Day 19: Guercif Train Line and Proper Sand Dunes.

Well, that was a better day of both weather and riding. I set off from Taza around 8ish, headed to Guercif. This is a military town and also trying to be something more. There is beautiful artwork at the entrance and a great big ornamental 'Guercif' sign. Plenty of nice cafes and just a nice feel about the place. I had another coffee here and once I'd sorted out the correct GPX file to follow, I set off looking for the old French 600 gauge railway line I'd come to ride. 

My first forays turned out to be a weave around sandy sections whilst trying not to ride over the huge amount of irrigation pipes that are being laid for the olive plantations. I found a small section, followed this and then jumped back onto tarmac. That routine carried on for some 30 miles before I started to find some great sections. There are around 74 viaducts along the line, all of them are now ruins, but they still stand tall and are in some lovely places. 

I rode down into the wadi's to get some pictures in between meandering around the line itself. It soon became apparent, you couldn't get any speed up on the remaining line. There are hundreds of collapsed culverts, some old age, some locals wanting the stonework, others washed out. Add to this, the really spiky trees that are now growing in places and every now and then, there is a cutting section that is full of sharp loose rock bouncing the bike all over the place. 

It's fun to keep trying to patch together the ride and the history side of it was a buzz for me personally. I could see 'normal' folks getting bored on some of it and just jumping on the tarmac road that runs adjacent to it. At several points, the new road and railway line run along the same sections of this old one, just showing that even with modern building techniques, a good line is a good line and those Victorian era engineers from all nationalities moved human knowledge on so far in a short space of time. In my mind, its an equivalent jump as the Romans did in terms of science and engineering. 

There were a few birds of prey flying around and a big fox was startled by me at one point too. 

At Missour, I stopped in another cafe for tea and some fuel, then decided to head to the south east corner of Morocco and follow several of the planned routes around there. I found my first campsite in days, hidden away off the road tucked on the edge of a wadi. 

The sun wasn't far off setting, but as it was warm, I pitched the tent and hung out some rather damp smelling stuff from the rain the last few days. I think in the morning I'll take a bit of time to air things and also sort out the missing bolt in the sump guard I still haven't done. Meanwhile, it's diary and food time before bed.