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