Saturday Blues

Last day riding today, a short trip up a gorge and over a mountain then down to the finish. Spoilt ourselves with a night in an all inclusive resort last night. All is well.

Nearly Dun

Been without a signal for a couple of days. Riding these roads, even on this 48cc device, is a lot of fun. Most hills are gone up in 2nd gear, which is a great soundtrack for the couple of hours it takes to get to the top! The altitude stops the engine working properly and so first gear is needed sometimes too. I am putting a ridiculous amount of concentration into riding the tiny tracks to avoid going over the edge. The people are friendly, with a smile and a wave when they see what you're riding. I've even heard people laugh out loud as we pass. We are not far from the finish, maybe only 150-200km. So fairly easy riding from now on.

The photos don't really do the landscape any justice but here's a few...

Taking the piste

Short day today - just 150km. Ride up Todhra Gorge and then followed a rough mountain track from Tamtattouchte to Msemrir. The locals call these tracks a piste. It took about 4 hours to ride 25km. I can't believe I didn't fall off today, I fell off in the desert a couple of times yesterday. Today the bike was just going in all the places I didn't want it to. We had to ride through a riverbed for a few Kms as the track had been washed away. This was at about 2800 metres above sea level. There were not many people about! Tomorrow we are heading for Ouazarzate by lunch then Ait Benhaddou and who knows where after that!

The Longest Day! (so far...)

After waking in the desert and setting off at 6am, we have stopped at 8.30pm for the night in Tinghir. Spent an hour not getting the gearbox fixed. Lost a dipstick (insert own joke) but noticed before the engine seized, not before the bike sprayed oil EVERYWHERE!!

This morning...

Spent the night in the desert (no idea where in the desert) with Doc. Beautiful scenery, sand, camels, moonlight and a camp fire. Just needed a few tracks of Luther Vandross to complete the scene... Using the same cafe wifi as yesterday lunch in Merzougha. You may call it bringing up the rear...

Last night

TA Morocco: middle of the desert somewhere, not really sure where... camp set up, fire lit. The way forward is impassable, so we replan when we wake...all is well.

The night before the morning after...

all good so far, arrived in the dark after 12 hours on a minibus, slept in a tent in the desert and woke to see huge dunes and camel trains. The bike is as small as I feared and does not like going through sand, even just a couple of inches deep. Hopefully it will prefer the mountains. Party this evening and off tomorrow, tally Ho!

The night before the morning after...

all good so far, arrived in the dark after 12 hours on a minibus, slept in a tent in the desert and woke to see huge dunes and camel trains. The bike is as small as I feared and does not like going through sand, even just a couple of inches deep. Hopefully it will prefer the mountains. Party this evening and off tomorrow, tally Ho!

Prep? Plenty of time for that...

The point when I realised I've virtually run out of time to get stuff ready has just arrived. The day after tomorrow I'm setting off for Morocco to ride a Monkey Bike for a week through the desert and mountains of Morocco, carrying as little as possible whilst being prepared for stuff that can go wrong. Pack as little clothing as possible (the bike is a 50cc miniature so rather underpowered) but be dressed for desert and mountain roads that can be well over 3km high. Need kit to sleep out in and carry sustenance and fuel. Piece of cake! Hmmm...