BMW field test - Morocco (day 3)

From Boumalne Dades to Tinghir is barely a blip on the map, but the sweeping detour we launched into rewarded us with mile after mile of pristine asphalt. It became a seemingly endless uphill run through astonishing mountains, the GS charging at speed.

Leaving, that morning - day 3 - we began along the bottom of the Dades gorges: a narrow, towering corridor; claustrophobic but undeniably impressive.

Once we reached higher, more open ground, we realized that the sensation of endlessly repeating mountains wasn’t just a trick of the mind. Millions of years of erosion have carved these landscapes into recurring patterns: a straight run, a left turn, a dip, a right turn, another straight. Over and over, all uphill like a natural stairway of gargantuan proportions.

We made one stop along the way to check how far we’d come and how far remained. I think it was here that I really began to grasp the sheer scale of the High Atlas. Crossing them entirely would be a journey of its own. Some other time, perhaps.

Hunger crept in as the day wore on, and it occurred to us that finding food up here might not be so easy. Just then, we were surprised by a high-altitude dwelling that also serves as campground, though you'd need serious mountaineering gear to stay the night. (Coordinates: 31°58'33.7"N 5°34'25.8"W)

We ate simple, delicious food, surrounded by the raw beauty of this landscape. Melancholy perhaps, but a place that really stuck out.

More swooping roads on the edge of vast, sun-soaked landscapes, now descending gradually towards our destination.

After some riverside shenanigans, we pressed on for the last stretch of the day, which still held surprises and unexpected passages along rocky ridges and secluded trails.

We arrived somewhere near Tinghir, in the type of valley where nature seems to amass and thrive, green and lush, clinging tightly to the stream that has been carving through the rock with the patience of the eons. This day, mostly on asphalt and after such a long offroad trek the day before, really helped to make the following realization shine: the R100GS is really two motorcycles at the same time. Offroader and road tourer, always ready whenever you want either of them.