It’s a major fruit and dairy farming region and Taroudant is the regional centre, located some 40km from Ouled Berhil. We’re now in the fertile Souss Valley, a vast expanse of flat land with fruit orchards watered by the Souss River which flows to the sea at Agadir. The hotel has a pool and a pleasant garden to relax in after a long day in the saddle.Īfter breakfast we transfer by minibus to the town of Taroudant. Here we stay in a converted kasbah (a fortified Moroccan house) – a very quirky place with an old-world feel about it. Along the way, we’ll spot a couple of reservoirs, stop for a picnic, and eventually we will reach the town of Aoulouz, from where we’ll take a short transfer to our overnight stay in nearby Ouled Berhil.įrom the bustling roadside town of Ouled Berhil views of the Atlas Mountains bathed in late afternoon sunshine are superb. The walnut groves of the mountains give way to olives and citrus fruits as we follow a valley of bright cultivation down to the plains along a road that has only been surfaced in recent times. As we descend from our starting point high in the mountains, we notice a gradual change in scenery as the effect of the warmer climate of the south-west starts to leave its imprint on the land. Today is almost a century ride but one that has a largely a downhill bias! Again the High Atlas provide our scenic accompaniment as we continue towards the Souss Valley. Tonight is the trip’s most basic night but in a wonderful setting. A hearty Moroccan mountain meal awaits in this most typical of settings, and a chance to sample the superb hospitality that makes Morocco famous. Today has a sting in the tail as our destination lies at the end of a 3km climb – which takes us high into the heart of the Atlas – and our accommodation is a “gite“, which is a traditional village house, situated in a verdant valley in the village of Amsouzart. We’ll stop for a scenic picnic en route as we make our way south-westwards on an undulating route that feels remote and typical. It’s a quiet region characterised by small villages that live off the land, watered by springs that come down from the High Atlas to the north. Today’s ride has its ups and downs as we ride in the shadow of the mountains. Ait Benhaddou is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and in the morning we have the opportunity to discover the fortified village, before transferring for an hour to Agouim, the starting point for a two day ride that runs parallel to the spine of the Atlas Mountains down to the fertile Souss Valley. Today we’ll enjoy exploring one of Morocco’s most celebrated kasbahs. The road is quiet and the riding generally (but not all!) downhill to our destination, the Kasbah of Tamdakht, where we will stay for the night in a characteristic guest house. Here the order of the day is picturesque mud-brick villages nestled into a valley of bright cultivation and all set against a backdrop of dramatic canyonland mountains and deep blue skies. Telouet is home to a striking fortress that was built over four centuries and here we’ll stop for a picnic in the garden, before heading into a picture-postcard landscape following the Ounila River southwards. The scenery today is iconically Moroccan as we follow the beautiful Ounila Valley down from the high plateaux and multi-coloured rock formations of the Telouet region, down through a landscape of classic crumbling kasbahs to the famous fortified village of Ait Benhaddou. The route can be busy as it’s the main pass connecting Marrakech with the south of Morocco, so we’ll wait until just after the pass to start our ride on quiet country lanes. After an early breakfast we’ll transfer high into the Atlas Mountains on a two hour journey to the top of one of the highest paved passes in Morocco, the Tizi-n-Tichka.
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