When I finlly arrived in Tangier, after cold Europe, I need good 10 days to recover.
This still didnt solve my hand and feet numbness I had.
I stayed at airbnb in some poor neighboorhood, but this didnt bother me, the host was awesome, I had empty apartment for myself, with private room.
Morocco is still relatively similar to Europe so food was quite good, which later deteriorated rapidly on the way south.
I spend time heere working on my laptop, ocassionaly going to the local park for some excercise (chinups, pullups, abs etc), did some short runs in my Dechatlon sandals which deteriorated soon, but not because of this, I think they had this coming.
Later I bought new ones in Dechatlon Tangier, and this was one of the rare things I actually found in Dechatlon Africa becuase stores here dont have nothing.
On this tour I brought my clipless cycling shoes and sandals.
I did miss my trail running shoes, but I didnt want to carry 3rd shoes with me. This is unfortunate in my situation since I has clipless shoes for cycling.
Tangier was nothing to write home about, and same can be said for other big cities here.
My plan was initally to go through Atlas (or at least close by since it winter January) however due to all the cold I endured in Europe to get here, it weas clear to me that I dont want to do this.
The other reason for this decision is that somehow it seemed to me that most cyclists were here a while ago and went south now. Last year when I was planning this journey it seemed to me that others would be here in January so I would have people to join. After cold and dark Europe I relaly needed some company.
This lead to another decision on mine (which proved soon later to be completely useless) and this was when I decided to take a bus from Tangier to Agadir to skip about 800 km to join some other cyclist ahead.
It didnt bother me because this was a long journey and for sure I would not miss cycling but when I arrived in Agadir I realized I have miscalculated all and the cyclists I actually wanted to join were still good 1000 km in front of me. Some other cyclists were now some days back of me.
Plus taking into consideration I was staying 10 days in Tangier I was eager to get going and couldnt wait for no one so I was on the road now and solo again :D
Some church in Tangier
Outside of main cities like Tagier towns quickly became very poor looking and atrocious
Kids playing footbal
Max siun protection because even I am still in Morocco , sun has already started to feel super hot in the middle of the day
Met two cyclist coming from Atlas. We spent one evening at the beach and in the restourant. Next day I parted because they wanted to stay more.
Morocco is full of dogs and many of them are lovely and very kind.
Of course there is other side of this and those are the one that chase you but all dogs on these resting points like gas stations and parking lots were kind to me.
Only the dogs in those houses when road was going close to the sea were chasing us.
Sleeping next to the beach.
The sea here was excellent, later regret not staying nother day.
Hard to find sleeping spot because there is always someone here in Morocco pretending to be a police questioning our intentions.
Road follows the sea. Cycling Morocco coastal road was great, at least downwards from Agadir which I did. Roads were good, food was excellent and lot to choose from. Views were rewarding and it was never boring.
People were climbing on this big rock in the town of Mirleft
Hygiene is important on the road :)
Buildings in the town of Sidi Ifni
Amlou (or Amlu) is magnificent food present only in Morocco. When I discovered this then the food situation in Moroco became even more pleasant! It was the food of the Gods.
Amlou is almond button mixed with some other oils like argan oil, but its moslty almonb butten and outsid eof big cities its super cheap.
I bought this 800 grams bottle for 35 dirhams (3.5 euros)
Eating this in the evening was even better than eating peanut button (which I am used to)
Beautiful and super peaceful camping spot in one of those houses which look like they are built just for this purpose.
I cycled about 40 km from city of Sidi Ifni, found myself on the super quiet road and ended up in this shelter overnight.
Next day road started through gorgeous canyons
Until it ended up on the sea
Where I took a swim (wash). This beach is huge and the picture doesnt do the justice. The scale of things simply overshadow everything I have known about seaside in Europe.
The beach is maybe a kilmeter long. Yoiu stand 100 meters from the shore and lok at the waves. There are series of waves. First wave looks small, then the next one little bit bigger and so on.
As you start approaching the water , waves become larger and larger. Once you enter the water then the first wave which looked small suddenly looks at least half a meter high.
When the enter the ewater up to your knees, and the wave reaches your feet, suddenly you feel the power of this water, and you realize how big this giant water wave actually is. You can feel throwing tou towards the coast as the wave comes and then as it goes away, you can feel pulling you strongly back into the water.
And this is just the first wave! There are 5 or 6 waves afterwards, each one bigger than the previous one. Its clear that if you were to enter the wavter and go deep, you would probably be drowned by these huge waves. I know people surf on these beaches but how do they deal with such big and powerful waves is not clear to me.
Eating on the empty road after the Moroccan car stopped and gave me bread, vegetables (mandarinas, tomartos) and water, as much as I could carry.
This was just what I needed because today there were no stores on my route I chose for good 100 km and without this it would simply not be possible. Luckily generocity of Moroccan people was out of this world.
Camels, the shepard didnt want to be on the camera.
Empty road today and super hot sun.
Today it was thge first day I tested my new Dechatlon 15W solar panel which completely charged my 20000mah powerbank in about 6-8 hours, which was unbelivable to me.
All the protection from the sun I can have.
One night before the town of Tantan I was so tired, didnt want to go into the town and stopped just outside the town where there was some half abandoned resting palce where someone actually lived.
They invited me in, offered showed and a place for the tent. I was hoping for some family dinner maybe but there was none.
Without my French communication was not the best, but the guy was mostly ok, although it seemed in the end he did want some money in return (although he said you can stay for free at the beginning) .
Of course I refused and he wasnt pushy or anything but it was a bit weird.
First time for me, rice with mandarinas (and olive oil of course), only because I didnt have anything else to put in rice (no vegetables with me that night).
To be honest it ws actually pretty delicious to eat and refreshing!
The city of Tantan, all brown
Big sign reminded me how far I am from everything
Fruit and vegeatables stores in Morocco were excellent. Lots to choose from and cheap. I would get 2 kg of mixed vegetables for 2 euros.
Sand with nothing else
Camping behind some abandoned building
These type of houses were often present next to the sea when the road was passing close by.
The issue was that almost every house had few dogs around and they were all chasing cyclists like there was no tomorrow.
Since we had strong tailwinds after Tantan, it was easy to go fast and outrun all the dogs (and I have outruned hundreds of them), but this is not the best thing to do.
Obviously stopping everytime dogs appeared would be impossible since there were countless dogs around.
Camel signs were often seen but we had to go quiet far south for camels to start showing.
Swiss couple who helped me 2 tiimes in the desert by stopping on their own and giving me some food and water! It was reallt generous on their part and we had a nice chat. They had a van and were going south till maybe Gambia. I havent seen the since Morocco but it would be a nice surprise to see them again. I saw them 3 times in Morocco.
Lovely dogs
Camping after the town of Boujdour.
This town was weird and had very much Africa wibe. Full of black people.
Policy control was present before and after the city and inside there was all strange vibes with everybody starring and some people asking weird questins.
I didnt like being there at all. Although it was evening and I should have stayed , I was dreaming of wild camping (as usual) and after buying some food continued to cycle but it was hard to find place to sleep.
I think I did over 200 km that day! with the help fo strong tailwinds of course and ended up hiding close to the road but little downwards above the big coast overlooking the sea.
The place was super beautiful, but I didnt know if anybody would come (and ruin my stay) and it was clear that sand will become a problem.
Space for the tent was on sand and the wind was present, filling my tent with sand overnight, which was a problem I encountered first time in the desert.
Still the views very gorgeous with ther sound of the ocean all night long.
Winds combined with sand created very exiting experience in the desert and required special care because sand was going everywhere.
Winds were constant everu day, powerful and strong (40 kmh on average) , luckily they were tailwinds blowing mostly south, otherwise it would be impossible to cycle in north direction.
The other problem were trucks which would blast you with additional sand each time they passed you, and there were a lot of trucks on some roads.
Video on my mobile phone does not do the justice. You need to experience this in person.
I really liked Sahara experience and I would come back again!
Tring to eat the the desert with 40 kmh winds blowind sand all over with no where to hide is by no means easy :)
I had a chance to get really close to some camels, and wanted to try to pet its head but never did in the end.
This is howmy tent looked after some night in the tent.
I never knew what kind of issue sand and dust present in the desert driven by wind.
Unless you have complete shelter (buidling with roof) you could not hide from this sand and tent is pretty much useless in the desert because sand and dust pass through inner mesh of the tent ending inside your tent where you breath this dust all night. Pretty unnerving experience.
Spain cyclist I shared road with on some days.
Another endless day with lots of kilometers . I ended up hidden behind some rocks, which pretected me from sandy dust pretty good that night. Super nice place in the middle of the desert, with nobody around for miles.
Swimming in the ocean was rare in Morocco for me but still manages to get few good times to wash myself.
This night was nothing but calm because this building had no roof and winds which never stop in the desert were getting inside the building causing havoc and blowing all the stuff around all night.
Such things can drive you crazy. If there was no wind it would be peaceful night.
Food hygiene or lack of one in Morocco was crazy.
From bread sitting on the shelf unprotected, to people holding the bread with their hands when they were selling it to you.
Then there were eggs sitting on the shelf directly (no refrigirator!) in the restaurant of the store.
Of course the same was true for meat and fish.
In Morroco I had no issues getting all the fruits and vegetables I needed.
It seems everybody crossing Morocco have slept in this building!
This is a place close to Mauritania border which I stumbled upon one evening.
And inside a surprise was seeing many signatures from people I follow or know from social networks and even whatapp groups where travelers share their journey :)
Last stretch of road before the Mauritania border.
Met fellow cyclist who has been on the road for 5 years!
Yes, once you are on the road, its unbelievable how many travelers exist out there and how long some of them have been traveling.
I got stuck in a hotel in the town of Guerguerat for 3 days because my Mauritania visa was not ready.
This was because powerful tailwinds have pushed me to the border in record pace :)
I was doing 150, 170, 200 + km a day on the last stretch.
Hotel was not bad and for 15 eur a day, I had everything I needed (shower, table for work, wifi and even balcony).
It was little bit loud because this was border after all and in this town food stores had no fruits and vegetabels which was annoying.
Last town 40 km before this one was stocked with fruits and vegetables as usual, but of course I could not cycle back because of never ending 40 km/h winds blowing N - S constantly.
Once my Mauritania visa was ready, it was time to cross into another country.
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