So, what did the morning bring ?  Well, I was still adamant that I was getting on no bus.  Richard, thinking better of it, was planning on staying the day in Skoura, which suggested to me that he was somewhat worse than he was letting on, but still insisting that he would bus it to Taroudante so that he could take on an alternative Atlas Mountain pass.  I decided that I would carry on and retrace the route back over the Atlas Mountains from whence we had come, via Aid Ben Haddou and Agdal Telouet, and we would regroup somewhere once he had done his route over the mountains.  

So, off I went, heading for Ait Ben Haddou, via Ouazarzate.  Wind wasn't too bad, but the road and the traffic, the RN 9, was awful.  Some of the RN have been widened and modernised, and there is a good shoulder out of the way of the traffic, but the sections of the RN9 which I travelled today were still awaiting modernisation.  The traffic is fast and furious, and long straight stretches encourage people to belt along.  Overtaking is a sport game, and people will overtake against me and in to me.  The shoulder was rough, and often rutted, but I had to ride it pretty often in order to save my skin.  My Garmin rear light / radar is invaluable, and gives me a beep when a car is approach from behind, and I can look in my mirror and make an assessment, and take action.  After I turned off the RN9 for Aid Ben Haddou, the road was quieter, but the wind was pretty tiring.  Anyhow, I made it to Ben Ait Haddou, and stayed in a pleasant Riad and managed to eat and get a beer in one of the local hostelries.

I think Richard's plans are failing to come together, because he can't now get a bus as planned, seemingly all full or just not going, and so I think he's hoping to get a taxi over 200 km to Taroudant.  I admire a man who likes to keep to a plan !  But, we shall see.

The Marrakesh Belly is settling down, but there is still residual activity !

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.

                                                 PREVIOUS  ..................................................................................NEXT POST