March 11, 2012
Lake Tizlet
just short of Imilchil
The hot milk is a nice surprise at breakfast. My host waves me off shortly after 8:00 and the piste stretches across a hilly landscape empty save for the odd house.
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In wet weather it would be a nightmare as the path is just compressed mud which has the deep ruts from a vehicle's trip on some rainy day. It's only a few kilometres along that the piste starts climbing and I begin walking - it's just so tiring trying to pedal up a bumpy piste.
My watch says it's 9:00 by the time I get to the top and as an indication of the weather, ice is covering puddles as well as parts of a steam that lines the rough route.
The longest drop lasts 13km. At the bottom of is a tarmac road and this isn't what I expect and after asking a woman which way Imilchil is, I turn right.
It takes a while to get back up to the altitude I've just been and walk most of it.
There's a fierce wind blowing at the tizi (pass/col) and after a quick snap, I'm glad to be going down a gentle slope towards one of the main tourist places of my Moroccan tour.
I never get to Imilchil, though, as the incredibly blue waters of Lake Tizlet have me gawping at it, and when a gite appears at its edge, I'm sold. Game over for the day.
The room price is 2000 dh, bargained down from 2,500 and I have the whole place to myself.
Without mains electricity, one of the workers drives me in to the small town - around 4km away - so I can charge my laptop battery in a simple cafe, where I have a pot of tea.
Not long after getting back to the isolated gite, the sublime tranquility is shattered by the arrival of a dozen revving 4x4s driven by a posse of Gibraltans oozing testosterone. I call it a night right after dinner and retreat to my room, leaving then to smoke like there's no tomorrow.
Today's ride: 27 km (17 miles)
Total: 164 km (102 miles)
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