March 6, 2012
Tilougguite and La Cathedrale
start of the piste
The chilled tent poles numb my fingers as I pack away the tent. It's pretty cold up in Ait Simour at 6:30 AM, but the sun is starting to peep over the mountains to the east as I ride up the incline, the road devoid of all other traffic.
There's nothing like a climb to get the blood flowing and warm you up and before long I've taken off my fleece top. Not having had any brecky, I feel hunger pangs around 10:00 and stop to eat a peanut brittle block that I bought at a petrol station on the outskirts of Ouaouizarht yesterday. Twenty minutes later there's a ribbon of icy snow lining the road and I wonder if my lethargy ias due to altitude. Whatever, I feel quite knackered.
It comes as a blow when I find that the high, horizontal road that I'd spotted yesterday when leaving Ouaouizarht - a clear line running around the mountainside - is not the one I'll be cruising along today. It must be a new route as it isn't on my Michelin map.. It's hard to say where it goes - just somewhere east. Never mind.
The R302 keeps going up and I walk for around 30 minutes, then sit down on a rock and scoff a couple of small cartons of honey, courtesy of the buffet breakfast at Hotel Les Saisons back in Casablanca.
Thankfully the gradient eases and at close to noon I can see the pass ahead, a straight strip of tarmac leading up to it, then disappearing over the crest.
The drop is a long one and the air tingles as it's pretty cool. It doesn't take long to reach Tilougguite - a dusty, forlorn place, where I stop in the market area, a sloping piece of ground, and ask a bunch of men sitting outside a shop: Where's Asif Melloul?
The response isn't good.
It appears the route is closed due to the rough piste being under water, or having been washed away... my French is terrible - but the sweeping hand gestures and grim facial expressions and the word "impossible" mean my main aim looks scuppered. The men suggest heading to La Cathedrale, a huge lump of mountainside around a dozen kilometers away where there's a bed waiting. I don't have much choice, as I'm certainly not going back - not up that long climb.
The tarmac surface of the R302 ends at Tilougguite and the route climbs and, feeling dejected, it's a slog riding up the bumpy path, which feels steep. I alternate between walking and resting, knowing that there's lots of time to get to the gite before it gets dark at about 5:00. What I haven't done, however, something I'm soon kicking myself for as the temperature soars, is to have bought some liquids in Tilougguite before leaving.
Respite comes when I reach the top, with La Cathedrale looking amazing in the crisp sunshine. It's nice freewheeling down to the one-street village of Rochers, where I treat myself to a cold bottle of Coke. The shop owner tells me there's a sign ahead to the gite and off I go to find it.
I can't make sense of the route. It ends at a fast-flowing, shallow river, which has a flimsy bridge made of two logs spanning it. Not wanting to get drenched for nothing, I cycle back to the shop to get some clear directions.
When I get there a man who speaks English explains there's another gite, just a little further along the R302, but even better, he tells me about Asif Melloul being okay to ride along.
Being a a guide who leads rafting trips, he can give me reliable details about where there are gites and places to eat along the very rugged 100 km-long piste. He also warns me it's much harder than coming from Beni Mellal. Not to worry - I eagerly jot the info' down in my notepad before setting off to find this other gite.
It's a piece of cake to find - a bright yellow sign points to a large building just set back off the route. It seems vacant, but around the back is a woman who speaks French and she runs place and confirms what the guide just said - bed, dinner and breakfast is 150 dh. Even better, there's only me staying, so the three-bed dorm room is all mine.
The shower is cold. And I mean freeze-your-bollocks-off cold. Just as well a log fire is lit in the lounge - it's soon blazing in the big fireplace and it's wonderful to warm up and know a clean bed is waiting after a delicious tangine dinner. In fact it's all so good that I decide to stay a second night.
Today's ride: 32 km (20 miles)
Total: 75 km (47 miles)
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