Northern African: Morocco - The Lions on the Road: Cycling London to Cape Town - page 63

rest of the country. As I continued cycling I didn't realize how late it was getting. Since
nightfall came earlier in the mountains, I urgently began to search for a place to sleep. I
cameuponaninnthatcharged25dirhamsandquicklysettledintomyroom.Iremembered
my mental note and asked the owner about the women. He smiled and said that the local
people were not Moroccan but Berber. I wasn't clear on the politics involved in that state-
ment but perhaps it is like the Bavarians and the Germans. Bavarians don't think they are
German even though Bavaria is in southern Germany.
The owner cooked a wonderful meal which I ate with him in conversation. After-
wards he wanted to sell me some antique jewellery but I told him I had no space on the
bike to carry it all (plus I had no use for it). For entertainment, I watched some local men
playing a version of Uno and soon found my eyelids getting heavy. I retired to my room
and prepared myself for the next day's climbing. I quickly referenced my map and realized
that I completed 117 kilometres almost all of it uphill. Needless to say, I fell asleep before
my head hit the pillow.
The next morning I got up early and quietly packed my bicycle. Since I only had
17 kilometres left to the top of the pass, I started the ascent without having breakfast and
cycled about half the distance before I stopped to get something to eat. I arrived in a res-
taurant and bought some bread and cheese and talked to my server who was a Moroccan
student. He wanted to come to Canada to study biology in the University of Manitoba. I
gave him the address of the Canadian Embassy in Rabat and encouraged him to write to
the embassy for information. I told him that I wanted to see him start the letter before I left
the restaurant. (I had come across too many people in my life who talk about doing things
but never actually taking action.) When I finished my breakfast and was on my way out,
my server was at the counter busy writing his letter.
The scenery was breathtaking and I paused on several occasions to take a few pho-
tos. The road itself wound up the mountain with dozens of hairpin turns, which was fine,
butattimesnarrowedtothewidthofonelane.Evenmoredauntingwasthelimitednumber
of safety barriers and road markings. I really had to pay close attention at each bend of the
road especially for on-coming vehicles. Thank God there wasn't any traffic!