Overview day 158 - 175:
9 April - 26 April 2023
Ouzoud waterfalls
We cycle from the High Atlas back to the Middle Atlas and our next goal are the Ouzoud waterfalls. We take a nice detour that brings us past some Moroccan highlights. It does however mean that we make a lot of altimeters (again) and that is slowly starting to take its toll. Via the “Cathedral” of Imsfrane and the reservoir at Bin El Ouidane we cycle to Ouzoud.
How much do we actually climb?
7 Days in a row we make more than 1100 altimeters a day. To be precise: 1168 altimeters on average per day. But that may tell you little to nothing. Understandable, because before we had ever cycled over a mountain, we could hardly imagine what it meant to make that much altimeters. That’s why it is time to clarify these abstract statistics.
Our first “real climb” was when we crossed the Pyrenees. We did not get higher than 1057m. So for the past week we have crossed the Pyrenees every day, plus some extra altitude meters. That makes it a bit less abstract already (hopefully). But we can go a step further.
The Eiffel Tower is roughly 300m high (slightly higher but it makes the calculations more difficult). In the past week we cycle up the Eiffel Tower 4 times a day. In addition, we both have between 25 and 30 kg of luggage with us. Again an abstract number, but you can compare that to two full, large crates of beer.
In other words, we carry two crates of beer up the Eiffel Tower every day and that 4 times! No wonder our legs have become so muscular.
Ourika
After the Ouzoud waterfalls we cycle towards the Ourika valley. We plan a route with as few altimeters as possible. Although cycling in the mountains is sometimes tiring, we also feel the benefits now. Our legs are rock solid! And now that we cycle almost flat again, we’re also remembered how wonderful it is to travel by bike.
Ourika is only 40Km from Marrakech and from here we have the possibility for various trips. We can negotiate a good price in the Auberge where we are staying and decide to use Ourika as a “home base” in the coming week. We hike through the valley, cycle to the waterfalls in a nearby village, service our bicycles and we plan a trip to Mount Toubkal.
Mount Toubkal
We leave our bikes and most of our belongings at our “home base” and go to Imlil by public transport. From there the tour starts to the highest mountain in North Africa: the Toubkal.
It is the first time this trip that we go by public transport and it brings back many memories. It is an organized chaos in which we as tourists cannot find any logic. But miraculously, the journey to Imlil goes smoothly. You only have to ask one person how you end up in Imlil and before you know it you will be assigned a shared taxi. With that taxi we drive to the next place, where someone else assigns us another taxi, which in turn takes us to the next place, from where a van then takes us to Imlil. The taxis are shared by six people and are relatively comfortable. The vans, on the other hand, are simply packed until almost every square centimeter is occupied. To provide the passengers with oxygen, all doors often remain open. An additional advantage is that even more people can join, because they can stand in the doorway. And we thought they’re inefficient here.
To the top!
In Imlil we walk to the desk that can arrange guides. We join a French guy who also wants to climb Toubkal. This way we can share the costs. Bringing a guide is mandatory after the murder of two young women a few years ago. At first, we think that’s a bit of nonsense. Not so much that a guide is mandatory, but mainly because it seems that everyone who lives in Imlil has appointed themselves as mountain guide. But afterwards we are really happy with our guide. Not because we feel unsafe, but because he knows exactly how to get up the mountain. The mountains have surprised us before and we don’t want that to happen a second time. Moreover, the official guides, such as the guide who accompanies us, have all followed a training and we feel more comfortable with that than “picking” a self-appointed mountain guide from the street.
On the day of departure we meet Antoine, the Frenchman who accompanies us, and our guide Mohammed. We walk fast to the refuge at 3200m altitude. We are assigned two mattresses in a dormitory. After a game of “who is it” and a good meal, we go to sleep early because the alarm clock is at 3:30 am to climb to the top.
We ask Mohammed to leave extra early so that we can see the sunrise on the mountain. When we leave that night, we already see several headlights above us on the snowy mountainside. We happily continue the fast pace of the previous day and we slowly catch up group by group. Thanks to the “crampons” we have a grip on the icy snow. In the end we are the first to the top, just in time for the beautiful sunrise. We are rewarded with a wide view with a beautifully colored sky. Although you can “hike” up Mount Toubkal (there is no mountaineering involved) it still is a tough trip. On the way back we see a lot of people giving up, we realize that we are in good condition thanks to the many kilometers on our bikes.
Back at the refuge we eat our breakfast and then we walk back to Imlil. At 16:00 we take the bus, taxi and another taxi back to Ourika. More than 44,800 steps later, we are happy that we can get into bed after a shower.
Highly honored visit
It’s April 26th and we re-organize our bags, do a round of laundry and get ready to go to Marrakech. We sleep this night in Ourika and on the27th we leave for Marrakech. We will leave our bikes in Ourika for the time being. For the next week we rented a car and mapped out a route through Morocco. Partly we’ll follow along the way that we have already cycled, and partly a part that is still new to us. We are very curious how we will experience the High Atlas from the car. And who knows, we might still find Isabelle’s cycling glasses. Or maybe a shepherd is showing it off. But most importantly, we will welcome our highly honored visit on the 27th. We will take two special guests in tow in the coming days and show them a glimpse of beautiful Morocco.
Afterwards we’ll get back on the bike, towards the Moroccan west coast.
Thanks for your visit to this blog!
Great pictures and interesting insights. Thanks for letting us be part of your gorgeous journey!
Big hug from both of us!
T&R