January 11 :: Chefchaouen, Morocco
January 11 :: Chefchaouen, Morocco :: 103 km / 125 km total
A very early start and ferry ride put me in Africa before sunrise. No worries, I had a border to cross, which always takes time. Everything went smoothly and just before sunrise I was pedalling South along the coast. The road was decent, the traffic was light, the Mediterranean was to my immediate left... and I was starting a 2 month cycling trip!! All along this coastal road were resorts clearly aimed at Europeans. Being the off-season, things were quiet.
I arrived in Tetoaun (44km) in a bit of a quandry... today turns out to be a national holiday and the banks were closed. This trip I'm going with cash (EUROS) and travellers cheques, due to the dearth of ATMs in Africa, and had no way to get Morocco Dirhams. Sure, I could have TRIED bartering my EURO on the street, but I really don't like being a self-led lamb to the slaughter. Thankfully I had brought along my ATM card (bringing it was almost an afterthought) and I found a working ATM. Dirhams in hand, I settled down to my first meal in Morocco.
Out of Tetuoan the road went up - a 16km unrelenting climb followed by another series of climbs and descents. Ya, it hurt me. Finally a long winding descent to the base of the next valley... only to have an unbelievably steep final 6km to Chefchaouen. I rolled over to the base of the first pitch from hell; got off the bike, put on my sandals, and started to walk. I walked at least 3 of those 6 km, hopping on the bike when the road approached rationality.
Chefchaouen is a cute little town with a decent tourist population, even in the low season (i.e. right now). This being the Rif mountains
and the heart of Moroccos #1 industry, hashish, I'm already sick of turning down the sly, friendly men and their little packages. "No, I don't smoke - anything". I saw quite a few cyclists today (relatively speaking), and they were fully kitted-out with tights, clipless pedals, etc... just like me. The shocker is that they were all Moroccans - I've NEVER seen locals in Muslim countries wearing Western cycling attire, but here they were. They treated me even more like a brother and friend than Muslims/Arabs usually do - if thats possible.
A very early start and ferry ride put me in Africa before sunrise. No worries, I had a border to cross, which always takes time. Everything went smoothly and just before sunrise I was pedalling South along the coast. The road was decent, the traffic was light, the Mediterranean was to my immediate left... and I was starting a 2 month cycling trip!! All along this coastal road were resorts clearly aimed at Europeans. Being the off-season, things were quiet.
I arrived in Tetoaun (44km) in a bit of a quandry... today turns out to be a national holiday and the banks were closed. This trip I'm going with cash (EUROS) and travellers cheques, due to the dearth of ATMs in Africa, and had no way to get Morocco Dirhams. Sure, I could have TRIED bartering my EURO on the street, but I really don't like being a self-led lamb to the slaughter. Thankfully I had brought along my ATM card (bringing it was almost an afterthought) and I found a working ATM. Dirhams in hand, I settled down to my first meal in Morocco.
Out of Tetuoan the road went up - a 16km unrelenting climb followed by another series of climbs and descents. Ya, it hurt me. Finally a long winding descent to the base of the next valley... only to have an unbelievably steep final 6km to Chefchaouen. I rolled over to the base of the first pitch from hell; got off the bike, put on my sandals, and started to walk. I walked at least 3 of those 6 km, hopping on the bike when the road approached rationality.Chefchaouen is a cute little town with a decent tourist population, even in the low season (i.e. right now). This being the Rif mountains
and the heart of Moroccos #1 industry, hashish, I'm already sick of turning down the sly, friendly men and their little packages. "No, I don't smoke - anything". I saw quite a few cyclists today (relatively speaking), and they were fully kitted-out with tights, clipless pedals, etc... just like me. The shocker is that they were all Moroccans - I've NEVER seen locals in Muslim countries wearing Western cycling attire, but here they were. They treated me even more like a brother and friend than Muslims/Arabs usually do - if thats possible.
posted by Graham Durrant at 7:58 AM
4 Comments:
Graham,
Thanks for the blog, this trip will get me through another winter. What bike did you take - the welded up one from India?
Take care,
Mike
hey mike
i bought a new (used) bike for parts and built up my old pink bike frame. i threw out the frame from india... it was pretty sorry-looking with black welding scars all over it. plus, the bottom bracket was fried. i limped along for the last 1500km of that trip and looking back on it now i can hardly believe that that bike made it up the KKH.
gee, that camera takes super nice pictures, graham. whereever did you get a fantastic piece of technology like that?
(p.s. don't let bandits take the camera!!!)
the only bandit thats going to take the camera is when i get back to toronto... and we all know who that is...
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