The Road Goes On Forever .
Saturday 31st March. 6am. Beep beep beep beep beep, thump - Silence.
5 more minutes, then I’ll be fine to get up.
Today’s the start of “The Moroccan Dash II “
I have no idea how many are going, all I know for certain is that three riders are meeting us at the port in Algerciras, Spain, on Monday morning at 9ish am. I love a plan.
I did all the main packing on the bike yesterday, so I’ll be ready to roll as soon as I don the Aerostich, and lid, and gloves, and just make sure I’ve earplugs, sunglasses, lipbalm, tictacs, buff, spare gloves, cash, cards, maps, rough guide, phone, phonecharger, I-pod, I-pod charger, quicky camera, good camera, memory cards, camera batteries, battery charger, torch. I’m now sweating like a pig. Have I mentioned I packed yesterday ?
Sitting on the bike ready to roll, GPS on, engine running, ear monitors in, everything packed. Lets thumb the I-pod, and see what it throws at me as a soundtrack for the beginning of the trip. = Iggy Pop – I am a Passenger.
I wasn’t going to bore you with riding the M25 section. But I will. There was an erratically driven estate car in the outside lane, with nothing in front of it, which was holding me up. I normally would have just gone past it on the inside, but I had thoughts of teenagers on their way back home to the Eastuary towns in a stolen car after a night out in a south London crack den. The passenger in the rear waving/gesticulating at me through the window just confirmed the thought.
It slowly moved over which allowed me to shoot safely past it on the drivers side. I glanced a quick look at the driver, who had a stupid look on his face, mouthing something at me. Then I looked again. It was “Percy”, AKA pint6x, AKA Phil. That explained everything.
Well, arrival at the channel terminal. Moment of truth. Am I riding through France and Spain on my lonesome. No, there are six other GSER’s, with more to meet on the other side, who’d crossed earlier.
We rode the train, and arrived in France. The others were waiting at the petrol station. Another four people. Making ten in all for the ride through France and Spain.
A fairly uneventful ride through France, except for Donnys enthusiasm for turning off the autoroutes for petrol ! Good weather all the way.
Arrived in Bordeaux 8.30pm, after a halfhour crawl through the traffic in the town. Booked into an Ibis. Dinner was served at 9.30pm.
I-pod had played 134 songs, finishing on - A Whiter Shade of Pale .
Total Mileage for the day, from my door to hotel 620 miles.
Day 2.
Thumb the I-pod into life. Start the day with Robert plant - “All the Kings horses”,
On the road at 6.30, head out of town, on the long flat road through the Gironde. The road with the speed cameras in the center reservation facing you at head height. The flash as you pass wakes you up. After a quick 60 miles, stop at a service station for breakfast. And fuel for Donny.
Not long after and we’re crossing the border into Spain.
Then it started to rain. Heavily.
The group spread out, due to traffic and the weather. The rain stopped after halfhour.
We stopped for lunch at a restaurant alongside a service station, and found we’d lost two, Darkhorse Dave, and John ( dryskier). Never mind, they’re bound to be looking as they pass garages. Aren’t they ? .
No txts received, so no one has broken down or had any problems.
We carry on after lunch. Arriving at the next toll booth, we find one of the lost, John, who said Dave had stopped as the rain was at it’s heaviest ( we found out this was due to the heavy rain/waterlogged slippery road surface and Daves TKC’s). John had stopped, but said Dave never passed him ?.
Dave had passed him, while John was stood at the side of the road, but never mind !. We carried on.
I’d received a TX from Whatton, who was some miles ahead of us saying Darkhorse had just passed them. So I tx’d Dave saying he was ahead of us, in case he thought he was behind us, and really pushing trying to catch up.
Going through Madrid, I took the wrong turn off, I realized what I’d done as I did it. Tim followed me, the others went on.
As it turned out, we had a 5 minute detour before getting back on track futher along the road, And the others told us later they had a 30 minute traffic jam in a tunnel. Oh how we laughed. So we were now in two separate groups. I did miss stopping for fuel for Donny.
Passed the 4x4 “Sand up your bum tour”, stopped and had a quick chat, and tx’d darkhorse Dave and met him 15 miles further on.
The weather warmed up as we headed south. Tim, Dave and myself arrived at the hotel in Algerciras at 8pm.
Name the I-pod tune playing - Buster Brown = Fanny Mae .
Tx’d the others the waypoint (although Wapping knew we were heading for this hotel), as I tx’d them, they sailed straight past.
Then the 4x4 crew turned up, none of this meeting up was planned, it just happened.
The rest of the bikes finally arrived 20 minutes later.
One was missing. John ( dryskier) had got lost in Madrid. He’d sent me a tx, “still lost after 3 hours” and decided to stay there.
The hotel restaurant was closed, so a few of us went off into town at 10pm to find a restaurant - And a very fine eatery we ended up finding. Leaving at 1am, 55 euros each lighter, and a very stressed annoyed lobster in a tank ( you had to be there), and a lesson learned “don’t leave the ordering to Wapping”.
Total Mileage for the day 843 miles.
Day 3.
The hotel is only a 10minute ride away from the ferry terminal.
We meet Skippy, Orbit and Fridgestar at the ferry terminal 9am.
That makes a total of 12 GSER’s, heading for Morocco on the 10am ferry crossing .
It’s good when it all goes to plan, well it would be if I’d had one.
It was the usual Moroccan self made chaos at the border. We chuck the “helpers” some money as we can’t be arsed fecking about with 12 people and bikes. And Moroccos unequal wage structure has been in place long before giving a helper a bung. Actually, I was invited into a customs office, and gave the two officers a “drink”. That was a first.
Then we’re in .
Another continent. The land with Cerulean skies and no pubs .
Ready to go, thumbed the I-pod - Groove Armada = Hands of Time .
We’re heading to Fez. Via Zoumi ( town of shite).
Reach the turn off for Zoumi, and it’s raining heavily. Conveniently, there happens to be a tea shop at the junction, so we stop, and some have their first taste of Moroccan mint tea. We also have a Tea/coffee whip, which tour dad, Richard ( wapping) was volunteered to be in charge of.
A decision is made, those that don’t want to go along the zoumi road, can take the normal road, those that like the thought of riding through mud and shite can take the road via Zoumi.
I’m taking the normal road. You must understand, it’s not that I didn’t want to ride in the mud and shite , I’ve ridden it before. But to escort the few riders who didn’t want the unique experience of the road to Zoumi, and to show them the coffee shop where we are going to wait for the others to catch up..
Just after leaving the others and watching them set off on the track, we stopped for fuel, I’m not sure why, as Donny wasn’t with us .
While under cover at the garage, it hailed very heavily. At that moment how I wished to be on the shitty, wet, muddy zoumi road. Not.
We were planning to meet with the others at the tea shop, at a point not long after they’d be back on the main road. We waited nearly two hours, then decided to set off to fez, book a hotel and tx them the GPS co-ords.
Tried the Fez Inn, a good place to stop, with an “interesting” bar cliental . But it was full.
So off to the fez Ibis. I’m not keen on staying in Ibis hotels. But it seemed the easiest decision.
On entering and asking if there were any rooms available ( 6 doubles), the receptionist said “sorry, no chance, absolutely full up”.
So we were about to leave when he said “ I may have a couple of family rooms, and find some put-you-up beds”
So we said that’ll do. And tx’d the co-ords to the others.
Then the receptionist said ” actually, I may have 6 double rooms available”.
So it went from being “absolutely no chance, full up”, to exactly what we wanted, in the space of two minutes !!!!!!
The others arrived within the next 30mintues . All present and correct and squeezed into the hotel security compound.
I-pod finished on “Elenore” - by The Turtles.
Showered, to the bar, few beers, evening meal, back to the bar, few more beers, then bed.
Total mileage for the day 204. (Algerciras = Fez)
Day 4.
A relaxed day, breakfast at 8.30am.
On the road at 9.30, Wapping had forgotten something at the hotel, so he went back, and we went on. I-pod was thumbed. Abba = Waterloo. Oh dear.
We stopped at Ifrane, a swiss type village in the middle of Morocco, for a mid-morning coffee.
And for Richard to catch up. This was vital, as our tour Dad had all the whip money to pay for the coffee and cakes.
Saturday 31st March. 6am. Beep beep beep beep beep, thump - Silence.
5 more minutes, then I’ll be fine to get up.
Today’s the start of “The Moroccan Dash II “
I have no idea how many are going, all I know for certain is that three riders are meeting us at the port in Algerciras, Spain, on Monday morning at 9ish am. I love a plan.
I did all the main packing on the bike yesterday, so I’ll be ready to roll as soon as I don the Aerostich, and lid, and gloves, and just make sure I’ve earplugs, sunglasses, lipbalm, tictacs, buff, spare gloves, cash, cards, maps, rough guide, phone, phonecharger, I-pod, I-pod charger, quicky camera, good camera, memory cards, camera batteries, battery charger, torch. I’m now sweating like a pig. Have I mentioned I packed yesterday ?
Sitting on the bike ready to roll, GPS on, engine running, ear monitors in, everything packed. Lets thumb the I-pod, and see what it throws at me as a soundtrack for the beginning of the trip. = Iggy Pop – I am a Passenger.
I wasn’t going to bore you with riding the M25 section. But I will. There was an erratically driven estate car in the outside lane, with nothing in front of it, which was holding me up. I normally would have just gone past it on the inside, but I had thoughts of teenagers on their way back home to the Eastuary towns in a stolen car after a night out in a south London crack den. The passenger in the rear waving/gesticulating at me through the window just confirmed the thought.
It slowly moved over which allowed me to shoot safely past it on the drivers side. I glanced a quick look at the driver, who had a stupid look on his face, mouthing something at me. Then I looked again. It was “Percy”, AKA pint6x, AKA Phil. That explained everything.
Well, arrival at the channel terminal. Moment of truth. Am I riding through France and Spain on my lonesome. No, there are six other GSER’s, with more to meet on the other side, who’d crossed earlier.
We rode the train, and arrived in France. The others were waiting at the petrol station. Another four people. Making ten in all for the ride through France and Spain.
A fairly uneventful ride through France, except for Donnys enthusiasm for turning off the autoroutes for petrol ! Good weather all the way.
Arrived in Bordeaux 8.30pm, after a halfhour crawl through the traffic in the town. Booked into an Ibis. Dinner was served at 9.30pm.
I-pod had played 134 songs, finishing on - A Whiter Shade of Pale .
Total Mileage for the day, from my door to hotel 620 miles.
Day 2.
Thumb the I-pod into life. Start the day with Robert plant - “All the Kings horses”,
On the road at 6.30, head out of town, on the long flat road through the Gironde. The road with the speed cameras in the center reservation facing you at head height. The flash as you pass wakes you up. After a quick 60 miles, stop at a service station for breakfast. And fuel for Donny.
Not long after and we’re crossing the border into Spain.
Then it started to rain. Heavily.
The group spread out, due to traffic and the weather. The rain stopped after halfhour.
We stopped for lunch at a restaurant alongside a service station, and found we’d lost two, Darkhorse Dave, and John ( dryskier). Never mind, they’re bound to be looking as they pass garages. Aren’t they ? .
No txts received, so no one has broken down or had any problems.
We carry on after lunch. Arriving at the next toll booth, we find one of the lost, John, who said Dave had stopped as the rain was at it’s heaviest ( we found out this was due to the heavy rain/waterlogged slippery road surface and Daves TKC’s). John had stopped, but said Dave never passed him ?.
Dave had passed him, while John was stood at the side of the road, but never mind !. We carried on.
I’d received a TX from Whatton, who was some miles ahead of us saying Darkhorse had just passed them. So I tx’d Dave saying he was ahead of us, in case he thought he was behind us, and really pushing trying to catch up.
Going through Madrid, I took the wrong turn off, I realized what I’d done as I did it. Tim followed me, the others went on.
As it turned out, we had a 5 minute detour before getting back on track futher along the road, And the others told us later they had a 30 minute traffic jam in a tunnel. Oh how we laughed. So we were now in two separate groups. I did miss stopping for fuel for Donny.
Passed the 4x4 “Sand up your bum tour”, stopped and had a quick chat, and tx’d darkhorse Dave and met him 15 miles further on.
The weather warmed up as we headed south. Tim, Dave and myself arrived at the hotel in Algerciras at 8pm.
Name the I-pod tune playing - Buster Brown = Fanny Mae .
Tx’d the others the waypoint (although Wapping knew we were heading for this hotel), as I tx’d them, they sailed straight past.
Then the 4x4 crew turned up, none of this meeting up was planned, it just happened.
The rest of the bikes finally arrived 20 minutes later.
One was missing. John ( dryskier) had got lost in Madrid. He’d sent me a tx, “still lost after 3 hours” and decided to stay there.
The hotel restaurant was closed, so a few of us went off into town at 10pm to find a restaurant - And a very fine eatery we ended up finding. Leaving at 1am, 55 euros each lighter, and a very stressed annoyed lobster in a tank ( you had to be there), and a lesson learned “don’t leave the ordering to Wapping”.
Total Mileage for the day 843 miles.
Day 3.
The hotel is only a 10minute ride away from the ferry terminal.
We meet Skippy, Orbit and Fridgestar at the ferry terminal 9am.
That makes a total of 12 GSER’s, heading for Morocco on the 10am ferry crossing .
It’s good when it all goes to plan, well it would be if I’d had one.
It was the usual Moroccan self made chaos at the border. We chuck the “helpers” some money as we can’t be arsed fecking about with 12 people and bikes. And Moroccos unequal wage structure has been in place long before giving a helper a bung. Actually, I was invited into a customs office, and gave the two officers a “drink”. That was a first.
Then we’re in .
Another continent. The land with Cerulean skies and no pubs .
Ready to go, thumbed the I-pod - Groove Armada = Hands of Time .
We’re heading to Fez. Via Zoumi ( town of shite).
Reach the turn off for Zoumi, and it’s raining heavily. Conveniently, there happens to be a tea shop at the junction, so we stop, and some have their first taste of Moroccan mint tea. We also have a Tea/coffee whip, which tour dad, Richard ( wapping) was volunteered to be in charge of.
A decision is made, those that don’t want to go along the zoumi road, can take the normal road, those that like the thought of riding through mud and shite can take the road via Zoumi.
I’m taking the normal road. You must understand, it’s not that I didn’t want to ride in the mud and shite , I’ve ridden it before. But to escort the few riders who didn’t want the unique experience of the road to Zoumi, and to show them the coffee shop where we are going to wait for the others to catch up..
Just after leaving the others and watching them set off on the track, we stopped for fuel, I’m not sure why, as Donny wasn’t with us .
While under cover at the garage, it hailed very heavily. At that moment how I wished to be on the shitty, wet, muddy zoumi road. Not.
We were planning to meet with the others at the tea shop, at a point not long after they’d be back on the main road. We waited nearly two hours, then decided to set off to fez, book a hotel and tx them the GPS co-ords.
Tried the Fez Inn, a good place to stop, with an “interesting” bar cliental . But it was full.
So off to the fez Ibis. I’m not keen on staying in Ibis hotels. But it seemed the easiest decision.
On entering and asking if there were any rooms available ( 6 doubles), the receptionist said “sorry, no chance, absolutely full up”.
So we were about to leave when he said “ I may have a couple of family rooms, and find some put-you-up beds”
So we said that’ll do. And tx’d the co-ords to the others.
Then the receptionist said ” actually, I may have 6 double rooms available”.
So it went from being “absolutely no chance, full up”, to exactly what we wanted, in the space of two minutes !!!!!!
The others arrived within the next 30mintues . All present and correct and squeezed into the hotel security compound.
I-pod finished on “Elenore” - by The Turtles.
Showered, to the bar, few beers, evening meal, back to the bar, few more beers, then bed.
Total mileage for the day 204. (Algerciras = Fez)
Day 4.
A relaxed day, breakfast at 8.30am.
On the road at 9.30, Wapping had forgotten something at the hotel, so he went back, and we went on. I-pod was thumbed. Abba = Waterloo. Oh dear.
We stopped at Ifrane, a swiss type village in the middle of Morocco, for a mid-morning coffee.
And for Richard to catch up. This was vital, as our tour Dad had all the whip money to pay for the coffee and cakes.
busy
