With 140km between us and the finish line, we settled on a hotel about 88km away which would mean a 60km ride on the final day. A shorter day for us which meant we didn’t have a huge rush in the morning.
As we walked outside to load up our bikes, the world’s cutest puppy appeared. He played with the kasbah dog. He chased a cat. He played with us. As I was strapping my bag to my bike, he tried to run off with my strap.
We somehow were able to get going, despite this little guy’s overwhelming cuteness. Unfortunately it was drizzling. Not great on a bike. Doubly not great for a person who was packing for Morocco and figured “oh, it’s a desert, there couldn’t possibly be rain there so I will bring no rain clothing whatsoever.” Oops.
We went for maybe 10km before finding shelter at a gas station. My jeans and jacket were soaked. We got coffee and then spotted a nicer gas station down the road. We relocated there and hung out for 45 minutes or so until the rain stopped.
The sun eventually came out. We had about 80km to go, which I did in one shot, taking about 2 hours and 20 minutes. Mostly highway, though we went through a few towns which meant navigating rotaries, pedestrians, cars, and horse-drawn carts. It all went pretty smoothly, and quite a few people smiled and waved as I rode through.
We got to the villa before 4pm. It was really nice! It even had a pool. I asked our host if I could swim in the pool and if it was warm, and she said yes to both. Excellent! I for some reason had a bathing suit with me and now I could use it.
It turns out that, yes, it was swimmable. As to whether it was warm, it was definitely warmer than ice. However, with nighttime temperatures dropping into the 40s, “warm” wasn’t entirely accurate. Still, I gave it a shot.
I would describe my brief time in the pool as breathtaking. Probably refreshing too. But wow the water was cold.
Our host asked if we wanted to eat there. Sounds great! So she hopped on her bike, came back a bit later with food, and then whipped up a lovely meal for us. We ate really well.
The trip had taken its toll on all of us, so by 8pm we were all off to bed. We decided to leave at 11am the next morning for the final 60km, as the finish line would be open from 2:30p to 4:00p. Something like a two hour ride, and we’d find lunch along the way. No big deal!