Morocco 2022, building up to it

[Pedro]

[Sir Fallsalot]

6 minutes ago, Pedro said:

And, this is back on!

Tomorrow I’ll be fitting tires on and having the oil changed on the bike. Then I plan to be in Morocco at the end of next week!

It’ll be a couple of unbearably difficult days when I get there, I’m sure, but if the weather helps, and I have booked good weather, it’s going to be a cool and cold ride! With monkeys!!

I had a couple of months of smooth sailing at work ahead of me, and started to get momentum going for Morocco, but as soon as I called my mechanic today for tomorrow’s works on the GS my main supplier announced a surprise price change. This will create a lot of chaos and orders lists and long fruitless conversations, that I plan to be able to handle tomorrow and monday, then pretending that I have a weak cell signal for at least two weeks 

That's good to hear Pedro 

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

So cool. Can't wait to hear all about it. 

[Pedro]

1 minute ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

So cool. Can't wait to hear all about it. 

I don’t know what kind of report I’ll post. It’ll be very emotional so maybe less of feelings and things and more like a few pictures a day.

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

You're cooking on gas this evening Pedro, I reckon you should buy a lottery ticket right now

[Buckster]

On 12/09/2022 at 18:41, XTreme said:

Sounds great Pedro!

The only thing I'd say (given recent events) is I hope you don't encounter any bike issues when you're over there!

In other words don’t take the BMW.

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

Lemme guess he should be taking the best bike ever made, EVER MADE and taking the all conquering Honda CB500X

[Pedro]

45 minutes ago, Buckster said:

In other words don’t take the BMW.

Why are you like that, dude? All I give is honest deep from the heart love, and is that what you give back? Who hurt you?

 

2 minutes ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

Lemme guess he should be taking the best bike ever made, EVER MADE and taking the all conquering Honda CB500X

Yes... Unfortunately I've only got mine, it already knows the way so I'll take that and hope for the best.

 

1 hour ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

You're cooking on gas this evening Pedro, I reckon you should buy a lottery ticket right now

I don't know what that means, today I cooked on a "ceramic glass shitty magic stove", it's awful cooking without a live flame but it was a very traditional northern Portuguese dish to which I will spare you the horrors of. It turned out delicious and another absolute win coupled with a masterpiece of a bottle of red wine from an amazing motorcycling destination.

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

31 minutes ago, Pedro said:

I don't know what that means, today I cooked on a "ceramic glass shitty magic stove", it's awful cooking without a live flame but it was a very traditional northern Portuguese dish to which I will spare you the horrors of. It turned out delicious and another absolute win coupled with a masterpiece of a bottle of red wine from an amazing motorcycling destination.

 An americanism, a bit like "you're on fire"

"Cooking with gas - to be making very good progress or doing something very well: I can see we're really cooking with gas now." 

[Pedro]

In what seems like a trend, now that I again decided to go to Morocco, stuff keeps happening.

This morning my mechanic texted me he’s got the flu, so not available for the pre trip checkout and tyre change.

This afternoon I begrudgingly called a friend who runs Porto’s biggest tyre selling shop and went there to have them fitted.

They have a small shop for bikes, as it’s mostly cars and commercial vehicles.

 

Then called a few places, and I’m booked at 8:30 monday for an oil and filters change at the local dealership, and the bike should be ready to go.

The plan is to ride to my place for two or three nights. Hope to be in Tangier on Thursday or Friday next week. 

[boboneleg]

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

34 minutes ago, boboneleg said:

So Six did lend you his crayons after all

[Grasshopper]

23 hours ago, Pedro said:

And, this is back on!

Tomorrow I’ll be fitting tires on and having the oil changed on the bike. Then I plan to be in Morocco at the end of next week!

It’ll be a couple of unbearably difficult days when I get there, I’m sure, but if the weather helps, and I have booked good weather, it’s going to be a cool and cold ride! With monkeys!!

I had a couple of months of smooth sailing at work ahead of me, and started to get momentum going for Morocco, but as soon as I called my mechanic today for tomorrow’s works on the GS my main supplier announced a surprise price change. This will create a lot of chaos and orders lists and long fruitless conversations, that I plan to be able to handle tomorrow and monday, then pretending that I have a weak cell signal for at least two weeks 

I would say I’m excited for you, but last time I did that Pete got all giggles on me….

So instead I will say, I hope you have a great trip and fun adventure.

[Pedro]

27 minutes ago, Marcel said:

Great news.... I'll be watching from my snow covered country. 

Thanks, I hope you see pictures of blue skies. But it might not be so.

[Six30]

On 18/11/2022 at 21:00, boboneleg said:

not bad crayon work .. i must say

[Pedro]

I am pumped in a mix of unpleasant apprehension and excitement. Spent the day at home, did a little work in the morning, plus washed the bike, packed my stuff only waiting for the laptop to go in, all ready to go tomorrow.

Then tried to book a ferry only for FRS's system to be acting up, called them and ended up booking one for thursday. This way I avoided the stress of technical difficulties and tomorrow will leave the house using tiny roads instead of the motorway. I'll have a first night still in Portugal after riding either to the inner Alentejo or the Algarve, depending on the weather. Then on Thursday it'll be a quick 350/400km ride to the ferry that I'm going to try and board at 12:00 Portuguese time, might be tight and if late I'll spend 4 hours waiting for the next one.

Also called the hotel where Maria passed away to try and arrange a short visitation, not wanting to commit to a room before being there communication was being very difficult as the Moroccan on the other side wasn't at all getting what I wanted. I'll leave it to the moment when I get there. It's half a mile after getting out of the boat so I can't help but face that head on.

After all that I had a shower and prepared for dinner, to then realize it was only 15:30. My mind is absolutely racing and it seems today is taking twice as long, I'll have some wine tonight!

Also realized I can't pack worth shit! We used to take the same stuff in double, but somehow I'm ending up with the same space used for what should be way less 

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

11 minutes ago, Pedro said:

I am pumped in a mix of unpleasant apprehension and excitement. Spent the day at home, did a little work in the morning, plus washed the bike, packed my stuff only waiting for the laptop to go in, all ready to go tomorrow.

Then tried to book a ferry only for FRS's system to be acting up, called them and ended up booking one for thursday. This way I avoided the stress of technical difficulties and tomorrow will leave the house using tiny roads instead of the motorway. I'll have a first night still in Portugal after riding either to the inner Alentejo or the Algarve, depending on the weather. Then on Thursday it'll be a quick 350/400km ride to the ferry that I'm going to try and board at 12:00 Portuguese time, might be tight and if late I'll spend 4 hours waiting for the next one.

Also called the hotel where Maria passed away to try and arrange a short visitation, not wanting to commit to a room before being there communication was being very difficult as the Moroccan on the other side wasn't at all getting what I wanted. I'll leave it to the moment when I get there. It's half a mile after getting out of the boat so I can't help but face that head on.

After all that I had a shower and prepared for dinner, to then realize it was only 15:30. My mind is absolutely racing and it seems today is taking twice as long, I'll have some wine tonight!

Also realized I can't pack worth shit! We used to take the same stuff in double, but somehow I'm ending up with the same space used for what should be way less 

Blimey o’reiley!

It made my heart beat faster just reading that!

 A sound plan me thinks. Hope you have a days rest factored in after all the adrenaline you’re going to burn through. 

[Pedro]

40 minutes ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

Blimey o’reiley!

It made my heart beat faster just reading that!

 A sound plan me thinks. Hope you have a days rest factored in after all the adrenaline you’re going to burn through. 

What I have planned is tomorrow’s dinner: pork and red wine, two things in short supply for the few days after 

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

29 minutes ago, Pedro said:

What I have planned is tomorrow’s dinner: pork and red wine, two things in short supply for the few days after 

I really hadn't thought about that, so no bacon rolls or sausage baps for breakfast? I better not tell Mr Slowly

[boboneleg]

Very exciting @Pedro , I can see that it may be tough but try not to let your emotions run away with you 

[Buckster]

Ride safe.

You can get wine in Morocco, they even make wine there. You can even get bacon and sausages in tourist areas.

[Pedro]

8 hours ago, Buckster said:

Ride safe.

You can get wine in Morocco, they even make wine there. You can even get bacon and sausages in tourist areas.

I know, but I am not really addicted to either so I can cope well with eating what locals eat without trying hard to accommodate for my vices (which would be wine, not pork )

 

 

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

@Pedro I'm a bit afraid to ask but how's it going?

[Pedro]

1 minute ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

@Pedro I'm a bit afraid to ask but how's it going?

Thank you for asking, yesterday was awful and the day ended with me pretty feeling pretty low. So much that I'll leave the report till I get back and have a quiet time in front of the fireplace to write it properly. However, today I did point the bike south and did a few hours riding outside the main roads with very little need of navigation from my phone, that's just how cool and experienced I am.

Will see how it goes tomorrow. Tomorrow there's going to be monkeys, and the day after that maybe camels and dunes. I'm not stopping a ton of times like I used to, and it is very weird doing this alone.

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

2 minutes ago, Pedro said:

Thank you for asking, yesterday was awful and the day ended with me pretty feeling pretty low. So much that I'll leave the report till I get back and have a quiet time in front of the fireplace to write it properly. 

5 minutes ago, Pedro said:

Will see how it goes tomorrow. Tomorrow there's going to be monkeys, and the day after that maybe camels and dunes. I'm not stopping a ton of times like I used to, and it is very weird doing this alone.

When Mr Slowly was first asked to coach some forwards sessions for the girls rugby team he was struck by how incredibly different coaching girls are to boys, they work together as a team without constant reminders to pass the ball it's a team game. Anyway during a match a little girl missed a conversion and was devastated, one of her team mates ran up to her and said "Don't worry Hannah, you'll get it next time, we believe in you" 

Sickly as that sounds, it worked a treat Hannah pulled herself together and played a cracking game, Mr Slowly said he sometimes wished the boys/men could be just a little bit more like the girls. 

So with that in mind.. you can do it Pedro, we believe in you!