Time: 1:37:02
Distance: 29.4km
Average Speed: 18.2km/h
After the storm of last night I was uncertain as to what the eather would be like today. Weather websites gave different opinions as to what was coming up. I woke at about 7.30 and took a final walk around the Blue City free from people harassing me into buying things or eating in their restaurants. I stopped for a 5 cent doughnut in a small street-side place that only had one thing on the menu.
With the sun shining I was optimistic that I could make it to Ceuta without too much rain. The sky was very dark up ahead so it was a matter of when not if the rain was going to come.
After a steep descent out of Chefchaouen the rest of the day was mostly uphill. I reached what seemed like the highest point of the day and began my descent. It wasn't long before the rain started bucketing down. I veered right into a tea house where a load of lads gave me a big cheer and told me to bring the bike inside. Half the people inside were smoking joints or long hash pipes. I stuck to the mint tea to try to warm up. After about 2 hours there waiting for the rain to pass and eventually giving up and trying to flag down a truck to get me off the hill a local showed up and offered (for a price) to drive to Tetouan which is 30km up the road and in the direction of Ceuta. After about 5 minutes in the car and with conditions worsening the cars coming in the opposite direction were gesturing to us not to continue. We stopped at another cafe and everyone there seemed agreed that the only way was back to Chefchaouen. At this point there was snow on the road. I never signed up for these conditions.
As frustrating as it was to be descending the climb that I had spend ages going up I was freezing at this point and really looking forward to a hot shower. I went straight back to last night's Aline Hostel and they had space for tonight. Tomorrow I'm considering busing it to Tetouan and cycling the final 40km into Ceuta.
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