A long day
Trip Start
Jul 07, 2008
1
43
219
Trip End
May 27, 2010
Meknes,
Morocco
Friday, October 3, 2008
Khemisset (on the way to Meknes)
Lovely and warm
We set off early this morning anticipating the horrible traffic we encountered when we left Tangier on a Friday morning, but it was nothing like it. In fact the whole 87kms we did today was a bit of a dream and I have to say the nicest ride we've done in Morocco so far. The road was good, the traffic not too heavy and the countryside was very pleasant. Lots of grapevines (I'm reluctant to say vineyards because I'm not sure if they actually make wine or just grow the grapes), cork and olive groves and generally it was all quite tidy.
We stopped for lunch under the shade of a tree round about the 60km mark, and a whole load of herons and a single flamingo flew over, we guessed there must be some water nearby. The other things we kept seeing today were dead tortoises, squished on the road. When we were in Rabat they were for sale in the Medina, along with mice, rabbits and hamsters.
Despite the nice ride today, we have decided that there are some countries not meant to be cycled and Morocco is one of them. I'm sure if you can get yourself up into the High Atlas and trek, or, dip in and out of the many different areas/regions it's probably a nice place to be for a few weeks. So, we've decided to cut Morocco short and head back to Spain.
We're on our way up to Meknes and Fes, where we'll spend a few days. Then we're going to take a train to Nador in the northeast, near the Algerian border then take the ferry from Melilla to Almeria in southeast Spain. We'll cycle back towards Malaga and meet Dave's sister in Torre at the end of October.
We're both craving other people's company. We haven't met a single person we like and had a decent conversation since we were in Spain on the Camino, and there were only two of them! That's the other thing we like about travelling, meeting other travellers. So we are looking forward to getting home in November and having a good ole chinwag with all our friends.
We are staying at the Hotel Diouri in Khemissett. We found it on the internet just before leaving Rabat but had no idea what it would be like, or how much it would cost. It's absolutely fine (although when we first arrived we were convinced it would be way above our price range, but you can't ever be sure with these places) it's costing 187dh and that's ensuite, with hot water and towels and everything! As you enter the town from the Rabat side, you follow the main road towards Meknes, down the hill until you think you've gone too far and it's on the right.
We'll have a wander into town later to eat, but for now, it's rest time.
Laters
