Day 191 26th January
78m (Rabat to Ben Ahmet) Average speed 11.5 mph Top speed 32 mph
Don’t ask the hostess of the hostel to take a photo of you with your new friends!!
You can see why!!!
Better – but still a bit wonky!
Up at 8 and after a shower went for omelette and coffee and OJ with Craig and Jasper. They went for an espresso while I went back to pack. Then we left just before 10 and followed the coast road, which was stunning and very fast. We turned left at Skhirate Temara, we went past the royal palace and stopped to speak to the soldiers on guard, who wished us well on our journey.
Entrance to the Royal Palace
As we came to my turn off to carry on to Casablanca, I had fallen behind again, I told them to carry on without me but they would have none of it so I said I’d go into the next junction with them.
Which way?
We soon had to start climbing and it was tough for me as I fell behind a couple of times as I was struggling up the hills.
We stopped at the roadside for bananas and chocolate, which was all we had in Jasper’s bag. As I approached 5000 miles on the speedo we stopped for a photo opportunity and Craig joked that we’d have to stop every 100 miles after that for another photo.
5000 miles
It became even tougher as we turned directly into a headwind and then it started to rain too. They were really good and didn’t mind waiting for me.
We carried on through farmland but could not find a good camp spot, and as the rain got heavier and the wind stronger it became harder to see where we were going to stay that night.
Just before Ben Ahmed we checked out camping next to a roundabout and payage (toll booths), but it wasn’t suitable so we pressed on into Ben Ahmed and tried Afriquia petrol station, where we asked if we could camp. It was now pouring down and the manager said we were welcome to stay in the small room the staff normally use for breaks.
Afriquia petrol station
I had bought 1kg of meat and tomatoes and onions in order to camp, so once they had swept out the room we set up camp, while the pump attendants cooked us a chicken tagine and used some of the minced meat to make meatballs.
Petrol station hospitality
We all ate together in the office and then a guy turned up who spoke good English and explained about his gym equipment repair business and we chatted for a while before hitting the sack at about 11pm.