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Morocco Photos
Right all, finally got to bed at 6am or so and woke up at eight, so this might have a few mistakes...
The premise: Five guys, five KTM Adventures, eighteen days in Morocco riding off road down from the north, through the Atlas Mountains to the Sahara desert and the sand dunes at Erg Chebbi... The Usual Suspects : Me, The other Mark, Gareth, Gordon and Jason Saturday 10th April : We all flew in last night, except for Mark, who booked his flight 24hrs too early and spent a day in Malaga - up early and off to Red Tread who kindly let us use their place as a storage point for shipping the bikes to Spain: http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0001.jpg Amazingly, all the KTMs start up first time and we're off in good time... Oh no wait, actually, Gordon's bike decides the chinese battery he bought it just before leaving wasn't good enough and refuses to start, without even enough charge to keep the FI computer going when it was bumped. Never mind, it gave us a few hours to enjoy the spectacular mountain scenery around Competa: http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0005.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0006.jpg After much deliberation, battery swapping and head scratching we give it an hour's charge and it seems to fire up OK http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0008.jpg Even the dogs where struggling to get excited: http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0010.jpg It was too late to head to Morocco that day so we all stayed at the relative's of one of us' house somewhere in Southern Spain http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0014.jpg Sunday 11th April : After a good night's sleep we're all up and raring to go, with the exception of Gordo's bike;) After an hour or two we decide to split into two groups, with Gareth staying behind with Gordon and Jason plus the two Marks heading off to Morocco The port at Algecieras was about as hectic as you'd expect a Spanish port to an African country to be http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0016.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0021.jpg And the guys who strapped down the bikes were comfortingly hopeless, with one strapping a tie down to my brand new front brake disc, and another tying Mark's bike down to a movable pallet:rolleyes: http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0022.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0024.jpg But these minor hurdles couldn't stop us and we were off to Africa http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0026.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0032.jpg We hit the border and bribed our way to the front of the queue with the help of a little Moroccan man in a dress, and we were on our way to our first overnight stop at Chefchaouen http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0035.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0038.jpg They're a bit fond of the King over in Morocco http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0043.jpg Anyway, we found a hotel with a view and settled in for the night: http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0051.jpg Monday 12th April : We set off into Chefchaouen in search of the compulsory 3rd party insurance every tourist with a vehicle must buy, only to be told they no longer sell it and we have to go to Fes - d'oh! After several hours trying to get insurance at Axa, the Moroccan insurance centre who only deal with residents, and finally the Moroccan insurance centre that deals with tourists, we get directions to a little hotel in the crappiest part of the old walled medina, but once you open the front door you find courtyards... http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0073.jpg ...a fountain... http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0079.jpg ...mint tea... http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0078.jpg ...and Sheriff John Bunnell with Arabic subtitles:D http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0085.jpg Not what you expect from the outside view: http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0086.jpg Tuesday 13th April : With insurance papers in hand we set off for what had been the previous days goal of Midelt - we had word that Gordon's bike was proper f*cked and so Gareth was doing a blaster down to meet us that night. All that meant we had time to take the scenic route: http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0087.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0090.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0092.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0095.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0103.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0107.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0108.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0110.jpg Imagine our surprise then, when both Gareth and Gordon rocked up at the "Ksar Timnay" about an hour after we arrived, they'd pulled a 3am Morocco time start to get there: http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0112.jpg but we were back as one group http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0114.jpg Wednesday 14th April : We saddle up and head off for our first day off road to Dades http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0119.jpg Unaware of quite what lay ahead, in the form of the "Cirque du Jaffar" It started off nicely, rising and falling http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0120.jpg but we were always mindful of the huge mountain on our left that we knew the path crossed over: http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0121.jpg Gareth decided to remodel his alu pannier on some rocks: http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0126.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0132.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0129.jpg Then the track suddenly swung left and went up, only to come down the other side on a narrow rocky track with a drop to the left that made you sweat along with the heat: http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0136.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0138.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0139.jpg We all came off that day, me and Jason clipped rocks on the inside track and got pinged off towards the edge, interesting to say the least... After fighting for an hour or two on this section of track we realised there was no way we were going to make our target of Dades and the gorge, so once we hit the tarmac we aim for Imilchil http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0141.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0155.jpg Just north of the town we find a beautiful if basic Auberge (hotel cross b&b cross restaurant) and grab a tagine as the thunder and lighting moved in http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0158.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0162.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0164.jpg These were our hosts, the berber on the left slept outside all night with the bikes to keep watch on them, it gets cold at 6000ft in the mountains... http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0174.jpg That's it for Part one, stay tuned for tales of crazy Dutch guys, water pump seal failure and wild camping in the desert...♦ |
Re: Morocco Photos
epic trip :D
in one of the pics your bike looks higher than the rest ? |
Re: Morocco Photos
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The "S" model has two inches more suspension travel than the vanilla Adventure and the seat on mine is an inch taller than stock, giving a 37" seat height Surprisingly easy to handle off road though, I came off twice but neither time would a shorter bike have made any difference |
Re: Morocco Photos
Great pics Mark! Can't wait for the next lot :-)
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Re: Morocco Photos
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What? Not that king? Sorry. Looks funky Mark. Nice one. |
Re: Morocco Photos
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https://secure.bkcrowncard.com/image...King_en_01.png] :cool: |
Re: Morocco Photos
Looks epic mate. Would love to do something like this.
Unfortunately I'm about as much use as a chocolate fire guard off road. |
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Re: Morocco Photos
Haha, obviously not
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Re: Morocco Photos
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;) |
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