Just a little bit about one of Morocco’s most famous exports, hash or canabis. Illegal as it may be.( It’s illegal for locals and illegal for tourists). There is some tolerance for hash, it seems, in the Rif Area. Chefchaouen being the main town within the Rif mountains, and a centre for tourists, as you’d expect, there is a supply and demand thing going off here.
Buying hash in Morocco
If you want to buy hash in Chefchaouen, it’s not difficult, in fact almost every local I looked in the eye after 8pm or so intimated they’d like to sell me some!
Personally, I’m not that bothered about that anymore, but if cannabis or weed is what floats your boat, I’d suggest a visit to this area 8pm+. There’s plenty of action and the Moroccans are generally friendly, as they usually are.
Turns out the campsite owner being weird was the luckiest thing that happened all holiday.
The alternative accommodation, Maison d’hotes Cara Iris wen through my plans to get to my next destination using Google maps. We established some of the hills were going to be pretty drastic, the journey was 155km and there was no stop in between, (at least with bookable accommodation). Based on this, I decided to cycle up to the nearest gas station, (on the main road), and wait for a taxi. I’d been advised that this would cost €5 to El Jebha, a town half way.
Gas station
Easy to find, on the main N16 road. Had a litte supermarket and a few other travelers there waiting for lifts.
I pushed the bike slightly out of view and set about flagging down cars. This didn’t prove difficult, my fair skin and novel outfit probably helped, the only problem was the bike. As soon as I indicated this would be a passenger also, my potential traveling partners had second thoughts. After a while, I limited my recruiting efforts to vans and taxis. After about 3 hours, (12pm), I managed to grab a taxi. I had to persuade him that the bike would not be a problem to get in the back. We dropped the seat down, took the wheels off and it went in without any problem.
The road to El Jebha
Was 55km of Moroccan engineered mountain pass. Steep curve following steep curve, either going up or going down. It was a good idea not to bother cycling. At no time did I think I might have enjoyed it out there… I reached El Jebha in one piece. I had to pay the taxi driver double because I had left let seat down and it had taken up space which would have been generating a fare. I ended up paying 100, which is about £8.
Bit of a weird one. Considering the jurney was half te previous days, the stress and exertion was double or more!
Campsite
Due to the fact I was planning on staying at a campsite, I hadn’t booked ahead. I’d looked at their website and according to that they had various types of accomodation available.
Bear in mnd, the last time I started a trip without a room, it ended in the worst hotel ever!!
The journey
I’m not sure what made this difficult. A combination of factors. Lots of hills ✅ Long day the day before ✅ Wind in my face✅ No coffee with breakfast✅ A range of things made it difficult to get the motivation. Also, it was a fairly short hop at 60km, possible in 2-3 hours.
Once I came away from Al Hoceima, the main road came away from the coast and went into the mountains. That’s where I stayed for 80% of the journey. By the last 2 hours, I was with the wind in my face, standing on the pedals to get up every hill.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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