MERZOUGA
Finally a rest day…
15th to 16th November | 2022
We had a late breakfast this morning, but my body was now timed to the early mornings. As I had a fantastic view of the sand dunes through the bathroom window, I hurried up - also as I have no privacy, remember, flimsy curtain!
Once I enjoyed the sunshine up on the dunes, Didier joined me. We had a little chat about the awful many kilometres per day and the "street" group. He explained to me, to make the whole trip worthwhile, they added short notice the "on street" programme to the "offroad" one. This means the hotels and distances were already sorted. Well, that makes now sense! I suggested that if he ever plans to do this again, to make a maximum of 350km/day for riding on the road.
After a lovely breakfast, we lingered around the bivouac and at the bike maintenance until the "street" group went by jeeps to Merzouga. I stayed behind with Marco to help him tidy up after the offroaders have gone. We took it then easy. Before the group left, I organised with the help of Hassan a room for me at the hotel. Once I got the room, I whizzed down to the bivouac with Hassan in the jeep to get my stuff.
Around lunchtime, I left with Marco our hotel to meet the others around Merzouga. It was so great to be on my Schimmelchen racing down the tracks to the street - having a bit of a race with Marco in his transporter ;-) Just the Ouads I had to be careful as sandy stretches. At the main street, I opted to go parallel to stay still offroad. However, in order to be not too far away from the street and Marco, I had to go through some really deep sand - remember, I am on street tyres with normal pressure! OK, not a good idea, as I dropped twice the bike - poor Marco! So back to the main street to move on ;-) At least the last kilometres to the petrol station at Merzouga I could race offroad again :-D
We all went for lunch in the village of Khemliya. First, we went to a place where we had a demonstration of traditional Berber music in their traditional clothes. After that, it was finally time for lunch: Berber pizza! Yummy! When we were just finished, the offroad group arrived for their lunch.
After the traditional Marroquin Chai, we went back to Merzouga - Steffi, of course, offroad again :-D At least some fun for me during the trip!
In Merzouga, we dropped off some of our group as they went for a buggy tour through the sand dunes.
Once in the village started a big discussion amongst the group about the dromedary (camel) ride that was included in the programme. It looked like nothing was arranged; seriously!?! The group lost so much time ringing Didier, and Hassan trying to arrange it last minute that in the end, the majority of the group decided not to go. It was getting late and they wanted to see the sunset above the dunes. We just arrived there when the sun just touched the first dunes. The good thing is, today's programme was out my responsibility :-D
After the sun was nearly down, the offroaders approached us, so we waited for the whole group to arrive. I went then with them back to the hotel offroad - so we stayed all in one line on the gravel road to give each other enough light - at least my flimsy lights were still better than theirs ;-)
At one crossing over deep sand, I, of course, dropped the bike. Only Fabio realised it whilst the others raced off! Hello, one down!! You should notice that two bikes are missing!! Anyhow, once back up, we tried to find the route through lots of sand, which was for me a battle (remember, street tires!!). Once we were back on the gravel route, we met the guys coming back from their buggy ride. They were happy to meet us, as they had no clue where they have to go to! At the same time, the remaining group came back to us, so we continued all together back to the hotel.
What a fantastic day for me today! So much fun riding offroad Schimmelchen, and not really being responsible for the group today :-D That made a big difference today for me! And on top, I had my own room, my own privacy! In theory the first time here in Marocco!
The only down was, that I had to find my way down to the bivouac in the dar, through the sand dunes. If you have ever been in the night in a desert, you know, how dark that can be! So just follow "your finger" ;-) After dinner, we discussed the leaving times for the next morning as not so many kilometres to do as in the previous days. However, we once should arrive at daylight!
Ah, yes, and then I had to walk back to the hotel in the pitch dark through the sand dunes. Half way the kitchen team caught up with me and we walked back the remaining part. As they spoke Spanish, we could speak a bit.
The next morning, we had again breakfast at 7h30 and the luggage got picked up by the jeep at 8h00. We helped to load the little trailer with all the bags. As the jeep was fully loaded, we walked to the hotel. After some group pictures, we departed together with our cars, as the pillions needed a lift to the street.
I managed to race sometimes far to the front to take some pictures of the group offroad. When I did it on the last part, I got caught in a long deep Ouad! Holy Moly - too fast to stop, so I had to gas myself through. While so much raced through my head at that moment, I was thankfully out of it!!
After that, it was a nice and easy ride towards Zagora. Half way we had a nice lunch stop at a traditional restaurant. My "friend" of our group decided after we had ordered for everybody, that he doesn’t want to pay for his lunch as too expensive for him. So we had to cancel it for him - made my day again! It was another delicious lunch :-D
And we managed to arrive all together in Zagora at DAYLIGHT! Wow, record ;-) We went first to a petrol station to top up already the bikes to not loose time tomorrow morning. The first petrol station didn’t have any petrol, so a guy on a scooter, that spoke very good Portuguese, took us to one that has petrol. He even knows Didier and Alexandre, and that we were "in town".
Back at the hotel, Marco and me had to sort out again the rooms and yes, I got a room for myself! This hotel had the dimension of a palace, but NO elevator! And I got easily lost in it as so many corridors and no information signs.
After a bit of resting, we all met for dinner in the restaurant. The dinner was nothing special, so I just discussed with Didier and Alexandre leaving times and went to bed; also did I feel cold. At least tonight I slept very well, which is good!
As you can see, things start to settle down, after all the chaotic and stressful first days. In the next blog we visit some famous sites south of the Atlas, so stay tuned. Next week I will be back :-D
Places | Cities:
Merzouga, Rissani, Alnif, Tazzarine, Zagora.
Driven km | Trip:
Total | Steffi: 380 km
Maintenance | Breakdown:
./.
Health issues:
./.
Special thanks to:
Schimmelchen to be so much fun on the offroad around Merzouga!