Rabat and beyond

This place is such a meeting of the new and old Morroco.


Agrandir le plan

I'm in Rabat, the capital of the country, apparently where the king lives and thankfully it's a very mellow city with very little hassle, but plenty of lively street life. I'm staying in a little hotel literally in the walls of the old madina. My room looks out over the wall of the old city to the modern part with wide streets, cafes, banks and further out all the embassies uncluding one for Mauratania where i have just picked up a VISA for 3 months. I had to explain that I was on a bike and it would take more than a month to get there and cross the desert to Senegal. Whilst sorting the bla bla at the embassy i met all sorts of other people heading that way. They did all think i was mas to be cuycling but it's good to know there's plenty of folk traveling that road.... After all the foriegn office does tel you not to. But if you followed all their advice you would be scared to leave the house at all:

Since i'd arrived in Morroco i had spotted the odd cyclist in our traditional spandex uniforms speeding about the roads and wondered if they were actually local lads..... And they are. It seems like Its getting quiet popular here and these two i met on the way into Rabat were so friendly chatting together as we cruized into town. I learnt alot about how you ride in Morrocon cities with these two aswell. It's all about the flow man ~ and not so much about traffic lights and junctions but we already knew that hey...

The ride from Checfchaouen took me out of some beautiful mountains to roling farmlands and then for a day of absolute flatness through fertile fields with rich black soil. Every where people were plowing with tractors or horses, while endless streams of donkey carts collected the veg and grasses returning to the towns loaded up. I'm sure in the region where they grow all the beatroot the donkey po on the road was a radient purple red colour; funny, the things you notice while peddling along.

evening game of football

Oh yeah, and you can buy anything here on the road side......

I may not get round to writing for a little while now as i'm going to be heading inland over the atlas mountains, then the Anti Atlas and south towards the desert.... at least thats the plan, so who knows whan i'll get round to sitting at a computer again.

Now the journey really begins.....