This is a short week in the high Atlas with a tour company called Vintage rides. I took it as I am having my knee finally operated on in November and have been unable to make any other plans for the future after that until I know what is what. So stuff it in before I go !! Knee was first hurt playing squash 44 years ago so a kind of new knee is well overdue. I can only walk about 2 miles these days before things get bad. I also have not locked that knee out for very many years, run around with it slightly bent instead and generally coped. Not bone on bone but lumps and bumps etc
Sun 20th Oct
Off again. Been busy having short trips this year to make up for my leg problems! Also I am at last getting my knee operated on …that will happen in mid Nov. I originally hurt it 44 years ago so feel I have done well to live with a damaged knee for so long.
Off to Gatwick Airport on my own bike. The weather is overcast and should not rain but the sky looks threatening and I get a few raindrops! I hope to not to have to put waterproofs on. Biggest problem is my bag on the seat behind me. It is not waterproof. I have laid a dustbin bag over my clothes inside it. Last time I put a dustbin bag on the outside it went to shreds in the wind! At Stansted I refuel and ask if they sell plastic bags…they do and buy a roll. Head onwards, have plenty of time so no panic.
25 mins before Gatwick the rain finally gets me properly. Stop under a bridge and trousers on for me and plastic bag for my baggage. Onwards on nasty motorway with much spray. In the shortstay carpark..free for bikes…I mess around taking waterproofs off and repacking etc. Motorbike kit goes in the bag for all of it is coming including the waterproofs as could rain in Morocco apparently.
Plane takes off late….pilot got in late last night and needed more statuary rest time.! Got through the airport quickly at Marrakesh but could not find the driver easily. He was outside the airport! We waited for another person arriving on a flight after me and then to hotel. Met everyone and had dinner on the rooftop in very pleasant warmth!
Mon 21st Oct
Sunny morning but its all go and breakfast at 7am. Bikes are outside. I fit my new Insta360 camera to the handlebar. Great hopes but fail as I pressed a wrong button and only recorded straight videos. I only found out at the end of the day. We are 7 French, 2 Irish and myself. We are riding Royal Enfields 350 bullets.
We mess around looking at bikes and their condition. Mine has lack of horn. We set off and my steering is very wobbly. Luckily it is straight to a petrol station. Front tyre very low in air. ! Thereafter it is better. I am back marker today. Many including the Irish have never been in Morocco. The Irish in particular have hardly been out of Ireland. One is a big guy and rather dwarfs the bike.
I have not been here in Morocco for about 15 years. Some things have not changed. There are still large flocks of goats and sheep being shepherded on the hills.
Still riding donkeys and using them to carry loads. Still ploughing with wooden ploughs…Some parts are much more modern and tourism is more noticeable. We do not go through a rich area. We leave Marrakesh and head south east and into the Atlas Mountains. Weather was a bit cool at first but soon warms up to be very pleasant and the sun shines! It rained heavily last week and you can see how the water has cut into dirt roads and the mountain sides. We go on one dirt road which is normally good according to the guide. But today it was quite tricky in parts. All did brilliantly especially the other lady who had never ridden on dirt. Brigette…French. This bunch of French are not keen or cannot speak English unlike the last time I went with Vintage rides in India. I was promised more English on this trip but it has not happened.
At least have the two Irish. The guide does really well translating everything he says . We head up and down and around and finally have lunch at the top of the Tizintichka pass. Later we have a little diversion to a salt mine ( Telouet) that has been mining since 1915 .
A good day but shame about my new camera. Better things tomorrow..I hope. We ended in Ait Benhaddou. Famous spot for filming in the very pretty mud built village . The houses in this valley are being maintained but sadly many of the mudhouses in other areas are not being maintained and are in a ruinous state with the modern concrete house being built next door. I failed to get photos here before the dark arrived.
Tues 22nd Oct
This was a long day. I got up at 7am to have breakfast and we did not arrive till 7pm at the Dar Ahlam Hotel in the Dades valley. 5 of the French come from near Clermont-Ferrand and are rather anal riding behind each other. I am released from my back position and find I can only be 6 to 10th in the riding order ! Silly. Big Irish Paddy is tending to be at the back as he is heavy and the bike cannot accelerate quite so well.
We visit Kasbah Amridil after an off road section in a very lovely oasis. Hopefully on my camera but no time to look yet. We take a guided tour. Entirely mud built and many hundreds of years old.
These holes are to do with irrigation !
We go up another valley..valley of the Roses. We take a small tour round a roses’s distillery.
Distilling pots for the roses.
Towards the end of the day we go off road again and take a road that is in fact being improved…tarmaced ; but before that bit one French guy takes a tumble. It was rather stony at that point. No damage and on we go. Then it is his wife who comes off. She has done so well being very inexperienced but had a nasty tumble on a bend fetching up under her bike against a wall…again rather rocky. She was okay and the bike mostly too as it was on top of her. But plucky lady and on she went. Pretty soon we were on tarmac.
Then the Dades valley and up to the very top…those famous hairpin bends…just before it gets dark. Back down to our hotel .
Wed 23rd Oct
The forecast is rain this afternoon. Off we go in rather cloudy and cold weather. Jersey on and liner in jacket. It was cloudy yesterday too so weather is a disappointment. We head back down the Dades valley. Not so far today but the threat from rain is real. We head to the Todra gorge . On the way we do a rather ridiculous “tour” in Tinghir of the old part of town led by a local man. The only useful thing was that he pointed out that the windows in the old mud buildings were wooden surrounds if Jewish, metal lattice if Arab and just a hole if Berber.
Wooden surround if jewish, metal lattice is arab and slits are berber.
Our little guide in blue.
Todra gorge is very scenic. I have been at least twice before. However not since a new dam has been built which rather spoilt the upper part of the valley. We see the threat of rain now and on we go to lunch…excellent kefta tagine. After lunch I put on my waterproof trousers. Onwards and upwards, still dry, to the top of a pass of 2750m. High. However it was not long on way down on the other side that it began to rain. Did not take long before torrents of muddy water and gravel were coursing across the road. We finally came to a full stop in a village where a van was stuck in gravel and a torrent.
It proved tough for us too but we got across there but could not continue as there was worse round the corner. The rain had ceased for the time being so it was decided to wait for water levels to go down. We were invited into a room in a house where they gave us tea etc. Others arrived who also had to wait for the water to go down. Finally we took the plunge having watched other’s and the route through. After was okay but all got cold and very wet as many had no real waterproofs. It was only me and one of the Irish who had. The French in particular ended up very wet. Brigette who was the complete novice off road as such had never motorbiked through water. She did take a tumble on the gravelly bit which also made her wet. She went a bit rigid at one point but recovered her spirits She is a tough lady. Our road not only had flooded bits but also road improvement works which looked very slippery in the rain but proved less so. The soil appears to have proportion of sand unlike African red soil in other parts of the continent.
Made it to Imilchil. Strange small hotel in the back streets. Out come heaters and on with a fire. Masses of wet clothing gets hung around. Not sure its going to be that dry in the morning. It snowed here two nights after we had been…
The drying clothes!
Thurs 24th Oct
We are all beginning to breakdown the language and cultural barriers. Obviously the tricky situation on the road helps bring us all together. Not raining today but fairly overcast. Lovely valleys and passes. Muddy in places from the rain…lots of slowing down…its slippery. Then a flooded section stops us. How deep is the water and is there any gravel/ mud under it. We send the back up pick up through , and watch. Does not look bad but 3 opt for a trip through the water in the pick up. We brave the water…its fine..muddy!
We pass through some very poor villages. I hope I have captured them on the camera. Apparently they are all Berber along this valley. No change in living standards surely in the last 20 years since I have been here?
It does drizzle a bit but then brightens. We began the day at 2000m, we do a pass at 2500m and then its down and down. Gradually it warms up and the sun shines…hoorah. Not long day and we get to our hotel by new reservoir near Ouaouizeght at Bin el Ouidane. It’s a lot warmer than last nights !
Fri 25th Oct
Early start as long day. Weather looks fair but not particularly warm. Up and down we go. Rocky countryside. Livings being scratched…another wooden plough in use. First stop is the waterfalls at Igourdane. Waterfalls are pretty but Macaques take our interest as we clamber down a steep hill to the viewing platform. This avoided the gauntlet of the tourist stalls. Hot climb back up some steps in my motorbike kit ! Knee not happy!
Paddy and Macaques
Etienne our guide with his macaque!
Then on to snack from back of pick up truck. We have done this everyday. The dates and nuts have been delicious but not so liptons tea with no milk. English tea has been impossible to have in the hotels. Very luckily the Irish brought some tea bags and it was possible to get hot water. I had brought tea bags or so I thought. When I opened the jar it contained an empty plastic bag. I had failed to fill it ! Paddy and Eugene were very kind giving me some of theirs. On to look round a pottery factory. It was making large plates for couscous. Brown clay with decoration cleverly hand drawn . Then laid out in the sunshine to dry before glazing and firing.
Lunch in a large garden, very relaxed and then it was time to head for Marrakesh. We take small roads as we wind our way in. The group do well in the final stages, fighting the traffic and sticking together. We do not lose anyone. Last supper and many goodbyes as some are getting up very early..3am..to catch flights home. My flight is later.
Group photos. Brigette is in green with her husband. Big Paddy one of the irish and Eugene the other….on my left.
The Irish and the English!
Sat 26th Oct
Lie in then breakfast. Just myself and two French are left. I pack and vacate the room and wander Marrakesh. I need to buy just 2 things. One is electrical tape which I want try and stop my bottle of rose essence from leaking. I have kept it upright but its still leaking . And then its some Argan oil. I do find some in the end. Horribly expensive at 300 Dirham. No label on the bottle so do think its about as good as can be. I was shown a very smart shop with fully labelled bottles. Think they were smaller for 300. So £25 for 500cl. Will savour every taste.!! Then some pausing and sip some mint tea. Finally hang around in hotel till my taxi comes. Sadly there was no sitting in the sun on the roof terrace as it is cloudy again. What disappointing weather. I have not been lucky but on the other hand the rain made for interesting times on the road.
Easyjet back to Gatwick where we arrive at 10pm. Then hotel…Hampton by Hilton.
Sun 27th Oct
Dreadful breakfast. Bland and full of awful artificial ingredients I feel sure. Cheap, cheap. Very disappointing. But the sun is shining and soon I am ready to find my bike which is just 5 mins away. Good ride back to Norfolk in the sunshine.