Last days (not so) alone #8

Day 37 (11th of March)

I start cycling with a magnificent view of the Palmeraia of Thingir. As soon as the Toudra Gorge ends, a huge forest of palms expands. However, on the last uphill before starting the descent to the national road, my bike starts to make some weird noises. Shit, gotta stop and check it out. I think I will do it after the descent and, as soon as I am done with the descent, “crack!!!”, something breaks!

I step out of the road and see that the hanger of the rear derrailleur is broken. This is a super specific bike part, and very difficult to find in Morocco. However, I have a spare one, and I think I know how to change it. But I also know that I am an awful mechanic and not specially gifted in manual work. Let’s get to it!

I disassemble everything but the broken part of the hanger is stuck in its cavity and I struggle to take it out. Some guy appears and offers me to take the bike to a mechanic in his truck. I think about it, but then I suspect he wants to charge me for it. Indeed, he asks for 20€ for a 5 minute ride. “HAHAHA goodbye, man”. I am certainly back again in the touristic area of Morocco where you need to beware of opportunistic guys like that one that see you just like a euro with legs.

Some very friendly teenagers appear and suggest to use the bottle opener of my Swiss knife to do more torque. I let them do it and voila, the broken hanger is out and I can replace it with my spare one. I reward them with chocolate, and say “Saha” (Thanks in Amazigh) at least 10 times to them.

Once the bike is ready again, a not specially scenic national road takes me from Tinghir to Dades, where I start the uphill to its Gorge, 30 km far from the National road. Since its already 6 pm, I decide to leave the cycling up the Gorge for tomorrow, and bargain with a hotel owner to get a room. In the end, he gives me the breakfast for free. Not bad.

Day 38

5 minutes after starting the uphill to Dades Gorge, magic happens. I see two cycle tourists! We start talking. Lysiane is a 24 years old frenchie that has already cycled 4’000 km from her town close to Switzerland and plans to cycle many more. Patrick is a Canadian engineer who started about a month ago in south of Spain. He is planning to cycle for a year. They met through Couchsurfing and joined forces.

We seem to share the same spirit regarding cycling and traveling. They are going in the opposite direction, so we exchange numbers and agree to camp together somewhere in Kaala M’gouna.

I climb up to the top of the Gorge, where a breathtaking view of the road waits for me. After an obligatory tuna-cheese sandwich stop, I descend to the national road and catch Lysiane and Patrick, who have found a nice camping spot on the banks of a river.

They offer me cuscous for dinner and, after so much time just eating tuna sandwiches, I can’t say no. We have a nice conversation about cycling, traveling and our plans, until darkness surrounds us and we get in our sleeping bags.

Day 39

We start the journey together, without any fixed plans. We both have pending couchsurfing requests in Ouarzazate, 95 km far. So if they don’t work, we will just camp somewhere before.

I soon realize that Patrick and specially Lysiane take a quite faster pace than me. Something inside me forces to follow them and adapt to them, but I quickly reject those thoughts. “Javi, remember you are not hear to prove anything to anyone. Follow the pace that suits you, enjoy and forget about the rest.” – “OK, boss”.

I take the next opportunity to ask them please no to wait for me if they don’t feel so, but they are really chill and nice and we just keep meeting each other along the road.

On the lunch break, Patrick spots a nice lake 20 km from Ouarzazate that looks good for camping. We arrive and see it’s some kind of rich neighbourhood, with a golf club included. I realize that, not surprisingly, this must be the only place I have seen so far without a mosque. Rich people seem to have another r€ligion here.

Needless to say that we take a bath, and that we have cuscous for dinner again.

Day 40 (14th of March)

It takes us less than two hours to make it to Ouarzazate, a city that has been for centuries the main gateway for the Sahara.

As I had planned, I go to the bus station to take a bus to Marrakesh, 200 km far. I will meet a recovered Gaspard, and a worried combo of mother, aunt and girlfriend. Can’t wait to see their faces when they see me with such a beard, 5 kg less and a 5 level darker skin colour.

Distance cycled: 2241 km

Cumulated elevation: 18243 m+