Tuesday 14 February 2017

Foum Zguid to Agdz - 146 miles

Hot and sunny again, we got through our usual routine and were on our way at 10.45 after saying our goodbyes to the young man who had been so friendly and helpful. First call was to top up the fuel tank then onto N12 again heading for Zagora.

Looking at the map above you may wonder why we went “the long way”. Well two good reasons, the first being we had only planned to go as far as Zagora. The second, the road north from Foum Zguid, the R111, was awful last year, being around 30km of potholed piste and we had no reason to believe it was any different whereas we knew the N12 eastwards was fine. As it turned out it was excellent almost all the way to Zagora, the poor sections of last year having been repaired. It was only past the airport (yes, Morocco does have provincial airports) that it had been poorly repaired and was a bit bumpy. It was not particularly scenic, and almost no traffic, although the last third was through an area that was obviously well irrigated because there was a lot of new agriculture going on. We only slowed for the occasional traffic hazard..........

Not a common problem in the UK!

Zagora is a modern, town with, frankly, not much going for it; a long wide open main street lined with cafes, restaurants, small shops and all the other paraphernalia of an average size town. What it did not have was what we wanted, a supermarket so that we could restock the larder. Yes, we could probably have got all we needed from what was there but it can be so much hassle when you're not used to the way they work. Never mind, we aren't desperate and we know that Ouazerzate further up the road has what we want.

Entering Zagora

The much improved R9 between Zagora and Agdz

An old deserted kasbah - one of a few along the valley

So onto the R9 and up the beautiful Draa valley, which is really one great long palmerie following the river and actually has flowing water in it, a rarity in Morocco. There is a tourist route signposted, which we investigated, but the signposts quickly ran out and rather than chance being taken on to a road suitable only for 4x4's we turned back to the main road. Our plan was thus amended to stopping for lunch somewhere then see where we get, but there has been some tremendous road-building and the R9 is now an almost-completed fast silky smooth wide highway. Fine as far as it goes but where once there were any number of places where you could just park off the road, the edge is now some two feet above the verge with next to no chance of parking at all. The road is still in brand new condition through the towns and villages but stopping there only results in being surrounded with kids – and there seemed to be dozens of them about.

The R9 follows the Draa valley and palmeries

Eventually we turned off the R9 along a piste road and found somewhere to stop a few hundred metres away for a, by now, very late lunch. Checking the map and site books we realised that the town of Agdz was probably our best bet for the night and we noted an attractive-looking site just out of the town, Kasbah de la Palmerie, so headed there. And indeed it is a very pleasant place, again parked amongst the palms after a nice welcome from the guardian. This spot has a couple of unusual features which we'll explore tomorrow and tell you about then.

So settle in with a nice cuppa as the sun sets behind the trees. More tomorrow inshallah.