DR DOES MAROC

[Browndog]

What a great report

Thanks for making the effort.
Really enjoying it.

[PHILinFRANCE]

Ok i'm back ......got half a chuck some salad and wine of course !!!

Carried on down Dadies gorge as we're now calling it !!!


Took the obligitour photo of the wigglie bit !!! not the best , but the ride was more important


On leaving there was some really weird rock formations



Stopped in Boumaine Dades for food


Then pushed on to Quarzazate ,....but never got there, the wind got up really bad on the high plains and just after Skoura we turned back to an auberge we'd passed , it looked closed and wind was howling like a banshee and getting cold , i knocked on the door and was greeted by a smiling young lady who quickly invited us in. I asked how much for a room and was told 200dh we didn't want food as we'd just eaten and wanted a quick start in the morning.
The room


Alls good , comfy beds and warm, just dumped our gear and the young lady asks if we'd mind moving as 3 German girls had just also arrived , and be well schooled gentelmen we agreed , the girls came in and not a word of thanks !!! missarable bitches
As it turned out we ended up with straw mattresses that completly fcuked my back, but our host were great the bikes were parked inside we were given free soup and tea


I'd highly recommend this place , last place on the right leaving Skoura heading west, but get the 3 bed room !!!!



There was more snow on the high Atlas that morning and laying in patches as we set off


We rode straight through Quarzazate passing Bikers Home (Peters) where Mark got his chain as we wanted to get to the desert;
Stopped in Zagora and booked into a hotel for 2 nights to rest a little before the desert.
The road to Zagora




Going down the other side


Brew,smoke and fuel stop only about 80 kms to go


Stopped in Zagora for money


Booked the hotel and chilled out , the place was empty 3 pools 2 restraunts !!! the whole place to our selves


Desert tomorrow..................but thats for later:evil:

[Tramp]

Great read..

But what!! no more punctures or breakdowns :whistle:

strange how the weather changes so much with Altitude...

[shan]

Hay Tramp I am shore that Phil has a few more surprises in his little black book


Phil So that’s what you spent all that time late into the night doing !! keep it coming mate

[Tonibe63]

Fantastic report, got the beer ready for the next instalment.

Just got my dog eared map out from a couple of years ago and pencilling in a route for next year B):silly:

[Tyrant68]

Really enjoying this , thanks for posting

[PHILinFRANCE]

Sat 29th Oct
This was supposed to be a rest day and last night had a bottle of Moroccan red wine (€16) with the meal and a whisky night cap (€7) for a single :dry: no wonder they're all smoking hash it to expensive to drink !!!
Woke up aching like a bitch so filled my self with pills and had a lazy breakfast as it was a REST DAY !!! got bored and around 10am set off for Mhamid and the desert about 70 or 80 kms away
The road to Mhamid


These gate way like things are sort of departmental boarders


looking back from where we'd come , in the bottom left you can just make out the embarrassed young lady after she'd finnish watering a cactus :woohoo:


Take note of the line running left to right going behind the mirror


Only got about 3km off road and a bit of my PHILATECH failed !!! a bolt snapped on my fuel rack.


The bolt had sheared of in the frame and while i strapped it up Mark had a play


More of those weird horses


All strapped up we did a 38 km piste of mainly sand tracks !!! Bloody hard going but great, i've read and listened to all the advice about sand riding BUT nothing prepairs you truly for it !!!!! Just gun it al the way and get on ....FANTASTIC
Got to Mhamid the long way had a brew and found the end of the road.


We decided to head back to Zagora on the black stuff to see if i could get the bolt drilled out as we had a big day planned for tomorrow.
I was leading and kept getting tempted by the desert and finally gave in !!! i'd seen a pass through the hills that i was sure led to the line through the mirror one the other photo ......so i went for it and sod the rack !!! of course Mark followed
Opening the bikes up to 100 kph on the plains is great fun

I got to the base of the pass and just went for it very steep and strown with boulders. I got within a 100 m of the top and had to have a rest, OK I FELL OFF :laugh: and so did Mark


You can't tell from the pics how steep it was but in the last you'll just see Mark at the top , he'd walked it to check it out


The dark tree line in the distance on the plains is where we came from





When he got back from the top he said it looked a bit ify and to top it all the Donkey wouldn't start , probably flooded, so we two handed the bike round to head back by which time the Donkey fired up.
Back on the plains making dust


Found a tree for shade and a smoke (Marquies €1.80 a pack and not bad)


Phil.... i can't find me smokes !!!


Returned to Zagora where Mark uploaded his videos ( will add later when he chops them all) i went into town to find a garage , found one and explained what i wanted thinking he'd drill it out, he turned up with a pre boar war drill and gave up after 30sec , out comes the elecy welder !!! so off with the seat sort battery and while i'm doing that he gives my air filter the once over and oils me chain, without a mask he keeps tacking blobs on the end of the bolt untill he can get his moleies on it and out it pops !! ingenious devils !!! Chewed the fat with the for half an hour and a couple of smokes and 150dh later + a sticker i was on my way back to the hotel to be fed.

[Jon Caveman]

Core, this is right exiting stuff eh?:woohoo: Great choice of bikes for the trip too.
Keep it up guys...

Taken my ole DR on some jaunts in the past

[PHILinFRANCE]

Sunday the 30th Oct .....Desert Day

Up at 6.30 had brekie loaded the bikes and headed into the wilderness. The plan was to leave Zagora and head down the N12 piste but the buggers had tarmaced it, so turnded off on what we thought was the P1520 !!!! but it deteriated into a goat track GREAT !! so we followed it.


And here's the goat herd


Marks GPS brainfarted and he fell of in the sand, he'd just got back back on here and i'd said just follow me, WHAT!!!!!



At this point there were two ways to go so we had a smoke and all but flipped a coin


This route turned back into a track , but what a track !!! the solitude was fantastic.


Here we're about 60km into a 130km trek and Mark had been nagged by something on the mighty BMW , took a look under the back to find the left hand side of the subframe had broken


We moved his load around and strapped the back end up as best we could, when of in the distance maybe 3kms we saw two 4x4s going at a rate of knotts !!! we looked at each other and said ROAD !!!
We headed straight across country to find this , the N12 !!! they'd only surfaced a couple of kms



We covered another 20km or so when the subframe snapped both sides.....ohhh dear !!!!
Bad Moto Welding :whistle:
Within minutes a Czche landcruiser went by and Mark asked if they'd carry his gear to Foum-Zguid where the road ends , they agreed and after re strapping the BM tail, we set off and found a work crew still building the road !!! about 30km of rough track we found the road again , sorry no pics as i tail ended Mark keeping an eye on the back.
This was at the side of the road , nowhere !!! and as on lots of signs the first part of the distance is rubbed out.


Found a guy welding gates in some unnamed village and got him to weld the BM back together


The subframe




This is where we were or how to leave it


Got into Foum-Zguid got aplate of chips and a mint tea and got talking to a young Belgium couple on a KTM 990 doing a 3 year trip round the world , they'd only set off 3 months ago and eased there way down europe , they had 3 YEARS , NO RUSH
Asked the bar owner where to find a good hotel , he pointed us in the direction of the Hotel Auberge L'Oasis , TOP PLACE




Look mam i'm doing my washing


All in all a fantastic day and i got the double bed that night


It even had an out side sitting area


I wanted to see Marakesh (big mistake it's a shit hole) but the road to it is a MUST



Saw this on the road side "Little USA" place was full of old yankie cars coke bottles and posters




In contrast


After a while the road got interesting


And greener !!!



Food time .....the reason doesn't smile much is it gives him wrinkles !!! to late mate:woohoo:



You can just make out the road were taking cutting across the hillside


And this is a little bit of what was waiting for us on the other side near Tizi-n-Tichkaon the N9


These are what we've just crossed


Pulled into Marrkesh and got a local to take us to a auberge near the square, yes it cost us 50dh but we'd never have found it and it looked ok

Even had a fountain in the dinning room !!! and thats the landlady


And a roof terrace that Mark really enjoyed !!!!


We went into the square to get fed a the famous food stalls !!!! it was shite!!! worst food we'd had all trip.


Not trying to put folk off , but don't bother with it !! stick to the desert. Looks like they're trying to burn it down , but didn't manage

The orange stalls were nice..........all 200 of them :whistle:


Time to leave so we wandered back through the tiny streets to find the doors locked and were approached by to lads saying they'd show us the way. Ok but i'm not fcuking paying you !!! everybody wants paying !! They led us on a wild goose chase and i nearlly got to smacking them.
Found a police man and asked him , he sent us the wrong way so i saw 3 more cops and a soldier with a M16 and asked them , THEY SENT US THE WRONG WAY !!!! finally asked a guy in a kerbab shop who pointed us right.
Here's some more pics of our digs




Mark needed a new back tyre and the only place to get one was Casablanca, another shit hole but we got the tyre


Ive seen Marrakesh and Casablanca now will wont go back !! in fact the whole of the west side of Maroc from Safi up isn't worth seeing so we headed east and got to Khouribga where we got ripped off in the only hotel we could find "The Golden Tulip" cost us 1640dh the area is one big phosphates mining place.
When we got up Mark decided to head south a day early , he had 3 week to my 2 , no hard feelings , couldn't of asked for a better riding buddy and the weather was turning bad.
We parted company he going south me heading east.

[Tramp]

Absolutley briliant B) B)

your post sums up Africa in general..the citys are shit the country folk are great and if it breaks they use old school welding and big hammers to fix it..

Real nice pics that sum up the country and wildness and nice to see you had some fun too :laugh: ..

now get back to work digging holes etc

see you in late December..chrimbo time