1 post tagged “north africa”

With Easter upon us, it was time for a week of. Korina and I decided to head over to Morocco for a mountainbiking adventure holiday.

Marrakesh before mountainbiking

We flew in late Fri night, crashed out and then arose to the un-envious task of putting our bikes back together. Three hours later and we had assembled Korina's bike but were still having problems with mine. Luckily Karim, the mechanic from Skedaddle was available to help compensate for my complete lack of mechanical ability.

We then spent the rest of the day swanning around the central souk (market) - it wasn't long before a snake charmer had grabbed me and put a couple of snakes around my neck - refusing to remove them until I gave him some money. I did notice that during this experience, rather than trying to help me, Korina had headed for the hills. I found out later that there were also guys there that had monkeys which they would let you take a photo of with (i.e. with a monkey on your back) or purchase for 300 euro.

 

Day 1 - Telouet to Ait-Benhaddou

The first cycling day started with a somewhat harrowing transfer through some dodgy Moroccan mountain passes in the 4WD before a picnic lunch at a ruined Kasbah.

We were then on the bikes. The first 10km were on road, with a heavy cross wind - it was pretty amusing looking at a line of cyclists all leaning close to 45 degrees into the wind! As we left the road we dropped into a valley which meant that the wind ceased to be a factor for most of the rest of the day.

The cycling followed a general downwards trend along a rough 4WD track. Generally it was pretty non-technical, although there were one or two sections later in the afternoon where you could push yourself somewhat.

There were also a few river crossings. As I approached one of them I remember hearing the rest of the group yelling "hit it", which I interpreted to mean hit the river crossing as hard as I could. Unfortunately what they were actually saying is "keep left", which, by ignoring meant I crashed straight through the deepest part of the river. It was a pretty warm day, so I didn't mind being a bit damp!

We were staying in a hotel that had been made out of a refurbished Kasbah, and after 42km of rough terrain, both Korina and I were looking forward to seeing it. The hotel turned out to be excellent - with lots of little lounges and rooms for different groups, and rooftop terraces that would be great if the nights were a bit warmer.

Upon arriving at the hotel, we became aware that there had been a few problems during the day - most noticably, Martin and Jamie had both crashed - with a catalogue of minor and more serious injuries (turned out that Martin had broken a bone in his hand) and two of the girls had come down with food poisoning (seriously, who eats from the souk the day before setting out on a trip like this?!).

Also, one of our drivers had managed to crash a support vehicle into a rock. It was still operational, but did suggest something about the skill levels that our drivers had...

Day 2 - Agouim to Tizi-n-Tleta

Day 2 started off with a quick transfer to Agouim and then a rather hot, steady climb up to lunch. Korina was finding this much easier than the day before, in part because it was not as bumpy. At lunch, our drivers came through again by running over one of the bikes - all I could think was "£1,800" and was somewhat relieved to find out that he had managed to hit one of the hire bikes. Luckily there was a spare one as Martin could no longer ride with his arm in a cast.

However, Martin did start to amuse himself by walking - he walked the rest of the day after lunch, and was actually faster than most of the cyclists on the longer climbs.

After lunch there was a single track option which I took with our guide and some of the other riders in the group. Unfortunately our guid got a puncture and the valve of his inner tube was jammed - so I had to chase down the support vehicle and explain in broken french (and sign language) that our drivers needed to go back for Charlie.

The reason I was able to catch the support vehicle so easily is that it also had got a puncture - so after some delays relating to changing this, we were on the trail again.

After a tea break, the next challenge was an 8km climb. Again, this was mostly non-technical in that it was still a 4WD track - but it was exceptionally loose rock so therefore quite difficult to get traction. It was also pretty steep - so getting started once you had stopped could also be difficult. I decided to avoid both problems by not stopping. The climb took me about 40-45 minutes when usually it takes around 45-1.15. However, by the top I was not particularly lucid, with adrenalin being the main thing keeping me going.

 

It was then about another 5KM to our campsite in the High Atlas mountains. This was pretty easy going, although I was not really concentrating that much and almost came a cropper a few times in high speed corners that disintegrated into sand.

The lack of problem solving ability also became apparent when I arrived at camp - we had to put up tents, but because I was so knackered I really struggled to get my head together and figure out how the tent went up. Eventually I got it though.

After dinner, Korina started complaining about feeling unwell. She ended up crashing early, not before I had to have some animated discussions with her about taking the warmer of the two sleeping bags if she was not well.

It was quite a strange camping experience as there were nomads about - every now and again 1 or 2 would kind of wander through the camp, look at the fire for a bit, before wandering off.

 

Day 3 - Tizi-n-Tleta to Tachokchie

Rising early to check out the dawn, it became apparent that all was not well with Korina. She tried to start cycling, but as the sun came up and the heat started to beat down she made around 10km before having to wait for the support vehicle. I felt sorry for her, and a little guilty, as I was having a great time, and she had been really enjoying the trip before this.

So I continued on, catching up with the rest of the group just before the next village where we were mobbed by several hundred young kids. We found out later that it was school holidays - but something tells me that most of these children would still be around anyway. Mostly they stood in a big group and just stared at us - clad in lycra, with strange looking bikes we must have looked very strange to them.

After lunch there was a very hot 6km climb to lunch. Generally it was not as loose as the one on day 2, but it was a lot hotter, which made for uncomfortable climbing conditions. Riding up to lunch Charlie managed to break the rear mech on his bike, meaning that it was out for the remainder of the trip. Luckily we again had a spare bike which he used until the end.

 

The route from lunch was battling across some rather dull flats into an annoying headwind for an hour or two before getting into some of the nicest, fastest 4WD downhill I've come across for a while. Half way down the downhill there was an optional single track route - which I took with Charlie and some of the other riders. The single track was nice steep, but not too steep, ultra fast and quite well bermed on the corners. It was like it was man made, but apparently it had just been formed by people walking the track. This was perhaps the best part of the whole ride.

We then had four shortish but rather sharp climbs to get to the village house where we were staying the night. Shortly after arriving at the village where we were again mobbed by kids, I joined in a game of football, where I will be remembered for kicking the ball off the pitch and down a huge valley, and for scoring a pretty reasonable goal (even if I was playing against 10 year olds...).

 

Day 4 - Tachokchie to Anezal

After much discussion the previous night, our group had come to the communal decision that no one felt much like the 'optional' 24km climb first thing in the morning, much to Charlie's disappointment. For me, I know that I could have done the climb, but as I was already having some pain in one of my hamstrings I decided that the key to enjoying the rest of the trip was taking it easy on this day.

So we transferred to the top of the hill and then had a massive downhill by 4WD and single track to the lunch spot. It was mostly 4WD track and this was ultra fast and a bit sketchy on some corners where it was really loose and sandy. The place where I almost ate it was when Jamie stopped in front of me and I hit some loose stuff trying to avoid him. Could have all ended rather nastily, but luckily I just shaved him and onwards we rode.

Korina somehow managed to ride this downhill although she was still well below her best.

Before lunch there was another single track diversion I took with a couple of other guys which ended up with us getting lost in a village. Navigating amongst 100 Moroccan kids, all of whom are keen to alternately kick your tyres, push your bike, give you directions, give you high 5's or slap you on the arse (in the case of the ladies) was a somewhat stressful experience (although not particularly scary - again, they were mostly 10 year olds).

When I got to lunch I found out that Korina had flaked out completed and needed some other people from the group to push her bike the last bit. At this point there was little I could do for her - although it was clear that she shouldn't really have been riding.

After lunch we had a short 2km hill climb followed by a long 4WD downhill to our stopping point for the day. We then transferred to Ouarzazate where we stayed the night. Our hotel didn't look much from the street, but it went back and back and back into a maze of different rooms and lounges. It really was a great place to relax after a few hard days on the trail and camping rough.

Day 5 - Ait-Saoun to Tamnougalt

Day 5 was a relatively easy short day. We started off at a leisurely 11am and cycled about an hour downhill into the Draa Valley to our lunch spot immediately following a river crossing. I think this was the best lunch spot on the trip because it was both warm and had ample shade for pasty whiteys like me.

After lunch we cycled on down the river valley before a climb and then a fast descent into another river valley.

Around this time I started having puncture problems. I had had one on day 3, but it happened overnight, so did not impact upon my riding. This time around I noticed my back tyre had a slow leak so stopped to pump it up, was about to set off when my front tyre was also punctured, so changed that - rode on for another couple of KM, caught up with Korina and promptly got another puncture - so used her tube to fix this one. In total I had gathered around 5 punctures over 3 incidents across about 5km.

We then arrived at the hotel - again another converted Kasbah - to find Martin sitting there drinking Pina Colada's. From this point forward he was known alternately as "the Bionic man" or "Forest". Again the accomodation was of the highest quality.

 

Day 6 - Tamnougalt to Timasla

The final day riding continued down the Draa Valley stopping briefly at a Kasbah which was used during the filming of Babel. We met one of the local kids who apparently shot Cate Blanchet in the movie.

 

The riding continued to be a mix of up and down 4WD track. At 62km it was our longest day and there were 1 or 2 across the group who definately looked to be feeling it. Korina again somehow managed to ride all day, even though she was still not properly right. I was proud of how tough she had been, although she was more annoyed at herself for getting sick than anything else.

 

I managed to continue getting punctures this day too. By the end I had decided that my tyres are rubbish - don't buy Specialised Pros unless you like changing inner tubes - they are as tough as paper and about as durable. Unnervingly, the sidewalls also tend to collapse at speed when you go around corners.

There is not too much more to say about the riding - at the end of the day we transferred to Zagora where we stayed in another converted building.

Zagora and the Sahara

 

 

The following day was spent driving into the Sahara. We stopped a couple of times - once to ride some camels, another time to look at a camel herd being "refuelled" with water and again for lunch at an Oasis. About now I was starting to feel somewhat nauseous which was somewhat concerning.

However, this could have been put down to our driver's driving, which again was utterly terrible - but not as bad as the new catering team we had picked up in Zagora who came close to rolling their Landrover on 3 separate occasions - due to punctures, bald tyres or poor driving.

By the time we got to camp I was surprisingly feeling a little better which was good as our driver managed to get our Landcruiser stuck in the dunes and required bailing out by Dris - the whilely little driver who said little, smoked a lot and was the only one that could actually drive.

We then climbed the tallest dune in the Moroccan Saharan and watched the sunset - which was less spectacular than I expected as it was a little hazy. We then had a few drinks and slept under the stars in the dunes.

 

The Sahara and back to Marrakesh

We got up early the following morning and watched the sunrise - well worth it as the weather was a lot clearer before packing up the camp and heading back to Marrakesh.

 

Brahim generally drove better on the way back - although he did pull out into oncoming traffic on a blind hairpin at one stage that made everyone gasp somewhat.

Arriving back in Marrakesh we then had dinner in a restaurant in the Souk before crashing for the night.