on to the Sahara

April 19-22 - four riding days to Merzouga on the edge of the Sahara Desert.

First thought for cyclists... share the road. The shepherd had his flock clear before we got there, no having the fight through.

Next thought, from a sign in the market in the medina in Fes..We are very impressed by the friendliness of Moroccan people to everyone regardless.of culture, etc. We always get friendly greetings from the many police check points en route.

Towns en route are exceptionally clean even when on the edge of the desert with sand blowing around. Priorities football fields and playgrounds...

Some parting shots from Fes... a tannery with some tough looking working conditions....

... and in the market, ornate metal work in the street...

A hazy day and a steep dirt road makes for a slow climb out of Fes - and an even slower descent on loos gravel and rute.

Water is a precious resource and so far we've seen several dams and artificial lakes to provide for the local community, this one just outside Fes.  .

As we climb further south towards the Atlas mountains, we were somewhat surprised to barriers when there is too much snow....    .

...but there it was on the hills as we start a descent into a pine forest on the south side of a climb....

The snow-capped peaks remain on our right as we descend past clean villages... .

...and farmland...    .

...and ultimately desert...    .

The weather suddenly got very cold - 1 degree C overnight for a couple of days - we took advantage of a nice hotel adjacent to the campground one night, 

We're now following the Ziz river and will continue to do so until reaching our rest day hotel in Merzouga with varying amounts of water to be seen in the river. It is evident when we passed one of the artificial lakes that the water level is down, the result, we're told, of a couple of years of below normal rain and snow.

Some great views, agricultural land, and villages.

We had howlng winds and cold temperatures for riding for a couple of days - fortunately the wind was mostly tailwind until our last day into Merzouga. 

We're always amazed at how this seeming trickle of water can carve out canyons in the rock... 

...and provide a nice campsite before the day into Merzouga...

The day Merzouga promised to be tough - 150 km and forecast headwinds in the afternoon. We opted to take the van to the lunch spot. Approaching the lunch spot were date palms along the river...

...and lots of signs about the danger of fires...   

In fact, in 2020 there had been a fire that burned through a ten kilometer stretch of palm grove. It appears that many of the palms survived the fire and are showing new growth atop their charred trunks, but the entire crop of dates was lost for the year.

From the half-way point where we started our ride, we had several kilometers of very relaxed riding through the palm groves, but that didn't last long and we got out into more open desert and winds that got stronger as the day went on, for the last 30 km being about 30 km/hr gusting to almost 70, mostly headwind but with a strong sometimes vicious crosswind component and frequently with blowing sand. Along the highway were the Moroccan equivalent of snow fences to keep the sand from drifting across the road..

It was a struggle, but eventually we got there, Ursula here riding towards the hotel with the trees bending in the wind.   

The hotel itself, the Cafe du Sud, is in the middle of nowhere as are many of the accommodations for tourism - the town of Merzouga itself is very small and was 10-12 km away. People come here for the dunes.    

Our rest day has been spent on a tour around the area. Quite remarkable what all goes on in what first appears to be barren desert, but that story has to wait as we now have to pack up in preparation for tomorrow's start on five days of riding to Ait Benhaddou. a mud city and a UNESCO world heritage site. And as of right now, the forecast is for tomorrows wind to be mostly tailwind. How we hope so.