We shook the dust from our feet as we left the Hotel Bougafer in Tazzarine, after a passable breakfast served by the hard working waiter with the boss sitting playing with is phone and taking no part in any preceedings, except when it came to paying the final bill, and even that was a lackadaisical affair.  At least it was at the budget end of the scale. 

Our ride to Alnif was on a pleasant road with a few hundred meters up and down a couple of times along the way, with a nice 15 km gentle downhill with the wind to our backs on the homestretch.  Along the way, about 10 km outside Alnif I stopped at one of the new petrol stations and cafes that are popping up along the roads, and after my coconut juice rode away leaving my water filtation bag, which filters out the bacteria and kills the viruses when a chlorine tablet is added.  Usually, I buy bottled water,  but if I have to use tap water I put it through the cleaning process. So far it's worked.  I realised I'd misplaced on a few kilometers from Alnif, but wasn't inclined to cycle back up the incline and against the wind to retreive it, so my mission was to get taxi back there to pick it up.  Tais are ubiquitous here, whizzing at great speeds along the road, packed with people and loaded with stuff of all sorts on the roofrack.  The cars have seen better days, I suspect that they third hand handmedowns from France, and they find a new lease of life here until they are flogged to death.  After washing and changing I walked up to the taxi square, and after much discussion amoung the taxi drivers one agreed to take me back to the petrol station.  The lad at the hotel said it would be 50 Dirham return, but I guess I got the foreigner rate of 150 Dirham, and was not inclined to argue, except to let the taxi driver know that I was being ripped off.  But, getting my filter bottle back was worth the extra.  The ride was. hair raising, along a straight road only slowing down when he came to a place where the road had been washed away by the rains and floods, of which they get quite a bit of flash flooding in these parts in the winter.

Driving is pretty awful in Morocco.  Unpredictable, careless, and undisciplined.  On my bike I am always very defensive and keep an eye out for what a car /driver will do, like pull out in front of me with no signal or even a look in the mirror.  I call it the Inshallah School of Motoring.  If it is your pre-determined day to die, then you will die, no matter how you drive, so no need to bother about how you drive then.  And, if you kill somebody, well, it was their day to die anyhow.  So that's alright then.  I see the same carelessness in Birmingham amongst some of the immigrant communities who share a predeterministic view of life, and probably haven't properly passed a driving test anyhow;  there has been, probably still is, a lot of faud in driving tests, with relatives or friends taking the test for you, or making sure the driving examiner is a cousin.  Wasn't it Pakistan Airlines that discoved that at least one third of its pilots had fraudulent pilot licences ?  Anyhow, that kind of mentality and behaviour I see everyday on the streets of Birmingham.  And, in Ramadan, the Uber drivers are zonked because they have had little sleep, they aren't eating or drinking during the day, and it appears that they are driving around in a daze.  Formulaic Disclaimer here - I am all in favour of the tutti frutti make up of our communities, by and large;  it is the reality in which I live, and I make the best job of it.  But I do struggle with the dangerous carelessness we see on our roads, because I'm usually the one who is in the firing line on my bike.  And, I am not prepared to leave my well being to a predermined fate.  I believe in personal responsibility and taking ownership of my saftely and the safety of others.  Not taking a chance on God everytime I cycle my bike.  I think He has bigger things to worry about.  So, I'll do my own worrying.

The mood was merry in Alnif tonight, because the new moon had been sighted and Eid will be tomorrow.  The town was busy with people doing last minute shopping for the feast.

You can follow my route via my Garmin satellite tracker at  https://share.garmin.com/chrismarsden1954    Choose "View All Tracks" in the top right hand corner of the map to see the full route.

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