Leaderboard

Feeling better today. Started in the dark which was fun and now I wait for a ferry. Should be the last ferry I “have” to take for awhile. It’s a beautiful and chilly morning.

no... she has paid for her flight and has a passport... thats called entering a country legally ..you fucking lefty

you seen this shit @XTreme .... apparently its BT's fault he's not up to the modding job

If a man stands on a street corner with his mouth open for long enough a roast duck will fly into it, true story.

04th December, Sunday Wake up at my own pace after a night well slept. This traveling all day does provide for good sleep, and I can definitely feel that compared to when at home. I am also in love with the feeling of packing stuff to the bike, which takes 5 seconds with BMW's Vario cases, then have something to eat and some hot beverage, and then ride off like you're a pro. Makes me feel like a movie star The plan is to ride back east for a bit all the way to Four El Hism on the R102, then turn the bike North and use that canyon to climb over the mountains over to Argan territory, stop at a small town that sells some Argan based products, and then go in the direction of Marrakech past the most Star Wars sounding city name ever, Taroudant, and the Tizi N'Test mountain pass, all good stuff to look forward to on the start of the journey north, I certainly wouldn't be reaching Marrakech's chaos today, though, and was unsure where to stop. Ahead of me, I knew I had some of the best mountain roads over the following three days. Morning cold and saying hello to donkeys when stopping to put on my warm gloves. Reach the palm trees of Tamarnt and head north on a gorge road, the R107 starts down on the desert, enters into the mountains via a gorge, climbs on the end of it and goes to Tafraout: Arriving in Tafraout at almost 14:00, I shop around to buy a little bit of pure Argan oil, and have some amazing chicken for lunch And at 15:00 get back on the road north, heading to Taroudant! This was to be an amazing bit of the trip, Argan trees grow very slowly so most of the ones I see over these mountains are really old, it's a great experience. Over near the other side of that valley there is Taroudant, it was now about 17:30 so I was going to get there at around sunset time. Traveling here took forever, the roads are amazing and worthy of more time, the distances aren't even that great but I kept stopping to look at trees and pick a few argan seeds to take home. Temperature was climbing as I approached the valley in front too, which felt great after the morning's cold. Beyond the valley, you get the first glimpse of the Atlas too, it's always an impressive landmark to approach. Taroudant is a walled city, like a smaller less chaotic Marrakech. It's got a cool vibe to it, I stopped once for tea in the middle of the day and liked how it felt, back then it was quite a hot day though, and I was happy to sprint for the mountains, today it felt warm as I arrived which was good, the next day I knew I was going to be cold at 2000 meters. Being a walled city, it's got a few doors around it, but makes navigation hard, I searched on google maps for a hotel and found somewhere on the outskirts, it was now getting dark and I felt tired, so went for it, what happened next was a bit surreal. I showed up at the place and it was a riad sort of thing with a walled in garden like what is normal on the outskirts of town, it looked alright but had disco music blaring. I park the bike inside the closed gates, and there's a weird ambience going on. Walk into reception and the guy tells me they had a 700 dirham room for me, I laugh at him and tell him they've got some at 500 in booking, and he tells me to sit down and talk. Now, this dude sits down next to me and very quietly, and gaily, tells me to consider a special price of 400 dirhams with breakfast included, and that I should let him show me the room. It doesn't sound good, I get a weird feeling again and tell him no deal, and I prepare to leave, he then insists and tells me that for 400 dirhams I get the room, breakfast, dinner, and that he would really be happy if I were with him so he could show the room to me, and doing that he simply lays his hand gently on my leg. I then realize what sort of place that is, why I had a weird feeling when saluting the guys sitting on the garden, how weird and out of place the Ibiza type music sounded, and what really came with that room, so quite quickly told him I'd stay nearer to the city center, and left. I then find another place inside the city walls, it's pricier but seems really very nice and less chance of sex with other men. After getting a little lost I did find the location, and was delighted to ride a little bit of a weird access street lodged between the city walls and the hotel entrance itself. This hotel, the Moulin de Taroudant, (can't say Taroudant without picturing Jedis and light sabers!) was an old water mill now refurbished by a french guy, they had nice comfy beds, rooms with no offers of sex, and a very relaxing restaurant where I had a pretty gourmet fish skewer and aubergine pure, it was good. After a nice shower to wash the road off me, I was delighted to have a glass of Moroccan white wine outside, and then eat by the fireplace, where I met a nice older couple of Scots, and staid late drinking red wine with them. Charlie and his kind wife (with a very weird name that I can't for the life of me remember) were great company. I slept well, having had a bottle and a half of pretty average red wine I felt ready for bed. The next day? Mountain roads surely await, and adventure

shame the children wont...

That's pot calling kettle, we could say the same to you

02nd December, Friday, woke up at dawn as soon as the sun cast sufficient light to hit me while still in bed, it's a lovely way to wake up also because here there is no TV, and very little internet to get distracted so you are forced to sleep early taking full advantage of the desert night silence. The previous night I talked a little with the hotel owner, and he told me about an oasis about 6 or 8km into the desert reachable only through proper sand dunes. Some hotels and tour guides have a few tents there and do overnight stays, there is no showers and limited use of water to prevent contamination of the excellent water quality they have there. It takes 1 to 1,5 hours to walk there with camels but only 15 minutes with quads. The silence of the desert night there must be deafening, I am eager to try that, and from what Hassan told me watching the stars there is amazing, extra amazing only though, because right on the edge of the dunes where I was staying you already get more of a clear picture of the universe than anywhere else I've been to. I was tempted to stay another couple of nights, on the night of the 02nd they had no other occupants other than maybe some surprise visitors but then on the 03rd they would be getting a 50 people group, if I were to stay that meant two more nights, and honestly I was worried that might push me too much into December and bad weather. Since I had been getting very lucky with the weather, I made a plan to visit again and next time go on the proper desert on foot or quads, now it's time to go back on the road. Waking up with the Saharan dawn, you can also appreciate desert style insulation on those doors : Bike packed up before breakfast, And again my favourite msmen and coffee for breakfast, while leisurely allowing the sun to rise a little and kill off some of that sand chill that seems to hit you right in the bones. The desert cold feels different than normal cold, during the previous days it got up about 15 and 18º in the afternoon and all the other tourists were freezing as soon as it got near sunset. Considering a group consisting of two Canadians, one Germans, two Swiss, some having flown directly from snow covered locations all exclaimed through an almost hearable teeth rattle that they didn't expect to feel so cold, there must be some truth to that. It does feel colder here. By 08:45 or 9, I rode off with a satisfying wheelspin, now feeling very confident with my surrounding terrain. My newly found confidence made me feel ecstatic and almost unwilling to leave the area, but it was the right thing to do as too much of that confidence would surely end up with an unpleasant event reminding me I am no Stephane Peterhansel. I decided to take only tarmac roads from here on, the bike having had a pretty good workout already, and also I realized that my luggage is the source of most of the unpleasant rattles I hear when riding on corrugations and proper offroad, I did not feel like carrying a broken luggage case in duct taped plastic bags. Next visit to the desert I will be carrying a different luggage arrangement if indeed the plan is to take more offroad pistes. My eyes were definitely teared up when leaving, it's a special location and I WILL return, I get a very similar feeling here than I used to get at the Nurburgring, both being motorsport locations and both with their own very special ways of biting back if you think you got things covered. After Rissani I stop as soon as the landscape becomes spectacular, and one last time try to find a fossil to take home. After 10 minutes looking I give up, say my farewells to Erg Chebbi and move on. I had a big day ahead, and from then on almost didn't stop through the day. I was headed southwest and planned on going past Zagora, to Tata an then Guelmim. Look it up on google maps, it's interesting terrain of wide open landscapes and mountains. No plan where to sleep, that would be tended to by mid afternoon depending on where I got to, riding at night with this cold wasn't on the plans. Acacia trees start to dot the landscape, and it definitely feels like Africa now. Stopped to have a sip of water, and ended up taking my knife to the plastic water bottle to cut it in half and provide three skinny dogs with some refreshment. They were cautious of me but as soon as I walked to a safe distance they slurped it down, no more water with me now, but I knew there would be plenty of towns ahead. Tissint is a pretty location, I remember that on a previous trip I was also surprised at how much water there was there. Stopped just enough to get a couple of pictures, and made way, this was a day for covering distance. Went past Zagora with just one stop to fuel up the bike, and rode on making it to Tata at around 16:00. I had passed by where before me and Maria had reached to stay for the night, but that was riding at much more of a leisurely pace, now I had a conundrum, either ride on and get cold in one or one and a half hours, or stay here and relax. Tata has an authentic vibe to it, no tourists, no Europeans either it seemed, and no touts. In fact nobody seemed to give a shit about me except for kids who always wave at a big motorcycle, so I stayed. Stopped on town entrance to eat something, a croissant and some yogurt, and check on booking.com and arrange for shelter. Don't know how to name that sweet by the croissant on the picture, but if you're ever in Morocco do ask for them by pointing, they're very cinnamony inside and absolutely decadent. I found a comfy and cheap place to stay, in a one single person bed bedroom, something I haven't seen in ages anywhere, but it had just been renovated and had amazing water pressure in the hot shower, something you really value after staying in the desert. By 17:30 I go to the bar to get a bottle of water and notice people are watching the world cup and drinking beer, not being my first choice on a regular day I promptly order a Heineken, and the bar tender is a little shocked at how fast a thirsty portuguese downs a beer in one go, don't think he ever saw that I have another by the very cold pool, good showers and cold beers after a long day on the bike are undervalued in Europe, but that beer too was quick to disappear and I went ahead and explored Tata, at 2€ each Heineken, alcohol in Morocco isn't a cheap pastime. Tata is now one of my favourite towns to stay for a night in Morocco, absolutely no tourist arrassment. Come with me while I take you for a walk around town into the night, have dinner consisting of some amazing skewers shared with little cats and a hungry dog, and end up drinking expressos while watching football on tv. Proper Motul motorcycle oil on sale, good stuff and all those 4 stroke scooters are safe! It's not a big town, but walking around felt good after today's ride. I made it back feeling quite cold and was happy to get to bed. Slept great that night. I knew that the next day would be packed with amazing scenery and big skies...

Useless twats

They've just been chilling out watching the forum go to shit, fucking layabouts What you say @Six30

Never play leapfrog with a unicorn

Man with hole in pocket feel cocky.

Today was departure day. I now have two weeks of driving across Canada ahead of me. Hoping the weather stays mellow. It was a difficult day. As I had been living in the place where I sold my home last Spring it almost felt like I was preparing to leave all over again. Saying good bye to some folks we met and their dog was also hard, too many good byes for me this year. Tomorrow will be better, or perhaps just less emotional. I think I am still nervous about the journey, that will also pass. Positive thinking…..

If her flight went anything like some others I know that have flown back to the UK over the past couple of days she'll be having a nice kip on an airport floor somewhere!

@Grasshopper's in a Toyota get it right

03rd December, Saturday. I wake up with an email I receive every saturday at 7:10 to 7:30, usually that annoys me, but here it means it's a Saturday so an early wake up call and absolutely no calls or work stuff for two days. Being able to get away like this during work is a great privilege, and I am aware and appreciative of that, but never being completely off from getting a surprise call even if being out on an adventure does take it's toll and you end up never enjoying things the same. I miss that hugely, in my previous trips with Maria I would leave my phone with my brother who would take over completely for a couple of weeks, that is no longer an option so I take my phone and my portuguese number works just like at home. Also take my laptop, which has proved amazingly resilient over the last few years, but it's a weight I would rather leave behind. Today I can leave it all behind, it's Saturday, so let's go! I ride the full 1km to one of Tata's bakeries and have an amazingly unhealthy breakfast, along with a big mug of delicious orange juice. I ride south-west, past Akka and heading to Foam El Hisn. Back in Merzouga you felt like you're in the Desert, but here you do feel like you're in a remote country and heading to proper Africa. It's not everyday I'm here so I did stop a few times to enjoy it, I was still undecided if going all the way to Guelmim or if turning back north at Four El Hisn. This is an Acacia branch, and what camels will chew on, each one of those thorns is properly sharp and tough. Tizounine, a clear example of a grand avenue crossing the town, with expensive light fixtures for miles before and after town, but walk 10 meters out of that grand avenue's sidewalks and it's dirt streets and mud homes, can't help but notice there's a little imbalance. Plastic trash is a problem, and along with touts thing to squeeze money out of tourists in big cities, this is what will shock you the most in Morocco, in some places it is a shocking problem that nobody obviously knows how to deal with. I preferred to not document it in this report because I felt uneasy taking my phone out for a picture in front of someone's home to document how disgusting their street looks like. Those are real people living there, and the lack of a trash management structure is something that they will eventually be hurt by. Here, this is just a casual reminder you're still in society even though you feel like you're out by yourself looking at camels. Now this was a little bit of a cool moment, I am enjoying the solitude of the place and a true rock garden, I talked to Sofia and had just said that from now on it'll be wide open spaces but safe roads, tarmac, mostly wide roads until I turn back on and get north to the Anti Atlas and then the Atlas, I get on the bike to ride about 2km and stop, look to my left as a nice dirt road goes perfectly over the hills to the left. It's not everyday I'm here, so I ride up to see what's on the other side of those hills, and soon enough find myself in fifth gear on the most perfect dirt road ever made heading to the horizon. It's heading south kind of towards Algeria, it's not really clear where it goes, but it's so perfect I'm keen on finding out, I've got time and it's Saturday so the fact that I've got no phone signal at all is less of a concern. Sadly, a few minutes into it the perfect dirt road from heaven and it ends into this. This is not on google marked as anything, but it's around here: https://goo.gl/maps/wbrCcWvPmykJzQns7 and a little bit of a @XTreme ride report. It ends in what looks like a small abandoned fortified building, now in ruins. I had decided to make the most of it and go to Guelmim, so suddenly I had plenty of time as it was still 12:30. I ride down there and go exploring a little. From the top I see another building in ruins, and go see that too: Upon closer inspection the tiny building's remaining really stink! I start spotting a lot of animal dung and a minute later the probable culprits! Wild donkeys use this as their bathroom, they jump up from their sleep in the shade and get ready to run away. Makes sense that this place has a well near it, before roads this is a little out there, there's a river a few kms away so this well probably never runs dry either. Nowadays there's solar powered pumps keeping water available for animals, I decided not to try it out even though the sun was strong and this was the warmest it's been in this whole trip. And just like that, I'm back on the perfect dirt road, quickly getting back to the N12, and head south to Assa for a lunch stop. I stop on an empty snack place, and order a turkey grillade sandwich. While I wait my bike attracts the attention of three kids, who come to look at it and say hello. It turns into a photo shoot and even the guy from the cafe next door comes to have his picture taken on the mighty GS The grillade Panini arrived and it was delicious, turns out turkey can be delicious too. This plus a coca cola went for 24 dirhams, which sometimes makes me think that something must be wrong with some places in Portugal and the prices I'm charged for stuff that takes less effort than this. As I paid and said farewell it turned into a photoshoot for purposes of internet publicity in their google maps thing, that up until now looked rather poor. If you want go and post a like or a 5 stars rating: https://goo.gl/maps/GgDwhS3d8h7pFGWz7 The three kids that had previously came by did ask for one dirham, and I didn't have the heart to say no. I gave them a 5 or 10 dirham coin but told them to split between the three, as I was riding off I saw them come running back to show me the three big candy bars they got, with huge grins. It made me really happy, that, the wrappers are probably flying around the sahara now, but I chose to focus on their smiles instead. Again, Assa shows off with extravagant street lighting when most streets inside are dirt. I've been riding on the N12 since morning, it's a National road (the best quality road except motorways) with good safe surface and great views, but the stretch between Assa and Fask take it to another level. I would not advocate speeding but if there is one road in Morocco that you can enjoy a proper sports bike or a Ferrari on, this is it. I took it steady at 90 or 100kmh because the views also make it one of the most scenic places I've been. The day's ride ended on a high with all the socialising in Assa and the amazing views and road after. I ride into Guelmim and head straight into my hotel, it's not yet cold and at little over 15:00 there's time for a little bit of swimming pool refreshment, not that it was particularly warm. It's a nice hotel, that one, not much of traditional character but more of a corporate sort of affair. The state of my boots didn't match the other guests. Aware that it was probably cold, I refused to have carried swimming shorts all this way to not enjoy them and again dove head first into the cold clean swimming pool. It was freezing, a few strokes and I was back out catching some sun pretending not to be unpleasantly cold. That lasted for 20 minutes, maybe not even that, but it was worth it as my plan to say no to nothing has worked out so far and turns out it makes for fuller nicer traveling days when out by yourself. I wasn't really out by myself and lonely though, for some parts I relived very happy memories with Maria, I did chat with Sofia every day, and taking all these pictures to make a ride report made for useful companionship too, in the form of a silent travel companion that does not mess with my riding style, does not weight my bike down in offroad, or argues when I want to go for sardines on meal times. Made my way to the hot shower, and called a taxi to go to Guelmim to check out the end of day city life. the hotel is a good 7 km out of city, which makes for a quiet experience, and I didn't feel like riding the bike there now that I felt fresh and showered. The Taxi charged me 100 dirhams for a few minutes, which is outrageous, I protested but no deal. Paid up and felt cheated by it. This is the walk around Guelmim to finish the day: In Guelmim, mannequins displaying women's clothing don't conform to barbie style body images, instead they're of healthy full bodied middle aged women with huge boobs! I approve! Guelmim proved not to be too inviting though, and I did feel out of my comfort zone there. At sunset the city wakes up and the markets start to explode with movement. Too much diesel fumes on busy streets, too much movement and noise, I would have preferred a cold crisp glass of white wine but even sitting down for a tea or an expresso I was neglected, service took forever and I walked out from two places, all of a sudden and after an amazing day on the motorcycle I was not in a happy mood and took no enjoyment of the place. Even if you find yourself somewhere like that that doesn't conform to what you consider an enjoyable location, you are wise to remember it's only a momentary adventure and that in a few days you'll be home longing for distant lands. Exhausted after walking around Guelmim I sat down in "Corbina" the restaurant, and ordered a Corbina (Corvina in Portuguese, is a fish maybe similar to a big seabass) This is desert but the ocean is close by and they do have a lot of fish in their traditional diets. At first the restaurant seemed cold and the guys there sort of distant. The fish was amazing, I ate it all traditionally, out of that metal plate where it was cooked using my fingers and bread to scoop up chunks of fish and the delicious tomato based spicy sauce. Suddenly I'm enjoying a warm meal in a quiet corner by myself, I give the guys the thumbs up and suddenly all the bad spirits were gone, I think they got a kick out of watching me eat like local. At the end you wash your hands and you're no more of a mess than on an european restaurant, but I recognize it's not for everyone, and they will provide cutlery if you want it. the warm meal made me feel better about it all and I went exploring the street markets, some places defy health rules with live chickens being kept and sold next to a proper outside meat butchers, next to eggs, next to a sandwich shop, next to fruit and next to... you get the point Not really a football guy, but still I stopped for an expresso and watched life happen around me. Found a shop to put some money into my moroccan sim card, I had run out of calls to me, 20 dirhams gave me an hour and a half of international calls more, and some more data that I didn't need. Walked back some more to try and find a taxi back to the hotel and I tried a couple of petit taxis, the small red taxis, like Dacias or small Peugeots, but turns out the petit taxi don't go out of town, for that you need the grand taxi, and behold they take me exactly to the same guy as before. I grudgingly pony up for another 100 dirhams, this leaves me fuming and I ask at the hotel reception that they start calling someone else, that was clearly a tourist ripoff. I go to bed tired after a very long day with a myriad of things happening through it, this day alone felt like a whole trip by itself. The next day? The next day is Sunday, no work calls again and the plan is to go back into mountains, twisty roads and amazing scenery, ...

I am….. It is snowing in the mountains across the way.

No? I'd say we wouldn't be here now if he had got it....

Isn't it time someone gave you a bike?

I have a life, unlike you fucking losers.

Yep, not sure exactly where I will be on the day but I will be driving. It is kind of fun travelling during the holidays. I’ve never done it, so there’s that, but everything is a bit more sparkling this time of year, and I like sparkles. I will also be in the snow, which is only proper during the holidays.

Well… what can I say

I'm back......and ended up having to delete a fucking Spammer! Where's @Buckster and @boboneleg........have they flounced?

Bon Voyage @Grasshopper

If a man speaks in a forest but there is no woman to hear it, is he still wrong?

-8 when I got up this morning, all the way up to -7 now with freezing fog.

A possible blizzard on the way for tomorrow night...

Don't forget Bob we've yet to see a photo of said serow so it would be impossible to bump start if it didn't exist

01st December is a national holiday in Portugal, it celebrates the restoration of independence following a period of union between Spain and Portugal. This happened in 1640 and is a pretty big deal for the History of Portugal as a country. This also means that all my clients are closed, and to me that meant that very little had to be done and very little surprise calls arrived. It contributes immensely to letting go of the real world. The day started with my usual berber breakfast of msmen and hot coffee, looking out into the dunes. With nowhere specific to go, I left with the task to ride around enjoying myself and then have lunch somewhere. Not a bad plan to have! The bike was started and traction control turned off, doing that to be able to easily move off from the overnight parking location is something that greatly appeals to me, also the 6 or 7km commute to Merzouga to buy Sofia a souvenir from Morocco without touching tarmac just reinforces that I could live with nice sandy roads instead of tarmac, on my way to Merzouga in the morning: Having done my shopping, I simply went out with a clear heading, away from town and in the general direction of some hills in the distance, I've never been there so as good a destination as any when all you want is to ride around a little. What happened next left me ecstatic, the bike now had a third of it's fuel load and my confidence had increased, this meant I confidently rode through soft sand sections like this oued below, here stopping to choose if taking the left or right paths right it was, and a little further on stopped to look at camels. Camels out roaming by themselves are great, they will completely disregard you as a thing of no importance to their day, and almost in a royal manner glide away with their smooth but effective stride. A later stop to drink water had me spend a few moments looking for fossils, Maria had a neck for finding them right there on the ground whenever we stopped, and I've got a small collection in my kitchen. I, however, am useless at stopping in the right location and managed to not find a single one on this trip, despite a few tries to look around for lost things whenever I stopped in a rocky area. As I am looking around, a curious desert bird decided to inspect my bike, on the pictures below you'll see it firstly floating around the right of the bike and then giving the bmw heated grips a try on the left hand grip: The little bird was scared away when a pickup drove to me and stopped, the driver quickly inviting me for tea at his mine with a big smile, and I accepted, as is only polite to do so. Followed the pickup at a distance so not to eat all of it's dust, and parked up the hill, they were most impressed but then I noticed the chinese bike one of them rode there. The mine owner was driving over with a big pot of stew for the guys' lunch or dinner, and oranges for dessert. At least a few of them sleep there during the week, it is a hard life! Always with a smile and a sense of pride, they showed me their labour, taking out rocks from the holes deep into the rocky hills and then sending them to a plant for extracting the minerals that were after used all over the world I don't know what for. Safety conditions seemed dire, and work was obviously very hard, I was treated to some great mint tea though. With an open invitation to pop by for tea whenever I pleased, I rode away. This time not stopping on any of the locations I previously took pictures of, gliding by with not a single foot on the ground through soft sand and phesh phesh felt great. That fine desert silt feels almost like water sometimes and you can feel it splashing onto the back of your legs like if riding through a deep water puddle. The bike is dragged down and you have to keep powering a little up to not be bogged down. Power too much and you'll gain too much speed and your acceleration is no longer sustainable, power too little and you'll be pulled down, you'll lose momentum and eventually the heavy mass becomes too heavy to control. The GS's boxer is an amazing help to dealing with the bike's weight, at anything over 2500/3000 rpm a quick throttle blip in second/third/fourth in soft sand and you'll power out of mosts things with a smooth amount of wheelspin. It all feels very controlable and confidence inducing, and it's a great high to be on that fine balance. I become lost and go up a hill to find my way back, even on trails it's very easy for me to lose my way around this open terrain. I ride back to Merzouga and stop at an edge of town café for lunch. The turkey grilled was amazingly seasoned, it was a lovely plate of food that I scoffed down at 13:30 after a hunger inducing morning on the bike. The bike was parked under it's cover facing out until the next morning and after a shower I spent the rest of the afternoon looking at the dunes with my sparrow friends. Couldn't bring myself to go up the dune, though, it was just too hard of a thing to do. The next day, I would ride off in the morning.

Well it could have a tump of bodies in front of it, you know how long it takes to get rid of one of those these days with all the phone cameras and CCTV about. so may take him well into next year to get to it depending on how big the tump is LOL

That's quite the new year resolution!

Hopefully there were no gravel traps on the way to the airport LOL

I've heard she was actually trafficked to Democratic Republic of the Congo

It's 2023 in a few days, no need for that kind of shame! Here you go @XTreme:https://goo.gl/maps/KSr964JnKKZPUjpXA

@Pedro that's Pete's way of asking for the address of the sex room without asking. Pete you will have to be more direct in the future Pedro doesn't get your subtle hints but i was happy to translate for you

No sign of @Slowlycatchymonkey......did she make it back to Britain or have they deported her to Rwanda?

Not really........I don't have the facilities, tools or patience to work on anything nowadays. Changing a spark plug...air filter and oil change is about my limit now.

All offers considered.................

I'm still having an argument with BT, they still haven't fixed the problem and now the twats are threatening to charge me for a hub that I didn't ask for and hasn't even been delivered

Nothing obviously, you're speechless

Safe journey.... Keep us posted if you can...

Off to Baza!

Excellent.... Haven't the time to go through everything.. But will... I'd say you're a definite contender for MOTY.

28th November, Monday, I wake up in absolute silence feeling what you feel when you´re warm in bed and it's clearly cold outside and it's been a quiet sleep, however, I mustn't lay in bed too late as there's a tasty breakfast awaiting and my plan for today's ride is to go on mountains, over more than 2000 meters through broken roads and challenging terrain, I've done that before but in summertime the days are a lot longer and the risk of being in the mountains after sunset isn't being really really cold. Also, particularly exciting and always in my head was trying out a pass that I did previously intended on doing but never did because of rains and whatever. Being alone gave me a freedom of choice that comes with not having someone precious holding on to you, and also a lot higher offroad capability from not carrying a passenger. Firstly, packed everything onto the bike and went for breakfast. I like to have the bike all ready to go before breakfast, just putting on the helmet and tightening the jacket without the fuss of luggage feels a lot more relaxed when you do go. Now, I drink wine frequently at home, and you would think that quitting that alcohol intake would make me lose weight when on the road here, but what empty calories I no longer ingest here are amply replaced and more with breakfast calories and sugar, Moroccan breakfast pancakes are a weakness that I indulge in, and when it's really cold in the morning and you're setting off just one hour after sunrise having a good warm breakfast in you is very enticing. So, msmen and eggs and orange juice and coffee: Starting up I usually don't warm up my bike, but after a cold night outside and the oil at 05 or 06 degrees, I do: From my hotel making way to Boumia and the mountains, if you want to check on google maps you go from Boumia to Imilchil via the tiniest numbered roads available, this is my stuff! The bikes rides really well in altitude, the speeds are low because it's really twisty and the surface is challenging, plus the people here are ultra friendly. When there's no effort being made to translate road signs, you are on the right kind of roads I came up to this school transport van, which are frequently the most modern and better vehicles in rural Morocco, in the mountains they usually have double wheels in the back and are driven quite competently over a variety of challenging terrains, I stopped to let it cross this oued because I couldn't ride as slowly as it did. All the kids inside were waving back. As I was waiting for the van to cross the water, I was approached by a young kid wanting to take a picture of me, after I said yes and struck a pose I offered to take a picture of himself on my bike using his phone, and he was delighted, this in turn brought in two of his friends and we spent a few moments there. That was very cool, kids are quick to come up to you and ask for stuff like candy or a dirham, but once you stop and engage them offering a sit on your bike they suddenly are out of their confort zone and instead become curious and treat you with hospitality, such as their elders treat travelers. It's a good thing to experience, they still asked me for a sweet but I only had a tiny piece of cake wrapped in paper from the breakfast, they promptly split it three ways which ended up being barely nothing for each of them, and gave the biggest part to the girl. That makes you appreciate things. Riding on: Again, once upon a time all this was tarmac: I stop for a few work calls, my phone re-entering an area with data coverage that it was monday and I had a few emails arriving. The fact that I was parked in the below location while everyone that I spoke to in Spain and Portugal pictured me in an office made me feel very cool and special. Gusts of dry dust over a mountain pass beat a desk everyday! While that was happening, Morocco was going on around me: I reach Imilchil at 14:00, and stop for hot mint tea, Imilchil is a small town that feels epic. You get there are are bombarded with smells from grilled meats, coal smoke from bbq wafts in the air, there's exposed animals hanging from the butchers, dust blows, it's high in the mountains so it feels like adventure, pure adventure! Also people will salute you in a respectful way to then leave you about your business, it's one of my favourite places ever to stop for tea while making you feel like Indiana Jones. From Imilchil I go South, and at Agoudal consider what gorge to take down into the plains, Todra Gorge is very scenic with a very easy road, the colours of the sandy rocks is gold and it's an amazing experience at the end of the day under sunset lights. However, I went via the Dades Gorge. The R704 is one of Morocco's great roads, in my opinion, it's in the map in yellow and has a speed limit of 80kmh for the most part. This is very Morocco as you'll see, it's a very dangerous road if you're caught on a storm as the drops are fierce more so if you are driving a truck as it's a narrow road, or it used to be. They are making it wider and tarmac, they're working from each end and at first I'm disappointed to find this: But then, all of a sudden, the new safe and wide road ends and you're back to the old mountain pass, that's a good thing because to drive at illegal speeds here means to ride properly: My iPhone's camera doesn't translate the depth of the surrounding views: Again, I strike a pose, it felt silly but made me feel accompanied This R704 is amazing, I might have to go back next year because this is going to end and wide safe tarmac just doesn't have the same appeal. And just like that, it's over and returns to a normal Gorge road, with concrete oued crossings and village kids playing after school The first time I was in Morocco, in 2014 on the 1150GS, I remember coming this way on the oposite side and being turned back because the rains had caused mudslides to block the road, it was much narrower and more dangerous back then, but the views remain impressive: The long shadow reminds me I'm about to run out of sunlight and go for my planned hotel, but first still have to ride down into the riverside and into the gorge itself Although the sun was going down and already 17:30, some locations are just mandatory stops. Plus now it's all pretty much nice tarmac through easy marked locations so it's no longer a problem if night arrives. The below picture is one of Morocco's most publicized bits of road, and it was shot from the hotel I planed on staying, it was opening in 2016 when I stayed there with Maria and Rui, but I arrived a few days too late and they had closed for the season. Instead I rode another 5 or 10km and stayed somewhere else, arriving just as the sun drops bellow the mountains. Parked the bike in front, and still had time to have a hot shower and to sit outside with my laptop for a bit, before dark and coldness really arrived. The complimentary tea and cookies were good hospitality, I forgot I only had that tea at Imilchil since breakfast, riding kept me busy since morning. Dinner was a little bit of a missed hit on them, it was included in the room price as sometimes it is around these parts as you can't just pop out down the street for a restaurant. The hot pumpkin soup was amazing, the rest was a little weird but A for effort anyway. I liked it was hot and comforting, but not really memorable. Bedding was comforting, two layers of blankets over the sheets in a firm mattress, it felt cozy under heavy covers sheltered from a cold sharp night outside. I fell asleep late but comfortably, and slept soundly as one does after a busy day of dust and big views.