After cycling for 15 km in the early morning, we asked Mohammad Amal if Sandra could use the toilet. He invited us inside. We tried to avoid the invitation because we wanted to use the time efficiently and avoid the peak heat hours, which are between 9:30 AM and 6 PM, essentially dead time for us.

Suddenly, Mohammad brought out some oil, Moroccan tea, and bread. He wanted us to take a photo of his home. With him was his daughter-in-law. Suddenly, his son came outside and, in a very high voice, told us to stop taking photos. We were confused because the father hadn’t objected. We wanted to leave, but the father took my hand and asked us to sit down. He explained that his son works for the police and should be at work.

Anyway, we told him that we had to continue cycling to make use of the time. On the way, we met Mohammad Amen. He smiled directly at me and asked me to take a photo of him sitting on his donkey. It seems like everyone in the village likes to ask for photos.

Now it’s the summer break for schools, and children are everywhere. We ascended again to 65m in a valley near Kalaat Bougorra. I saw a snake on the side of the road. At the same time, two kids saw us from far away and started running towards us, asking for money. I said no and gave them some candy.
giving candy, something we wanted to try, actually, to the kids of the family that host us or the kids that help us. But sometimes, to kids that any of us just to leave us in peace, it’s only 10 Dirham 1 euro big bag of bonbons that sometime we use to elevate our blood sugar. we learned later that after talking with cyclist never give something for free its not good.
One of the kids was walking backward while looking directly at me. I tried hard to warn him, but unsuccessfully. He almost stepped on the snake, screamed very loudly, and the snake went in the other direction.

We arrived in Lamjaara around 12:30 PM. It was extremely hot, 39 degrees Celsius, and I started to feel dizzy whenever I stood up. We were both losing a lot of electrolytes. We stayed there for about four hours at a gas station with a café and restaurant. The butcher, Youssef, wanted us to buy some food. We told him that we had just eaten some bread and olives and were trying not to eat much in the heat. Initially, he was cool, but then he started to annoy us, repeatedly asking if we wanted to buy something. So, we changed tables and went to the café, where we bought coffee and juice.

Around 7:30 PM, we continued our journey. We arrived in Oued Ouargha at 8:30 PM as the sun was setting. From the street, we saw a man sitting with two children. I asked if we could pitch our tent, and he gave a clear yes. His name was Hammid, and he was very happy to host us. He wanted to show us the whole farm and introduce us to every worker.

He made it clear from the beginning that we don’t talk about politics and religion. We told him we were just interested in traveling and food. They live close to the Oued Ouargha River; it’s a beautiful river and the only one still with water and not dried up. We entered their home and took a shower. They wanted to stay up longer with us, but we felt bad because we were exhausted and needed to sleep.
after long cycling day socialising become more of stress, we are always busy with taking decision in each corner, finding food, water, or heat break, in the end of the day we just want to sleep peacefully.
They insisted on giving us a room, but we told them that we loved sleeping in the tent, especially in that heat. We had a good night’s sleep.

We woke up at 5:30 AM and We started cycling at 6:18 AM, just as the sun began to rise. It was already very hot. The streets were unpaved for the next 20 km, with large stones scattered across them.
The landscape was extremely golden due to the dried vegetation and the strong sun. We arrived in karria be Mohammad, a small village where people were sitting in a café in the early morning, having coffee and cigarettes. Across the street, I found a small place selling what looked like soap made from beans. I wanted to try it, but Sandra was more cautious about street food. It was very delicious and served with half a loaf of bread.
Soon after, I felt my stomach acting up and had to use the toilet in the café. We were worried about food poisoning, but it was probably just dehydration since we were sweating a lot, drinking a lot of water, and losing electrolytes.

We continued cycling, but I wasn’t feeling well. On the way, we saw a freshly dead dog, likely from a car accident. Sandra stopped and moved the dog to the side of the road. It was a very emotional moment—something I couldn’t bring myself to do.

A few kilometers later, we encountered a man sitting on a donkey. He waved at us, wanting a photo. His name was Abdulrahman, and he had a deep, resonant voice. I asked if the donkey had a name since I noticed that people rarely name their animals. He told us the donkey’s name was Nadia.

By around 11:30 AM, it was extremely hot—around 39°C—and it became increasingly difficult to find shaded areas for breaks. In the middle of a climb, the only place we found after 10 km was a grain mill, so we decided to take a long midday break there. As far as the eye could see, there were no other options for shade.

The mill was a huge room with one very big machine. We put our bicycles inside and lay on the ground. After half an hour, a few people came in, immediately reassuring us by saying, “No problem, no problem,” even before we could explain ourselves. An hour later, the owner, Saeed, arrived and also assured us it was no problem for us to stay.
People from neighboring villages came to grind their flour there. Saeed had built the entire machine himself with the help of some friends. We managed to sleep for half an hour before a tractor arrived and parked outside. Saeed explained how it worked—it was a tractor from Turkey.

One of the people we met there was Suliman, a 12-year-old boy who came to grind flour for his family. He helped us understand how the Orange mobile network works and which SIM card was best to buy.

We resumed cycling around 6:30 PM. We wanted to refill our water when a kid, watching us from behind a wall, waved at us. her name was Iman

We began our search for a place to pitch our tent and asked some locals for advice. This was the first village, Laajajra, where people reacted negatively when we asked about camping. Many people suggested that we move outside the village to set up our tent. At the edge of the village, we approached a family waiting for a bus and asked if they knew of a suitable spot for camping. They recommended trying the houses across the street from where they were sitting.We knocked on one of the doors, and a woman immediately agreed to let us camp there. However, while we were pitching the tent, a group of men arrived and began yelling, “No, no tent! Go away from here.” We were trying to understand the situation when I noticed the woman trying to snatch the phone from Sandra’s bike.

We continued and started to feel a bit stressed as the sun was setting, leaving us with only half an hour of daylight to find a place to sleep. On the right side of the road, in a field, we saw two men and a child moving with some goats. They weren’t sure about letting us stay but asked us to wait, saying they knew someone who spoke German.
A few minutes later, Shaza arrived and guided us to their home. We met Abdullah and his brother Ayob, who welcomed us and offered us a room. However, we told them that we preferred sleeping in the tent as we planned to leave early in the morning.

Ayob spoke perfect English; he was studying computer engineering. A few minutes later, they brought out a table with some food. We were very thankful to find a peaceful place to sleep.
We had a good night’s sleep.