{"id":13891,"date":"2017-04-23T17:24:06","date_gmt":"2017-04-23T17:24:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/snailpacecycling.co.uk\/?p=13891"},"modified":"2017-04-23T17:24:06","modified_gmt":"2017-04-23T17:24:06","slug":"day-199-tadoula-to-ouarzazate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/snailpacecycling.co.uk\/wordpress\/2017\/04\/day-199-tadoula-to-ouarzazate\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 199 – Tadoula to Ouarzazate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Day 199                                                           3rd February
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31miles (Tadoula to Ouarzazate) Average speed 11 mph  Top speed 27 mph<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Awake at 6, but not up until 8.30, with the sun warming my tent. I had a coffee from the cafe and the not-so-friendly governor chased me across the field to tell me I needed to pay, as he was closing up. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Campingcar Cafe<\/p><\/div>\n

I walked back with him, but I still only had a 100 note, so he took my money and walked into town to get me change. He’d already locked up the toilet, so I went back to the tent and lit a fire to make tea and packed up. He came back with 60 dirhams change so I gave him 10 for going. My tipping skills are hardly extravagant but he seemed happy with his \u00a31. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I then went for brekkie in the next town and met a father and son couple of cyclists who were on Day1 of an 8 day tour. We chatted a bit, especially about France, and I headed off to Ait Ben Haddu which my book stated at 4km, but it turned out to be a 12 mile round trip. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Ait Ben Haddu – traditional mud brick city on the edge of the High Atlas mountains<\/p><\/div>\n

It was worth it though, to see all the tourists bussed in and out, and quite a few seemed impressed by my achievements. One American guy was very excited and insisted on taking my photo and kept telling his girlfriend that they should do a trip. I don’t think she was quite so impressed by my dishevelled appearance and smell of bonfires. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Brian beside the bridge at Ait Ben Haddu<\/p><\/div>\n

The place was quite impressive but I didn’t feel the need to climb to the top and there was nowhere to leave the bike. They made many films here, the most famous and the one which brought fame here, was Lawrence of Arabia. I quite fancied some quad biking but the shop was closed so maybe later. I considered a hotel here which had camping and a pool, but the pool needed a clean, so I decided to carry on to Ouarzazate. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Less climbing – or so I thought<\/p><\/div>\n

The road back seemed downhill on the way but I think I must have had the wind behind me. I stopped for water and a local fizzy orange which helped me up a long climb, before the road became a bit like Brittany; a series of hills which take it out of you as you push hard on the way down to give you impetus to get back up the other side and then climb the next one. It wasn’t quite so hot and dry in Brittany though. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Road across the desert<\/p><\/div>\n

My lips are chapped and I have a sore throat and it’s only day one in the desert! It’s worth any minor inconvenience for the views are just incredible. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Fantastic scenery<\/p><\/div>\n

There are many strange items along the side of the road but I’ve discovered that there are some very sick lorry drivers out there. Driver Tizer is the name given to bottles of urine cast aside along the verge and the variety of colours is extraordinary.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

(Ermintrude; possibly TMI, thank you!)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I arrived in Ouarzazate and found the hotel very easily on the main road. Checked in and put my bike in the room. I had the most wonderful hot shower, you really do start to appreciate such luxuries when you miss them! <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Hotel Royal, Ouarzazate<\/p><\/div>\n

Then I went for a walk around the market in town. It seems a really nice place with a large square and lots of cafes and restaurants. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Main square<\/p><\/div>\n

I bought some bread and then found a supermarket opposite the hotel selling beer, so I had a drink with my lunch and then a siesta, as those mountains have helped me to sleep! Woke at 9 pm and had brochette (kebab) with haricots in curry sauce with bread for supper and back to bed by midnight.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Hotel Royal 80 dirham with ensuite shower<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Day 199                                                           3rd February 31miles (Tadoula to Ouarzazate) Average speed 11 mph  Top speed 27 mph Awake at 6, but not up until 8.30, with the sun warming my tent. I had a coffee from the cafe and the not-so-friendly governor chased me across the field to tell me I needed to pay, as he … [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,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[762,763,761],"class_list":["entry","post","publish","author-ermintrude","post-13891","format-standard","category-spc_blog","post_tag-day-199","post_tag-ouarzazate","post_tag-tadoula"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/snailpacecycling.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/snailpacecycling.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/snailpacecycling.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/snailpacecycling.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/snailpacecycling.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13891"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/snailpacecycling.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14377,"href":"https:\/\/snailpacecycling.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13891\/revisions\/14377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/snailpacecycling.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/snailpacecycling.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/snailpacecycling.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}