Tried to make an early start from the hotel in Trafaroute. Hotel owner said breakfast would be 9 as the coffee machine takes a long time to warm up. He was nowhere to be seen at 8. So I left some money and had eggs and tea at a cafe in town.

Realised the night before that I hadn’t packed my tubeless repair kit. Then more worryingly, realised I completely forgot tyre levers! Epic error!!

Quick scout around Trafaroute, everything closed. No early birds around here! A few shops rented mountain bikes so probably would have been possible to find tyre levers. Lots off roading today so tyre levers were pretty important. Ploughed on regardless.

Turned off the road to take a sandy dirt track towards the red and blue painted rocks. First off roading with the bike packing bags on. Bike handles really well. Mega paranoid about punctures! Only option will be to shove loads of sealant in, stick some gorilla tape on and hope for the best! Eeeep.

Great bit of off-roading to the rocks then took the gravel road out. First gravel was pretty fast. Bar bag keeps jumping on to the front wheel going through bumps, already torn a hole in it. Getting the hang of keeping it right now.

Beautiful paved climb up to 5600ft, not to steep. Lush view back over the anti atlas, layer of cloud below. Great tailwind on the plateau. Another awesome decent into the Valle monseur. A red canyon with the most amazing oasis. The road winds right though it. Free running water and a cafe for more tasty eggs. (Berber omelette). Filled up with water for the desert crossing.

Big climb up the escarpment, incredible view of the desert below, and a gold mine! Super steep descent down to the desert road. Tarmac ended at the gold mine. Now it was a 20 mile section of hard going gravel. Through the middle of the desert. Epic stuff. Two tiny villages, a couple of lorries and a German camper van. Later I saw my first Berber nomad with his camels! A guy on a motorbike breezed passed me on the rockiest section, 30 mins later I found him pushing his bike up a hill. It was super hot, I offered him extra water. He still had his leather jacket on! He has snapped his chain. I should have tried to fix it with my chain tool. I told him the German camper would be along soon, they have a scooter on the back so maybe they have tools? No more trucks came passed so hopefully they sorted him out. I saw some road workers, thought to tell them but the camper hadn’t appeared yet so presumed they were helping.

Back on tarmac after a long bumpy slog. Fast ride into Imitek for the third omelette of the day. Just a short ride to the oasis marked on the map as a decent wild camp spot. Hot choc(protein powder), big pasta, bread, a fire and wicked stars!