From Meknes to Rabat and then to Harhoura

Speeding in the bus 👅 and cycling along the Atlantic Ocean

2019-05-17

*** I had decided to travel to Rabat by bus. That town would hopefully bring me in a more civilized world (which I obviously needed to be in now). And I had an appointment with Moniek, a young woman that would host me in Harhoura, somewhat south of Rabat and directly at the beach 👍.

*** : This is a very special picture : it shows you the only bicycle of Meknes 👏. Yesterday I had asked for information at the Meknes office of the Company de Transport de Morocco and it was no problem at all to take a bicycle (down under) in the bus. Two tickets and 8 labels were printed to mark all pieces to the owner. CTM was founded in 1919 so has a rich history. I like pictures like these so much, they are so beautiful ! Then this modern bus arrived and off we went. It was an easy trip of 150 kms on a very quiet highway. The outskirts of Rabat came in sight. And 30 minutes later I had the OnTheRoad 4.0 unloaded from the bus at the CTM station and was ready to start cycling into Rabat. I would be welcomed from 18h00 on so I had enough time to do a small explorertour. But I didn't since I was not in the mood for that today. First thing I did was visiting a hamburger restaurant. Although I would stay at someone's house tonight it is always wise to not be "hungry" by the end of any day of travelling. Then you don't have any idea how the day will end. Nor how far away food and drinks might be 😀.

In the ramadan-time these restaurants present a special "box a partager" (box to share). However the full regular menulist is available 👍 which is great since I don't like to share haha. An add for a simcard for your mobile telephone. This offer is very common : 1GO of data for Dh 10 (about € 1,-). But it is valid for only three days. The price per GO is standard but the more GO's you prepay the more days you get to use them.

I was using a 5GO - Dh 50 - 1 month simcard which was exactly what I needed. It allowed me to do all my online and blogwork over the month just from any place I happened to work.

By the way, 1GO is 1GB. A Byte is the basic computerword, always consisting of 8 bits (digital 8-letter words like 01010100 or 11100011) and that O means octo which is eight. So Octo is the equivelant of Byte in french speaking coutries. Then I decided to first cycle to the beach to watch the Atlantic Ocean. That had been a very long time ago ... To be more specific, I did not see it for 30+ years ! That is if I don't count the view from the fast ferry 🖱️ from Spain to Morocco. I had stayed in Meknes 🖱️ for the last days and there was a lot going on but nothing really worthwhile to my opinion. I was therefore not in the mood to explore Rabat today. By taking a bus or taxi I would easily be able to visit Rabat from my Warmshowers * 🖱️ adress at one of the days to come. Just not this bus ... Never ever have I seen a vehicule that was so totally unworthy to be on a public road !!! It looked and sounded as if it would fall apart right Now. And it was "doing" about 10 kmh but had to stop every 100 ms, probably because the engine was overheating. Maybe the buscompany had sold it to an entrepeneur who was starting up a travelling agency for tourists 😄. I started to cycle the Avenue Mokhtar Gazoulit to the south. It is actually this road that continues all the way to Mauretania. Some 2000 kms that is and I had 2 months left on my visa.

It was still quite early because of the highspeed trip of today 😉. And my host would be at home at 18h00. So when I saw people preparing the opening of a cafe I decided to make a stop there.

Because of the ramadan I would ofcourse not have anything to drink or eat. But I had enough water and some cookies which I could eat "hidden". It is not forbidden to eat and drink if one is not a moslim, but it is more wise to not confront anyone with doing so. I decided to unpack and do some work at the blog and pictures. That went very well, even so well that I actually forgot about the time and distance I still would have to cycle to Harhoura. As soon as I realised about that I hurried south and was somewhat surprised about the time I needed. It was already getting a bit darker now ...

Then finally I cycled into Harhoura but I could not find the correct house. I did have the housenumber but there were 3 gates to "choose" from and non had a number on them. But somebody helped me out and then I entered a very nice beachhouse were I was welcomed very friendly.

Click 🖱️ to open

Living at the Atlantic Coast ? Read and see about that in the next blog.

◀️ ▶️ Route 🖱️ ⏫