Imoulas on the bike

Adventure day today. We drove the bike up into the Atlas Mountains along the same route we took with Mum a week ago, passing our picnic spot at Afensou and going on to Imoulas where it is souk day. Not a large affair, donkey parking only!

We drive into the village where we leave our bike and walk through the narrow streets 

 

People smile, stare and look on bewildered at the sight of us in our bike gear as if we've just landed from Mars.

 Young beauties even shake our hands and say bonjour, women and children run for cover and peer at us from cracks in doors. 

Two local dudes ask if we want to take their photo, so they pose and I oblige.

What a mixed reaction we are getting.

It's cooler up here in the mountains, a welcome relief from the heat. It was a good run up here with the roads being well surfaced . After a good walk around the village we continue our bike ride on a dirt track to see what we could find further up into the mountains. We find green fields and mountain streams, houses and donkey riders using mobile phones!

Then typical Moroccan hospitality!

We stop to take a break and out of a house a fellow comes, takes Krysia's hand and says ' please come and take coffee ' and in a moment we are transported to his balcony to admire the view,

then to his sitting room to take coffee and honey, bread and biscuits and conversation as best we can. Hamed lives here, in the High Atlas with his wife when he's not in Essouira. He's polite and inviting, not too overwhelming and after half an hour we are on our way! It was the same yesterday in Taroudant, we stopped at a small Jewellers to admire his wares only to be offered tea, bread and Argan oil to eat there and then! 

So down the track we drive, looking for an alternative route back to Taroudant from Imoulas. We had been told of another road under construction which we found and started our decent. 

please note, new man bag!

We wind our way through mountain villages on rough track which turned into stone chippings, a bit like driving through sand!,

 coming to the final stretch which was earth or should I say dust, narrow and very windy, dust devils blowing up a storm!

 I'm so glad we didn't come up this way because we probably would have turned back! But with the Sous plain in sight, going back was not an option and the bike was going well so, zig zag, single track, very dry and down we came! An epic offroad experience for us, as offroad as we will ever want really!

What an adventure! We sat back at the van, exhausted and pleased with ourselves letting the cool air of evening bring our tired minds back to earth.

sleep well, we certainly will

love Ted and Krysia xxx