorhome along side the coffee cup and WiFi ones. Here we asked about camping but they wanted quite a lot of money and it was the first time anyone had asked so they weren’t 100% sure.

So, we rolled on again into town before riding to an auberge we had found on Google. It looked good but as we turned up we realised something was happening and it had been fully booked for a wedding. They instead suggested we ride back into town and ask for Hotel Nishan where would find somewhere to sleep. All the while we were looking for wild camp spots but places were really limited. After asking around we found Hotel Nishan, and asked for a room or a place to put our tent. Despite having a huge yard out the back it was a firm and unhelpful ‘no’, suggesting Essaouira as the place to find accommodation (2 days riding in the wrong direction for us at 7:30pm…). We explained this predicament but they ushered us to move on.

We re-approached the Gendarmerie officer up the road who we had asked for directions from not five minutes before saying that everywhere was full and asking what should we do. He just shrugged his shoulders at us and told us to go 30km south (where we’ve come from).

So we were a bit stuck. The only option before it got too dark was to return to the swimming pool where they had kindly offered us a place a couple of hours earlier. This time though they were more hesitant in allowing us to stay saying that they had no authorisation from the Gendarmerie for camping. Thankfully it’s a family affair here and one of the staff agreed to let us stay.

Here we are. Sam is chatting with the owner’s grandson (who speaks good English) about our tour and I’m having another Moroccan tea. We now wait for all the guests to leave the swimming pool and garden so we can put up our tent and hope that the Gendarmerie (who left us with no other option) don’t bother the business or us in the night.

It’s been quite a tough rollercoaster of a day today, but thankfully these kinds of days are few and far between. There’s always one or two acts of kindness or offers of friendship that keep our spirits up and sometimes save the day!