T2T day 8

T2T Day 8 18-Nov-2011  “The windy road to Essaouira”

Kenitra to Essaouira

Miles covered: 316         T2T miles so far: 2,011               Punctures : 0    

Evening Meal: Tagine : Kefte & egg, Lamb, dates and almonds  !

Road hours : 09:00 – 18:30

A relatively early start at the café l’equitation again, a look at the map and a decision to go by minor roads to see the real Morocco.

The motorway was crawling with very smart police in white uniforms and lots of speed cameras, luckily the GS’s are not that fast.

The weather warmed up and the miles slipped away and the smart policemen waved us on and waved to us – very nice bunch, which goes for Moroccans in general.

Onto the N1 south to Essaouira. The turn off for the dual carriageway was closed on the right hand side and we were directed up the wrongside of the dualcarriageway – T2T was a little disconcerted at the idea until a truck turned into the aforementioned road – T2T quickly followed using the truck as a shield. The road works were only for a few hundred metres and then crossed over.

We took a sustainable pace of 50-60mph giving us chance to cover the miles while still looking around and waving to the locals as we passed by. The roads were very good and not too busy, coming into towns was pandemonium with carts, pedestrians, goats, dogs and buses all milling around.

The bikes were going well and the sun was shining and we were all having a great time.

A lunch stop at a town by the unlikely name of Sidi Smail revealed the best Tagine team leader Kev has ever tasted.  T2T became the focus of a little unwanted attention outside the restaurant.  Almost everywhere the trio of T2T bikes has parked they’ve been minded by a hi-vis official and today was no exception, aided & abetted by some plucky young chaps who agreed to pose for the photo below :

Re-fuelled T2T set off once more and a few miles down the road lay a purpose-built playground for curve-meister Jas.  To watch Jas take a succession of bends at high speed is a beautiful thing, especially if you are at a safe distance.  T2T wove its way down to the sea-side town of Essaouira in time to find darkness descended and the camp-site temporarily elusive.

Camp setup T2T set off into the medina for more Tagines and the potential lure of a bottle of beer !

Tagines were acquired but sadly no beers …  To reinforce our 21^st Century traveller credentials T2T attended to the blog and skype called partners ( or some did )