Tan-Tan to ??? - Day 165

Date: January 30th, 2010
Distance: 106km
Country: Morocco
Song of the Day: Another Travelin' Song - Bright Eyes

I was happy to be getting out of my cheap hotel room. The road out of town however was really not what I wanted. The first 5km was all uphill. I stopped near the top to stretch when my Spanish companion, Jose, rode up. I guess he camped about 20km outside of town and had been on the road for a bit. Again, I am impressed with the way he rides. (Most of the time leaving me in the dust.)

Still we made a pretty good run of it today. The road after Tan-Tan goes out to the ocean. It was good to see the Atlantic again. For most of the day we were riding along the top of the cliffs overlooking the sea. A few huts for the fishermen who live along the coast and the ubiquitous European camping cars (RVs). We did stop for lunch with a herd of camels. I doubt they are wild, but I didn't see anyone watching them either.

The only real change in the terrain were the four or five Oued (rivers) that we had to cross. This invariably involved dropping 150 feet in elevation, crossing a flood plain and small bridge, then climbing up an equal height on the other side. Makes me miss the US where they just put a big bridge straight over the whole thing.

By the end of the day I was getting pretty tired. We were heading for a cafe that Jose (my riding companion) knew about. By that point I really was pooped. I stopped and got some fish to eat. By the time we left the sun was about to set. We only made it a couple of kilometers before Jose stopped. We pulled off the road on the seaward side. Nearby was a little stone hut. We talked about pitching tents, but the wind had picked up and there wasn't much to stake into around there. The ground was either stone or sand. Instead we decided to camp out in the hut. It was clean and unoccupied. I figured it wouldn't be that big a deal if we stayed there for one night.

So I watched the sun set on a cliff overlooking the ocean. Behind me the moon started to rise. It was a full moon, so it was hard to see all the stars. I did get another astrological phenomenon that I don't get to see much. The light off the moon was so bright I could see my own shadow by it. Moonshadow. Quite cool.

-Dravis