Archive for January, 2007
Friday, January 26th, 2007
Mother Nature’s Surprise
Our plans to hit the road today have been put on hold, thanks to Mother Nature and her sense of humour, which brought snow to Fes today for the first time in 5 years! Pretty though it is, it is also very cold and probably not the day to be trying to cross a mountain range, which is where our original route would have taken us. At least we are in a city with lots to see and do and where the cost of a hotel for an extra day isn’t keeping us awake at night. For today we’re putting an extra set of blankets on the bed and staying put.
No Comments » - Posted in Cycling Trips, Morocco, Random Ramblings by friedel
Thursday, January 25th, 2007
Fes thoughts and a video backlog
We are nearly to the end of our time in Fes, a beautiful city with much great architecture and lovely rambling alleyways to explore. We have enjoyed the Museum Batha and its great collection of Moroccan art and handicrafts, as well as seeking out street cafes where local workers tuck into hearty bean soups, fried fish, salads and french fries. These little spots, usually crammed into small spaces, are more enjoyable to us and less than half the price of the tourist restaurants. While we’ve been here we have also managed to upload some videos, always a problem as we rarely find a connection fast enough to get the job done.
So, if you are inclined, take a look at some shots from our descent coming down the Alpujarra Mountains in Spain (see the post from that day) and also of getting water in Morocco.http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3147494969688168516
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4060927527316639471No Comments » - Posted in Random Ramblings, Video by friedel
Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007
56km Oulad Ayad - Fes
After a restful night in the field by the village , we woke to the sound of roosters crowing. For the first time in our three visits to Morocco it had actually rained, just a little overnight, and the skies were still cloudy as we crawled out of the tent. We had a little breakfast of bread and jam and then waited for Omar to come over the hill for his morning coffee. When he appeared we walked with him to the main road and had a coffee together. We chatted for a good hour before it was time to carry on towards Fes. We tried to pay for the coffee but Omar would have none of it, insisting we were his guests. The only thing he would let us do was take his address so we could send him a postcard down the road – a true example of Moroccan hospitality. The countryside remained very rural nearly all the way to Fes and olive orchards were the main sight along the road. We had a few good hills to climb in the final approach to Fes and also on the circular road that runs around the city, before we settled on Pension Batha. Somehow we got our bikes up two steep flights of stairs and into a cozy room with a beautiful carved ceiling. That night we walked around the old part of Fes and found a stall selling snails for supper… truth be told we thought we were getting soup but snails were okay too! We’ll stay here for three nights to explore the Fes, a rest for our bodies and minds before we continue on the next leg of our journey, a rather long one to Zagora
1 Comment » - Posted in Cycling Trips, Journal Entries, Morocco by andrew
Monday, January 22nd, 2007
70km Taza – Oulad Ayad
Today was full of fantastic experiences, the best not coming until the very end of the day, and all brought to us courtesy of our bicycles. A year ago we hardly cycled at all and two years ago we would never have considered taking a holiday on a bike, but now our bicycles are the way for us to see the world through new eyes, away from the sterile travel of trains and airports. All along our route today people seemed to be cheering us on with honks, waves and shouts. We started to feel like we were in the Tour de France, except we don’t climb hills nearly as well! Lunch was a stop at a tagine stand and after mopping up every last drop of the stew juices with bread we carried on, through miles of olive groves where huge piles of the black fruit sat waiting to be collected and pressed into oil. This must be the agricultural heartland of Morocco because after the miles of olive trees came the biggest butternut squash we had ever seen. They were easily the size of young children and hung in great quantites at stalls along the main highway.
No Comments » - Posted in Cycling Trips, Journal Entries, Morocco by andrew
Sunday, January 21st, 2007
73km Guercif – Taza
Our longest day in a while, and the first one where we’ve started to feel like we are getting over our colds. A good thing too as we had to keep on our toes to tango with the Moroccan drivers, many of whom must be good candiates for F1 judging by their speedy overtaking and cornering skills. Watch out Fernando Alonso! We headed out from Guercif quite early, a move which paid off later in the day when some killer headwinds kicked in during the afternoon. Our renewed energy and a nicely paved road meant we covered a good 20km in little time and took the opportunity to stop at a roadside cafe for a morning coffee and tried to learn the Arabic for a cafe au lait. Despite the best efforts of our waiter, we need a little more work to get our tongues around the language. There was also a village around this point so we gave the locals further amusement by stopping to buy some oranges for the ride ahead. No matter where we stop, our arrival is always the subject of quite a few turned heads. Not too many people actually come over to ask where we are from, maybe because they only speak Arabic and it’s clear we don’t, although we did have a nice chat with one man, Ali, before leaving Guercif. He told us how the area has been quite dry and not gotten the rain it needed this year. Continuing on to Taza, we noticed how the ground became sandier and hillier. It wouldn’t be hard to imagine this being part of the Sahara one day as the landscape takes on a similar shape to the great desert dunes. We battled with several steep hills and a very strong headwind during the last few kilometers, but soon landed in the university town of Taza for the night.
