Day 9: Camping la Plage Bhaidah, Aquermoud to Essaouira

February 24, 2023

Killer hills and nice long downhills

"Morocco is fantastic," Patrick says and continues: "the people are friendly and helpful, the traffic is respectful. It's just with all the beauty, there's a lot of ugliness with the trash at the side of the road and the unfinished construction." Rachel remembers in 1994 cycling 6 months in Africa where the women swept the dirt and any bit a trash was considered a resource. Then, cycling in France we have the shock of seeing trash everywhere at the side of the road.

Perhaps a western legacy left in Morocco.

Overnight we hear light ticking of rain on the tent, nothing major. That is a concern if there had been a hard rain the sandy road could have been hard going in the morning.

The sky looks threatening, and the wind has died down. We break camp after a breakfast of yogurt and granola with a banana. We have plenty of water for the day as we filtered last night.

We push past the sand until we can ride again. The sand trucks are on the move and we stay behind one until we reach the section that is paved back up to the main road. It is steep at the last part and then we immediately have another long climb; the first of many today. Though the climbing is tough, we get awesome rewards with a tailwind on a downhill.

Fortunately, there was only a sprinkling of rain overnight

Then we reach the paved road back up to the main road

The parade of sand trucks is picking up as we reach the main road

“I’m ready for a coffee,” Rachel says, but no luck today. There are no shops and we’ve not seen the cars with a coffee station in the back for a couple of days now. We stop in the juniper forest for a snack of tangerines, bread and nutella. This would have been a good area to camp in had we not found the campground, it would have made yesterday quite a bit longer though.

Plenty of vices evidence to be found along the road. I guess the dutch have a roll to play....

We can see Essaouira from a ways out, but the road circles to the east then drops down into the city. We ride through one of the gates into the Medina. The alleyways are bustling with tourists and locals. We end up pushing the bikes to find our Hotel Al Arboussas in a narrow passageway.

The owner helps carry the gear up to the second floor room. We have a nice bright room with a window onto a square below. The room is small but has an attached bathroom.

Passageway to the entrance of our Hotel. The cafe is to the right

. We quickly change to go find something to eat. We don’t have to go far; opposite the alley of the hotel is a café. We share a plate of Spaghetti Bolognese, a fruit salad and a ginger, kiwi and lime juice. The owner plays music and the first song is by Bryan Adams, our house/cat sitter Kim would love.

We are hungry and after checking in go to the cafe across from the entrance to our hotel. The owner starts playing music, the first song is by Bryan Adams.

Essaouira was renamed from the original name of Mogador, it means “well designed”. It is also known as the “Windy City of Africa”. After a shower and a rest, we venture out to explore more of the Medina and walk to the Harbor. Inside the Medina walls, all is calm the surf is crashing against the city fortification walls.

Bicycle repair shop on a side alleyway away from the main tourist streets

On the way back to the hotel we eat at a fantastic Asian Restaurant; we have Green curry and chicken and fresh shrimp spring rolls. Yes, we will be eating plenty of Moroccan food soon enough.