January 14 :: Azrou, Morocco
January 14 :: Azrou, Morocco :: 91km / 426km total
Fes from the hotel rooftop
One of Fes's many gates
Another cold night and morning; the electronic signs in Nouvelle Fes were showing 6C as I made my way out of town. The temperature was not on my mind, though; I had a 3000 foot climb to worry about. The road sloped gently upwards through unending olive trees towards the base of shadowy mountains in the distance. The climb was unrelenting, and towards the end angled steeply upwards in switchbacks. At the 48km mark, just over 3 hours in, I rolled over a col, pulled into a little town for food + drinks and was told that I was on top, climb over! The next 26km to Ifrane would be rolling hills across a 5000 foot high plateau in the Middle Atlas mountains, then a 17km descent into Azrou. Sounded good to me, and I was very happy with my pace on the climb.
But a blasting headwind met me as I left Ifrane and entered the plateau... it was not going to be so easy. Worse, my left ankle was getting sore and starting to make itself known with every pedal stroke. Achilles tendonitis. Happened to my right ankle last year in India; I had thought that several months of indoor spinning pre-trip would stave this kind of thing off. Guess not. No worries, all good... I'm on vacation! We'll see what happens tomorrow morning- I am currently working the ankle over with ice, massage, and ibuprofen. If I ride (not likely), it will be a short day to Khenifra; otherwise, a 7 hour bus ride to Marrakech to rehab and tourist-it-up.
Azrou is a cute little semi-mountain town with a big beautiful new mosque at its centre. One of my favourite things about Muslim countries is the loudspeaker muezzin prayers that ring out 5 times per day, and Morocco has not disappointed. The early morning prayer in semi-holy Ouezzane (a few days back) was nothing short of magical, with muezzins all over the valley singing-chanting their own prayer, echoing off each other. It went on for minutes, then slowly began to die off as individual muezzins wrapped up their sessions. You could hear the last few muezzins lingering voices... then gone. I seriously would love to wake up to this every morning.
Fes from the hotel rooftop
One of Fes's many gates
Another cold night and morning; the electronic signs in Nouvelle Fes were showing 6C as I made my way out of town. The temperature was not on my mind, though; I had a 3000 foot climb to worry about. The road sloped gently upwards through unending olive trees towards the base of shadowy mountains in the distance. The climb was unrelenting, and towards the end angled steeply upwards in switchbacks. At the 48km mark, just over 3 hours in, I rolled over a col, pulled into a little town for food + drinks and was told that I was on top, climb over! The next 26km to Ifrane would be rolling hills across a 5000 foot high plateau in the Middle Atlas mountains, then a 17km descent into Azrou. Sounded good to me, and I was very happy with my pace on the climb.
But a blasting headwind met me as I left Ifrane and entered the plateau... it was not going to be so easy. Worse, my left ankle was getting sore and starting to make itself known with every pedal stroke. Achilles tendonitis. Happened to my right ankle last year in India; I had thought that several months of indoor spinning pre-trip would stave this kind of thing off. Guess not. No worries, all good... I'm on vacation! We'll see what happens tomorrow morning- I am currently working the ankle over with ice, massage, and ibuprofen. If I ride (not likely), it will be a short day to Khenifra; otherwise, a 7 hour bus ride to Marrakech to rehab and tourist-it-up.
Azrou is a cute little semi-mountain town with a big beautiful new mosque at its centre. One of my favourite things about Muslim countries is the loudspeaker muezzin prayers that ring out 5 times per day, and Morocco has not disappointed. The early morning prayer in semi-holy Ouezzane (a few days back) was nothing short of magical, with muezzins all over the valley singing-chanting their own prayer, echoing off each other. It went on for minutes, then slowly began to die off as individual muezzins wrapped up their sessions. You could hear the last few muezzins lingering voices... then gone. I seriously would love to wake up to this every morning.
posted by Graham Durrant at 10:36 AM
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