Michael Tyler

A full day of cycling.

Started at 8am, waited for breakfast for a bit. Set off around half past.

This is a picture of my hotel.

It was like a palace. Don’t think I’ve ever had as much clean living space for so little money.

They also let me take my bike up to the room, so I got off in the morning without any delays.

Had my breakfast, next thing to do.

Visit the market

I had some dates I used to use for snacks along the way. That and peanuts. Peanuts are filling and pretty heavy duty. More like a mini meal on the move. Dates are lighter, a more sugary affair that will just give you a boost, if you stop for a drink or a breather.

Anyway, I guess these dates fell out. The first thing to do after setting off was to visit the market on the way out of town.

500g of dates cost 12diram, or £1.

Continue reading “Narbon to Al Hoceima”

Another easy day. Some slight hills.

The wind was a bit of a pain.

Blowing inland from the sea, it was pretty strong, although not too unpleasant in the heat.

The trip itself was more hilly and it took me from inland to the tip of a peninsula.

Here’s some nice pics from the journey.

The hotel of the good view

Was fairly entertaining.

My bed collapsed when I got into it, my hosts Dutch friends showed up and crashed out the beer and whisky.

Abdul, the guy who owned the place had lived in Holland for a while. These two guys had come to Morocco to visit. For supper, provided by the housekeeper, we had a fish tagine and some traditional hariri soup.

It was an ok stay but the rooms were not that great.

Continue reading “Berkane to Nardor”

On the bike. Again.

It was a toss up of taking a longer journey, (130km), or the short one at about 75km.

When I checked the weather for today, it said rain for this afternoon.

That never materialised, but it has been cloudy all day. This and the fact there were no hills made it pretty pleasant. I did of course plump for the easy option.

Tangier

I’m taking a roundabout journey to the frontier town of Tangier.

Continue reading “Oujda to Berkane”

This involved taking my bike on the bus from Fez CTM to Oujda. It was surprisingly cheap and easy, cost me 140 dirams for the 5 hours trip.

By bus. Whilst on the bus, I supposed, ‘what would be the best place to cross the border into Algeria’?

Hmmmm.

Not so friendly

It seems that Algeria and Morocco haven’t been friends for a very long time. The last time the border was open was in 1994. UK residents need a visa for entry also.

Bummer.

A bit of bad planning by me.

Continue reading “Fez to Oujda”

Where I’m going to stop for a couple of days.

The trip was under ideal conditions. Mostly downhill and with the wind behind my back. 56 miles took 4 hours or so.

You don’t get any better.

Trip statistics

• Distance: 91km
• 18.25kph Ave speed
• Max temp 29°
• -720.85m Elevation gained
• 2,317 calories burned
• Time 4h 59m

In and around Fez Medina and Souk

For the last 24 hours or so, I’ve been here, in the old town of Fez.

It’s not really like anywhere where I’ve been before. There are no vehicles allowed in the Medina. Just people, hand-carts and the odd donkey.

It’s just a crazy place. Like a maze of alleyways. When you get into the souk, the alleyways are lined with shopfronts. So many colours, different items, some for tourists, a lot for Moroccan punters. They sell all the things you can imagine.

The food is pretty amazing.

It’s like internet shopping on wine, before the internet was invented.

Crazy.

If you lived here for a week, you’d need to buy your own mule to take all your stuff home for you!

Continue reading “Azrou to Fez Medina”