March 17, 2023
Day 30: Er-rich to Midelt
A good call
“This was a good call,” Rachel says after we are still 37km away from Midelt. The road is a gentle incline, a few rollers and a light headwind. “Once reaching the summit, you’d think because it’s downhill, it will be easy,” she continues. “But this section is tougher than we thought it would be.”
We eat breakfast in our room, then we pack up the bikes to go across the plaza to the Grand Taxi parking area. The sky is overcast. Patrick with broken French negotiates a ride to the Col. “There is some organization to all this,” Patrick says. The cost for a ride is 35Dh per person based on a full car load of six passengers. Problem is that the next Grand Taxi in line to head out does not have a roof rack that can hold the bikes. No problem, we wait. Finally, a man who speaks English helps out and explains we can leave now if we buy all six seats instead of waiting for extra people. Cost is 210dh ($21). A great deal, the bikes are loaded on top, and the panniers in the back and we are off.
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Sometimes it’s difficult to be in a vehicle instead of cycling. For most of the 50km to the summit we are in a wide semi-arid valley, the plains between the middle and high Atlas. There is agriculture of mostly olive trees, and almond trees. There is remaining snow on the distant mountains. There is one steep hefty hill and narrow road before reaching the summit making Rachel even happy that we made the right decision to get a ride. In addition there’s also road construction with projects of straightening out the curves of the road.
The 6km downhill is fun, until we reach the relatively flat hill for the last 30km into Midelt. This section would have been tough had we also done the 50km climb. We stop for a coffee before continuing on to the hotel on the opposite end of town. We also see a sign for The Steak House! That is near our hotel.
Once in the hotel, Patrick checks out the reviews and we decide to go there for lunch. The sky is still overcast, the rain has not yet arrived and the temperature is cooler than what we’ve been used to the past few weeks.
We are served mint tea while waiting for the room to be cleaned. The check in goes smoothly as Patrick fills out the paperwork with our passport information. We walk to the Steak House that is a bit disappointing: they have no steaks (even though it is on the menu), only chicken “I’m ready for some different food,” Patrick says and is looking forward to Fez and the hope of Chinese Food. Our palates are used to having more variety of food choices. The tajines are great, but we are ready for different choices.
As we walk past a roundabout, there is a giant apple replica in the middle. Rachel researches that the province of Midelt is famous for growing apples, even an Apple Festival in the fall. Late afternoon, Patrick orders with the Hotel Restaurant a Chicken tajine: only they don’t have chicken, only beef. Go figure. It is always good to order the tajine in advance so you don’t have to sit waiting for it to cook.
We eat at seven, our regular time. Way to early for the locals who are still sipping tea and coffee. The food is very nice. We notice two other cyclists have arrived in the hotel but we have not had a chance to talk to them.
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"This is like Kramer getting a tan with a neon sign," Patrick says when we returned to our room after dinner, there is a bright neon sign on the roof across the street.
Tomorrow, we have one more pass to get across the High Atlas Mountains. Our plan is to cycle about 56 km, almost to the top and camp there amongst the pine trees that are visible on Googlemaps.
Today's ride: 37 km (23 miles)
Total: 1,153 km (716 miles)
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