Today’s post is our second from Mike ‘the Bike’ McLellan, cycling enthusiast and long-time supporter of Yes to Life who is cycling from Italy to West Africa to embark on the adventure of a lifetime and raise lots of money to help us support people with cancer along the way.
The so called gateway to the Westernmost Sahara is Guelmim in Southern
Morocco. As we approached it I could see a completely different landscape
to anything I have seen before looming before me. Long barren mountains
ran South from that city and were present for several days as we rode South-west
to Tan Tan, and then disappeared as we went on to Tarfaya and then to the
border with Western Sahara.
Desert cycling is challenging in many ways, but probably mostly
psychologically, in that very little changes. To the mind this can be a
big challenge, gone are the usual things that stimulate us; different
landscapes, people, places to rest, cafes, shops. But changes there are. Hills
appear and disappear, the colour and texture of the sand changes, at
times fine and almost white, at other times yellow or red, sandy or rocky. Sometimes
huge dunes appear majestically in the distance and then are gone.
