We just rolled over 82,000 kms yesterday!
Doing it by bike is pretty awesome, but it would still be amazing just seeing the Sahara by taking an organized tour by bus or renting a car!
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Quit our jobs, sold our home and everything in it, gone riding...
- Thread starter Lightcycle
- Start date
We just rolled over 82,000 kms yesterday!
Doing it by bike is pretty awesome, but it would still be amazing just seeing the Sahara by taking an organized tour by bus or renting a car!
Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/215.html
It wasn't cheap staying at the edge of the Sahara. If it were, we probably would have spent much longer there. But after our mini-excursion, we traded in our dromedaries for our two-wheeled steeds and made tracks away from the desert and back into the interior of Morocco.
Without the majestic sand dunes in the background, all the pictures I took seemed very flat
Taking a different way back, we encountered a variety of terrain - some hard packed gravel, grassy plains and sand, of course. I managed to keep my wobbly bike upright through the sandy stretches, not without much sweating and swearing. But when we reached pavement, the score between Neda and I for falls remained tied at 0-0! Phew!
Back on the main road!
Double-tracking back north through Rissani. Riding through the gates from the other side now
We are heading west across the country. Next big city is Ouarzazate.
It wasn't cheap staying at the edge of the Sahara. If it were, we probably would have spent much longer there. But after our mini-excursion, we traded in our dromedaries for our two-wheeled steeds and made tracks away from the desert and back into the interior of Morocco.
Without the majestic sand dunes in the background, all the pictures I took seemed very flat
Taking a different way back, we encountered a variety of terrain - some hard packed gravel, grassy plains and sand, of course. I managed to keep my wobbly bike upright through the sandy stretches, not without much sweating and swearing. But when we reached pavement, the score between Neda and I for falls remained tied at 0-0! Phew!
Back on the main road!
Double-tracking back north through Rissani. Riding through the gates from the other side now
We are heading west across the country. Next big city is Ouarzazate.
Stopped to check out some ruins at the side of the road
Ruins at Tinghir
I don't think these were important buildings. It seemed there were squatters living in the ruins and there was a lot of construction material outside. Still, the colour of the remains looked quite nice against the blue skies of the nice weather we were having!
Donkey Hotay
Riding through desert landscape dotted with palm trees
Our journey across the interior takes us through some tiny towns.
This felt like the real Morocco outside of the large cities and medinas.
Tajine break along the way
The bus tour people that we took the dromedary tour with the day before also left the same time as we did and since we were all headed in the same direction, we leap-frogged one another throughout the day. These tours have deals to bring their tourists to local businesses and restaurants, so the bus people had to endure sales pitches and overpriced food, while we could stop wherever we wanted to eat where the locals did!
After lunch, we noticed their bus parked outside a gringo/tourist restaurant. Haha!
We took a road north of Tinghir and stopped at a scenic overlook
The patch of green in front of the buildings is the Tinghir Oasis
The oasis itself is quite long, stretching 50 kms parallel to the road that we took. Tinghir is right in the middle of that long stretch of green grasses and palm trees. At the overlook, we met another GS rider, David from Germany. We envied how light his F700GS was packed for this trip, as he was planning to tackle a lot of the off-road pistes that would have been too gnarley for our overloaded mules.
Chatting with a fellow traveler, exchanging stories and tips
Stowaway
North of Tinghir, there are some smaller towns that we rode through
Neda noticed that there are different styles of clothing and robes in each of the regions we rode through.
Not sure if it was a fashion or religious thing. Here, they all wear white robes draped over one shoulder
Heading into the mountains
Todra (or Todgha) Gorge
A few kms north of Tinghir, the walls of the mountains rise up suddenly and the road winds through the gorge that was probably carved out by a mighty river at one point in history. Today, we ride parallel to a small, stony riverbed that is fed by glacial streams, which are dry at this time of year.
The gorge extends for several kms and the scenery all around and above us is marvelous!
We couldn't help but ride as slow as we could to take in how beautiful the orange rocks were. The colours were reminiscent of the hues we saw in Arizona and Utah.
Neda is racing mountain goats running alongside us on the dry riverbed
At the narrowest part of the gorge, vendors have set up stalls to cater to all the tourists that come here
We have to stop for a picture. Too bad not a lot of sunlight gets into this part unless it's directly overhead
Further north, the road deteriorates as not many tourists venture past the narrowest section
There is a piste that connects the Todra Gorge road to Dades Gorge further west, but it was late in the day and the forecast called for rain in a few hours, so we decided to turn back and take the main road to Dades instead.
Trying to find our riad outside of Dades Valley
It felt great to be back on the bikes and doing more exploring while the weather was good. We've got to decide if we're going to wait the rains out for the next couple of days or just bite the bullet and forge on in the wet...
Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/216.html
Dades Gorge is the twin sister to Todra Gorge that we visited yesterday. Located just an hour away, we stayed overnight at the nearby town of Boumalne to wait out the overnight showers. Unfortunately, the forecast called for more rain today so our rainsuits were on standby.
Regular maintenance at our riad
Neda's front tire is suffering from an annoying slow leak, about 1 psi every couple of days, which means we've got to make sure it's inflated on a regular basis. Now her seat lets water in and her tires let air out! Not major issues, but added to the list of all of our gear falling apart, it's really starting to weigh heavily on our mood.
On our way to Dades Gorge
Picturesque villages line the valley along the way
Ruins of an old kasbah
They call the route through the Dades Valley the "Road of a Thousand Kasbahs". These old fortresses were built by the indigenous Berbers to protect themselves from invaders.
Dades Gorge is the twin sister to Todra Gorge that we visited yesterday. Located just an hour away, we stayed overnight at the nearby town of Boumalne to wait out the overnight showers. Unfortunately, the forecast called for more rain today so our rainsuits were on standby.
Regular maintenance at our riad
Neda's front tire is suffering from an annoying slow leak, about 1 psi every couple of days, which means we've got to make sure it's inflated on a regular basis. Now her seat lets water in and her tires let air out! Not major issues, but added to the list of all of our gear falling apart, it's really starting to weigh heavily on our mood.
On our way to Dades Gorge
Picturesque villages line the valley along the way
Ruins of an old kasbah
They call the route through the Dades Valley the "Road of a Thousand Kasbahs". These old fortresses were built by the indigenous Berbers to protect themselves from invaders.
Neda's GS photobombs the landscape
Neda is attacking the twisty roads con gusto... er, avec plaisir!
Famous shot of the Dades Gorge switchbacks
It's a cloudy day, but the rain seems to have held back as we rode up and down the road that winds through the Dades Gorge. This is the best motorcycle road we've been on in Morocco thus far and we are savoring the good tarmac and the curvy roads surrounded by amazing scenery!
Stopping to admire the sights
Cool rock formations up in the distance
More Dades Gorge
Riding through the narrowest section of the gorge
A boy and his bike
We ducked into a restaurant to eat some yummy Moroccan dishes for lunch
While we ate, the skies opened up something fierce. Looks like the rains had found us again. Gahh, I really, really hate putting on the sausage suits again. My new motorcycle jacket has a thick collar and all the layers bunched around my neck: sweater, Gerbings, jacket and rainsuit feels like it's tight enough to cut off air and circulation.
All the stuff we're replacing our broken-down gear with is just not as good as when we first started off on our trip. I miss online shopping.
*whine* *whine* *whine*
Rain lets up but the skies are still threatening as we get closer to Ouarzazate
We're spending a couple of days in Ouarzazate to catch our breath. We're a bit hesitant about hitting another city again, given our bad experiences in Fes and Meknes, but this time we've opted to stay far away from the medina.
Ouarzazate is known as the gateway to the desert... if you're coming from the west. I think it's an interesting place because they filmed scenes from the Game of Thrones here. It was the location for the city of Yunkai. Cool!
Parking outside the hotel
For once, we don't have to pay for parking since the bikes are right outside the reception area and we are assured that everything should be secure. The next day, our bikes are still there but someone has swiped my security cable that was strapped down to the back seat. They stole a locked security cable. Without the key. Why would someone do that? What good would that do anyone?!?
Now I have to buy a new cable lock. So annoying.
Pick up soccer games spring up wherever there's an open space
Our plan to stay away from the medinas is working out well. All we want to be is anonymous and just observe the people going about their day-to-day lives without being harassed, and it seems the best place to do this is not be where the tourists go. We found out that there is a market every Sunday just around the corner that only the locals go to, which seemed like a good place to hang out for the morning.
The market gets busy, as people arrive by foot, motorcycle, bus
Lots of food, clothing and miscellaneous items for sale here
Tajine pots
The market was chaotic, far less organized and manicured as the souks in the medinas of the big cities. Vendors set up their shop wherever they could find room and we strolled between large tents selling furniture and blankets thrown down in the sand with trinkets and baubles strewn over top.
This is where people who actually lived here shopped and I liked the authenticity. And also not being hustled at every turn...
Chick peas and assorted beans for sale
Anyone selling a spare motorcycle security cable?
Need to pick up some new silverware?
Looking for a bargain
Buckets of olives
Fruit stand
Smug as a bug in front of rugs
It was a very good decision to stay away from the tourist spots in town. We had a very good experience just hanging out with the locals. Not sure this is going to last where we're headed next, though...
Yeah, positive. We were taking off all the soft bags to take up to the hotel room. I looked down at the cable lock strapped down on my back seat thinking exactly this: "It's already looped and locked. Nobody's going to steal a lock that's closed. I'll just leave it strapped there."
Next morning it's gone.
We're thinking it was just kids being mischievous.
nfq; said:
The simple stuff we can do ourselves, top up the oil, chain maintenance, etc. Recommended service intervals are every 10K and the BMW global dealer network is pretty extensive, and we also have a GPS database of worldwide independent shops as well, so we just drop into the nearest one to get everything done at once: tire swaps, fresh oil, valves, filters, seals, etc.
Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/217.html
It's with a mix of curiousity and dread that we're heading into Marrakesh with.
We've heard so much of this mysterious and mystical city through books and songs, as well as from other travelers and we're eager to see what all the fuss is about. But having endured the touts of Morocco's other large cities, we were also expecting the worst in the country's largest tourist capital.
The Gene amongst tajine pots
But first, we have to cross the Atlas mountains again. We made the crossing last in the east, near the desert, and it was through the range called the Middle Atlas. This time, we're going up and over the High Atlas mountain range towards the Marrakech Plains.
You can see the snow-capped Atlas Mountains in the distance
Mountains are getting closer as we climb higher
The twisty road that we're on is called the Tizi n'Tichka. Tizi means "pass" in Berber
It's with a mix of curiousity and dread that we're heading into Marrakesh with.
We've heard so much of this mysterious and mystical city through books and songs, as well as from other travelers and we're eager to see what all the fuss is about. But having endured the touts of Morocco's other large cities, we were also expecting the worst in the country's largest tourist capital.
The Gene amongst tajine pots
But first, we have to cross the Atlas mountains again. We made the crossing last in the east, near the desert, and it was through the range called the Middle Atlas. This time, we're going up and over the High Atlas mountain range towards the Marrakech Plains.
You can see the snow-capped Atlas Mountains in the distance
Mountains are getting closer as we climb higher
The twisty road that we're on is called the Tizi n'Tichka. Tizi means "pass" in Berber
The temperature drops to below freezing (-1C!) and the visibility gets worse as we ride up into the clouds. We're over 2200m above sea-level at the top of the pass and the moisture from the clouds and the freezing temperatures force us to pull over and put on our rainsuits.
Brrr!
Just like in the Middle Atlas Mountains, we find all the dogs that were exiled out of the cities by the cats
Neda feels sorry for them and rummages through her pantry (top case) to find some food for them. She generously gives up her last few scoops of peanut butter to these sorry canines, but they don't seem to know what to make of it. Even after suspiciously sniffing the open jar, they don't go for it. Neda has to spoon some out with a twig before one of the braver dogs approaches for a taste-test. Dumb dogs. No wonder the cats managed to kick you out of the cities!
Aren't dogs supposed to *love* peanut butter?
This guy knew what was good and made off with the jar!
With our rainsuits on and one jar of peanut butter lighter, we made our way back down the pass.
Brrr!
Just like in the Middle Atlas Mountains, we find all the dogs that were exiled out of the cities by the cats
Neda feels sorry for them and rummages through her pantry (top case) to find some food for them. She generously gives up her last few scoops of peanut butter to these sorry canines, but they don't seem to know what to make of it. Even after suspiciously sniffing the open jar, they don't go for it. Neda has to spoon some out with a twig before one of the braver dogs approaches for a taste-test. Dumb dogs. No wonder the cats managed to kick you out of the cities!
Aren't dogs supposed to *love* peanut butter?
This guy knew what was good and made off with the jar!
With our rainsuits on and one jar of peanut butter lighter, we made our way back down the pass.
Back down the switchbacks of Tizi n'Tichka
Back down in the Plains of Marrakesh, the weather gets sunnier again. Still not that warm though...
Our ride into Marrakesh was unremarkable. Our original intention was to try to find a place outside of the medinas and then ride in one day to visit the souks, thus avoiding the hustlers. But we found that all the accommodations were so expensive. It really was cheaper to stay in the old city, I think because the hotels in the modern areas of the city were frequented by people on business with bigger budgets and corporate expense accounts. So it was back to the medinas with the rest of the backpackers and vacationers.
Like before, we had to park outside the walls of the old city and I dove in on foot while Neda watched the bikes. I made a mistake not getting the exact GPS co-ordinates of our riad in Marrakesh before arriving. All I had was a Google Map location which maybe gets you in the right time zone when it comes to navigating in the medinas of Morocco... Lost in the labyrinths of Marrakesh, I couldn't find the place where we were staying and against my inclinations, I had to enlist the help of one of the touts waiting for business. But not before negotiating a price.
After some walking around, it seemed my young guide did not know where the riad was, but he flagged down another guy on a motorcycle who seemed to know and the guy on the bike motioned for me to get on the back seat. The riad should have been close by and I didn't want to pay extra for a ride, so I declined and followed his bike on foot. Our guesthouse was only a few hundred meters away and at the door of the riad, I settled up with the first guy who I asked for directions.
He immediately took off, leaving the motorcycle guide looking at me expectantly. Thus I was introduced to a new hustle in Marrakesh - I call it the "Everyone Gets Paid". Basically whoever you make a deal with enlists as many people he can get to help you out, then you are expected to pay everyone involved. *nuh-uh* I shook my head. "Go chase after your friend and get your money, I didn't make a deal with you".
He looked ******, probably a mixture of play-acting and annoyance that the "Everyone Gets Paid" hustle didn't work. Too bad, so sad.
Once more, into the fray we go. Into the medinas of Morocco
We were both in a very bad mood in Marrakesh. The hustlers were wearing us down and we didn't feel like leaving the riad. Why did we even bother coming to the city then? It took great effort of will to don our armour and go exploring once again.
Grounds of the El Badi Palace
One of the first attractions just outside our riad was the El Badi Palace. Built in the late 1500s, it was built to celebrate (gloat) over the Moroccan's victory against the war with the Portuguese.
Good luck storks atop one of the towers in the palace
Stork in flight, baby already delivered
Proof that I was there
Reflections in the pools at El Badi Palace
Grounds of the El Badi Palace
One of the first attractions just outside our riad was the El Badi Palace. Built in the late 1500s, it was built to celebrate (gloat) over the Moroccan's victory against the war with the Portuguese.
Good luck storks atop one of the towers in the palace
Stork in flight, baby already delivered
Proof that I was there
Reflections in the pools at El Badi Palace
Copper lamps in a Marrakesh souk
Talk to the Khamsa
The Khamsa means "Five" in Arabic and in this instance refers to an open palm symbol that is often used in artwork and jewelry as a sign of protection and to ward off the evil eye.
More peering into mosques that we were forbidden to enter. Such intricate designs inside!
Snake charmer in the souk
Djemaa-El-Fna is the largest souk in Marrakech, located in the main square of the old city. Snake charmers are known to frequent this area and we really wanted to see snakes being charmed. Before taking pictures, I asked the guy above playing the flute how much and his buddy beside him answered 10 dirham. Okay, deal.
The snake glistened menacingly like it was made of shiny, moving metal
The guy playing the flute motioned for me to come closer, he kept kicking at the snake to maneuver it into a position so I could get a better shot. I think either the snake was not poisonous or it was defanged, he didn't seem at all concerned about his (or my) safety. Thankfully I have a zoom lens...
I don't think the flute player was doing anything special. The snake didn't seemed very hypnotized or charmed or anything.
This was as close to the snake as I dared go
After I was done taking pictures, the flute-player's buddy took my 10 dirham and promptly got up and walked away, disappearing into the crowd. Oh no. Is this "Everyone Gets Paid" all over again? I looked at the flute player waiting with his outstretched hand. Yep.
I shook my head, turned around vowed never to engage with street vendors and hustlers again as he called out to me for his money. "Everyone Gets Paid" only works if tourists start falling for it and I wasn't going to contribute to this behaviour. I had no doubt in my mind that he would get his 10 dirham once his buddy came back.
We went to a fancy restaurant which was supposed to serve good tajine. Not impressed. Too many raisins.
Waiting for business
Looking out the window is a favorite past-time all over the world
Men in traditional Berber hats walking around the souk
So in the end there was nothing mystical or mysterious about Marrakesh. Nothing that we hadn't seen in any of the other medinas of Morocco. It just confirmed that we are so done with medinas and souks.
I don't think the flute player was doing anything special. The snake didn't seemed very hypnotized or charmed or anything.
This was as close to the snake as I dared go
After I was done taking pictures, the flute-player's buddy took my 10 dirham and promptly got up and walked away, disappearing into the crowd. Oh no. Is this "Everyone Gets Paid" all over again? I looked at the flute player waiting with his outstretched hand. Yep.
I shook my head, turned around vowed never to engage with street vendors and hustlers again as he called out to me for his money. "Everyone Gets Paid" only works if tourists start falling for it and I wasn't going to contribute to this behaviour. I had no doubt in my mind that he would get his 10 dirham once his buddy came back.
We went to a fancy restaurant which was supposed to serve good tajine. Not impressed. Too many raisins.
Waiting for business
Looking out the window is a favorite past-time all over the world
Men in traditional Berber hats walking around the souk
So in the end there was nothing mystical or mysterious about Marrakesh. Nothing that we hadn't seen in any of the other medinas of Morocco. It just confirmed that we are so done with medinas and souks.
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