chrismarsden.co.uk
Morocco
Spring 2025
Week 1
Morocco
21 March - 11 April 2025
Back to Morocco for some Springtime cycling in the Atlas Mountains. I had a taster last year in 2024, on an organised tour, which was fine, but this year I want to be a bit more independent and do my own thing. However, not alone. I am too old and risk averse these days to go completely solo, so have teamed up with a cycling companion, Richard, who will cycle with me. We are both of a similar age, retired, but want the assurance of some company when out and about in Morocco. We found each other on one of the various touring cyclist websites, and connected, and I visited him near Cadiz earlier in the year so we could both have a look/ see of each other. Must have worked because we agreed to cycle together in Morocco and give each other the assurance of some company on our travels. Richard lives in Spain with his wife, so he flew from Malaga, while I flew from Birmingham, and we met in Marrakesh, staying two nights in a small Riad in the old part of the city as we got ourselves organised and prepared for the off. Marrakesh is busy, bustling, noisy, chaotic, and mildly interesting, although I think it is overhyped on the travel shows. The main square can be fun, but I very quickly tire of people selling trinkets, and performing - fire eaters, pet monkeys doing tricks etc. The food isn't that great, lots of tagines or cousous, and then more tagines or couscous. We are here during Ramadam, so the place is busy in the evenings when the locals break their fast - presumably with tagines and cousous ! - and, of course, there is no alcohol on offer, which doesn't bother me, and will - some will no doubt say ! - do me good !
Marrakesh - Touama
23 March 2025
45 Miles
After a couple of nights in Marrakesh, doing a bit of sightseeing and rediscovering the ubiquity of tagine and couscous, on Sunday morning we set off. Getting out of Marrakesh was not as hair raising as I though it would be, and after wending out way thorough endless back streets in the old city, we came to a main road that led us out of the city. Perhaps because it is Sunday, there were lots of second hand markets selling anthing and everything, from old clothes to second hand liquidisers, a sort of down market flea markets. It was busy, but we had a good margin on the main road, which made it fine for cycling. Around Marrakesh is pretty flat so it was easy riding, although always aware of the traffic and the unpredictable motorbikes and scooters that abound here, as well as a noticeable number of donkey drawn carts, usually overloaded with whatever. Motorbikes will have father, mother, and a child or two on board, father with a crash helmet but the rest of the family without. We had planned on staying around our day's destination,Touama, and had heard that there was a place which would be open and suitable, but when we got there it was closed, so our only achievable option for our first night was a rather high class hotel a little away from Touama, where we appeared to be the only guests, and were given a very nice suite with two separate bedrooms. We ate there as well, a couscous with beef dish, and a very nice mixed salad, and sparkling water ! The two lads who were looking after us were from the Cote d'Ivoire in West Africa, and, yes, they really wanted to go to the UK rather than stay in Morocco ! ...READ MORE...
Touama - Agdal Telouet
24 March 2025
40 Miles
The road was busy, I guess because it is the only road up and over the Atlas Mountains in this area. However, it is a well built and maintained road, with a wide margin, so although noisy it was safe. Worst of all are the motorcycllists, usually in packs, who disturb the peace. The motorbiker look, all beefy and hairy, is not a good look. I think somebody should tell them. Some of the lorries look as though they have seen better times, and belch black exhaust as they grind up the mountains, overly weighed down with precararious looking loads. There is a lot of motorhomes, usually French or Italian, couples of a certain retired age enjoying the winter sun and maybe revisiting their hippy youth. The riding was tiring and unrelenting, climbing up several thousand feet, until we reached the Col / summit at 2,220 meters / 7,000 feet where it was bitterly cold and windy. Then a rapid downhill for a few miles into a valley, and along to Agdal Telouet where we spent the night at a rustic but charming auberge in the middle of nowhere, and were welcomed most warmly by host Muhammed ...READ MORE...
Agdal Telouet - Ait Benhaddou
25 March 2025
40 Miles
The cold wind of last night had abated. Muhammed told us that when there is rain over in Marrakesh it causes wind in the mountains. Luckily, what breeze there was in the morning was to our back, so we bowled along the valley until we came to another valley which we followed, eventually a few hundred feet above the valley floor and able to see all the terraced fields down in the valley, so green and verdant compared to the red and dun coloured rock of the mountainsides. The valleys are very rural, lots of donkeys carrying fodder up from the valley floor, women hauling fire wood, herders looking over the sheep and goat who roam precariously up and down the mountainsides. -...READ MORE...
Ait Benhaddou - Ouazazarte
26 March 2025
25 Miles
Our accommodation was a little outside Ait Benhaddou, very simple and rustic, run by some smiley people who had a family of kids who were all put to work when they were not at school, it seems. We ate at the riad, the usual fare of tagine and couscous and mint tea, with eau avec gaz as a special treat. And then an early night. There isn't much more to do than to go to one's room, read, listen to the radio, write up the blog and sleep. Outside was pitch black, and the stars in the sky stunning, but it was a bit chilly and windy to stay out long admiring the wonders of the Universe. After a simple breakfast of bread, honey and the usual fried up pancake style thing, our ride today was pretty short, taking us to Ouazazarte, a large-ish regional town. ...READ MORE...
Ouazazarte - Agdz
27 March 2025
35 Miles
Today was another day of climbing over a mountain pass on the way to Agdz as we make our way down further south to a series of oases towns. But first, we had to get over a pass of 1700 meters, through some spectacular mountain and valley views, along the RN9 which has been substantially renovated in the last few years., and so was a good road for riding along, with a decent margin for safety. And then, once over the summit, it was a nice long downhill in to Agdz., which is at the head of a valley that is green and fertile, with lots of palm trees and various crops which are able to be grown there because of the water. I'm not sure where the water comes from, perhaps from aquafers deep underground. . ....READ MORE...
Agdz - Zagora
28 March 2025
60 Miles
Today should have been a fairly straightforward day, some 60 miles on a decent road more or less level and with some gentle downhill. Very little uphill compared to what has been the pattern so far. Well, it should have been straightforward. About half way along the route, I decided to pull off the road and have a little snack I had brought with me and rehydrate. I saw a bit of shade under a tree and cycled over to it, no more than 50 yards or so. ...READ MORE...
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