After a night’s reflection…Iain decided that his chain was really not going to last!! So he would find a taxi!
So…..a full day on my own today! A wistful farewell….
We agreed to keep in close contact….and 25km in I messaged Iain to confirm it was only 20km to Breakfast at Larache!
But then…..I took a wrong turning……and got completely lost!! COMPLETELY! To the extent that I thought Google maps had gone bananas…and could not find me! Bogged down on sandy roads in small villages. Asking directions and getting sent every which way! Often by smiling Berber women who were unusually friendly. Until I found a guy who spoke Spanish and managed to convince me that I needed to go the long way round….! My 20km to breakfast became 40km….45 minutes became two hours!! Hahaha.
A lovely ride in the end……and the contrast was staggering really…one minute bogged down in sand in subsistence-living villages…the next eating a wonderful breakfast on a marble-topped table at a very swept-up boulevard cafe!
From there…I kept to the main road! And it was a fine ride. Through some welcome hills (really the first proper hills since we arrived in Beni Mallal)….
….with sneak views of a largely undeveloped Atlantic coast.
Funniest thing. We are so used to cars and trucks honking at us….almost always just to say hello as they frantically wave as they pass (occasionally to tell us to get out of the way!!). But today….a first!! A series of hugely loud horns….and I turned to see beside me a train approaching…and the driver leaning out of his window waving and smiling. Made my day!
And a great ride into Tangier…
…the end of our Moroccan adventure!
Iain meanwhile had managed to haggle a taxi down from 1,600 to 750 dirham (about 60 quid…for a 125km ride!)…& arrived into town long before me!!
It had been another long day for me….290km in two days!…so a quick shower…..and…
Not quite the dive bar we have become used to…but still so very dark!! We are looking forward to beers in the sunshine!!
So we saw very little of Tangier….and I only took one photo!
