Day 24: Some Superb Passes

A great day of riding today, despite the tech issues. Plenty of high and low passes crossed, some paved, some unpaved. A fabulous winding valley to finish the ride and Taroudant is a vibrant, busy Moroccan walled town with hardly any tourists!

I was nervous this morning about the whole navigation technology issue. I'd stayed up late last night doing some research on phone apps and finally settled on the OSMAnd app as it can follow a GPX route and I've heard good things about it from mates over the last couple of years. 

Back up phone would download the app, the background maps and even the GPX files for this trip, but it won't find the actual position, despite all the settings being turned on, so it won't follow the GPX track. My normal Samsung phone, will do all of the above, but I can't see the screen in bright sunlight and the bag its in. As I broke the phone mount on day 1 in the Picos, I need to source a method of attaching it in a place where I can see the screen, but that still leaves me with the sunlight issue and no back up system. 

The Garmin has worked sporadically through the day. When it's on and working, its like normal. When I throttle back, stop or go over any big bumps, the screen either scrolls out to the maximum, (which means I have a purple dot instead of a line to see), or it goes to the home screen. I then have to stop and spend 10 minutes pressing the screen to see what it does or reboot it several times. 

Oh well, the riding though was excellent. On leaving Ouarzazate first thing, I headed out on tarmac roads through some back sections of the town. This turned into a winding valley on new tarmac that climbed and dropped over a few passes and past several small hillside villages. Every time I got a view north towards the Atlas, all I could see was snow clouds and the nearby peaks had a dusting of fresh snow on them. This got my attention. After a few miles, I turned off onto a dirt road and climbed past several more villages. I started to see old ice and snow in the shady sections and the clouds seemed to be building. The road was a typical locals road, passing through villages with people out cutting the reeds for bedding, wandering from here to there and generally. This was Berber country. The mountain folk of Morocco. 

Their story is one of movement, no one seems to actually know their origins. There are stories they moved from Egypt, but no proof, until they settled across the higher mountain ranges of North Africa. Now they are a large proportion of several countries population, with different dialects, religious ceremonies and traditions. They are fierce fighters, loyal friends and generally hard working. They do not get on too well with the lowland Arabs, but there is a tolerance amongst each. I've been lucky enough to work with a lot of Moroccan Berbers over several years, I have a lot of time for them as people. Travelling back through these mountains is easy for me and relaxed because of that background I guess. 

Another section of tarmac wound on through the volcanic hills. At one point, I found a local guy on a scooter, who had an issue, I ended up towing him some 10 miles ish to a town, where he promptly fell over and grazed his hand as we came to a stop. From there, I crossed a small river, followed some tarmac to a rough dirt road and dropped over into another valley, where a goat herd and a village lady helped me find the correct route across a river and back to the next bit of tarmac. 

Some more winding road, this time on a section of road being newly built. I took a cheeky ride around the 'building' bit, which got me a bit turned around. Once I'd figured out I'd gone past the turneing to leave the valley, I just had to find it. That turned out to be a washed out track, crossing lots of volcanic slab at angles on a steep descent. Some pretty technical riding. 

More tarmac wound on to a sudden left turn up a really zig zagged steep ascent. This crested with a view over the High Atlas, all cloud and snow capped. I crossed another shallow pass and descended to a village, took a wrong turn and to the delight of about 30 kids provided a show of how not to ride a technical rocky section! Once back on the true road, it climbed, crossed over two passes and a plateau section before descending down steeply into a small village. Lots of the old men were in the street, waving me through with big smiles and waves. 

The day finished on a 40 ish mile valley ride, descending to the lower plains via a very tortuous and twisty road that provided access for some 20+ villages. It crossed the main river so many times on dodgy fords, I lost count.

Taroudant was the destination of choice. I'd not been there before and knew it to be a busy town full of Moroccans and not many tourists. It is just that. The main walled Kasbah is very old, very big and full of relaxed and smiley people. I got another hotel for the night so I could talk to various people back home, then went out into the hubbub to find food. Some spicy sausages, with chips and salad and finished off with hot fresh bread straight out the oven. 

Planning time now I guess. I've decided I'm not too happy with the idea of venturing into the most remote parts of the trip with shite nav tech. So I'm changing the plan and will head back north. If possible, once back in Spain, I'll try to follow the TET track again up to the French border, then follow a part of the French TET through the middle of France and get back home by the end of Feb sometime.

I recognised this was a possibility last night, then took today to play with tech and see how I felt. I'd rather come back when I'm in a better set up position and do the thing right, rather than be crapping my pants all the time worrying about when the electronics are going to leave me stuck. If at all possible, I'd like to tie in a return back up through Algeria too. Time will tell!

Day 23: Chores and a Rest Day

I decided to stay in Ouarzazate another night and get a bunch of things sorted out. I dropped my jacket off to a tailor, who will fit a new zip for 50 Dirhams, collection at midday after dropping it off at 9am! 

A lazy breakfast in a cafe, with hot coffee and cheesy pancakes, called 'baguettes' for some reason. Whilst there, I sat watching folks going about their early morning stuff. The old men sitting in the cafe facing the street doing the same thing as me. Women heading to who knows where, some in traditional Arab dress, the younger ones in more western attire, with their hair uncovered and even some make up in some cases. 

Later in the day, kids were riding around on little motorised plastic models in the main square, whilst a sound system was being set up outside an impressive looking central building.  The call to prayer sounding in the distance from one of the many mosques in town. A bike mounted policeman was stopping traffic randomly and in the case of one poor guy, getting a ticket for something.

Next up for me was a replacement screen cover for the GPS as I took the old one off thinking sand was causing the issue with the screen. I spent a fair bit of time trying to re-calibrate the screen on the unit, which worked to some degree, but now it's super sensitive and jumps around a bit. That will be annoying when trying to sort out route choices I'll bet. Looks like time for a new GPS, this one has only done 8 years or so!`

I've tried to hunt down a strap for the luggage today as well, but no luck, so I'll bodge something from existing stuff. I wandered through the souk whilst trying to find the tailor's place first thing. Chickens in cages everywhere and meat stalls next to shoe shops. It's early at the moment, so quiet, but as the sun warms the streets and air up, people are appearing and soon it will be buzzing no doubt.

Most important job is sort out the bank, as if I can't transfer funds, that's the trip over. Both Morocco and even more so, Mauritania, are cash based economies and I'll have to head back north with the remaining cash I have. I have no idea how to contact them. My mobile phone does not work out here, I haven't found a landline. I may have to buy a Moroccan sim card and try to use that but its not a recognised number with the bank. Failing this, my sister has offered to go into a branch at home for me with an authorisation letter from me, but reading the banks website, you need an official solicitors sign off on this and to go via a government process. All this online banking to reduce costs and stress and because of the criminal aspect of things, it's even more of a pain to try to use. Next time, I need to be better set up to deal with this, not sure how to do that as yet, but one of the things I need to sort out is some better online security and a password manager process as suggested by a mate as I was leaving the UK. In the end, my sister sorting things out for me to continue. 

One of the things that is striking about Ouazazate is the calmness of the place. There are no hawkers forcing themselves on you, I've wandered around several times today and been left alone. It's a refreshing change after constant hassle I faced in Merzouga and Zagora. It's still on the tourist trail, but definitely less in your face as a town. I even found a shop selling beer and hard spirits, frequented by some unsavoury Moroccans, but decided to continue with the alcohol free life of the Islamic countries, so mint tea it was then!

I collected my jacket at midday, new zip fitted and its been cleaned! Great stuff, that'll make life easier and warmer whilst riding. 

I've also spent some time online looking at routes and options. There is a desert unsealed road heading through the disputed territory of Western Sahara that is pretty remote, it runs from a small town called Assouerd and heads south to another small town Smara. Its around 450 miles across some remote desert passing a plane wreck en route and I've added in a section to take me upto Dakhla for a rest stop and fuel.

The whole area was one of the biggest land mine sites in the world at one time. The UN cleared a lot of it, but I've heard stories that there are odd ones still about, and the locals like to move them around to protect mineral mining etc. The road itself has been cleared, but if you stray from the road, only follow existing vehicle tracks. 

It's one of the roads I have in my planning, but periodically, it gets closed, and right now there is pressure to bring the long standing dispute back into the public arena to force a resolution, so we'll see.

The normal route is via the coast, but this is tarmac and the main road running south to Mauritania, which I'll have to return north by anyway. It may be wiser to leave it for a 4x4 trip another time combined with Algeria, but we'll see how things pan out as I get closer to that area. 

Finally, for the end of the day, two French lads rocked up to the hotel on road bikes, parked them outside their bedroom door and after a chat disappeared. They are from Bordeaux and doing a tour to escape their rain! I went out into town to get a hot dinner, settled into a grilled cafe place with loads of families eating there. The soup was lovely, the rest OK, but whilst there, I got talking to an older Moroccan lady, who was very pleased to see me eating their soup, hand carved wooden spoon and all. There is a festival in the main square tonight, so plenty of music I think and the town is already getting busy. Might be an earplugs night!!

Day 22: A Trials of Travelling Day

Today was a mixed day. Some great riding, some frustrating things with locals, kit and technology. 

The day started out with a beautiful sunrise. I love sunrise time of the day, all that glowing light, the promise of a new day to come, new adventures and/or great things to see and experience.

I set off in the cold air, taking a bit of time to settle in on the bike for some reason. The piste was mixed with rough stony sections, some soft sand parts and some weird grooved bits. The scenery was just stunning. Valleys, edged with rough looking cliffs, all the various shades of green and browns that make up the desert landscape. Then the flat open sections covered in small sharp stones, with views as far as you can see.

There is a depth to this landscape that reminds me of the Antarctic. Navigation is very similar too, ie follow a line on a GPS, as you get close, hone into the end point, use lots of land features as markers to keep you on track. 

The morning track meandered around a fair bit, then disappeared altogether. I ended up following my GPS line for about 15 miles across open desert. I knew it connected with a tarmac road and a petrol garage, so just put my faith in the technology.

Once at the garage, the grumpy owner ripped me off for the price of a coffee and his son tried to get me to go to his village so he could wash my bike. I set off again, heading towards Zagora. The first bit was on tarmac, then next across the desert again, then another tarmac section and yet another wide desert crossing finally into Zagora. The riding was great again. Some huge dried lake bed parts, some dunes to cross, some really rocky winding mountain pass sections and more valley parts. Such a varied day of travelling. 

Once in Zagora, I got chased again by moped riding sales reps, I stopped for a coffee, chased the first two off. Then decided to find some hot food, as it had been a few days since my last full meal. I found a lovely fish place full of locals, 80 dirhams got me 4 cooked fish, loads of olives, chips and spicy dips and a weird bottle of some Hawaiian fruit drink. Whilst here, two more sales reps approached  me, then getting fuel another one. I lost my rag at the last one, poor lad. The guy at the garage pumping fuel was laughing about the whole thing, he knew exactly what I was talking about, but what it did for me was make me want to lave Zagora, so decision made, I rode out of town instead of staying overnight as I'd planned.

Issues that are demanding attention: As I was leaving the fish cafe, the zip on my jacket did that thing where it unzips from the bottom and the puller is the only bit holding it together. I then ripped a tooth out whilst trying to get it undone. It now won't zip up at all. So there goes my main riding jacket. A couple of mornings ago, I'd noticed the stitching on one of my panniers has come apart and I'll need to source a strap to keep the bag attached. I've been locked out of my online bank, requiring me to call the UK to sort it out, not so easy with no working phone and no access to a land line. As I set off from Zagora, the touch screen on the GPS stopped working, I had to reboot it several times before I could follow the track. I finally managed to be able to use it again, after I'd tore off the screen protector and rebooted it about 10 times. Now, as I write this blog, the laptop mouse is going haywire and the keyboard has a delay on it and keeps switching to italics. I'm very glad the riding is good!

Anyway, I left Zagora at 5pm, so that left me 2 hours til dark to sort out somewhere to camp/sleep. I ended up riding in the dark to Ourzazate over a fabulous high pass and finding a hotel. The bike is parked in the foyer, I have a room for 80 dirhams a night with WIFI and the shower is in a room across the hallway! Hey ho...

Day 21: Rallies and Desert Traverses

Today was some truly great riding. I set off after breaking camp, it was so cold last night and first thing, I couldn't get my hands warm for hours. 

The main piste started off the day, easy to ride and follow, then the GPX route veered off left, which turned into an hour of route finding amongst stones and soft patches of sand. Eventually, I just followed the line on the GPS and gave up looking for the track on the ground. This turned out to be a good choice as the track appeared about a mile later and was really good riding including some small sand dune sections. 

I reached tarmac just before Arfoud, where I stopped for some coffee and to sit in the sun. Arfoud is one of the towns north of the main dunes of Erg Cheggi. It's a busy place with a nice atmosphere and clearly on the tourist bus route as campers and coaches were all over the place. 

I'd planned a route to loop around some hills west of Arfoud, but found that the road to start it no longer exists. It is now a shallow sea of dunes and to cross it meant going against the grain of the windblown sand. I think, if I'd had others with me who were up for the challenge, I'd have given it a go, it was about 10 miles across, but it would have been hard going. 

I returned back to Arfoud, had a think over more coffee and then set off for Merzouga. This is another place I've heard lots about and to be honest, its a shithole. 

I chose to follow the old route across the desert and not the new tarmac road. This showed off the dune sea to perfection, first a hint in the distance of some big dunes, then to cress a small hill and have the whole lot laid out in front of me, with the palm trees running along its base, it really set the dunes off to perfection. Now introduce the influence of man and his need for money and you get to the shithole bit. 

Several small towns and lots of exclusive hotels, built to look like old movie forts. Rubbish is everywhere. Moroccans chase you on mopeds and at cafes trying to get you to buy something from them, a tour, a bed for the night, their best mates superb '(insert your choice of item)'. I ran away as fast as I could once I'd gotten fuel. 

The afternoon turned out to be one of the best rides on the trip so far. From Merzouga to M'cissi is around 80 miles. The first 5 are on tarmac, passing the huge dried up lake bed of Lake Dayet Srij. At Taouzint, you turn NW onto an old dirt road that slowly turns W. This winds past tiny mining families and eventually follows a valley, then heads across another dry lake bed to where I ended up camping, En route, the scenery is all windblown volcanic rock hills, small spiky trees and some vast spaces. I stopped to take off some layers as I was finally getting warm. 

Two Defenders came past me, one Puma TDCi & one new shape, apparently, they were doing the Paris Dakar rally event that runs each year. They had glowing things to say about it. After checking I was OK, they shot off into the distance. 

I waited until their dust cloud had dissipated before setting off. Later I saw a Humvee, obviously doing the same thing, but with much poorer navigation as they were all over the place. 

My route veered off theirs a little later on and I wound on through the hills to find a sheltered tucked away valley to pitch my tent. Some food, a catch up on the notes and it was bed time again. Time for the tarp as an extra layer tonight!!

Day 20: Wide Valleys and Wild Desert

I set off from the wadi camp in a lazy fashion. Today was the first dry morning on this trip and I had plenty of rank damp smelling things to try to dry out. All but one pair of socks were dry in an hour, during this time, I managed to sort out a few things on the bike, like the bash plate bolt and re-adjust the front screen after the last crash. Out of habit, I then went around the bike checking tension on all the key bolts. Trail riding and single cylinder engines equals lots of vibration. The gear lever bolt was half out, all the fairing bolts were a tad loose and a few others just needed a cinch back to tightness again. Cool, time to set off! 

Half of the day was on tarmac. The old dirt roads run alongside the shiny new tarmac versions, but with crater holes in them and mounds of excess stone piled up. The new road is rough tarmac, but its better for the general traffic all around. Plus there are now bridges over the huge wadi's which is safer than the old style fords, just less fun for the likes of me! 

The morning consisted of driving down one valley, crossing a low pass into the next valley. Doesn't sound much, except that the first valley was around 50km wide and I rode 150km before going into the next. The second one was maybe 40km wide and I never got to its end. To the south rests the Algerian border then the wilds of the true Sahara, and in the second valley, there was an increased military presence because of this. 

It didn't affect me at all, in fact tourists get a dispensation at the police and army checkpoints for the most part and are waved through, especially on motorbikes. Old campers and converted vans might be Moroccans, so they usually get stopped. 

All morning I'd been riding with a really cold cross wind blowing out of the desert. I couldn't get my hands warm, even with heated grips on full and winter gloves on. 

One thing that was very obvious was the amount of agricultural irrigation that is going on in the area. Huge bore holes are being drilled to provide water to these systems and olive and date trees are being planted everywhere. Huge swathes of the land adjacent to the road is being dug up and cultivated, with the irrigation systems buried just below the surface. The electricity power lines are being upgraded alongside of this. There is clearly a lot of investment going into this area for the future. 

Meanwhile, the towns are the same, run down mud buildings with rubbish everywhere and folk wandering up and down the roads. In Talsint, it was market day and the town was crowded. I stopped at a cafe to look at maps and see whether to stick to my plans to head around to Bouarfa, another 150km east, but decided to head south to Boudnib and pick up the Arfoud road. 

Talsint was definitely a thriving hub, whereas Bni Tadjite and Boudnib were down the pecking order, both in terms of the market and the whole town. Both seemed poorer and lacking in any kind of uumph to change that. 

From Boudnib, there is a dirt road heading SW to Arfoud. Once I found it, I started to follow it along and found a group of Czech lads, who I'd passed a couple of days ago. They weren't very chatty, probably due to language difficulties, and one of them was having an issue with his bike. The rest were just stood about chatting. 

After a brief stop, I carried on and out into the desert proper. The huge expanse hit me when I was off track and trying to re-locate to the piste. I crossed about 20 mins of open stony desert before I found a track. I followed this for awhile and it then started to head off to one side, but still in the general direction, so I carried on for about 10 miles until I came across a really wide dirt track. It was basically two tyre tracks heading across the desert to god knows where. 

Once back on a big piste, it was easy to follow and as it was getting closer to 5pm, I started looking for a camp spot. I turned off the piste at a shallow wadi, followed this for a mile and found a spot behind some thorny trees. Once camp was set up, it was time to eat the dates I'd bought and catch up on menial chores. Plus just enjoy the sunshine and the warm desert.

Day 19: Guercif Train Line and Proper Sand Dunes.

Well, that was a better day of both weather and riding. I set off from Taza around 8ish, headed to Guercif. This is a military town and also trying to be something more. There is beautiful artwork at the entrance and a great big ornamental 'Guercif' sign. Plenty of nice cafes and just a nice feel about the place. I had another coffee here and once I'd sorted out the correct GPX file to follow, I set off looking for the old French 600 gauge railway line I'd come to ride. 

My first forays turned out to be a weave around sandy sections whilst trying not to ride over the huge amount of irrigation pipes that are being laid for the olive plantations. I found a small section, followed this and then jumped back onto tarmac. That routine carried on for some 30 miles before I started to find some great sections. There are around 74 viaducts along the line, all of them are now ruins, but they still stand tall and are in some lovely places. 

I rode down into the wadi's to get some pictures in between meandering around the line itself. It soon became apparent, you couldn't get any speed up on the remaining line. There are hundreds of collapsed culverts, some old age, some locals wanting the stonework, others washed out. Add to this, the really spiky trees that are now growing in places and every now and then, there is a cutting section that is full of sharp loose rock bouncing the bike all over the place. 

It's fun to keep trying to patch together the ride and the history side of it was a buzz for me personally. I could see 'normal' folks getting bored on some of it and just jumping on the tarmac road that runs adjacent to it. At several points, the new road and railway line run along the same sections of this old one, just showing that even with modern building techniques, a good line is a good line and those Victorian era engineers from all nationalities moved human knowledge on so far in a short space of time. In my mind, its an equivalent jump as the Romans did in terms of science and engineering. 

There were a few birds of prey flying around and a big fox was startled by me at one point too. 

At Missour, I stopped in another cafe for tea and some fuel, then decided to head to the south east corner of Morocco and follow several of the planned routes around there. I found my first campsite in days, hidden away off the road tucked on the edge of a wadi. 

The sun wasn't far off setting, but as it was warm, I pitched the tent and hung out some rather damp smelling stuff from the rain the last few days. I think in the morning I'll take a bit of time to air things and also sort out the missing bolt in the sump guard I still haven't done. Meanwhile, it's diary and food time before bed.