←the gorges | | tafraoute–tiznit→ Thurs: Tizi Mlil old road (47km, 900m of ascent) Another very good ride. A lot of effort must have gone into building the old road. It sweeps round en corniche, supported by a retaining wall for several miles. It is this retaining wall which we could see. The old road was never tarmacked, and since the new road has been built it has not been maintained. It is no longer passable by motor vehicles, and seems to carry nothing heavier than a few donkeys. It has rather the feel of a mining tramway in Wales, but on a larger scale. We asked directions at the café.
Once we were on the road there was no difficulty following it. It coasts round the hillside losing height slowly. At a crossroads in the valley it meets 2 other pistes in better condition and continues straight on. It passes a turning to Tarhzout and then enters a region of weird rocks, often sculpted by the weather into unusual shapes. Eventually it joins the Izerbi road at Agard Oudad. To find the route in the opposite direction look for the white concrete slab signpost written in Arabic script at the southern end of the village.
We returned to Tafraoute for a late lunch, and amused ourselves in the afternoon by climbing the hill adjacent to the Amandiers a pleasant easy scramble with a walk-off at the back. |