Wednesday, 07 July, 2010 --- Day 16

Stats
Start at AL JEBHA End at AL HOCEIMA
Day dist.: 110.68 km
Total dist.: 967 km
Riding time: 7:52
Avg speed: 14.00 km
Mx speed: 65.6 m/h

Zaid knocked on my window at around 6:30. It took me, however, a little longer to get up. I had taken half a sleeping pill the night before and I believe that it is because of that, that I couldn’t get up as readily.

Soon as I was ready I bid farewell to Zaid and hit the road. It was 8:50, I guess a little later than the 6:00 departure time that I had set as my goal. I followed instructions and rode through the town and exited into the route nationale.

This is Al Jebha from above


I was sort of anxious to see how the route nationale looked like. According to my info I had already crossed the part that was under construction and for the rest of my ride I wouldn’t have to worry rough terrain or fallen rock. Indeed the “route nationale” looked perfect all the way through Al Hoceima


The only problem, because in all situations including the perfect ones there are always problems, was the continuous uphill. I indeed went up and entire mountain. I was climbing for 14 kms. It was taking a lot of effort to continuously climb and, to add insult to injury, I had not slept enough. So, at kms 9.35 I stopped, parked Spithas and went to only place that was protected from the sun, the ditch build next to the road for, I suppose, channeling the rain waters and I took a nap. I must have stayed there asleep or semi asleep for about 45 mins. Reinvigorated I biked on. The only problem now was the fog. It was really foggy. You could not see further than 10 meters.


At km 14 the uphill ended and a flat continued for about 4 kms. At km 18 the downhill started. Boy was I fast going downhill. I hit 65.6 kms/h but as the song makes it very explicit “tristesa nao tem fin, felicidade sim!!!” Happiness cannot last forever at km 30 the uphill started over again. In the meantime I was almost out of water and despite my info and expectations, I wasn’t going thru villages or towns where I could resupply w/ liquids of all sorts, including water. So, at km 30 I went up to the gate of the house in the middle of nowhere shown below


and entered. In the yard there was a group of men having lunch. I walked up to them and asked for water. I was immediately invited, actually told, to have lunch w/ them, which I did. I stayed w/ then for about half an hour and after exchanging info and carrying a conversation mostly in Spanish I hit the road again w/ my empty bottle filled up.

I had the water bottle “securely” tied on the rack and was intending to treat it for bacteria at my first stop. The two other water bottles that are on the bike’s frame were almost empty. So, when at km 38 the new downhill started and as I was speeding the water bottle on the rack fell of into a precipice, I was left w/o any water. It was not till km 47 where I found a place to buy water. It was a very well situated place built w/ a lot gusto and actually in the middle of nowhere. I decided to take a rest there. When the time to go came(16:00,) however, I had a hard time getting up and leaving, especially because I had to give up the Indian soap opera that was shown on the giant screen. I must also report that people in this joint were smoking kif in the open. It appears to be the way to go in Morocco.

I biked on


The never ending road


Towards Hoceima

Still I was 40 kms from my destination and doubt started creeping up as the sun was setting. To make it worse I could hear the “bpovtes” and see the lightning. The rain caught up w/ me. As you know I have absolutely no rain gear w/ me and wasn’t sure whether to keep biking (there were 25 kms to go) or try to find shelter. I asked a couple of locals where I could find shelter but the communication had broken down so I decided to keep biking. Fortunately other than a short period of semi intense rain the rest was not important and w/in half an hour it stopped altogether. I biked on and made it to Al Hoceima by 21:00. I went to the first hotel I saw on my way. It was hotel Al Munecar. When I arrived the game between Spain and Holland needed 15 mins to go and the receptionist was watching it. Even though I really did not care to watch it, I told the receptionist to wait till it was over before taking my info and the payment. Just in case you did not know, Spain won the game.