Before leaving the garage this morning, it was suggested I make a 'donation' for all the 'great food' and the bed, my first offer wasn't enough, so we settled on 200 dirhams, (about £18). So much for the good will and generosity. I seem to have forgotten that where the Arab culture is concerned, money is everything and whatever they do, it will always come back to you giving them money for something. Oh well, two reminders in two days, so time to listen up I guess.
I continued south, passing through Chefchouen. I've never visited any of these areas, so everything is new and I have all the remembered conversations from multiple people over the years of places and stories. Hopefully, this trip will join some of them up with images in my brain now. I opted to stay on tarmac all day today, except for some sections where you have no choice. The surrounding land is soaking wet, a proper mud bath everytime you edge off the rain. That's not helped by the continued sporadic rain throughout the day.
I'd put a route together to follow trending generally south east to get to Guercif, the start of the train line bit. It was around 240 miles and I just made it on fumes by the end of the day. Fuel is costing around 240 dirhams to fill the bike, (£19), which is cheaper than Portugal.
The landscape drifted by as I followed the bendy roads up over passes, (Tizi's) and down along valley bottoms. Everywhere is inhabited or cultivated. This whole side of the country has no spare space at all. You randomly see guys walking along the road in their Jelaba's miles between villages, mainly because just around the next corner is another house. Lots of shepherds were also seen moving their small flocks up and down the roads. I also saw one tour bus in a valley bottom, picking its way around the pot holes whilst stopping to point out views to the passengers. Loads of old Mercedes vans of various sorts weave up and down the roads full of goods and people.
People drive to avoid the potholes. Once your off the main highways, which are pretty smooth and well set up, the roads deteriorate rapidly. Whole sections have no tarmac and there are deep potholes with sharp tarmac edges everywhere. I crossed a couple of rivers today and the tarmac stops about 200m before and after the ford itself.
All the rivers are flowing at the moment, some way more than others, but compared to my summer visits, where they are just dried up smelly dumps, there is a lot of water around. Maybe that's why there is so much agriculture here, its wetter and can sustain crops more.
By about 4pm, I entered Taza, which is a pretty big town with a huge hill fort on the top. Spread around this, there are multiple new building areas, all of which sprawl. Rubbish is everywhere in Morocco, but in these bigger city type places, its everywhere and the smell to go with it. As I was wet after a day on the bike, I opted to go soft again and get another hotel room. That took some effort. An hour of riding around, to find a 2 star place where my bike got stored on a tiled floor basement and I got a large room for 280 dirhams for the night. (Breakfast not included). It's a noisy place, so earplugs are called for.
I do hope I find some sunshine again soon, this grey clouds and drizzle is like the UK in November and a bit soul destroying. Still, the desert should be dry!
