being a tourist.......

Since my last post i continued south up into the Rif Mountains to Chefchauen, a pretty little town in the heart of Moroccans infamous dope growing area and a hot favourite for euro dread locked warriors who seemed to make up half of the tourists there.

I put myself into a cosy little guesthouse with a couple of German students, a slightly mad old french artiste and a French Canadian couple who are taking a break from their cycling tour of Spain (bonjour si vous etes dire)

With crappy cold weather and with plenty of time on my hands before meeting Haakon in Fez (Haakon is the Danish chap that i will be doing the Sahara leg of the journey with.) I west west to the Atlantic coast. Where the weather was crappy and cold.....

but only for a bit...
So I decided to test the Maroccan campsites and threw my lot in with the Franco- Germanic moter home brigade, who seem to swarm down the Atlantic coast in search of the sunshine that may have escaped the Med. Some come on there own others as part of a tour- the only prerequisite is grey hair and a love of washing your vehicle. Not a bad way to spend the winter though.

The last couple of nights i spent in a campsite on the outskirts of Rabat, the political capital, and put the time to good use by getting my visa for Mali at their embassy there. The biggest van on the site yesterday actually belonged to a retired couple from Manchester who had sold up, house and all never to return to blighty- at least that's what they're claiming 3 months in.

Now for a nation of non drinkers they are (the males that is) an aggressive bunch. I was sat in a cafe on the square in Chefchauen have my breaky, when an argument broke out between the owner of my cafe and the owner the adjacent cafe. My chap, who i was backing, was accusing the other chap of touting for business on "his" piece of pavement. My chap then throws his glass of mint tea at the other- narrowly missing his head and it all kicks off. And this is not an isolated incident. Where i parked my bike yesterday there where 2 scuffles in the space of 15 minutes. Mind you, i was also offered "fuckie fuckie" there so perhaps that was just a dodgy area.

The bike is running sweetly, only one little panic when the engine ground to a halt 2 days ago. Fortunately, it was only air intake to the fuel tank that had pinched so i was on my way in no time.

I had a great journey up to Fez today. The scenery changing over every hill. Here are some pics for your viewing pleasure:

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The blog title is finally true

And this was supposed to the easy border crossing!

I arrived at Moroccan immigration at midday today and finally rode over the border at 6pm; by the way this keyboard is not a standard qwerty type, so some of the letters are in different places and i can,t find the full stop; i will use the ;

It was all going swimmingly at immigration; after a previous visit, they had all my details on computer; but also after a previous visit they had a record of me bringing in a 1981 mk& vw golf into the country(the Plymouth Dakar Rally), so when i got to customs they expected me have the exit paper for the vehicle from 2 years ago!

I was immediately referred to the chief of customs who was currently dealing with a couple who had attempted to smuggle about 60 cartons of wine over the border under the seats of a clapped out Renault; No exit paper= no come in was his response, and off he stormed; He thought i had sold the golf in Morocco without paying the import duty;

After having previously shrugged off all the so called fixers/helpers, thinking i can do this on my own, i had to skulk back to them for help; but all all they suggested was to get hold of this damn exit paper! One chap said he could the computer for 80 euros but only at 7pm another helpfully recommended ; I rode back into Spanish soil, had a beer, some tapas, forged a sales receipt for the car (allegedly faxed from my dad), brushed up my French, rode back and had another bash;

after another hour i was though and incredibly relieved; Didn't make it to where i wanted to today-I'm in Tetouan- but have dined on fresh fish and even had a couple of beers; a rare treat over here; So all good in the end

No pics today; just keeping a low profile;

besselama

What all that stuff on the bike?

Many of the folk i´ve met so far have asked "what´s all that stuff you carrying.....do you need all of that?". Well my few days here in Alhurin have given me the opportunity to take stock of my possessions and dispose of some unnecessary ones. Here they are (minus the dirty laundry):

Left Pannier- 20kg- My dirty stuff:
Engine oil, brake fluid, chain oil, water bottles, tyre levers, air compressor, spares, bike manual, box of handy stuff, first aid kit, tool kit, puncture repair kit, tyre pump, tyre pressure gauge, waterproofs and lucky rag.

Right Pannier- 10kg- mainly camping stuff:
stove, pot, silk sleeping liner, spare inner tubes, water filter, mosquito net, 5l water carrier, maps, foldable plate-bowel-cup (as seen on "Dragons Dens"), chess set, box of useful stuff (cables, playing cards etc), washing up liquid, Johnson's baby powder (for tyre changing only-honest guvnor), hot weather riding gloves and frisbee.

Tank Bag-6kg- on the road essentials:
Maps, compass, guide book, trashy novel, GPS, phone, pens, torch, sun glasses, memory sticks, camera, leatherman, i-pod, 12V charging leads for aforementioned technology, passport, carnet de passage, V5, journal and address book

Big Red-about 10kg-soft and not too heavy gear:
Tent, sleeping bag, thermarest, clothing, underwear, goggles, flip flops and lucky pants.

And lets forget the pain in the @rse off road tyres. These will be fitted in Mauritania when the sealed roads end, at which point i will say goodbye to the current tyres.

I leave the relaxed environment of Southern Spain for Morocco on Tueday. So the next update should be from Fez at the begining of March. Ta Tar.....

The European Bit

At 2pm toady i was eating my lunch in the sunshine in my shorts and flip flops, nut its not been quite so smooth.

After emotional farewells in Tunbridge Wells and London I bowled up at the docks in Portsmouth on Sunday 12th Feb to be told my ferry was cancelled due to bad weather over the Bay of Biscay. I was to either head home and wait for the next ferry in 3 days or take another crossing to France. I took the latter, arriving in St Malo, Britannny at 5am and headed south with my new biker mates i´d met on the ferry.

Within 3 miles they had shot off ahead and i found myself being buffeted across the autoroute by the very same winds that had cancelled my ferry to Bilbao. And precisely the reason i had opted to miss out France and head straight for Spain. For the first day of my trip it was roller coaster of a day both physically, due to the weather and lack of sleep, and emotionally- I was questioning my decision for doing the trip and felt deeply alone and very down about the whole adventure. This must have been a little mind tantrum as by the late afternoon the sun was out, i was on the back roads and casting long shadows over the vineyards of bordeau singing along to the Chili Peppers. The trip was good again.

I spent the night in in the lovely rambling Le Chateaux Gatte, St Andre Cubzac. A vineyard and B&B.

The following morning I had a good run through to Spain, stopping for lunch on the beach near Biaritz. The bikers round these parts liked to give me a strange below salute as they rode past. Is this a local kind of ¨hello fellow biker¨, a respect to amount of crap i´m carrying or disrespecting the my low speed and British number plates. I took it to be former and waved back.

Now i left my Spanish ¨Roughguide¨ which i was relying on for the language section at the back in England, so whilst Spain got warmer, especially as i descended on to the Med coast, i found i was embarrassingly lacking on the language side. I persevered on cervaza and cafe negro and arrived at Dad´s yesterday very hungry!

As you can see below (photo by Dad) the weather here is perfect, and i´m finishing off the bike jobs that did´t get done in the UK-i.e. changing the fork oil and renewing the clutch cable.