15th June
Woke at 5.30am to the sounds of sheep and goats being herded up the road - back to their mountain pastures. Paul is up by 6am to conquer the mountain opposite the Kasbah - a steep climb and higher than it looks but the morning air is crystal clear and the views from the top will be worth it. Breakfast at 7am and we're off by 8am along lovely verdant valleys with beautiful mountains on all sides - all possible shapes and sizes - coloured in countless shades of brown . Although we're on tarmac this is absolutely brilliant scenery with perfect sweeping roads so I can relax into the ride and enjoy it. When we reach the piste Pete volunteers to take up the rear with Paul leading - I , true to form , take the wrong turn in a village and , asking the locals through a combination of pigeon French and sign language , I realise my mistake and retrace my steps back to the piste. I race on for miles and miles of unmarked piste hoping again that I am on the right trail as it feels like being in the middle of nowhere with very few villages. With great relief I run into the others in a village called Agoudal - our rendezvous point to meet the boys with fresh petrol supplies. A local boy explains that this is the largest village in the area with around 3500 inhabitants standing at 2600m. The boys soon arrive and we fill up and off again to ascend to Tizi n Overz at 9600 feet. The climb up to the top is long and steep and we pass a group of mountainbikers - mainly female - led by a Moroccan guide. We are soaked in sweat so stop at the top for a breather and dry off a bit. The trail to the mountain was absolutely brilliant with every possible kind of surface - long fast straights, nice bermed bends weaving in and out of dry river beds - some with rocky sections and some with soft sand or gravel - fantastic riding! We traverse the ridge for around 10km with amazing vistas on our left - again resembling the grand Canyon in structure but hard to look down travelling at speed - the drop-offs are pretty severe.
View from the ridge
Reaching the end of the ridge I go on ahead and drop down into a wide gorge so as to take some video footage of Pete and Paul coming down off the mountain. I completely misjudge the distance travelled and waiting near the bottom find it impossible to spot them coming down the piste. By using the zoom of the camera I spot them but they are the size of ants in the viewfinder - ah well! - you win some - you lose some. We carry on reaching Msmir - a small town where we stop at a shop , sit outside and sample the delights of Louiza tea - sweet and refreshing. Carrying on - this time on tarmac , we enter the start of the Dades Gorge - wider than the Todra and surfaced too - means we can blast along through stunning scenery, majestic mountains rise up on either side and fertile greenery is growing on the floor of the gorge with purple flowered Oleander bushes making a reappearance. For countless miles we enjoy this fantastic scenery until rising up we reach the head of the gorge - below us the road drops away through a series of impressive hairpins resembling an Alpine pass.
Head of the Dades Gorge
Paul stays at the top and video's Pete and myself descending into the valley bottom where we continue onwards through fast and sweeping bends until we reach another series of hills consisting of strange geometric clusters of rocks. Pete and I stop to take a photo , allowing Paul time to catch up with us on the outskirts of Boumalne, where we pull up at a cafe for lunch. The boys are waiting for us and we feast on brochettes, salad and chips! I go over the road to buy some more film for my camera and finding that the kiosk sells music cassettes I spend a happy half hour sampling various types of Moroccan music - I buy several cassettes for less than a pound each. We zap off on our longest stretch of tarmac - approx 60km to Sous , followed closely by the boys in the Toyota - we leave Abdul Jaleel at his garage - he lives and works in Sous when not driving for Peter. Pete hitches my XR on the rack of the 4X4 to drive back with Moustafa in air conditioned comfort - I take the 400 to drive the last furious 40 km back to Ouarzazate - we really have serious cases of saddle rash/soreness by now and its much hotter on this plain so I'm pleased of the extra speed as it feels like driving though a 40km long oven set at gas mark 200. On the way we pass Royal Golf Ouarzazate - a 9 hole golf course c/w luxury houses built next to a large lake in the middle of the desert plain - Sean Connery has a house here but the course didn't look very green due to the absence of rain over the last 3 years. Paul and I manage to find our way back to the Palmerie hotel where we quickly check in , dispose of our sweaty and stinky gear and throw ourselves into the swimming pool - Nice! - Very , Very Nice! That evening we dined magnificently at the French restaurant opposite the airport - 5 courses and I tried Pastilla with a pigeon filling cooked in sweet choux pastry with almonds and cinnamon - mmm! Over the meal Pete tells us that he's going to have to replace the rear tyre on Pauls bike as the tread is well rounded - they usually last 2 full trips but with Paul's aggressive riding style and his love of roosting the gravely bends its only lasted 1 week from new! - a bit of light hearted ribbing Paul ensues and we retire late for once - but 2 days of R & R to look forward to before our flights home.
Mountain terrain outside Boulmalne
So - how to sum up the riding experience of the past week? , simple - one word - Awesome! Pete is a great rider and a brilliant host with a real love of trail riding and a good knowledge of his well researched routes which, for us, was tailored to this time of year - taking in the higher altitudes of the Atlas mountains. The ferocious heat in June negates going on the southerly routes to the Dunes proper but for me the bonus was the fantastic villages and wonderful people in the mountains and hey! - I'll be coming back - hopefully next year.
Mileage: 80km piste / 180km tarmac