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Cycling all night from the oliveyard to Moulay Idriss Zerhoun
So I was ordered by the Sécurité to leave the orchard immediately.
I was told to follow them to a secure place at their policestation in the village down the hill.
But I had come from there that afternoon and that hill had cost me already 1 hour of pushing.
And it was not at all my intension to push those vertical meters once more that morning.
I would not follow them down to their policestation 💥.
Once at the gate I started to cycle Up the hill instead of down.
Only 18 kms to go 💪.
Although it was in the middle of the night.
The officer started to shout at me what I was doing since the policestation was downhill.
"Cycling" I answered, "is that forbidden in Morocco ?!"
"No" he said, "it is not".
The OnTheRoad 4.0 has a very bright headlight and taillight so I felt secure and had no doubts whatsoever
about this decision.
I (only just) managed to cycle around the first corner.
That was important for my ego and reputation 👅.
Then I had to push again ...
But then a policecar showed up.
Just 1.
Exactly as I had expected 2 policemen (the junior team 🤠) were instructed
to drive along with me
through the night to secure me.
The rest of them did not show up anymore.
Too bad the mayor was not with them 💥.
So far so good, I had got rid of eight of them now.
I knew and they knew that Moulay Idriss Zerhoun, the next village, was 18 kms away.
And I knew and they did not know that I would have to push most of the time here ...
I started pushing at 01h00 and did so untill about 03h00.
Then I had conquered hill number 1 💪.
The policemen didn't understand that they should not turn on their headlights.
And that they should not stop so close behind me.
The strong lights of there car were creating huge shadows in front of me .
That was irritating me all the way, also since it made it impossible to see anything of the landscape, nor from the stars.
I explained them several times but they reacted only for a minute or two and then turned on the lights again.
This situation was going on for at least one houre.
Then suddenly the carlights started blinking.
Another car had turned up and had stopped next to them.
I was some 50 meters ahead of them and pushing but they told me to come over to them.
Was this some Very Important Officer that would force me to return to the policestation ???
I had seen that car in a small village we had passed 30 minutes ago.
A village that is not in my gps and not on the online maps.
So this could be the upmost secret Sécurité you can imagine 😎.
But no, it wasn't, instead I was invited to have diner with them 👍.
That car had brought a tajine with chicken and vegetables plus a nice moroccon salade.
"Eat, you must eat, you need that" they told me.
So I returned to the OnTheRoad 4.0 to have my extremely special hightech plastic outdoor fork from my handlebarbag.
It always is there, ready for action 😋, but is seldom used.
Then for some strange reason I can not eat normally on a day with lots of physical exertion.
The "day" was still young and I had my fair share of the food and it was delicious.
I took advantage of the situation and ate more then my "half".
It was the most exclusive diner I ever had taking into account the situation !
Then we continued.
So now you know why this is the first blog that contains no pictures !
I could have taken some with the excellent night-mode of my
Panasonic FZ1000 camera 🖱️
but I was to nerveus, tired and/or deepminded to do so.
And those damned carlights would have ruined the pictures anyway.
The first half of the track was going uphill.
Pardon me, uphill ?
I made 300 vms in under 6 kms !!!
And they costed me exactly 2 hours ...
This was almost the steepest 5 kms of my life until now (on tarmac, not offroad ...).
The uphill
to Chefsaouen
was even more steep and I didn't make that one.
However that was after almost 4 times more kms then today, and in the full sun.
Then I freewheeled shortly, pushed once more some 100 vms after which the road started to really descend.
At 05h00 I finally rolled into Moulay Idriss.
But that has very steep hills in town and I had to push again (but shortly).
Besides that the main street was totally filled and blocked by very many men with maybe some 1000 sheep.
The weekly sheepmarket was about to begin.
The Sécurité started horning but that didn't really help 😉.
Were I could pass quite easily since I only need litle space.
Then I noticed that two other policemen were in that (same) car for that last kilometer in town.
That must have had something to do with regional orders I suppose.
The problem was that this policeman in charge was far from friendly.
He wanted to force me into a certain hotel.
But we ended up at a parkinglot from which a very long stairway of about 40 steps was going down into a suburban area.
The man wanted me to hurry and waved I should cycle down that stairway !
I explained him that that action would cause a huge problem for the Sécurité
since I probably would not survive that downhill.
He looked confused then he really had no idea about cycling whatsoever ...
I parked my bike to a pole and told him to walk down with me since I wanted to have a look first.
After some 40 steps there was a hotel and the policeman started banging the door.
The hotelowner opened a window and the policeman told him to open the door.
But I made the international money sign (which they all know in Morocco ...) and I was told a room was
Dh250 (€ 25) per night, breakfast included.
I explained them I couldn't afford that and was able (willing) to pay Dh 150 per night,
if the room had a bathroom and a desk.
The latter was confirmed and I made clear I wanted to have a look first.
The room was oké so I accepted it although being on the second floor ...
That would mean 40 steps down and then 40 steps up with all the
luggage
plus the OnTheRoad 4.0 itself.
We returned up the stairs to the bike and I started to unpack.
The officer wanted to get to his bed and started to help me bringing the luggage down.
So I first unpacked all the luggage and in the meantime he started to do the real work 👌.
I myself took only the last two bags down-up and then the OnTheRoad 4.0.
Then the officer left.
Pffuuuhhhh ...
It was already getting a bit lighter now outside. The first Dh150 left me in one hour already ... I went to bed and managed to get some sleep. This NightTrip had for sure been one to Remember ! However, no worries, just follow me to the next blog to discover the town of and the living in Moulay Idriss Zerhoun !