Over the top! Ouirgane to Ouled Berhil

Getting an early start with a simple breakfast, not the best we’ve had in Morocco we managed to hit the road by 8.30.

The climbing started straight away as we followed the lake and then the river that feeds it up and up and up. The road was fortunately on the East face of the valley which meant that most of the morning fortunately was spent in the shade. After about 45k (24 miles) we came to the oldest mosque in Morocco about half a mile from the road. It’s called the Mosque de Tinmel and has some very nice features inside. Not that I saw them as I stayed outside whilst Andrew went around, at first to guard the bikes which apparently wasn’t necessary according to the doorman (once a donation to the church was made!).

We carried on climbing however sometimes we climb high up above the river and the drop down closer to it usually where there was a settlement. People are very friendly I couldn’t estimate how many times we said / replied to a”bonjour ca va” from people on the side of the road or even most motor cyclists.

We reached “the top” according to Andrew by about 15.00 but then after dropping down a bit realised we still had a short climb to do. By this time we had both run out of the 3/4 litres of water we had each so we stopped at a cafe. The very friendly mustapha was keen to sell us .... well anything he could really, omelettes, accommodation etc . We settled for an orange juice and 2 bottles of water and set off on the descent; all 33 miles of it! Spectacular views of the road below. We finally arrived around 17.00 after 7.5 hours of more or less no stop cycling and having covered 117km.

The hotel in Ouled Berhil was ok but nothing special; we got the roof top room with reverberations of angle grinder.

We decided to venture out in search of a good place to eat only to be recommended the place we were staying in. We went back and had a tasty chicken tagine and tomato salad washed down with a reasonable sparkling apple juice with NO alchohol!

Tomorrow the final push to Agadir a flattish 69 miles ( 110km).Read more