Travelblog

At home – by Jürgen

Oktober 4, 2013

Home again, the “Road to Morocco” lies behind me. What will remain?

First of all memories. Unforgettable memories of …
… a fascinating contry and its people
… exciting motorcycle rides through an impressive landscape
… a great team

Then: Some souvenirs. – I am not a good customer in souvenir and gift shops, especially not – due to limited space – when travelling by motorbike. However I brought a few with me, for friends of mine and for myself. (The two rightmost items are not cigars, but serve as containers for sand from several spots in the Sahara.)

Furthermore: Some 450 fotos on my camera. A small selection is attached.

And finally the confidence, that the road will lead me to Morocco again!

From Fes to Tangier – by Adi

September 27, 2013

The ride north through the Rif mountains was showing us an all different Morocco again with the blue and white houses of Chefchaoen and the city of Tetouan – but the road was long and the heat made the Asphalt melt so that riding became very hard. After one and a half week on the road we are getting tired.

We split up in groups as this was easier and saved our remaining power. We were taking different routes and with different focus points and reunited in the evening at the ferry.

It was a great feeling when we knew everybody has made it back to Tangier, no bad accidents, all these adventures and new impressions in the last twelfe days. It will take weeks until we will realize what a great and unique story we all went through.

We started as a team and our friendship got deeper with every adventure, whith every day going to the limits in so many ways, relying on each other. One for all and all for one.

As the sun settled in Tangier harbor and we were gathering on the deck of the ship, and finally with the the first stars showing on the sky the engine vibrations announced that we will now leave Morocco we stared into the blue sea and waved goodbye to a great country with great people and full of adventure.

We stayed staring at the lights that got smaller and smaller for a while and then dropped dead in our beds in the cabin.
What a trip …

Fes – by Adi

September 27, 2013

Shopping, fixing some broken parts on the bikes, relaxing, and crawling through the souks of Fes was the main activiy of our first non riding day.

Still it was adventurous as ever to discover all the nice textile, leather and metall stuff in the markets, to eat things and not ask what it was made of (the tasted very good), to meet crazy people and strange people and roam the city with Adil who was managing our stay in the appartments.

At night we went to a very funny place for beers and shisha in the new town of Fes – sorry no description here but it was surrealistic.
A pity that we need to move on tomorrow.

Flat tires – by Adi

September 26, 2013

In the morning we split up some chilled a bit, others got a flat tire (nail) repaired and Hussaib and Adi took the Cirque de Jaffar piste to see the famous gorges east of Midelt.

However just when the gorges began some 30km from the camp the road was gone through one of the last heavy rains and we could save two italian couples who tried to ride the foot path down into the gorge and got stuck with no way to return alone. Of course we also turned around before we’d come in the same situation.

Still one of Adi’s tires was punctuerd by a stone and so we spent anothe half hour mounting new tubes before we continued our trip to the north. Some forty minutes later the next incident … a broken spoke punctured Mladens new tube and we had to repair that one roadside in the middle of a heavy thunderstorm.

What an adventure trip today … and it continued with slipped bikes and roads full of mud, diesel etc

We were really happy when we finally arrived late at night in the Souks of Fes and could jump in the beds of our 16th century appartment next to the big mosque and the university in one of the small and dark side roads in the middle of the historical town. A tea at Midnight on the roof of the place and we fell asleep very tired.

Atlas – by Adi

September 26, 2013

The next leg of our travel took us back north to the Atlas through cities and oasises with date palm trees and heavy commercial traffic on the big roads.

A strange feeling if you spent the last days almost alone in the middle of nowhere.

The Atlas high plaines and gorges were endless and we were all quite happy to arrive at Midelt and find a dinner, a beer and a bed to sleep.

Erg Chebby – by Adi

September 26, 2013

Dunes and Sand are attracting enduro riders at all times and of course we had to try our skills on Erg Chebby the biggest dunes of Morocco. While the way around the northern parts was after the last days training pretty easy and a high speed drift and jump game the dunes themselfes are really difficult and very exhausting.

You need to think out a good route then forget being afraid and just hit the gas and seek your projected pathe from level to level. At least we made it to the top of the second level where we digged in our bikes and enjoyed the undescibable view over the dunes and desert plains. When we were back down in the plains all energy was gone and it took maybe half an hour of easy plains driving to be concentrated enough again to do some further speed drifting … meanwhile the Algerian border was in sight and the journey took us south in the beduin’s territories towards the border.

At last we needed to cross the dunes to return Merzouga in the south which developped in a real adventure as compard to the 2007 track that helped the navigate the deepsand expanded to some 6km instead of the 500m.

This gave us the unplanned opportunity to enjoy the Sahara sky at night with all its bright stars, the glowing milky way and the southern zodiacs.

Sahara – Short Version – by Jürgen

September 24, 2013

Out there in the middle of nowhere with nothing but the Sahara desert from horizon to horizon Haseeb said it all: “There are not enough words to describe this beauty!”

Sahara at last … – by Adi

September 24, 2013

The day started with a big bang – while Radu had to take the tarmac road to Merzouga due to his tire repair we got off the main road to ride across the Oasis of Zagora on narrow paths between houses, through river beds and palms with ripe dates and at each bend of the twisty path there was another surprise from people on bicyles, kids playing in the sand, overloaded trucks to donkeys that carry the goods to the market.

After the Oasis we made a high speed piste ride until Zagora vanished at the end of the plain and a small piste took us off further south into the Sahara. At some point we ended up in endless grey and ocre colored plains and at the horizon fata morganas made us believe we would reach the shores of a refreshing lake with scattered palm trees.

Instead the heat was beginning to frighten us. How can one survive out here? Beautiful and deadly were the two words in my head as we made a short break under a thin old tree’s shadow. No defined Pistes anymore … to navigate here you fix a hill on the horizon and ride towards it double checking your course on the GPS.

And all of a sudden there was the first big sand dune appearing in the south, only minutes before we looked like fools when crossing a small one that was in our way. After everybody digged in their rear wheels, got stuck or dropped the bike in the deep sand, got it out somehow again and managed the challenge we realized how hard deep sand riding can be and that we just wasted all our remaining energy for these 15 Minutes. Jürgen who is an experienced Sand rider explained us the base techniques for this powder sand. In the desert you have to learn quickly to survive …

Fortunately we were close to the Marabou Kasbah so that we could refill our energies and drinking packs and have an extensive lunch. We decided to not ride the big dune on the direct way but instead make a 150km detour on ripple pistes to get around the last part to Merzouga which turned out to be a wise decision.

At the final junction we arrived in the same minute as Radu who made it along the Atlas … together we rode to Kasbah Panoramica on the little hill next to Erg Chebby where we met Ismail who would teach us a lot of Berber wisdom on the coming day.

Tizi’s and high Atlas plains – by Adi

September 24, 2013

Early in the morning we got up to cross the high Atlas on the old pistes from Tinerhir to Zagora. The first offroad experience was taking us up to 2300m high passes where we had a tea and chilled a few minutes before we continued into the high plains. although at this altitude the heat was something we first had to adapt to drinking some 6-8 liters of water to keep the brains working at some rocky passages on the steep way town to the plains. One of the bikes had a first flat tire due to a nail captured in one of the remote villages, however we safely made it to Zagora …. the door to the Sahara desert. From here the old caravan routes took 52 days to Timbouktou in Mali. In the evening we had a well deserved dinner in one of the many Restaurants along the main road …

Atlas Mountains – by Jürgen

September 18, 2013

Big disappointment today! The first longer part of offroad we intended to go, the Ounila valley north of Aït ben Hadou, has completely become a paved road Nevertheless the landscape is still magnificient!

What else? Getting out of Marrakech was a bit diffcult, because after the heavy rain last night several major roads were flooded in a way, that forced even enduros to some detours. Weather in general was fine, reached our destination Tinghir without any problem.

In Africa – by Jürgen

September 17, 2013

Morocco starts with the usual picture: An “Afriquia” fuel station by night. – Arriving late in Rabat, we take the first hotel we find, an expensive 4*one. All restaurants are closed and we end up in the central train station food court, where they have 4 sandwiches for the 6 of us!

Tuesday first I think I can’t go wrong with Morocco. The country I once in spring time for myself labelled “the land of brightness and colour” after a supposedly hot and dry summer looks close to a desert, which I actually like even more. – The evening we arrive in Marrakech, have a great dinner in the Jamma al Fna. However then, striving through the souks, it suddenly starts raining cats and dogs! We’ll see, what tomorrow will bring

Boarding our Tanger bound ferry – by Hussaib

September 17, 2013

Tanger – Rabat – by Mladen

September 17, 2013

Finally after 2 day on that ferry I’m happy to see Gibraltar. Disembarking during evening sun. It’s a fantastic temperature here. Approaching the maroccane custom..the is potential for some chaos..however…paper work is done. Get on bikes and refuel the bikes. Got some cash and fire up the bikes.
300 km to Rabat. These people load their cars. Unbelievable!!

Back to Africa – by Jürgen

September 17, 2013

Some months ago during this year’s ATIC motorbike meeting in Slovenia Adi told me about his Morocco plans. I immediately was excited. A few days later after a short discussion with his companions he invited me to join them.

After weeks of preparation my actual “Road to Morocco” starts one day before the other’s: On Friday Sep 13 I am on my way from Munich to Rüti. Heavy traffic jams and pouring rain quickly wash away the nervous and slightly uneasy feeling I always have at the beginning of trips like this. In Rüti besides servicing his bike and uploading the latest updates on various navigation systems and GoPros Adi manages to prepare a good meal. Later Haseeb joins in, brings some beer with him (although he does not trink alcohol himself).

Saturday morning after a few hours of sleep we start very early, meet Mladen and Remo at a fuel station nearby and head down south to Genova to embark on the ferry to Tanger. From here on Radu completes our group. Having eaten nothing the whole day we chose the ship full service restaurant. They serve a tasty though quite expensive (from a German point of view) or not so expensive (from a Swiss point of view) dinner.

Sunday on board of the ferry. Interesting, during a stopover in Barcelona for the first time ever I have the chance to watch the complete disembarcation and embarcation process from the upper deck. Usually at this point you are squeezed with your motorbike in the lower garage deck between trucks polluting the air with their exhaust.

In general I am feeling relaxed and happy. Apart from Adi, whom I know since decades, and Haseeb, whom I met during above mentioned ATIC meeting, the rest of the group, Mladen, Radu and Remo, was completely unknown to me. They turn out to be friendly, uncomplicated and reliable guys from various countries, brought together in Switzerland by their jobs – and their passion for motorbikes of course.

On Monday the ferry WiFi is inoperative, no chance to post (this one sent later that day (night) from Rabat). Dolphin watching. The afternoon we are approaching Tanger. The slightly nervous/excited feeling returns. Back to Africa after five years!

A cruise to Africa – by Adi

September 17, 2013

To new Horizons – by Adrian

September 15, 2013

Five fourty, dark, cold night. The alarm clock wins. who had this crazy idea to plan a trip where we need to get up at that time?

I am stumbling out of the bed, brushing my teeth, then down the stairs … as always I am last. This is not my time of day, especially as loading the last waypoint set and satellite maps took longer than expected. Two and a half hours of sleep will need to do for today. OK maybe I was happy that it took so long, now that the time has come to leave home I got more and more nervous.

What adventures will we go through? Will we make it at least to the ferry in time? After that we can at least say we were there even if we fail.

Some twenty minutes later we ride out of town in the dawn of the day. Jūrgen and Hussaib and I are heading to Altdorf to meet the others on the road. Not many words are spoken, you can feel the tension. As we reach the highway and can throttle up all the way the sun comes up and after a few turns the feelings you only have on motorbikes blow away any fear and sorrow.

Unbelievable … after months of planning and training we are finally at the beginning of this dream I had for years. We are heading to the Sahara … the Africa Twin finally will be ridden in her natural habitat. Inschallah!

When we left the tunnel at Altdorf and turned into the petrol station Remo and Mladen were already there.

After a drink and refueling we hit it towards Gotthard – of course such a travel needs a symbolic start. The Tremola is the symbol for people travelling across highest mountains, I can imagine that the pioneers on these paths must have felt as we do right now. Uncertain of the things to come, attracted by the mysteries of an other country, strong as a team.

When we came from the Po plains into the Ligurian mountains we knew we made it to the ferry, although a traffic jam got Radu almost stuck on the highway. But in the end he was already at the terminal when we were racing the last twisty turns down to Genova.

At the terminal dozens of mercedes transporters with huge loads (vespas, sofas, bicycles, carpets, …)of everything on their roofs and an interesting mixture of traditional maroccan business men, freaks, adventurers, tourists and some very strange people gave a first impression of what we will learn to know in the next two weeks.

As the ferry left the harbour and the sun sets slowly we stand at the upper deck with beers and mint sirup in our hands staring at the deep endless blue see …