{"id":13903,"date":"2017-05-08T09:47:43","date_gmt":"2017-05-08T09:47:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/snailpacecycling.co.uk\/?p=13903"},"modified":"2017-05-08T09:47:43","modified_gmt":"2017-05-08T09:47:43","slug":"day-204-zagora-to-tiagounite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/snailpacecycling.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=13903","title":{"rendered":"Day 204 – Zagora to Tiagounite"},"content":{"rendered":"

Day 204                                                        8th February
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45 miles (Zagora to Tiagounite)  average speed  8.9 mph  Top speed 23 mph<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A tough day battling winds and another mountain<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Woke early but didn’t get up until 8, had a good brekkie of boiled egg, bread, cheese , marmalade and 3 coffees. I then sorted out my estate agents and Dave for a gas certificate. I made a few calls and eventually left at 11.15. Set off and rode with a boy on his bike. Going through town was fine and then across the bridge and up through the outskirts. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Riding through town as I leave Zagora<\/p><\/div>\n

Then the wind picked up and it was a strong headwind with lots of sand blowing in my face. I donned my buff and hat to keep out the wind but it was tough work and I was making very slow progress at about 6 to 7 mph. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Wind and dust<\/p><\/div>\n

I stopped for 2 Sprites in a bar with wifi which told me the forecast was for 15 mph winds all day. I did consider staying there in Tamegrout after only 11 miles, but after some brochettes I carried on into the headwind. An hour or so later I was very relieved that there was finally a bend in the road turning me away from the wind. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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A bend in the road<\/p><\/div>\n

I said hi to two French guys I met a few days ago going in the opposite direction. I was jealous of their wind propulsion and began to wonder if I should have gone to Hamz Guid? instead. Then I was going with the wind and flying along at 18mph before I turned and headed into the mountains. A big climb to 1100m was tough after the wind but I made it and the run down was good, but the road wasn’t and cars coming against me didn’t give way. Then the road ran out and I had to go on a rutted makeshift one while they re-made it.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The road ran out<\/p><\/div>\n

This was a long 5 miles into town but 2 wild donkeys ran into the road in front of me to show me the way! They kept stopping and looking back at me, checking that I was following. It was an incredible sight and really gave me a lift. They were a beautiful two tone grey. I followed them for about a mile and they ran into the desert. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Now that’s what I think of as desert!<\/p><\/div>\n

I tried the unmade new road which was better, but had pipes laid across it so I had to negotiate those, but that was better than taxis heading straight at me! Eventually I made the town and while looking for a hotel a moped pulled up alongside and asked if I wanted a campsite. I followed him through alleyways and through dark streets until we reached the campsite, where I was offered a pitch, dinner and brekkie for 120 dirham. Dinner was soup and the biggest tagine ever for one person followed by fruit. The guy on the moped hung about until I’d finished and tried to sell me a tour, but when I declined he was polite enough. I met Georges my French neighbour and had a chat with him before another early night.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Camping Les Palmeraies 120 dirham including dinner & brekkie<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Day 204                                                        8th February   45 miles (Zagora to Tiagounite)  average speed  8.9 mph  Top speed 23 mph A tough day battling winds and another mountain Woke early but didn’t get up until 8, had a good brekkie of boiled egg, bread, cheese , marmalade and 3 coffees. I then sorted out my estate agents … [Read more…]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[3],"tags":[771,772,770],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/snailpacecycling.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13903"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/snailpacecycling.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/snailpacecycling.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/snailpacecycling.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/snailpacecycling.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13903"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/snailpacecycling.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15276,"href":"https:\/\/snailpacecycling.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13903\/revisions\/15276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/snailpacecycling.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/snailpacecycling.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/snailpacecycling.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}