Fri: Tafraoute Col du Kerdous via the painted rocks (65km, 1100m of ascent) We We followed the Tiznit road, which was not busy because most traffic now goes through Izerbi. There was a small climb then a descent then a large climb to a saddle. A side road climbed up from the saddle to the right, but we were pleased not to have to follow it. Children gathered round us demanding stylos as we paused, and ran away screaming when Colin got his GPS out of the pannier. We dropped down to a fertile valley with several villages and a mosque modelled on a Yoplait factory. The kilometrestones started lying blatantly at this point, declaring us to be permanently 36km from Tafraoute. The After a late lunch we pottered down the vile gravel road in the direction of Kerdous village. After two and a half km. you come to a few houses set idyllically among barley fields, dominated by a large old whitewashed kasbah (photographable in the morning). The Hôtel Kerdous has much to be said for it, but it pipes loud cheap music into its public areas. Complain. GPS readings. These were taken at arbitrary points on the painted rocks route. Sat: Col du Kerdous Tiznit (57km, 250m) From The road never becomes all that busy, even on the approach to Tiznit, though the town itself has enough traffic. We had lunch in the Hôtel de Paris and chartered a grand taxi to Agadir for £15. It was a Mercedes and the bikes fitted in the boot once their front wheels had been removed. Back in Agadir we sampled the hotel pool and bought a fluffy camel in a supermarket. The temperature in Morocco had been around 30° by the time we left (lower when we arrived). When we touched down in Gatwick it was 2° and the car windscreen had a layer of ice. |