agadir

Enjoyed Essaouira, it was worth the nightstop and I won’t forget the old medina, one large soukh area. Hotel was fine too, bike happy too as it slept overnight in my room.

The first sign that hit me in the morning did not leave hope for large expectations, but routes are unpredictable.

The road climbed up into the mountains; there was little oceanroad left. However, the countryside which was returned, made up for it.

As I intended to travel to Agadir, the most southern point of my trip, I decided to bike the 200k in 2 days, due to the mountaineous terrain I expected. Halfway I had found Imsouane to stay overnight; with one upclass hotel and quite a few b&b’s I should be able to find a bed and shower.

It became one of those days I made very few pictures, I needed all of my energy to bike. Especially coming back in your rhytm after a picture stop is eating power. And then, once you take the picture of a sheperd with his sheep and goats, all animals blend in the environment 😦

Taking the picture I met another bike traveller. Fabio – from Italy, you guessed right – was on his way to Senegal, now 10 days in his trip. He nicknamed his bike Green Monkey, which went well with my Red Camel.

We were both heading to Imsoumane, but, as solobikers, continued solo, at our own pace.

The next challenge was the mountain ridge ahead of us, 450 meters high, 350 still to climb. Hairpins followed one after the other, the view at the top was superb, but impossible to catch in a picture. My complaint anyway: landscape photography is an art in its own and – for me – hard to put in an iPhone picture.

Wind and weather helped to develop a good speed. At midday I changed into my 4S outfit: shirt, short, socks, shoes.

I was looking forward to the entry to Imsoumane, I expected a long downhill run. It came up, but I had to wait till I was 5 k short of the village.

And then the run was over before I realized. Imsoumane is like a hippie town from the sixties which attracted many wave surfers. Not for long any more I was told, a mall and a big hotel are about to be built. It had a great vibe though, it was all quite basic, but hey, who cares?

It had a great sundown, the harbor turned into weird colors.

After people had their meals in the few shack restaurants, the village went asleep at nine. Might have been caused by the lack of alcohol, unavailable here.

What comes down, must go up, also applies to bikers, so I knew I had to climb out of Imsoumane, to reach the regional road to Agadir. First things first: breakfast with a view and getting supplies for this Sunday.

I entered this climb on my list: 350 meters up in 3 kilometers with a lot of gravel parts. Stopped once to take off jacket and trainers.

The view was amazing with the village in the right corner. Lonely at the top, as Randy Newman sings.

All in all it took me about an hour to reach the main road in which I had covered 8k. I had missed Fabio the evening before, though I tried to meet up. Now he texted me, he was about to leave Imsoumane after coffee. I had coffee too, at the butcher shop!

He send me my action picture…

Weather in the south added a few degrees and rendered blue skies and more beautiful countryside. Then it was a long hairpin descend again onto the Ocean Boulevard, next I passed the city of Tamir.

Leaving the city I noticed banana plantations – never knew they grew them here –

and cycled through a barren desert type environment along the ocean with lots of headwind. Passing the lighthouse of Cap Ghir became the most westerly point of my trip.

Immediatly after it was a left turn for the last 40k along the quiet bay of Agadir. Holiday houses, hotels, back into civilisation. 

Still off season here, so no problems to book a great hotel for next to nothing. Enjoyed the sunset again, these colors remain amazing.

Today a recovery day in Agadir, writing blog and report on the Superstrata bike. Had to fix the seat post which came loose – design flaw unfortunately – but did not impair the riding. Also, booked my way home on Friday, I have 3 days to reach Marrakech, hope I can do it in 2.

Used the last hours of daylight to bike the boulevard, not allowed, but everyone does it.

At the other end I was stopped by a lady, handing me her handy, to watch a video call. To my surprise it was Karim, the bike mecanic from Casablanca who fixed my brakes, 500 kilometers and a few days away. They were friends, she said, and after a picture and an ‘enchanté’ she disappeared into the crowd. It left me flabbergasted, what was it, chance, omen or plain coincidence?

It will be a challenging day tomorrow, into the mountains, into the boonies, to Imintatoute. Found out there is a hotel, but not on booking. We’ll see, life needs surprises!