Morocco Azrou - Scottravels

Azrou

Azrou – We looked around for the Hotel Azrou, which was a bit of a focus point for travellers in the area and has a bar, but unfortunately this was closed due to Ramadan, so we settled for the Hotel Panorama, which was sign-posted from the town centre.

The town itself is a pleasant place, with a huge mosque right in the centre. It appears to be a market town with plenty of shops, and a busy Souk on Tuesdays, which lies in the Middle Atlas mountain range. The views are fairly spectacular as you look up to the mountains, then turn around to look out over the fertile plains. There were plenty cafes to chose from, none with local women in them, but no restaurants appeared to be open so we headed back to the hotel for our meal.

A few French were sitting watching the England v France RWC2007 match and made us welcome, especially when they found I was Scottish, not English. ‘We’ lost. The hotel from the foyer looks about 4* , with a nice restaurant, but the rooms are more like 2*. The room has a balcony an en-suite toilet and shower, but it’s not exactly well maintained and there’s no hot water at all.

There are no double beds in the Hotel either so we were stuck in single beds. I can’t complain though as I was so tired that I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. Up early the next morning, we headed off around 8am in the direction of Erfoud.

Azrou – Erfoud – The initial roads out of Azrou took us higher up into the Atlas, and the temperature was not as warm as I was expecting for the fringes of the Sahara.

Azrou

Eventually it levelled out onto long straights surrounded by miles and miles of nothing but sand and dead bush. The petrol stops and cafes were regular, every 50 miles or so, so no concerns of running out of fuel. At this point I’d like to give all travellers a healthy reminder about a vital piece of equipment. Not long after leaving a stop, I developed a funny feeling in my stomach. No matter how much I tried, I couldn’t shake this off, and the time came for desperate measures. I pulled the bike up by a road-side bush, and ran behind it carrying the important equipment – toilet roll.

Despite the fact we hadn’t seen another vehicle for the last hour, it was at this time the Sahara rush-hour starts, including buses and an off-road expedition consisting of five British-registered 4x4s. Ah well, at least they had something to smile about. Back on the bike, we eventually started heading back downhill into the desert itself. This stretch of road was great for testing the bike; twisty, flowing roads, good tarmac and minimal traffic on 2-way roads led to me shortening the chicken strips on the Metzeler Tourance tyres.The scenery around here was amazing, with oases in the valleys. Lay-bys were regular going down the hill giving plenty of opportunity to stop for photos. Unfortunately, everytime we did stop, we were accosted by a ‘local’ (no houses in sight) trying to sell us some trinket or another. Riding through the oasis at the bottom of the mountains, you start to feel the dry heat of the desert, and it’s hot.