Pedro

I made friends with the monkeys, Pete. A couple of years later, and I swear I recognize one of the little guys. A little older and fatter, but I swear it's the same dude.

As we were negotiating our way out of the hills, we got properly lost. I had never been somewhere like this, it was obviously mid to high altitude for a Portuguese person's perception, starting to warm up but not desert. A very confusing place to be. Maria couldn't find the road we were on on any internet map, so we stopped to gather our thoughts and have a drink of water. It was here that one of the best social encounters we ever had occurred. As I am marveling in the views, and Maria is trying to get some cell coverage to figure out if we're heading the right direction, someone slowly approaches us, you can see him away in the distance. This man is tending to a few sheep or goats, and as he approaches us to say hello I offer some water. He accepts, and in return invites us to follow him, I park the bike in a way that it is less exposed to traffic and follow him to his home. We were parked less than 100 meters from his home, which was on the cliffside, and didn't even see it. In the picture below you see my bike parked from his place's viewpoint: We didn´t understand a word they said, nor did they understand us. Maria was fluent in french, but that wasn't any good, they didn't even speak arabic, only berber. We were made to sit down, have a drink of water and just hang out a little. Above you see their living and dining room. It was pretty obvious that my water offer got us invited to lunch, and something was being prepared. In the meantime, we just hang out with the grandson who played with a kitten, his mother, and his grandfather, while the grandmother cooked lunch. I don't really know how long it took but eventually we got fed up with having a camera and put it aside except to take a picture of lunch: What you see here above is the best omelette I have ever had, berber style which means it's not folded. In the smaller dish you've got butter almost in liquid form. It was a proper feast, I didn't take a picture of the plate of honey comb they brought as breaking out the camera would have spoilled the mood. It was a great meal, shared by people who don't have much to share. Our hosts eagered us to eat up, while they barely just tasted their own food to check if it was ok. It was a truly humbling experience. After we were done, out came the tea, and after three cups we were finished. As we prepared to leave their niece arrived, she knew french was was able to translate our farewells. I offered my opinel folding knife as a gift and it was well received, but the feeling that no gift was needed was pretty well understood. This had been an amazing experience, had the bike not been parked on the side of a cliff with truck traffic, we might have stayed the night as it was our hosts' intentions. To this day I treasure this memory. Getting back on the bike feeling well fed and refreshed, the scenery started to open up. We made our way through Midelt, and checked in on our hotel for the night. As we rolled in it became clear we came accross Europeans again, both rally enthusiasts and race teams, as well as touring motorcyclists. Although we were looking for some conversation with our fellow travelers, nobody showed up for dinner at the hotel's restaurant, so we entertained ourselves. Dinner is completely out of focus, but it was delicious if lacking for a nice wine. If there is something lacking in Morocco, it's wine. The next day would be a really great one as well.

So, after a cold night well slept in a big bed covered by the heaviest bed covers I've ever slept under, I then proceed to delete all pictures in the camera, and we go one to have a little breakfast and get out, making our way to Azrou for some memory cards Proper Moroccan hill scene, with plenty of space and big taxis. Old Mercedes E-class never die, they just regroup in Morocco From Azrou, we made our way to the Cedar forrest, first stopping to visit the monkeys and make some friends: And then on to the cedar forrest proper, first through what must be one of the roughest tarmac roads in Morocco This is sheep herders country, nomad people move their herds up here during the summer to feed, and then lower to escape the snow during the winter. It's a hard place to endure as you can tell by the state of the tarmac. We stop by a half dried lake, where eventually I think we'd make a point of visiting ever since. And onwards: Towards the big cedars: As we cross the cedar forrest heading south we appreciate the harsh environment these people live in These trucks drive at quite the pace considering their size and the gravel switchbacks we usually come accross them: Brief urination stop on an idilic location: Warning: baby donkey extreme cuteness alert!!! Heading south, exiting the forrest with it's grand trees, and heading towards more arid but still mid altitude landscapes:

The next day we had a very nice breakfast quite early on, on a cafe near the hotel, and headed out with Maria showing her worth as navigator equipped with her phone. No camera pictures for this morning, as we made our way south and into Marijuana country, passing Chefchaouen where we stopped for a look around and bought some dry fruits for the road. I had some great footage of us slowly riding through a rural market, people were not happy to move over for the bike and until today it was the only place where I was truly made to feel uneasy in Morocco. The last stand had a few guns, and as we asked for directions to where we wanted to go, we were discouraged and directed further south. Upon what seemed like great advice we moved on. Stopping later on for lunch, there was no food for a while despite being near farmed fields, so we munched on the dried fruits, raisins and quite salty toasted peanuts. Little later one, we stopped in Volubilis for a coke and some touristing. Volubilis used to be important as a Roman city, it's quite impressive how they made it so far south. Here after what I think was our first fuel stop, maybe not. This was near Meknes, I never liked Meknes enough to stop so we didn't. Made our way south and slept near Azrou, which is on the mountains and is a ski resort during the winter. I remember we got lost and it was chilly when we got there, a hot shower well into the night and a hot meal. We were the only guests and it was far away from anything within a walking distance, the hot chicken and fries tasted great. Here I am quite happy to have brought my warmest sweater to Morocco. Had a great night, nothing like a long bike ride followed by a hearty meal to put you to sleep.

I will post 4 ride reports from Morocco, from the past, from 2014 to 2017. Here is the first. Early in 2014 I bought a BMW R1150GS, specifically to tour with Maria, my girlfriend. I had been without a road bike for a long time, ever since I had sold the Transalp, and we both felt like touring together. First trip had been to the Algarve, and served as a shakedown run, it was good fun, ever since I had updated some of my gear and the bike had been fitted with Heidenau K60 tires which offered a lot more confidence out of tarmac. Tires were fitted the previous day, so I wasn't too confident on them On the 27th, early morning we fueled up on our local gas station and I was feeling properly excited like a hardcore adventurer ? We travelled with a phone and a small camera, Maria used the camera to take most of the onboard pictures, the reason there are none from the road during the first two or three days is that I deleted them all one morning while checking the camera when waking up. We had about 8 or 900km to go to get to Tarifa and catch our Ferry. Had I not deleted the pictures we would have some great ones of us riding into a rain storm on the way there, and stopping under a motorway bridge to put our plastic overalls on. As such, there is only this one of a brief coffee stop in Portugal, before venturing into Spain and coffee instantly turning to shit. Weather was shit, but spirits were high. Like real VIPs, we rolled into Tarifa and into the port, must have waited no more than 10 minutes before arriving and passing a long line of cars, bikes being given priority into the Ferry. Maria, unquestionably the better half of us We messed around taking selfies and making videos such as this one, of me trying for the first time pack Maria's plastic rainsuit into it's own pocket. We thought we had all the time in the world, never having been on this boat we didn't know that customs immigration desk was aboard the boat, by the time we realized what the big line was about we had a nice long line to get behind of. At least you now have the rain suit video because of that. Getting off the ferry was easy, and customs were easy too, with just enough difficulty to make a newbie feel like an adventurer. We had booked a hotel in Tangier and only had a couple of km to ride to get to it. First meters into Morocco, for the first time: I'll never forget these minutes first entering this country, traffic was noisier, roundabouts weren't quite dealt with in the same fashion as in Europe, temperature was higher than when boarding the boat in Spain, you could smell Africa in more ways than one. I'm glad we have this short video, nothing really interesting to see but I remember how happy and fearless I felt doing this. Easily made our way to our hotel, securely parked the bike on a guarded parking, and checked in. I'm taking my time describing all this because it really felt like everything was new, from the way we were saluted when getting in, to the hotel decor itself, not European at all The room didn't share any of the grandeur of the lobby, so no picture of that A quick shower, a little rest, and we're off to have dinner and a walk. Also buying a mobile data card to use on Maria's phone. I loved leaving my own phone with an employee so that he dealt with everything while I was gone. Mercedes station wagon converted into a snail selling food van (just to clarify, snails as food): Made our way into the Medina, which was pretty busy, and went into a proper restaurant to have our first meal in Morocco, I was starving: Here I am waiting for my full tasting menu viewed from the second floor: First some soup and light entries Pastilla, which is a some of sweet and sour pastry, with lots of cinnamon outside and curry chicken or vegetables inside: I was full by the time the tajine arrived, but I had never lost a fight against a meal before and wasn't about to either. Furniture was built with no regard for industry standards, here are Maria's feet while sitting on the restaurant After dinner, we made our way back through some deserted streets and went to bed early. Noisy street outside the hotel, heat, and most of all excitement prevented me from falling asleep early and I must have stayed up until 2 or 3 AM thinking of what would happen the next day. Will continue later on.

That his ticket quote done for the week

From the way it was chewy, probably hoof

I'm sure that is reassuring, but I also bet (and hope) you're being extra careful with the small stuff like parking and taking the bike off the sidestand

Seems to me @yen_powellshould be accountable for that

I honestly don’t know what’s that about, you’ll have to ask @XTreme

Nice ride out, here I hate going out on sundays.

Cow ... it wasn't the best I've had

Love the way you narrate, cooler and cooler videos each time

That's what you would say to a woman, to a man you'd say "Bem Vindo!", but I like your style

Visiting the Adams, @Tym? Those are some mighty polished rims! ?

The only one you know so far is Sofia, give him time ...

I voted for Earache's bike, I quite like mine more but that picture in the desert, with the sunrise light and the red dirt just breaks my heart and takes me back to my own memories, amazing picture of what riding in wide open spaces is about.

... leads to a Harley dealer

No, his is an early one, I just looked it up: Dry weight:176.9 kg (390.0 pounds) Weight incl. oil, gas, etc:199.1 kg (439.0 pounds) However, Paulo tells me that just sitting on an 1200 RNineT, which is at least 20kg heavier, feels lighter. The boxer engine is great for low speed handling, you should try and move a modern 1200GS around. We had two or three days of heavy rain a week ago, plus today, I'm getting fed up with this water falling from the sky as it's messing up my biking style

It's an F800R

Hear ye hear ye, this is the vote for Bike Of The Month September. I suspect people aren't aware of the magnitude of this vote. Just check this out, below I present this months submissions: @alfalfa's adventurous BMW R1200GSA @boboneleg's Honda CRF250 Rally getting muddy in wet England @Earache's Yamaha XT1200Z Super Tenere , exploring the American vast outdoors @Grasshopper's Ride's Royal Enfiel Himalayan, resting in nature by a misty lake @Sofia's aggressive Triumph Speed Triple overlooking the portuguese vistas @Sir Fallsalot's Honda XR400R on an offroad night ride @Specs' BMW R1200GS under a starred sky @Pedro's BMW R1200GSA visiting Lisbon @Tym's very clean Tomos @XTreme's very clean Suzuki VStrom 650 exploring Spain

What's the model of that, @Tym?

@XTreme, there was no dark motorcycling

Met my good friend Paulo for a ride, today. Took almost no photos, and ended up spending almost more time catching up over lunch and coffee than actually riding, still had a nice ride over some good twisty roads more suited to my bike than to his, I think overall we must have done around 150km or something like that. Today was the first outumn weather day, with about 10ºC and fog high on the hills, made me appreciate lunch even more. Good stuff, catching up with friends, we had a lot to talk about. Paulo showing up: My lunch, not including the salad as to prevent you from seeing healthy stuff After lunch stop to see the views, including recent fire damage. There is no way that would catch fire unless under criminal hand, that really pisses me off. Heading back home and it was drizzling, made me appreciate a warm shower before going out to buy my mum some flowers for her birthday. Tonight, will be having a glass of red wine to match the weather and watching my favourite race, the Nurburgring 24H on it's youtube live transmission. Give it a look if you like proper driving on the world's greatest track, as good as cars on track can get: