Well, I have been back in the UK for nearly a week, and Mark and Jackie are settled back in Canada after weeks and weeks of globe trotting. The dust has finally settled, I think.

Thank you Jackie for your wrap up. It’s been great to have your perspective on these pages. I know Sue has enjoyed reading the girls point of view.

There are just a few more tales for me to tell and thank yous to say, but before that, I shall recount my last two days in Fez……….

Martin, the photographer on the trip and I were the final two riders to leave Morocco. We had a couple of days to ourselves after everyone else had set off for home  (Fez airport doesn’t have many flights to the UK…. or anywhere in fact). Our flight was on Sunday night.

We were, thanks to Mark and Jackie’s research, settled into a nice villa on a well appointed family holiday park a couple of miles out of Fez. My main intention for these last couple of days was to explore as much as possible. We got up on Saturday morning and went to find a Taxi to take us in to Fez.  That proved rather difficult. The chap at the reception desk spoke English about as well as I speak Arabic but we finally got to the point in the mostly gestured conversation were I understood that he could not get a taxi to come this far out of town and we would have to walk to the nearest suburb centre to get a cab or bus. (Having seen the state of the local busses, Martin and I opted to find a cab). We had no idea how far it was, but we set off in the baking sun. After about 10 minutes, a local chap driving/riding a tuk tuk pulled up along side us and offered a lift. We hopped on the unwieldy contraption and (hopefully) set off in the direction of a taxi stand. Within a few minutes we were at a busy intersection with plenty of the red Fiat Uno taxi’s buzzing around. I gave the friendly local all the 25 or so coins in my pocket, which embarrasingly amounted to about 8p I think, but he seemed happy enough to have helped us out. I really like the Moroccan people I have met – very genuine and kind folk.

After a quick coffee at a streetside coffee shop we flagged down a cab and set off for the Souk in Fez’s old town, Medina. Entrance to Medina is via a number of majestic gates that surround the ancient cultural centre. The cabbie dropped us off at the north gate – the 15 minute taxi ride costing 14 MAD (Moroccan Dirham), about £1.

Fez has an impressive history full of culture, artisans and important contributions from the ancient University of Al-Karueein, one of the leading spiritual and educational centers of the Muslim world and one of the oldest Universities in the world, established in 859 ad.  All this culture, craftsmanship and spirituality is centred in the Souk in Medina.

The atmosphere of the Souk had totally hooked me when we visited with our guide before the ride and I was excited to get back there and explore it properly without a local guide. I had a few little gifts still to buy and this was the best place to do it. The tiny little shops, in fact booths would better describe them contained all manner of objects, food, services and craftsmen making or weaving beautiful things, and everything you buy has to be bartered for. You can tell the Moroccans enjoy this and it is an important part of the selling process to them – its fun too when you get the hang of it. Generally, with a good natured round of bartering, you can get what you are after for about a half to a third of the original asking price.

Martin and I spent a few hours wandering around and I thoroughly soaked up all the  sights, sounds and smells. At one point we wondered off the main ‘street’ down a very narrow side alley, having to squeeze past the numerous donkeys (no cars allowed – all deliveries are by donkey and mule). The street got narrower and narrower to the point where I could touch the buildings either side of me without having to stretch. There was a local old lady in front who occasionally glanced over her shoulder at us and appeared to be getting a little concerned that we were following her. Eventually she said something in Arabic. Martin and I smiled uncomprehendingly. A second later we realised the situation. We were at a dead end with only one door left. Her house!! We very nearly followed her through the door before realising our mistake (the dwellings, workshops and ‘showrooms’ are impossible to distinguish between from the outside). The lady laughed as we embarrassingly backed out of her doorway, apologising.

After grabbing lunch at a busy little restaurant where we ate beautiful flame grilled chicken and beef kebabs, we took a mosy back into the dark and busy shopping alleys and bought a few more bits and bobs. Martin stopped at a little spice and herb shop where the proud owner showed us his photo and feature in the Lonely Planet guide to Fez. The colours of the spices were enchanting and the smells intoxicating. We both bought some cooking spices. (I cooked chicken using mine last night, mixed with a little white wine,  olive oil, onion and garlic. It was delicious).

At the end of the day we made our way back to our villa at ‘Diamant Vert’, again encountering problems getting a cab to take us. In the end we found a driver who was willing to turn off his meter and take us home for a pre agreed 70 MAD (£5). I thought he was ‘taking us for a ride’ so to speak until I found out later that the drivers can get a big fine for going beyond their designated areas – so he was doing us a favour really.

Tired but happy to have explored Fez a little more, Martin and I opened a bottle of red wine and settled down to watch Top Gun for the 7th time in 2 days – it appeared to be stuck on a loop on the only English speaking TV channel.

The next day (our day to return home), we awoke to gale force winds and torrential rain! Not knowing what time we were going to be turfed out of our villa (our flight was at 7.30pm), we had planned to grab a sun lounger each and laze around catching rays for the day – that plan was out of the window.  Our only alternative was to lock the door of the villa and settle down to an other few hours of Goose and Maverick fighting bogie’s…..again. And again. We were only occasionally interrupted by the room maids who were becoming more and more impatient to get in and tidy up. We made it to 3pm before the phone call came and the polite receptionist asked if we wanted to pay for an other night. At least it had stopped raining by then. We checked out and one of the staff from the holiday park gave us a lift to the airport.

We did what you do at an airport – drank coffee, stood around in a que for an hour or so – all the usual nonsense. While waiting to check our bags in, a friendly Australian man chatted to us and we told him about the ride. He was interested in what we had been up to and it transpired that he was an author, broadcaster and journalist. Sandy Mccutchion. He owns a little house (a Riad) in the Souk and spends months at a time writing novels there. He was a fascinating chap. He told us about a huge web site he helped create and run www.theviewfromfez.com now Fez’s most popular tourist information and blog site. He asked if we would write our story of the ride for the site so I am going to send this Blog to him. Hopefully it will be published on the site (I’ll spell check it all first Dad!!!! (o:)

Meeting Sandy was a perfect end to my time in Morocco. He suggested I try reading his novel ‘The Cobblers Apprentice’, a political thriller set partly in the Souk in Fez, which I’m looking forward to getting my teeth into. I’d met some great people here and Sandy was the icing on the cake. I was heading home a happy and enlightened chap. Wonderful.

Then the sting in the tail……..

As Martin and I stood to join the boarding queue just minutes before getting on the plane, I coughed…….and felt one of my ribs break. The pain was like nothing I have ever felt. The airport terminal span and I managed to collapse onto a nearby seat. Poor Martin could tell things were not good. He went and grabbed me a bottle of water. I must have looked bad – a little crowed gathered round me and concerned people offered advice and good wishes. Martin took care of my hand luggage as I dragged myself onto the plane and the cabin crew sat me down at the back so they could keep and eye on me. It wasn’t the nicest flight I have ever had but the pain did subside a bit after an hour or so. I just wanted to get home, see Sue and go to hospital! As it turned out, by the time I eventually got home to Rugby it was 2am and I was so shattered I went straight to bed. I took myself to Casualty the next day and they confirmed a broken rib, possibly two – tell me something I didn’t know!!

I guess I had only fractured the rib when I had my big crash in the dunes and my body armour had done a good job of keeping everything ‘in place’ while I finished the ride. The cough had finally broken it. What a crazy thing – but at least I had made it to almost the end!! At the moment, a week later, it is still sore but getting better so no real damage done (o:

While we are going through the injured list………

Mark got himself checked out when they got back to Canada. He had fractured his collar bone, in two places (How did they not see that on the X-Ray in Morocco?), and had also fractured a rib too. He is getting good treatment from his physio team and will be back to top fitness in the quickest time – I know Mark!

Wil, who had tangled with the Tuk Tuk on the last ride through Fez got back to the UK safe and sound. Nothing broken but he had aggravated a couple of old breaks so the doctors plastered him up….which he removed about 24 hours later. Thats Wil!!

I’m glad to report nothing more serious than a few broken bones. We will all be back to full strength in time for the next ride.

And Finally………

This has been a fantastic trip. Very different to Enduro Africa and more rewarding in many ways. It was great to have Mark and Jackie sharing the adventure. Jackie really did tackle some daunting stuff in the Land-Rover and impressed everyone with her tenacious driving and navigating skills. Way to go Jackie. You impressed the heck out of me and everyone else on the ride.

Thank you also for your contributions to this blog and the wonderful photographs you both took, and as for the video………….great job Mark. Its a brilliant and very amusing video. What a great memory for everyone to have.

Morocco 2010 video

Mark was riding so well and his bike abilities have rocketed since we rode together in South Africa. He really is a hero and commits himself totally to everything he does. His fitness is amazing too, he could really push through very tough stages at a fast pace and always looked fresh and ready to go again when I finally caught up with him. I was really shocked when he had his bad fall. I’m not used to seeing my big brother defeated by any circumstances and it took the wind out of my sails a little. I did miss him terribly for the second half of the ride, but it was good to know Jackie was looking after him in the ambulance…..sorry, Land-Rover.

Mark and Jackie are tireless with their drive and ambition to help people much less fortunate than ourselves. Their partnership with ‘Just a Drop’ is already benefiting children and families and giving them access to the most basic and necessary human requirement. Water. Two weeks before this trip they had been in Nairobi, Kenya assisting ‘Just a Drop’ with a well project.

Like air, we take clean water for granted, and we are lucky. During Enduro Africa I had first hand contact with people who have no clean water to drink. I saw children drinking stagnant and polluted water from rivers and streams because they had no alternative. I urge you to follow Mark and Jackie’s progress in bringing clean water to people who have none, and if you can help them in any way, please, please do. www.rally4life.org

Mick and Steph and the team……

Massive thanks to you guys. It is such a huge privilege for me to ride with Mick Extance and to be able to tap ever so slightly into his unbelievable motorcycle skills. I have been a fan of the Dakar rally for many years, following it closely since the early 90’s and I had followed Mick’s progress through many races. Mick is a super nice guy and has endless patience and encouragement for riders on the learning curve. It was amazing to see Mick ‘come home’ to the dunes in Morocco and watch him in his element. His skill on the terrain there is stupefying and it was a chance in a lifetime to experience it first hand – even when he crashed into me!!!!! He he, its all on my helmet cam Mick!!!!

Steph, the Boss! This was the first time Steph and Mick had staged this event and it went like absolute clockwork. I know how much hard work and effort Steph put into this trip for the months leading up to it – it paid off 100% Steph! As well as being a tireless organiser and great team motivator, Steph is also a bloody good off road rider and a ton of fun to be with. Thanks for providing such a cool trip for us Steph. Can I come next year?

Wil and Steve: An off road school is only as good as its sweepers – and this is the best off road school in the world. Wil and Steve are both ridiculously good riders with the best personalities. I have been picked up and dusted off by both on more than a few occasions. I’ve been lucky enough to ride with these two guys plenty of times in the UK, and in SA with Steve, and you are guaranteed to be smiling all the way in their company. What I hadn’t experienced before was their mechanical skills and abilities. Although I am a much more confident home mechanic than I used to be with my bikes, I still don’t have the experience or confidence to go into the engine. I was blown away watching Wil and Steve performing regular open heart surgery on the bikes, with the most basic of tools…..in the desert. Maximun respect, and then some. Thanks for your tremendous company guys – it wouldnt have been half the fun without you.

Richie – the Cook. Anyone who can provide hot food (and bloody good it was too) for 10 people, during a desert sand storm, at night…….in Algeria, is right at the top of my ‘good people to know’ list. What a guy, and as if that wasn’t enough, Richie is also an amazing rider, mechanic and navigator. I spent a lot of time riding closely with Richie and it improved my riding no end. One of the worlds good guys without a doubt. It was a pleasure to share this experience with you Rich.

Martin – Photographer. I love this guy. A wise old head on young shoulders. At 23, Martin is an unbelievably talented photographer, awesome off road rider and has a heart of gold. We had a great time during the ride and in our last few days after everyone else had left for home – it finished the adventure off perfectly. Martin, I’m forever grateful for your help at the airport mate (and when I binned it big time in the dunes). Don’t know how I would have managed that flight without you. Thanks dude.

Chris – The new boy. I was shocked to find out Chris had only been riding for 9 months. This was a pretty daunting ride for anyone at novice level. Chris took the challenge on fantastically and impressed everyone with his bravery and determination. He had a pretty big spill on the road on the first day and it took guts to get back in the saddle after that, but Chris did it & finished the ride. Way to go Chris. See you on the next one!!

C’est Fini

So, that’s it, for a while at least. Mark has the Dakar and ‘Just a Drop’ to concentrate on. My supreemely patient wife and kids need and deserve a holiday in the sun next year so it looks like my adventures will be home grown for a while now. I will have plenty of opportunities to ride with Mick and Steph and the guys in North Wales on free weekends, and Tommy will be joining me as often as he can. Maybe on the next crazy trip he will be riding alongside me and Mark. I hope so.

Thank you for reading our Blog. Its been fun to write, and I hope fun to read. And thank you for all your comments and good wishes.

Morocco is a vibrant and exciting country which connected with me at some basic level. I will go back one day. I hope our story may inspire some of you to visit there – or to go and have an adventure somewhere….anywhere. Its great to break away from the norm every once in a while (o:

Oh, one last thing. It turns out we were never in Algeria. Drizz, our Nomad host told us that the GPS devices always get a bit confused round there. He assured us that we would have known about it if we had crossed the boarder. He was very glad we hadn’t!!

Pete.

Hello, this is Jackie, Pete wanted me to finish off but he has done such a good job there isn’t a lot to say but I can add my perspective from the driving seat of the LandRover! It is strange to think we are on our way home, however we did miss our flight connection in Casablanca due to fog delay so we are still here for another 3 hours and then we go to Heathrow instead of Gatwick, only a minor bump in the road really in comparison. I am sure London will be miserable and cold, and that is just me not the weather.

Morocco has been an amazing adventure, I have never been to an Arabic country and I did not know what to expect, but I read a lot of travel books, studied the guide book and tried to get as much insight as possible, and as it turned out I had high expectations and Morocco delivered. There is good and bad everywhere, some places we were treated with the utmost kindness, friendliness and respect and other times we felt a bit hassled and as if we were arm twisted into parting with our money. Sometimes the countryside was harsh and starkly beautiful, barren and empty. Other times it was lush and tropical. Fez was an mostly  insane, young modern city, yet still retains the medieval medina, the more remote towns felt traditional and unchanged.

As it turned out I ended up doing most of the driving with Mark an enforced passenger. The paved roads were very good and most drivers patient and polite. There are more pedestrians and cyclists than we are used to and at night a lack of lights, but generally the driving was very leisurely and enjoyable. One vista after another would open up, the terrain constantly changing and so much to see. The camber on the road was steep and the land rover well loaded so it didn’t like turning to the left, so I cut most of those corners where I could and that made it a more comfortable ride. Obviously the off- roading was more exciting, I was at home with the rocky trails but the sand was a challenge. I was trying to balance keeping up speed, not bumping Mark’s shoulder and route finding. As you saw I failed at one point and got stuck in the river bed, but that actually added a good talking point to the adventure, the locals were so amazing that it was fixed so efficiently that no harm was done.

Anyway, thanks to you all for following the blog, hope you enjoyed the trip as much as we did, and see some of you soon,

Jackie

As I write I am sat in a comfortable chalet near Fez airport with Mark and Jackie and a couple of other riders while we await our flights home. Myself and Martin have the longest wait, flying back to the UK on Sunday evening (Its Friday lunchtime now). Mick, Steph, Steve and Wil left at 7am in the Land-Rover towing a huge trailer laden with motorbikes, and Micks transit full of riding and camping gear. They have a two day drive back to the UK.
When I last wrote, we were ending our stay in the desert. We left the Nomad Palace in Erg Chebbi on Wednesday morning………early! All the Berber Nomads, who had been perfect hosts, came and wished us Bon Voyage. They are a most gentle and hospitable people and I have loved living with them for a short time. I’m not sure if it is a good act (actually, I don’t think so), but their friendship and compassion seems to be totally genuine. Something we are not used to any more in our culture. I absolutely want to go back there one day.
From Erg Chebbi, we faced a two day road ride back to Fez. After the pounding I took in the dunes, I was quite grateful to have several hundred miles of tarmac ahead of me. At least I would be able to look at my surroundings rather than be riding in 90% panic mode all the time!
As the desert disappeared behind us, we slowly began to encounter more and more civilisation. By early afternoon we had passed Er Rachidia, where Mark had visited hospital a couple of days before, and a main bivouac centre for the Dakar when it used to pass this way. The hours passed calmly and the temperature dropped rapidly as we climbed into the Atlas mountains once more. As we pulled into our night spot, snow was visible along the peaks of the nearby ranges. We were glad to have rooms to check into rather than pitch the tents, even though the rooms were only half built!! No one batted an eyelid – we are definitely all in a Moroccan frame of mind now!

And the last day……

We ate breakfast in a sombre mood. No one really wanted this adventure to end. I could already feel reality creeping back into my head as I began to think about getting back home – e-mails, meetings, places to be. Moroccan life has suited me very well for two weeks and I could happily be here much longer, but I was really looking forward to seeing Sue, Tommy and George (maybe even Brian and Geoff too, just a little bit).
We had an easy day ahead, with just a couple more little off road sections to drain the last little bit of energy, and finally a ride into the middle of Fez when we got back, to have tea at McDonalds (one of only 4 in Morocco).
The first off road section went smoothly enough – a couple of challenging areas whipped a few guys out of the saddle, but no real damage was done. We then stopped for a quick lunch in the forest where the Apes had been spotted on our way out of Fez. They were everywhere, it was amazing. They came and sat with us and shared our snacks – mostly without invitation!!! What an experience.

From there we had just a few more miles of rugged off road terrain to take us within 60Kms of Fez. This is where things started to go pear shaped. The trail was marked with occasional blue arrows on rocks and trees so we went through at our own pace to meet up at the other end. I got there a few minutes behind the fast guys and a few minutes ahead of Mick who was sweeping at the back. Oh dear. We were two riders short. Mick raced back into the stage to find them. We waited, and waited. After about 40 mins Mick returned….alone. This was starting to become a concern. They had obviously taken a wrong turn and could now be anywhere in a 50 mile radius. Wil jumped on his bike and followed Mick back into the stage again, leaving the rest of us in the baking sun feeling a bit uneasy. Just after Mick and Wil had left, a phone rang. It was Steph and Chris, the missing riders, who had found a different route out into town and were having a coffee at a nice cafe!! Thank goodness. We sent a text to Wil & Mick and waited for the rescuers to return. And waited……and waited…..and waited. This was getting silly. Surely Mick and Wil hadn’t got lost, Mick has GPS on his bike! Eventually they emerged from the trail head, Mick riding a very broken bike. He had hit a big rock and put a huge hole into his engine case. What little oil was left in there was dribbling out. That engine was about to seize for sure. We topped it up from emergency bottles of oil we were carrying and Mick blasted off to the garage that was about 3 miles down the road. We followed the trail of leaking oil, which ended about half way to the garage. We expected to see him stood next to a dead Honda around every corner after that, but no. When we got to the garage he was parked next to the work shop gesturing to a Moroccan mechanic. Because the engine cases are magnesium alloy, they cannot be welded, which makes a running repair like this a bit tricky. I’m not quite sure how, but Wil, Mick and Rich got their hands on some body filler, plugged the hole and that Honda rode all the way back to Fez without so much as a hiccup. These bikes truly are amazing.
Our final challenge was getting through the middle of Fez during rush hour to blow the last of the food budget on McDonalds – what a mad and fun ride that was with Mark and Jackie following in the Landi. The traffic is chaotic at best with constant horn tooting and no obvious right of way at any time, but we made it and had a giggle doing it – smoking back tyre’s and lifting front wheels on the way. There was one last drama in store though. The ride back was a free for all and we were all riding a bit too quickly (Being throughly encouraged by the locals I have to add). Unfortunately a local old man driving a tuc tuc kind of vehicle with no lights pulled across the road right in front of a couple of riders, one of them clipped the back of him and went down really hard. He had hurt his foot (an taken the back off the tuc tuc too). He quickly jumped back on his bike and rode back to camp. The poor guy was pretty banged up with a probable broken ankle, quite a few cuts on his foot too. But Steph bandaged him up and he went to bed with a hand full of painkillers and was in good form this morning, although still not able to put any weight on it. What a dramatic final day!!!!

This has been an other amazing trip. It has been great to be with Mark and Jackie although I have really missed having Mark riding along side of me. Hopefully he can get his shoulder back in shape in time for the next bike adventure……(only kidding Susie!!).

I think Mark and Jackie will write a final chapter, and once I am home I’ll try and put an epilogue on here.

Thank you for reading about our adventure and thanks for all your messages too. The next big thing will be Marks dakar entry which he will be concentrating on over the coming months – Its going to be a great story and we will keep you informed of progress.

Bye bye Morocco!

Here is a selection of photos from the trip

Pete

The few days at Erg Chebbe were forced rest for me. It actually ended up being a really good time. My shoulder feels really stuffed and although the XRays we had showed no bone damage, I will still get it checked out in Canada as there is still a tremendous amount of pain and lots of grinding and crunching in the shoulder when it moves.

I have had a chance to walk in the sand dunes and feel the difference in consistency of the sand and watch Mick teach people how to ride the dunes and of course demonstrate. For me, watching is almost as good as doing so I think we are well prepared. On the last day, I decided to try and get on a bike again and ride in the dunes. I could not lift my right hand up to the throttle, but my left hand helped out, stuck it there and I fired the bike up! I am not sure I have ever been so nervous…. not only was I going to be riding but I would be riding in sand!!!

The plan was to ride into the dunes about 500m and then ride around and take some pics. I did manage to ride in and up a few small dunes and I was very glad that I did. I decided not to risk too much because the pain level was still quite high so I jumped off the bike and with camera in hand, Jackie and I took some photos of everyone playing around and the then did a video interview with Mick and I. In all we were out there for a few hours and managed to grab some great photos before heading back to the camp.

I think everyone has and is thoroughly enjoying the experience and I certainly feel as though Mick and I are getting on as well as can be expected for a team in prep for the Dakar. I am sure there will be tense moments during the race, but I think are personalities are matched quite well for that environment.

During our down time, I had the opportunity to get to know Drizz, one of our Touareg hosts. He is an amazing fellow. In general the people in this part of the world are extremely passive and you will never out serve them. They are extremely cheerful people in general and our camp was a walk across a pitch black car park to get to the kitchen. At one of the meals if we asked for anything, it was never a problem and he would walk back through the dark Saharan sky to the kitchen signing a Berber song to come back with a big smile and present you with what you had ordered… amazing people. During one conversation where we were discussing the fact that I had to write an article with a deadline, he indicated that “all you people have watches but you have no time, you should move here with us, here we have all the time in the world, but no watches”. It was of course very tempting, particularly for Mick who loves the sand dunes, but having said that, the meals always showed up on time so I think it was also a bit of a rub.

Drizz had never gone to school or at least not for many years, he said he learns from the school of life, and that it is like a cow, one day it gives you Milk, the next day, shit! Apart from a vast array of thought provoking comments, he also could speak several languages very competently and what certainly impressed me was his ability to tell jokes for an hour one evening in our language which was not his strongest language…. that must be the best command of a language and understanding of a culture when you are able to translate jokes competently and make them work!

Now we are in the land rover, in Jackie’s competent hands, despite a terrible back seat driver with one arm… perhaps tomorrow I will sleep, and she can wrap up the trip on the blog for you!

Mark

As Mark is not really able to type at the moment I’ll continue with the story. Firstly and most importantly, Mark is definitely on the mend. He is in good spirits this morning and actually sat on his bike earlier. I dont think he will be riding again for a couple of days at least but it is good to see him recovering.
We have woken to proper desert weather today. Clear blue sky and high temperature. We were up early……again…….to get into the huge dunes here before it got to hot.

Mick spent an hour tutoring us on how to ride the dunes. Its pretty scary as you have to keep the bike speed up so it dosent sink into the soft sand, but reading the terrain is almost impossible – it just all looks the same and you can find yourself going over a crest to a 100ft drop quite easily. We had fun and I had a few offs – exhausting stuff, but what a thrill.
We rode back to the Berber tent and had half a hour in the shade, then helmets back on and back into the cavernous dunes. I jumped onto Marks bike ‘Betty’ for this blast. Now Betty has a reputation. Mark wasn’t the first rider she had chucked off and injured. Still, no bother I thought. I can handle Betty…… Wrong. After 10 minutes of ripping around the dunes and having a fantastic time, I made the big mistake – I flew over the top of a dune, the drop on the other side was very steep. The front wheel dug in and I went over the handlebars violently. Betty hit me hard on the back and head completely knocking the wind out of me. I think I blacked out for a second or two. The next thing I knew I was spitting out sand and one of the other riders, Martin was running over. It took me a little while to get myself back together and I rode slowly back to camp to nurse my wounds. Nothing more than a painful back by the looks of it. Very lucky. I wont ride again today but we are heading out on Camels tonight to see the sunset from the top of the dunes. I might need to pinch a couple of Marks pain killers!

On a totally different note – Congratulations to George who came first in a big dancing competition in Nottingham on Sunday (in the pairs dance with his mate Jack). Well done George, I cant wait to see the trophy.

All is quiet here now and I can see the Berber tribesmen getting the Camels ready for our excursion. I’ve only ridden an animal once (Pony trekking in Wales when I was a teenager) and I wasnt good at it. With my sore back I’m not sure if this is a wise thing to do, but thinking about it, spending two weeks riding a motorbike through Morocco probably isnt a wise thing to do either and I’m loving it, so what the heck!

Pete

Its been a dramatic few days. Where did we get to?
I think the last time I wrote was the day we went to the rally stage just outside of Zagora. In my timeframe that was two days ago. A lot has happened since then.
I’m not sure if Mark has written a blog entry since then. Our internet connection is so sporadic it isn’t really possible to check what we have been uploading. I hope it is looking good.
The night of the rally day in Zagora, our host at the camp site, Ibrihim, prepared us a lovely evening meal of couscous and lamb tangine. We ordered a few beers and bottles of wine and eat next to our tents and bikes on a palm and cane covered terrace. We were treated to entertainment from a local traditional Moroccan band.

It was very atmospheric and a few of us joined in. I got the hang of the percussion (Tin casternet type things), but neither Mark or I could get to grips with the hollowed out cricket bat with 3 different length strings on it. The bloke in the band knew what he was doing with it though. We had a late night and checked into our tents around midnight with a lazy 8am start planned for the morning.
We left Zagora and within minutes we were into desert. The riding from there to here (Erg Chebbi) has been fast and dusty. The trails became less rocky and more sandy and it wasn’t long before we were riding in classic desert terrain – basically sand. This is tough going but everyone was having a great day. Early in the afternoon we arrived at a huge dry lake bed. A flat smooth plain about 5km long. We did a bit of filming with Martin our cameraman sat on the roof of the land-rover as we all rode behind. This was an amazing place to ride – the bikes totally flat out over the smooth compact sand with nothing but the horizon to worry about. It was such a blast.
Next stop was a wild camp – in the desert. All we had was the supplies in the Land-rover to keep us going so we had to make sure we got far enough in to be able to get out to the town on the other side the next day. We picked a spot, did a quick check for snakes and scorpions and started to pitch the tents. I was pretty exhausted from the day but a few of the lads, including Mark, went to have a play in the sand dunes on their bikes. I had had my first scary dune experience earlier in the afternoon. The art with dune riding is to realise that a nice gentle run to the top of the dune often means a vertical drop on the other side. I had just managed to stop my bike before dropping 35ft over the other side of a small dune I was on. I had my helmet camera on at the time. My laughter was of the nervous kind!
As I was getting my sleeping bag unpacked I noticed Mark come back to camp on his own….slowly. I went over to see what was going on. He looked in pain.
He had had a big fall and hurt his shoulder – it quickly became apparent that this was serious. Mark is a tough guy and I have rarely seen him succumb to pain. We helped him get out of his riding gear and had a look at his shoulder, which appeared to be either dislocated or broken. Not good, especially because we were a long way from any kind of civilisation. Jackie strapped him up with a sling and he had some pain killers to make him comfy for the night. We discussed taking him out in the Land-rover immediately to find a doctor but it just wasn’t practical as the nearest civilisation was a small town with little facilities of any kind. Not much you can do with a broken shoulder/collar bone anyway apart from subdue the pain and wait for it to heal. Mark was very sensible about it and aware and alert enough for us and him to know that he hadn’t gone into shock from any further internal injury. It certainly changed the mood in camp and everyone was very concerned. The best we could do was make him comfy in his tent. As we were doing this the sun was going down and then the next drama arrived – a huge desert sand storm! It came out of nowhere. A sudden howling wind and blindness. Within seconds tents were breaking away from their pegs and you really couldn’t see your hand in front of your face – literally. Everyone managed to get to their own tent and we all sat it out. It passed after about half an hour but left us with a windy and wet (yes, rain in the desert!!!) evening. Our cook Richie made a great job cooking omelets and rice for everyone in his tent – what a genius. As we ate we discussed the next, and rather serious drama. Looking at our location on the map earlier, we discovered that we had accidentally crossed the boarder into Algeria. This was a serious concern. Algeria is a volatile country and they don’t take kindly to visitors. A visit from boarder patrol or bandits was now a possibility and neither would be good news. It was too late and dark to break camp and make our way back into Morocco, just miles away. It was an uneasy nights sleep and at one point we heard a helicopter in the distance. But we made it through the night and everyone was present and (almost) correct this morning.
We broke camp, loaded the Land-rover and got Mark as comfy as possible in the passenger seat with Jackie at the wheel once again. We were all relieved to see that Marks health had not deteriorated during the night. He is still uncomfortable but doing okay.
Today went well, for a while! The rain during the night had made a few of the dry river beds a little less dry and the poor Land-rover got well and truly stuck in one ravine. Luckily we were only about half a mile from the little town and lots of locals came to help dig it out. After 45 mins we were rolling again. We stopped in the town and grabbed breakfast. From there the rest of the day was a fast run through the desert to Erg Chebbi, where I am writing this. The riding was superb. I’ve got pretty quick on sand now. Its very odd, almost like riding on ice but when you get the hang of it, its great fun. I felt bad that Mark hasn’t been next to me though.
Our reward for the riding so far is a 2 day stop here at the Nomad palace on the edge of the Sahara desert. It is a wonderful Kasbah in the middle of nowhere and our accommodation is a Berber tent at the base of huge, dramatic dunes.

One building, a few camels and us. I shan’t mention the swimming pool, that would take the edge off the drama and adventure!! It was lovely to jump into the cold water earlier this evening though!!!
Right now we are sitting waiting for our evening grub, Mick took Mark off in the Land-rover earlier to find some medical help, we are waiting for them to return. I’m sure all is well and I’ll update you as soon as I can……..

(Later that evening)….. It was getting late but Mick and Mark got back eventually. They had taken a 200 mile round trip to Er Rachidia hospital to get Mark x-rayed. Good news, Nothing broken. We are not sure what the damage is but Mark has some strong pain killers and seems much better. Happy camp again tonight.
Thanks for reading.
Pete

Having been out to the start of the Shamrock Rally stage this morning, we are now back at camp. Its 2.30pm, we have just had lunch and Mick, Wil, Steve and Richie are servicing the bikes. The weather is absolutly beautiful and I am sat in a little oasis surrounded by huge palm trees and listening to unfamiliar bird song. Im not sure what make of bird they are – about the size of woodpeckers, black and gray in colour. We will relax for the rest of the day before making our way into the Sahara tomorrow.
Jackie has already written a little about yesterday but I’ll tell the story from the bike ride.

The day before yesterday we had arrived at the spectacular Todra Gorge. Breathtaking. Miles of rough road through a narrow deep canyon. We left camp early (again!) and the bikes left the landrover to take another mountain pass. We filled up with fuel and rode through the town until the road simply ended and we were in the desert. Riding along rough tracks and dried river beds, it was fast and hard riding. The next mountain range was in the distance and we just sped on towards it. At the first chance I had to look over my shoulder, there was as much desert behind me as there was in front and the mountain range didnt seem any closer – that was a little disconcerting, but quite a thrill.
We followed hearding tracks and passed the odd Berber farmer with his goats and sheep and an occasional local coming the other way on a moped!!
Mick kept the pace fast and I really had to knuckle down to keep my energy in tact. Its very demanding to keep the quick pace going over rocks and sand, but we made good time. As we climbed the mountain pass I found myself starting to struggle and I had more than a couple of scary moments where the bike nearly got away from me. At the next stop Mick, Wil and Richie gave me a few tips on better cornering techniques and after that things got a bit better. I had been given one of the big 450’s to ride and the extra weight was taking its toll on me but they do tackle the terrain better and faster than the 250’s – as long as you keep your speed up!!!
Again we climbed the mountain for miles getting up into the clouds and the cold air. Both the engines and riders were beginning to get a little short of breath. At the peak we were at about 9000ft and as we rode around a corner under a spectacular natural stone arch, there was a cafe!! Right on the top of the mountain! We stopped and had coffee and cokes and took a few photos. Again it felt like we were sat on top of the world. From here it was downhill for a good few miles. I like the downhill sections but this one was really, really tough. The track was rocky, stoney sandy, slippy and anything but smooth, and we were riding quickly, inches from the precipice. One mistake and you could have taken the quick way down. At times it was terrifying but it certainly kept me focused and alert. Mark is riding superbly now, keeping behind Mick every step of the way – I’m very impressed with how good he is at this now. They leave me in their dust on most sections now but I’m usually only a minute or two behind them at the next stop point.
As we arrived at the bottom of the pass (still in the middle of nowhere), we stopped for a breather and two young girls appeared over the rocks with little bracelets and charms to sell us. Where they had come from we didnt know but we all bought a little charm and they were happy.
From then on it was pretty much flat rocks, stones and sand to the next town where we met up with Jackie and the Landrover and had lunch at a fuel station. We had a good hours rest while Will went to find a local mechanic to weld a broken crank case on one of the bikes.
Next stop Zagora (Where we are now). The afternoons journey consisted of an hours ride through a desolate valley with huge and striking mountains in the distance on either side. We then hit the ‘Valley of 1000 Kasbahs’ trail which consisted of more tough rock and stone riding and transits through villages which looked like we had gone back in time 1000 years. People riding mules and donkeys and all in traditional Berber dress – so far removed from anything in my experience.

This is an amazing place to be. Jackie followed us through the trail and drove superbly in the Landrover. There were sections which were a real struggle on the bikes – I dont know how she did it but she got a good round of applause at the the end.
As we rode into Zagora, the sun had gone down and the town had a bit of a party atmosphere due to the Rally being here. We passed lots of support trucks and rally cars and there was a good buzz about the place. We stopped at the rally headquarters and Mick and Mark went in to check out the details for todays rally stage. The day ended with chicken kebabs and cold beers at our camp site. And chips!!
This morning we were up early……again, and rode the 40kms to the start of the rally stage. I’ll let Mark fill you in from here.

Thanks for keeping an eye on our journey.

Pete

Finally got a peaceful morning, the bikes have all gone off to watch the Shamrock Rally that is happening here and I have stayed behind because driving the land rover would be manic with all the rally vehicles rushing to the start. It apparently used to be Rally Maroc, goodness knows how it suddenly got to be Irish! They are hoping to see some top riders though so I am sure they will come back all excited.
We area in a lovely camp site in Zagora and the sun is just coming up, promising to be hot today. We have had rain and cool weather until now.
I have been driving the land rover for 2 days now through all kinds of terrain. Yesterday afternoon I think they gave me my initiation test, saying the land rover will never make it through here but I was fine!! It was bone rattling tough terrain but no cliffs to the side, well not much anyway so I didn’t need to panic. Just keep momentum and moving forward slowly.
Morocco is very different to Kenya. Kenya was colonised by the British and lots of those ways still exist, like tea for breakfast and the church is everywhere. Morocco was administered by the French, which everybody speaks so I am struggling to remember mine. It is cafe au lait for breakfast, with the mosque call to prayer in the background. It all feels very new to me, but I am getting to like it. The scenery is dramatic and harsh. Yesterday we drove the valley of the thousand kasbahs (forts) all along the river lined with palm trees, quite amazing. The goat herders wear jallabahs and it looks biblical. We had to stop for a herd of camels to cross the road, not something that happens every day.
The bikers are mostly doing well. It is quite grueling at times. The worst moment was a silly one, Mick was just wandering across the road to talk to us in the land rover and you can’t see or hear much in a helmet and he didn’t look and a car doing at least 120kph almost killed him. He just turned his wheel at the last moment when the car sounded his horn. We had all shut our eyes and expected him to be dead when we opened them, it was horrible. In general though the roads and drivers are ten times better than Kenya, so driving has been pleasant. They actually have road signs and they do pretty much stick to one side of the road. It is the children running down to the road to shout for bonbons that scare me. The other day I had 2 hanging on the bike that is strapped to the back of the LandRover and I couldn’t slow down too much or we would be swarmed by them, not in a  bad way, but it is a bit overwhelming. So I just keep crawling along and hope they give up and jump off eventually.
Mark is hovering over me to check his emails, so I will sign off for now and maybe add more later!!

It could have been Wales, bogs, hills and rain, lots of it… it was a very cold day in the high Atlas Mountains as we rode up to 12,000 feet and down again.

We left the campsite early at 7:30am because we had a long day ahead of us and over the first pass was breakfast. It was already raining when we woke up so we packed sodden tents and sleeping bags into the land rover and hurried over the first pass to a lake, a very scenic lake but one that did not look anything like as enticing as it did the last time Mick and Steph were here because they had blue skies.

Pete and I rode together over the pass and all of us grouped up at a small Auberge on the side of the lake. The first objective was to warm up to some fast riding on a trail between this lake an another. Mick gave us a talk on how we were going to go in gently so that nobody gets hurt and then come out at speed for breakfast.

Mick also suggested I stay on his tail for this ride and sure enough, the gentle ride in turned into a Dakar type pace on this fantastic terrain. What a lesson, everybody came in fairly quick but my eyes were opened with regards to the pace Mick can do for 15 hours a day n the Dakar… it was a blast and I had no idea how I stayed on. We passed several off road vehicles on the way in and then waited at the beach and enjoyed the scenery as the rest of the riders joined us. Pete was in the front group and there was no shortage of grins as everyone arrived and proclaimed that it was a good job we took it easy on the way in!

After a group photo, we head out and Mick really turned on the speed. It was all I could do to stay almost in touch, falling 100m or or so behind occasionally and then catching up a little. Will who was riding behind me though did indicate it wasn’t the tidiest riding he had seen. Boy, was it fast. My arms and legs knew that I had been riding fast but that was for about 15 minutes!!! What would it be like after several hours?

As we grouped up close to the Auberge we realised that one of the riders was missing, and so Mick and myself went back in to look for him. Eventually we all were back tucking in to some fantastic  omlettes and Moroccan tea preparing for what was going to be a fun day.

Ahead of us were two gravel and rocky climbs up to 12,000′ and consequent descents. The first was quickly on us after we left the breakfast stop. We trundled along a valley and took a break where Mick said I would probably want to go fast so why not go with Steve up front while he stayed back with a few other riders. Great… I though I had done the fast riding and now we were off again. Steve is a fast rider who has done a lot of enduro’s in Wales and this was perfect Welsh bog conditions except, the drop off on one side of the trail was turning into 4,000′ the higher we climbed. With a few very thrilling moments, I managed to stay just in touch with Steve, but the hairy moments were getting closer together and I knew if I carried on at this pace something would happen, but there is something in the wiring in my brain that says try it anyway!!!

The first time we stopped, Pete was again one of the first riders to join us, hooting and laughing, clearly everyone was enjoying the fast riding but we were all enjoying the thrill of going fast but the conditions were extremely slippy and the result of an off would be a badly broken bike and a tumble downhill until you managed to grab hold of something!

We carried on at this frenetic pace all the way to the top and then slowed down a little down the other side. The views were great, but the clouds obscured most of the beauty that I am sure you would find on a sunny day.

After a short transit and a fuel stop we arrived at the next stage, another pass, but one that started in a river gorge and slowly worked its way up to a head wall to climb up to another high pass…

This time Mick suggested I follow him again… my muscles were telling me otherwise and I knew that I needed to be careful. Off we went… full Dakar chat, no holding back. Clearly MIck was going to be ahead of me now with my limited bike experience and knowing that I should be a little guarded. It was such a blast though. This time, Mick would gain 500m on me and then wait and at the first stop to make sure I was following OK, he looked back to see me come wildly around a corner, brake, drive up a rock pile and clatter off my bike right in front of a couple of goat herders who amusingly offered me their donkey to finish the day…. that would have been a smart move.

With nothing more than a bruised ego, I jumped back on the bike and carried on. The surface was lots and lots of loose rocks, 5″ to 6″ wide and we were going fast. My muscles were telling me to slow down, my head was telling me to be careful, and everything I saw with my wild riding style said, slow down, but…. you can’t see. It is not that easy… it is too much fun.

Mick and I arrived at a col with another fantastic view and chatted about the pace and the Dakar and how much fun it will be to get into the event again for him and first time for me.. I me. I am just glad I won’t be doing it on a bike!

Pete, who I felt for sure would be slowing down a little, kept arriving right after us riding like a pro enduro rider, smiling and laughing every time he got to the end. I think for all of us it was a form of positive affirmation trying to overcome what our head and muscles were telling us.

At the end of the day we transited to a small tourist town on the other side of Todra Gorge which is an amazing place! The food was awesome, the company was great and the sleep, well it was needed at least for me!

To put the day into perspective, whilst I had ridden at close to Dakar speed on perhaps 80km or more of offroad sections, a typical Dakar transit in Morocco is 300km to the stage with a 400km full paced Dakar stage and then another 100km transit at the end… I cannot imagine how you sleep after that, or more importantly how you get up again.

It is magic to be riding with Pete again and to have Jackie experience it in the land rover with us is very cool. She had a super day today and took all of the photos enroute!