19/06/2019: Tinghir
Km travelled today/sum: 201km / 6627km
Sun shine, 38 degrees, country road
We got up really early to avoid the high temperature during the day, especially after my bike had the issues with heat some days earlier. So we packed before sunrise and started to ride during dusk. 200 km is not too much but, on the roads and with the traffic here, it can take up to 4 to 5 hours without any breaks. When we took off, the temperature was 26 degrees.
The roads lead us through the town gates, which look quite impressive, particular in the morning. They were also in good condition and easy to ride especially given the stunning views.
When we came over a mountain range, the landscape started to look like the Australian outback. At some stage we thought we were in Coober Pedy. Small earth mounds left and right of the road. It turned out that the people here were digging for fossils not opal, but it’s still quite similar! J
We noticed that the temperatures were varying drastically, depending on if we were in a valley close to a body of water (19degrees) or on a desert plain (30 degrees). Around the 30 degree mark I got a bit nervous, but the bike didn’t miss a beat. We arrived at our accommodation close to the Toudgha Gorge again very early. So we parked the bikes here, hopped onto Sigrid’s bike and went two-up to the Gorge.
We walked a bit along the gorge, took some pictures. As usual, it is hard to try to capture the real size and beauty of it. Behind Bjoern is a house build into the gorge, on the left picture you can hardly see it and zoomed in you get an idea of the sheer size of the cliff.
We had some lunch at a restaurant nearby and went back to our accommodation to settle into our room. The common area looked really nice and so did the pool and the rest of the outside area. Sigrid had to try the pool J
Our host gave us a small map of the surroundings to explore. So we had to cross the ‘river’ and walk through a nice green mountain trail. We evensaw some chipmunks, aren’t they cute?
And then we arrived at the Kashbah, an old uninhabited fortress. The French tried to build a road on this side causing the hill to collapse, so they decided to build the road on the other side of the mountain, which worked. It is the road we were arriving on. The people in the Kashbah felt it was a long way to the road which guaranteed supplies, so left this place and moved to the other side of the road. The new houses can be seen just behind the ruins. On our way back to the hotel was saw a donkey strolling through the bushes!
We also found a nice tiny lake with some fishes and a restaurant. If you didn’t know where to look for the pond, we would have missed it.
After our excursion, it was time for dinner. This time it was part of our accommodation deal J
We got more confident that my bike is reliable if the temperatures are below 30 degrees. So tomorrow we will have a look at ‘Ait Benhaddou’, an ancient village used as background for multiple Hollywood movies.
