Day 20: Adgz to N'kob

March 7, 2023

Wind is not our friend

We leave the town on a bike lane.

The first 30km go easy following the Draa River Valley to the junction in Tansirt where we leave the Zaroga road and turn back east towards N’Kob. This section is very scenic. There are small towns, abandoned Kasbah’s and towering cliffs.

Sharing our breakfast with the resident kitty

Eerily empty streets and half finished buildings in Agdz.

Navigating out of town. There was more to this town than we thought, to the right is the bazaar

We take a break at a café, buy some juice and eat our bread, cheese and boiled eggs. From here we leave the main road from Draa Valley toward N’kob. This marks the beginning of a long incline that shouldn’t be so hard. Except the wind is not our friend today. Perhaps the wind is missing our toasts “to the wind” at the end of the day usually with beer.

Uphill now for about 22km. The grade is not bad but the headwind just about does us in.

About halfway up the long climb, children start running to keep up with us. Mainly just staring yet also ask for “Bon Bon” or “Stillo, Stillo”. So far in this part of Morocco the children haven’t started being aggressive like in other places. This problem is created by tourists who feel guilty about the poverty they are seeing and throw out pencils or candy. If there is a strong need to help give the pencils to teachers, otherwise children become beggars. In some countries we’ve seen parents send their children out to beg instead of sending them to school. In Rwanda, there was in 2015 an active campaign to stop the children begging. This giving of gifts all creates more harm than good. Giving money

It is a welcome relief when we come to the end of the ridge of mountains we’ve been following indicating the high point. We make better time now with a decline and the wind lightens up. It is also a welcome relief when the city of N’kob comes into view.

Patrick navigates us to the Riad N’kob. The owner, Mohammed, serves us a welcome drink. He has a sister who lives in the Netherlands and speaks eight languages, including Dutch. There are about six rooms wrapped around an open courtyard. The walls, including inside the rooms are covered in a mud/straw adobe coating. The ceilings are wood with reeds.

N'kob is known as the city with 45 Kasbahs.

We settle into the room. The water is heated by a wood fired boiler so we need to wait half an hour before we can clean up. After a rest, we venture out to find dinner. Rachel is still plagued by overactive sinuses and a cough and running out of Benadryl. She bought Claritin (antihistamine) in a pharmacy and hopes this helps.

We stay tomorrow and finally will meet up with fellow Cycleblaze, Susan Carpenter!!

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Today's ride: 69 km (43 miles)
Total: 686 km (426 miles)

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