March 12, 2012
Imilchil to Auberge Rex (Chibane Ali)
Tighdwine
The 4x4 guys prove useful. The leader tells me about the route to Circ de Jaffa. Even though he's never been, the group's plan was to have tackled it the previous day, so he knows the way... it was just the reports of snow that had deterred them. Funny that, I thought that was why people had 4x4s.
The pack of 4x4s eventually drive off, leaving calm to descend back on the gite. I take my time over coffee on the sunny terrace, looking out to the lake.
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Afterwards it's a nice high-speed descent into sleepy Imilchil, the backdrop to the low-rise town being a white-peaked range of high mountains. My first stop is the same little café I came to yesterday, a place that doesn't seem as touristy as the array of places lining the one-street town.
As it takes so long to switch RAW files in JPEGs on my Eee PC, I have an early tangine lunch before setting of at almost noon.
A couple of the Gibraltans told me - confirmed by the son of the café owner - that there are two of places to stay not too far ahead, so it's going to be another relatively short day of around 50km. No rush.
Apart from an initial small uphill near Imilchil, it's plain sailing along the empty flat road heading east, the first climb not coming until after about 10km. There's a small village after 15 km from Imilchil, a place which has a name sign at its edge - one of the few I'd seen on the minor roads I'd ridden. It's the usual dusty place that looks as though it'd been vacated and left to decay back into the ground from which it was made from - the walls and roofs being the same grey-brown tone as the surrounding earth.
There's a second settlement after 25 km, which marks the start of a slow climb that lasts 10km. It gets steep near the top and it has me walking for a while. Still, the views are nice and there's no traffic all the way up to the top, where my odometer says I've gone almost 32 km since saying goodbye to the lake. It's 3:00 now.
The wind-chill on the descent has me shivering a little, especially when the road is in shade. It isn't far down that I come upon the first auberge, which seems to be in an improbably location, miles from anywhere.
However, it turns out that the village of Tirdwine is just a kilometre further down - something I find out from the owner.
As I like the idea of being in such a quiet locale it is a place I opt to check out. The owner is nice and laid-back, and at 100dh, including dinner and a simple breakfast, it's too good to pass up. I've only ridden 37 km, but so be it.
The single-floor building has a couple of bedrooms, a living space and as I'm the only guest, the place is basically all mine. There's an inside toilet and kitchen, which two young girls occupy later in the day to cook up a tangine served with bread.
Dinner is served in the owner's humble bedroom, where a wood stove has been lit. Once the sun has gone, the temperature drops dramatically and it's nice to sitting on the floor and feeling the heat, eating hearty fare and watching TV, which is powered via a solar panel and a car battery.
The movies are dire Hollywood ones. Watching them in Morocco, with its Muslim sensibilities, it's as though this must have been the producers' target audience, with lots of busty cleavage and machismo dudes doing ridiculously unbelievable stunts. I've had enough by 9:00 and called it a night.
Today's ride: 37 km (23 miles)
Total: 201 km (125 miles)
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