13 March 2020
A happy day. It was 16 degrees and vaguely misty when we drew cash and breakfasted on mint tea and a roti type whatsit filled with a triangle of cream cheese and warmed on the griddle. An easy route out of the city and pleasant 50km ride to a campsite in a pretty garden with resident tortoise. The sun is out now, but the temperature pleasant and the breeze mild. Our lunch break host, hearing we had cycled almost 12,000km, INSISTED on a free lunch of couscous, veg and chicken. Children here cycle to and from school and there is a bike lane on the N10. Great to be back on the bikes…

14 March 2020
We're in Taroudant, founded over 1000 years ago, sitting in the central square of the walled city, the walls measuring 6km. Short ride from our campsite, just 25km. Two pics are from our delightfully haphazard hotel. Our campsite host told us not to come here as rhey have just had a covid19 scare. A 64 year old French woman who lives here part of the year is ill and several people in one hotel are also ill, though not, it seems, actually tested for or diagnosed as being infected. Only 11 cases reported in Morocco to date, all Europeans. The ferries to Europe have all been closed. We met a German couple driving home in their camper van, now stuck here...

15 March 2020
We're still in Taroudant feeling oddly lethargic. Our friends have had to cancel their trip to join us in Marrakech. And this evening when we went out for dinner, it was to find that all the restaurants are closed. We brought home fish rolls from one stall, baguettes from another, avo and apples from a third, and Schweppes Citron and chocolate from a tiny shop. So we won't go hungry, provided the stalls stay open. There's a lock down on all flights, and we think the Mauritanian land border is closed. So we're here for now. We were planning to stay to end-April anyway, but don't know now what next. Hence the lethargy. Wash your hands. Don't breathe. Stay healthy.

18 March 2020
Both photos from Taroudant, which we left this morning. We are back in Agadir for the foreseeable future. Right or wrong, for better or worse, here's our thinking and plan. There are no flights or boats out of Morocco. The land border to Mauritania is currently open, but no guarantee of flights out of Nouakchott. So our choices were limited to biking through Morocco as originally planned, or finding a place to park until a modicum of normalcy returns. We have opted to take a place in Agadir rather than moving on. All restaurants and cafés have closed. All big gathering places too. Small shops are open, so going hungry is unlikely. But here's our fear - actually just a vague anxiety at the moment. That we become an irrational target. Last night, a man seeing our approach, visibly held his breath and walked away from us. Two boys on the square called out "corona" as we passed. An Airbnb refused to take us in. There are similar reports from cyclists elsewhere in Africa, specifically a growing fear of them…
Our Airbnb has two bedrooms, a kitchen, wifi and CNN etc on the TV. Our goal is to make ourselves known in the community. To tell them we are from South Africa and have them see we are healthy. So ends our trip... Not at all in the way we expected. We'll just have to come back and do Morocco another time. Thinking of you all. Keep healthy.

19 March 2020
I had planned to stop posting, but this morning thought I might continue to document now and then our experiences. Pix are of our Airbnb sited in a large "residencial" - overview pic shows under half of the complex. Walked a km or so to one of two big supermarkets near us. No panic shopping, though a couple of shelves were empty-ish - flour-type goods and pasta. But otherwise well-stocked. A poster at the door requested shoppers keep 1m between themselves and others. And our hands and handle of the trolley were sanitized by a masked oke. Everyone chilled and friendly. The small shop opposite our gate has barricaded its entrance and you have to tell the proprietor what you want and he brings it to you. Cyclists are getting stuck between borders, a couple posting today that having been stamped out of Liberia, they are being refused entry into Ivory Coast just 100m later despite having a visa.