Overview day 151 - 157:
2 April - 8 April 2023
The Atlas
It’s time to slowly make our way towards Marrakech. We’ve planned a beautiful route that will lead us in and over the High-Atlas Mountains. But, as happens more often this trip, we change our plans last-minute.
During one of our many coffee breaks along the way, we hear about a new asphalt road that also crosses the High-Atlas. “Why don’t you take that way?”. Good question. The man who asks us is a mountain-guide and he recommends us to take the “new” route. We’ve learned by now to never trust only one opinion but when a second and also a third person confirms that there really is a asphalt road, we go for it. Our navigation does not know this route so we are going to cross the High-Atlas without GPS. That sounds a lot more exhilarating than it actually is since there is literally only one road. Getting lost will be almost impossible. Even for someone who lacks any kind of sense of direction like Rob.
Climbing, climbing, climbing and more climbing
Until our next day of rest, the moment we are writing this blog, we cycle 5 days. Short stages distance-wise, but we make up for it in altimeters. The route we take is very quiet, We hardly see any people on the road and there is little to know opportunity to stop for groceries. In Total we will cross 4 mountain tops, all well above 2500m and we overnight in the valleys between the Mountains. There are albergues that are often pretty basic, but it’s something we really enjoy. You don’t have to expect a hot-shower and the owner often also lives in the place. It feels more like a home-stay. Sometimes we eat together with the family that lives in the albergue. We all sit on the floor around a big tajine. We eat with our hands, which results in quite a mess around the place where we are sitting. It needs some practice to be able to eat couscous with your hands without creating a big mess. So usually we are offered a fork or spoon after a couple of minutes struggling.
We pay around 30-35 euro’s per night at the albergues. That includes dinner and breakfast and the overnight for two persons. Sometimes we also get some bread for the road so we can make lunch ourselves. We carry some peanut butter and chocolate spread in one of our panniers.
Because we hardly get lower than 2000m altitude it’s chilly at night. But after the heat of the desert that is a welcome change, it’s perfect weather for cycling!
Mount M'Goun
The second night we get company from an Irish fellow. He is also on a bike so we can exchange some advice and experiences. Unfortunately he’s cycling in opposite direction so we can’t cycle together. The owner of the albergue is also a mountain-guide and he guides trips to the top of Mount M’Goun, the second highest mountain in the High-Atlas and thus also the second highest mountain in Northern Africa. We wouldn’t mind a few days of hiking but we can’t agree on a price so we decide to just cycle on the next day.
After we get to terms with the fact that we’ll not climb Mt M’Goun we saddle up for the challenge ahead, a climb to an altitude of 3005m. After breakfast and after saying goodbye to Gearoid we start climbing immediately. There seems to be no ending to the countless hairpin loops and some parts are very steep. On top of that there is a 1,5Km section that is still gravel road. And still we are enjoying every moment of it. The views are spectacular.
Although this is the highest climb, we’re not out of the Atlas yet. After our descent into the valley, where we spend the night, we start climbing again the next day. This time to an elevation of 2900m. The night before it was raining and actually we were happy it did. If we were doing the hike we would be somewhere halfway up the mountain in the rain.
Stormwind!
It’s been perfect cycling-weather until now. When we cross the third mountain pass the wind is blowing fiercely. In the valley the wind is strong, but manageable. We start the climb over 12Km of gravel. The road is not too steep and the gravel is quite compact so cycling is really doable. Even more so because the wind is blowing us uphill. Isabelle already gets the suspicion that on top of the mountain the wind may cause some issues….
The wind often has a calming and “hollow” sound in the Mountains. At this moment the “hollow” sound has upgraded to an ear-deafening hissing sound. The higher we get, the stronger the wind becomes. When we get to the top of the pass things get dangerous. It’s impossible to keep the bikes on the road so we walk our way across the pass.
Terrifying moments on the mountain
In the Mountains, you always feel small, but that’s an understatement now. We are completely at will of the wind. It’s playing with us, and without bicycles. Some moment we have to lay our bike flat on road to prevent them from blowing over the edge of the mountain. The wind is ruling here, not us. The strongest wind gusts carry small rocks and ice during those gusts we can’t do anything more than make ourselves as small as possible and try to protect ourselves from the projectiles that are flying around us. When there’s a break in the wind we put on our jackets and gloves, we need them to protect us.
When another gust of wind terrorizes us with more gravel and ice Isabelle loses her goggles. They just fly off her face and disappear over the edge. Gone. The goggles are not really a problem, we can replace those. But right now, here eyes are not protected anymore. We take out her normal sunglasses and try to get off this mountain as fast, and as save as possible. There is still overhanging snow and we see rocks on the road that have fallen down. A terrifying feeling, we can only hope no rocks come falling down on us….
The lower we get, the less dangerous the wind becomes. It’s still strong, but at least it’s not blowing us off our bicycles or off the road anymore. We stop at the first possibility to grab a cup of coffee. The adrenaline is still racing through our bodies and we are shocked by the forces that rule over the mountain 800m above us. Everything that we could think of: poisonous scorpions and snakes, mad taxi chauffeurs, getting robbed, not a single moment would we have believed that something so common as “the wind” would cause the most terrifying moment of our journey so far.
What did we learn?
Could we have seen this coming? Maybe, but sometimes je get into situations that you could not have predicted. We did not expect the wind to be this strong and we tried to act as safely as possible in the given situation. We did not see anyone during our descent into the valley otherwise we could have asked for help. The next time we are crossing a mountain range we will certainly check the weather forecast and pay close attention to wind-speed. But this was also a one-time occasion. We crossed multiple mountain passes and never did we have any problems. We got through it unharmed and gained some experience. This one negative experience won’t let us from crossing high mountain passes again, but the mountains deserve our respect.
The final climb out of the High-Atlas
The next day the peace has returned to Morocco. We hear the calming “hollow” sound of the wind again and that puts us at ease. Today we climb towards 2800m and then we’re out of the High-Atlas. The coming days there is some rain predicted so we search for a nice place where we can wait untill the bad weather passes. We find a nice campsite and, as more often, we are the only guests. On day one we try to do most of the practical stuff like washing, charging, shopping etc. and on day two we plan to hike. But the rain falls as predicted so we decide to skip the hike. It’s a rainy and foggy day. But this means we have some time to write our next blog.
We'd love to see you back in part 5
Bye bye!!
Until one had been in really fierce weather conditions in the middle of nowhere it’s hard to imagine nature’s force. Glad it was tough enough to impress you, but not to scare you off or hurt you! Big hug from Galicia!
Thomas & Rosa