307 The long drag North begins.

7th September 2018 Miles Today, 243  Total  1830

We both got up early today and skipped breakfast as Karen had a poorly stomach. As such, we were on the road before 9am. The scenery today was some of the best we have seen and the riding, although long and tiring was also the best as it was cool. So cool in fact that I was getting cold. We ended up over 2000m up and as some of the following pictures show, it was overcast for the first few hours.

Cool riding at 20 deg C.

The lake as we left Er Rachidia.

With our gaining height the temperature dropped to 18 deg C. We've not seen that for a long time.

 As we started to come down off the high plateau the temperature started to soar and we were back up with our old friend 30 Deg C. We entered a heavily forested area and there was some sort of sign showing Monkeys. I took a minute for us to figure out that this was a warning not to run them over. After a minute or so we decided to have a bum rest in a clearing and as we got off the bike we saw about 8 or 9 monkeys. It looked like 2 adults and a pile of kids. They were just goddam cute and playing/grooming in the trees above our heads.

We were headed for a place called Azrou and having left early we arrived early too. Too early so we decided to press on North in the general direction of the port back to Spain. We managed about another 140km. This should allow us to get the boat tomorrow night all things being good.
We came to a roundabout and these beasts were wandering about by the side of the road.
 

The day was starting to lengthen now and the sat nav took us on a minor road for a change and we ran straight into rush hour.

This route was off of the beaten track, and although you can;t tell from this picture, the tarmac is only really wide enough for two cars to pass.  We ended up on the dirt track several times because of on coming lorries, however it was a lovely side to Morocco that we hadn't enjoyed or seen previously.  It was also very clean, again something we have been very disappointed with in the places we've been.
We found the hotel we were seeking  in Sidi Slimane and the view from or window showed these.

A Peregrine Falcon on the central Mosque tower.

And a whole pile of Cranes - not the building ones.

Today has restored my faith in Morocco.  The scenery was beautiful, the wildlife plentiful and although we were a bit run down and hot, we both enjoyed the day.  It has been a hard slog for us here and neither of us has really enjoyed the trip.  The locals away from the touristy bit have been lovely and friendly, and as usual the have not's, have the most to share.  We will not be sorry to leave, but I am glad we visited.