Day 54: Tafraoute – Tiznit (28th of March)
The day kicked off with a very paranoid Javi, scared of not being able to make it due to his stomach pain. The road was not specially helpful: not far after leaving Tafraoute, the valley ended and a tough uphill started, with dry nude mountains surrounding us.
We arrived to Tirhmi, where we stopped to eat. We are seeing the first fishes since a long time meaning we shouldn’t be far away from the sea (yuhuuuu). After asking we found out that we had to go to one place to buy the fish bring them to another one to cook all of that without knowing the price: too much if a hassle for us European. We (Gaspard) settled on a place that had chicken and lentils (so good to see them again). Javi was ambitious and thought he was recovered. FAKE NEWS: Javi spent the rest of the day struggling while Gaspard was way ahead with Lysiane and Patric enjoying the first palm trees we saw, observing dead animals and giant insects by the road.
Javi did not even realize about them, he was busy suffering. The sleeping spot? Another camping night below a sky full of stars. As usual.
Day 55:
We arrived to the proud Amazigh-speaking town of Tiznit, where we gave Lysiane a cake for her 25th birthday! We of course sang happy birthday to her, and the rest of the people in the cafe where we were resting joined. Everything had to be done quickly due to a structural collapse of the candle five. She really appreciated it and was another opportunity to be happy to have met her. I think we definitely learned a lot from both of them.
We ate three pastries each to get some energy as still had 50 km to go before lunch time -including some mountains. We saw a few abandoned houses on the way, maybe some old spanish military houses?
With a recovered Javi -he started to sing again-, we pushed up to the coast, where we had an octopus tajine in front of a shining sea. Gaspard wasn’t happy about the place as it was the first restaurant they found and “it looked touristic” and the signs were written in french.
We noticed the red houses becoming blue and white, and somehow the atmosphere became lighter and happier. We heard about some arc-shaped cliffs created by erosion: the perfect spot to sleep. We arrived proudly 1h30 before sunset having time for a bath. Unfortunately there was no way to go down the cliff to the beach: fail…
After some intense google map looking we managed to find the most beautiful arch just 20 minutes before the sun disappeared in the sea. It took us over an hour to find a good spot as they are many arches -of which some collapsed and not every path is accessible for bikes. We bathed among powerful waves, shouting senseless stuff and hugging each other, humbled by the beauty of the spot where we were. Fantastic.
Day 56
We did the 5 km separating us from Sidi Ifni, a former Spanish colony until 1969. The town is in front of a beautiful beach, and it is known for being a good surf spot. We found hostel “Suerte Loca” (in Spanish, crazy luck), founded in 1935, with a superb view of the ocean. The four of us agreed to treat ourselves with some nice fish in a local restaurant in the market. We felt really bad when a couple of moroccans invited us to taste all the fish they were eating, and eventually gave us a full plate of sardins! It just doesn’t work to say no, it’s really easier to accept the gift, smile and say a profound “Shukram” (Thank you in arabic).
In the afternoon, Gaspard and I booked our flight back home from Dakar, as we were scared of prices going up and we had agreed with our mothers, girlfriend and budgets to return in “Early May”. We were stupid enough to get different dates: Gaspard the 7th of May and Javi the 9th. So dumb. I think we need to talk even more in this relationship.
We enjoyed a nice coffee on the terrace above the sea “with wifi” to catch up on the blog. As usual in Morrocco wifi meant you could (maybe) sent a whatsapp. We then decided to treat ourselves with a european pizza. This was our second try and probably the worst pizza we have ever eaten (including some drunk cooking, burned frozen pizzas). Thats it no more pizzas here!
Arriving in the hotel we opened our bag and many insects escaped on to our bed! We brought them with us from the beach. Those insects were impossible to kill thus we had to capture them and through them away from our balcony. Luckily Javi has some good insect catching skills.
Day 57 (31st of March)
We woke up relatively early to check a bit the town, which is full of reminiscences of the Spanish times. The square even has a building with the shield of the Spanish fascist regime of Franco! (Someone please that away!) Being the buildings so old, it gave a taste of how the Spain of those times used to be. Quite surreal to experience it in Morocco.
As we were having breakfast, Javi suddenly started shouting to a car: “Hey, you!”. Gaspard was quite astonished. It was some German guys in a Jeep that Javi had met like 3 weeks ago in Errich, Middle Atlas. They had been exploring the desert, crossing and jumping dunes. Funny enough, Franz, one of the Germans, told Javi when they met for the first time: “Man, I have the feeling we will see each other again”. That’s life there. We guessed they were on their 40’s- 50’s, but they had the spirit of a teenager. Great group, hope to go to a Rammstein concert with them at some point!
At this point in the trip, we had well realized about the limitations of going in a group of 4. Lysiane and Patric were very flexible, nice and helpful, but such a big group of 4 people that didn’t know each other before, with different cycling paces, has its drawbacks. We thought that the moment of splitting up and continuing alone had arrived. We were a bit scared of how they would react, but when we told them, they understood completely and continued being as nice to us as before. What a blast riding with you, guys!
Once we clarified that, we set direction to Guelmin, the gateway for the Sahara. As soon as we descended the last hill, the landscape changed dramatically: no more mountains, no more forestry. Just an endless sky. And dust. Lots of dust. All the houses look very poor built with mud and wood.
Before reaching Guelmin the post man on his scooter stops us to talk. He tried to tell us about a place he went to in Spain. He told us: “it is next to Portugal with a roundabout and a restaurant”. Despite those “precise” information we didn’t manage to find out this place. The wind starting to blow strongly we got cold and left him to go for lunch in Guelmin.
Javi got super excited, there was a bacon cheese burger on the menu!! Unfortunately the waiter disappointed us by saying it is a regular burger. It feels like they do not know what bacon is. A guy come to talk to us and sit snd our table while we eat. Javi asked him about the situation in the border between Guerguerat and Nuadibu – which has occasional presence of the Frente Polisario, the Saharaui army “in war” with Morocco-, and from there on we felt like he didnt like Javi anymore – clearly a sensitive topic. After that the guy started to warn us about Senegal and the fact that all black people look the same and you cant differentiate them.
For the last night together, we decided to buy a bottle of wine in Guelmin. The only liquor store was operated by the only Jewish of the town. The shop was unreal, it looked like if we were buying a kilo of cocaine. No signs in the shop, a security guard, smoke, people with gold chains and sunglasses… what a mysterious place.
We found a camping spot, where we drunk the wine while playing Belotte and contemplating the descent of the sun. We found the first camel signs and bones: welcome to the desert. Unfortunately, the mosquitos ruined our night, biting every single exposed place of our skin. We had to put the tent in the middle of the night to manage to sleep. We hate you, mosquitos of Guelmin.
Total distance cycled: 2770 km
Total altitude climbed: 26’800 m+
Cycling Pirates 
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