Exploring around Midelt requires some effort. My friend Ismael and I took a bike trip through town and into the hills to a reservoir that supplies power and water to the area. After grabbing some apples, cheese, cranberries from home, water and crackers we set off. I have not done too much biking lately so it was a little bit of an effort but Ismael was patient and I made it slowly but surely.
We were up on the top of the butte where the radio tower is visible. We rode down and biked a short distance up the stream. Behind the dam you used to be able to go swimming in a pool which has since filled up with gravel. At times the river must become torrential as there are signs of extensive erosion. We did not see any fish as the river may dry up at times. The area reminded me of Southern Utah.
The land around here is pretty barren without water. Sheep and goat grazing over the centuries has left game trails throughout the region. I have seen families walking across the ground apparently looking for fossils to sell in town.
After we got to the top of the hill the view was great and showed the extent of farming available with irrigation. There were fruit orchards, wheat fields, vegetable farms and corn. We talked about the importance of water to the region and how farmers downstream are constantly in conflict with the farmers above allowing water to come down to their fields. The situation is similar the out West with the established water rights that go back 100 years. Here they do not have a written water rights program but rely on historic customs to determine who gets what. Sounded confusing to me. Sometimes you get water and sometimes you do not.
You can swim in the canal and the water is cool, but when we were there the water was not looking good enough to swim in so I passed. There were about 8 women washing wool in the outlet from the canal. They hauled the wool up from the valley below with a donkey parked near by.
On the way back to town we rode through several mud villages.
An interesting trip. Look forward to the next one.
