We thought this section of road might be quite challenging – following on the hills we’d seen since leaving Tagmoute – and vowed to take things slowly so we were quite surprised at how much ground we ended up covering. We didn’t get on the road until quite late in the day, after getting supplies and checking our email in Tafraoute and then chatting with a German cyclist for a while on our way out of town.

The further south we go the more cyclists there seem to be. Yesterday, when we were taking a break from the saddle, we met a group of four Germans doing a tour of the southern areas of Morocco, including quite a bit of cycling on pistes. Finally around noon we finally started to make some headway up and down the continuing series of hills in this area. As always, the views were great but the cycling was challenging. We didn’t reach the Col du Kerdous at 1,100 meters until about 5pm, quite a bit later than we normally cycle and about 10km further along than our map had indicated. Our map is really annoying for its little inaccuracies!

After a good downhill stretch we settled on a camping spot some way off the main road and within shouting distance of several villages. Of course it wasn’t long before we were spotted and the local man in charge of national security came to check us out, with two of his friends, and take our passport details. Then there was a visit from four boys and finally, after dark, we settled into our tent for a quiet night.