So where were we? Leaving Smara.
I pull in for cheap fuel. In Western Sahara they subsidise fuel by 30% (as well as cooking oil, sugar and flour) to encourage northerners (like the bloke in the cafe last night) to relocate among the indigenous Saharawi and help consolidate Morocco’s stake in the former Spanish territory it occupied in the 1970s.
Matey here by his ancient Landrover told me he was an extra in Harry Potter III.
There are loads of these nomad Series IIIs in WS used to move from camp to camp, wherever the pasture is.
More wind trees. Handy for nav: they always point south.
Talking of south, in 2015 I had some fuel buried in the WS - a place I call the Digtree.
One of my aims on this trip had been to take an ambitious ride right through inland WS to Dakhla. This would have been 600km with very little likelihood of seeing anyone or anything; not even sure of the wells are. A fuel cache halfway made this less risky. Until things get desperate, fuel is more important than water.
I even brought my 10L fuel bag. The WR has proved reliable and easy to ride so far. Even with my worst recorded consumption of 71 mpg (25kpl; usually high 80s mpg) I could just make Dakhla on tank + 10 litres carried, without digging up the cache.
I reach my marker on the Smara road and follow the track for a few kms.
But even though the weather is 10° cooler (= reduced water consumption), it’s clear that heading to the Digtree alone across unfamiliar terrain would be nuts. As I now know well, all it takes is one sandy oued to spanner things up. And the tension of keeping it together for 2 days or more would not make it at all enjoyable.
Out of curiosity I load the Digtree waypoint. Only 200 clicks, south by southwest.
I’ll head for the dig tree, another time. But not alone on a moto.
Further on down the road, tucked into the usual headwind, I spot the famous Bou Craa phosphate belt. Part of Morocco’s motive to grab WS was to get its hands on the largest reserve of phosphate in the world (or so I read in the inter net).
The belt (or series of belts) runs some 100km towards the coast, bridges the N1 highway and dumps it at a deepwater jetty south of Layounne.
I inspect the half inch thick belt and polished rollers. If the rozzers caught me looking and taking pix of the conveyor they’d flip their lid. I was told later it only runs of windless days so the phosphate doesn’t end up like the trees.
Someone very generously offers me a stay in their house in Layounne. I get my laundry done, am fed like a fois gras goose and catch up on admin.
The house is on the very edge of the city, overlooking the Saguia el Hamra (‘red river’).
The recent storms (which brought on the desert wildflowers), broke through this dam-bridge on the N1 highway into Layounne.
Hold on, I’m going the wrong way if I want to take the new coast road to Tarfaya, not the main N1 desert highway. The Garmin map puts me right. It’s a marvel to have routeability in the desert.
Initially the coast road is not so interesting.
Lots of grubby fishing shacks and the Atlantic.
I pull into the lee of a barchan (crescent) dune on its southward march. Yes, it’s a new direction but the headwinds adjust themselves. What gets me is why don’t all the barchans end up down south? The mystery of dunes, or maybe the Atlas mountains are a huge reserve of rock to grind down into grains.
Diggers keep rogue dunes off the road.
Tracks actually use this road, as it bypasses the drop in and out of Layounne if headed far south.
Up ahead I spot a strange thing in the sea, is it an island? Turns out to be the famous beached Armas ferry which ran aground a few years ago.
Iirc, it was to serve the Canaries, just off Layounne, but didn’t make it past it’s maiden voyage. Smells a bit of a fishy insurance job. Plus a ferry to Spanish Canaries would bring up all sort of issues with migrants trying to get to Europe. Up north, Tan Med port is like Alcatraz. So are the Spanish enclaves.
Tarfaya was known as Cape Juby in the French era, a refuelling stop on the early Aeropostale service to Dakar (or St Louis) in Senegal. St Exupery wrote of it evocatively in Wind Sand and Stars mentioned earlier - an existentialist classic, fyi. He would have been based at the fort behind.
St Ex was lost at sea during WWII - they built this plane sculpture in commemoration, but it looks a bit crap, like a big toy. Maybe its supposed to; he also wrote the famous Little Prince children’s book about a pilot lost in the desert (as happened to St Ex). I read it recently - W, S&S is better.
And just off shore there it is: the famous Mackenzie trading post set up by an enterprising Scot in the late 19th C. Built on a tidal reef, if was perhaps exempt from taxes, or at least immune to Reguibat raids. I must read more about Mac when the internet is better.
I approach the ruin for a better picture. Locals boys are gallivanting on the rocks and, seeing my camera, assume I’m some sort of perv. They start shouting and throwing rocks: ‘F-off, peado-scum!!’
I ignore the onslaught; they don’t realise I’m much more fascinated in the historical monument behind them. Been wanting to see this for years - a few jibes won’t stop me. I get my shot and scarper before they call the police.
Up the road I pull in for the last cheap fuel in Afkhenir. Normally I try to skip lunch, but after the generous gorging in Layounne my stomach has expanded and will take a day or two to re-shrink. I order an omelette, the guys suggests fish. Oh go on then, I’m right by the seaside after all.
He yanks a sole out of the fridge, grills it and brings it over with lots of lemon. 7 quid for a whole battered sole with sidesalad. Quite a lot but well worth it for a treat.
A fisherman drops in with his catch and rests his Moby on a plank.
Just up the road is the Gouffre Afkhenir, a collapsed sea cave fenced off right by the road.
Below the clip edge the heavy swell is booming against the wave-worn cavities, crashing in and rebounding in all directions. Nice to watch.
That’s a radar station nearby. I think they built the new whiter one back from the edge a bit, just it case it got ‘gouffred’.
Where shall I stay tonight? I can go back to the place in Tan Tan, but that would be too easy. Let’s see what El Ouatia, right by the sea, has to offer? Hotel de France? That will do nicely. 230d half board, great wi fi and a nice Spanish-continental ambience and old-school waiter. (Spanish influence still persists on this coast).
They help me push my bike up the steps for the night.
And proper coffee too. Nice spot.