Classic airheads and Norwegians invade Morocco

Time for a couple of pretty pics.....

We climbed up out of the valley and stopped to look back at where we'd been......basically, follow the river all the way down the valley in the pic below, then around to the right at the end below the mountains. (see that distinctive ridgeline to the right with the snow on top? we'd been under or close to that for 24 hours and you can see it in many of the previous pics)

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A view I recognise--that's the Ait Bououlli valley and I reckon the village where you met the tarmac was Abachkou. So were you in the Tirsal region (N31 36.128 W6 44.530)?

Tim
 
The converted horse box we took down on this trip to act as secure bike recovery and baggage carrying/workshop...top bit of kit for this sort of thing, as you can ride in through the full height and width back ramp door, then ride out down the ramp door (front right hand side in the pic) plus it can carry 3 GS sized bikes, all the spare tyres (15-18 in there for this trip) and baggage. Being designed to take two full sized horses, they're also solidly built and well up to taking the weight we were taking in it

Aye. We took 4 bikes to the South of France in a horse box a few years back, but didn't have the luxury of adapting it permanently for our purposes as SWMBO wanted it back afterwards. Instead we overcame the lack of tie-down points by placing inner tubes from a 6t dump truck between the bikes and then inflating them - top tip I'd recommend to anyone.

I'm enjoying this thread very much, seeing a couple of familiar faces makes me realise how much I missed you guys by not going to Llangollen this year. Keep it up!

Mup.
 
Ok, here we go again (fekk does it take a long time to sort out pics into order! :blast)

We met up at the Hotel Menara that evening for a briefing and a few beers....it's a place we know very well indeed and has one or two things going for it one of which is beer and free nuts.
The other, Fatima, wasn't on that night :augie

(and I believe I'm owed a drink by a certain person for not taking that one any further :thumb)

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We arranged to start off an hour later than normal, as the party who'd some in from the impromptu stay-out were a bit knackered and we needed to get a bit for Ander's HPN centrestand, but the next morning, we packed the trailer as normal and while a bit of minor fettling was completed, everyone went for a coffee at the Petrom petrol station and topped up their tanks.

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6 miles out of Marrakech, there's a route out onto a big plain below the foothills of the High Atlas.....it's a nice track, very wide and open, fast and good for settling in people new to off-roading , but half way across it, there's a hill that we often stop and play on.

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It's not a huge hill, nor is it particularly technically challenging, but it's a bit of fun and there are some nice views from the top......

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Just near the top, there's a bit of a bump that can catch people out, but these guys are all good riders and do it with style.....Paal here on his airhead taking it all in his stride :clap

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When you get to the top, you stop, look around, normally take a photo or two, then turn around and come back down the same way, as the other sides of the hill are a bit steeper, have some more steps and are covered in very loose stones where , unlike on the 'proper' way up, the ground hasn't been squashed down.

Petter attacked the climb rather too hard, shot over the top and down the other side......it could have ended in a biggy, but he didn't panic, rode it down as far as he could hold on and came to a stop at the bottom, then dropped it :blast:D

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It didn't take long before help got to him and with zero damage, he was more embarrassed than anything else :D

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After crossing the rest of the plain, there's a section of tarmac that drops you into Asnii, and the 6 miles of sublime twisties through a pine forest ...it's fast, fun and although you do have to watch out for gravel on some corners, it's just a fantastic bit of tarmac.

After Asnii, there's a large reservoir that has only been completed in the last two years..it supplies Marakech and it's ever multiplying golf courses with water, and it's a pale blue in colour due to minerals washed into it from further upstream

The twisties go around it for a bit;

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And it's a nice place to stop for a pee and a five minute breather before tackling the 90 minute ride up the Tizi 'N' Test pass, another stunning bit of road :)

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Swedish Anders, Gary and Tim practice their macho magazine poses above the reservoir :ymca


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Tim: Go On Gaz, bend the knee a bit more, arch your back love, that's it, push for it dahling
Gary: What if I cross my boots over like this? is that better? Is the rugged thing showing through?
Tim: God yes, you're doing it for me...go on, hold it, hold it!!!!
Gary: But it hurts Tim!
Tim: Art has to hurt love....now suck it up beeyatch, you look hot!
Gary: Does my bum look big in this?

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After the break, everyone heads up the mountain
It's hard to get the scale of the place from a photo, but it's gorgeous up there, and the colours are something else :eek:

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Lots of photo opportunities

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And a road to enjoy thoroughly

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There are places where you can see the road snaking backwards and forwards on itself half a dozen times.
There are also places where you can see a good mile of road ahead of you, although it can take a few minutes to build up a complete picture of the insides of all the little bends, but if you're good, you can establish that there's nothing ahead of you coming down, and commit to some fairly ridiculous overtakes on some huge horsehoe bends.

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Of course, there are no guarantees that a heavily laden donkey will suddenly appear out of a roadside gully, and you do find your sphincter twitching sometimes as you commit yourself to go around the outside of a smoke belching coach on a long corner :eek

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Geir about to jump......Fancy packing your parachute just on the offchance!!

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As we get towards the top, there are clouds rolling past below us in the valley, but we're still in glorious sunshine until we get within a half mile of the summit, when we enter the cloud layer itself.

The temperature drops 10 degrees, and visors screens and bikes are covered in droplets of water in seconds.

There's a pretty good viewpoint from just next to the summit sign, but today, nobody stops for long...Gary passes on through, while the guys who stop for a photo of the sign marking the highest point of the road pass get pounced on immediately by the ever present and ever hopeful fossil salesman :blast
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It's only a mile further on to where the cafe is on the best viewing place on the pass.....everyone who's ever been over will recognise it immediately, and apart from the switchbacks near the Gorges Du Daades, the view from here has got to be one of the most photographed bit of road in Morocco.

Not wishing to let the guys down, I point out that you can actually see Agadir from there.

:blast

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It's nasty.

It's wet, chilly, and the diesel is lifting out of the road, making pretty rainbows before running down where we're going to be going soon.

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But here we are, at the best viewpoint on the Tizi N Test...
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Token arty shot to get at least one pretty picture at the top

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Fortunately, the normally austere cafe at the top has a nice fire going, and we pile in to get warm , have lunch and make plans.


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For many years, we've wanted to take a group down into the valley below via one of the tracks that dives off the main road down and splits into a myriad of rough looking options.....It's a long ride up though, an equally long ride down, and we've never made it up there with a group that we thought capable or up for it enough to risk it.

We'd been quite excited for days though, with this particular group, as they were all well up for an adventure, all good riders and we had no doubts that we could do it this time.

Ken and Petter are still enjoying themselves though :)

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Tim looks at one of the Gandolfini walking maps that he cafe has on the wall, with the owner looking over his shoulder......

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Hold on a second, there's something wrong here....something we haven't see before....let's call him and find out......

OI TIM!!!

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Yep, it's true...Tim is a speccy twat!!! :D













Anders doesn't like heights.
Anders REALLY doesn't like heights.

We've told him that the ride down is along a road that has some '2 bouncers', and in some places, it even becomes a 'one bouncer'.

This is based on the well known scale of severity of the drop offs....it's the number of times that you can expect to bounce before you get to the bottom of any given ravine or cliff....it ranges from 0 which is vertical, through to 5+ which is just a steep hill.

He's not looking forwards to the ride down, but the only alternative is to put his bike in the trailer and he goes down in the car.....we tell him that the car option will probably be just as bad, if not worse, as it's wide and at least on the bike he can hug the wall of the mountain and go at his own pace.

This is the face of fear....

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While the guys get their food and drink lots of coffee inside, the team has a brief discussion outside, over our own copy of the Gandolfini map for the valley below.


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There's not much likelihood that the cloud will rise anytime soon, so after being assured that it stops only 2 kilometres down the road, everyone eventually sets off.....the decision made to stick to what is rather amusingly called tarmac (it's still a lovely run down normally, so it's no major problem, and it means we still have that valley to explore on another trip!)

Those of a sensitive nature may not want to try and imagine what riding down here was like...especially when it turns out that yes, the cloud probably did stop two k's down.....but vertically down, not ALONG the road :D

Check the big gaps in the walls (which your heart tells you were probably made by cars and bikes going straight through and over) , with gravel leading straight to them, and the drop off beyond!

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Holy shit!!!! :eek:
 
Everyone made it down through the clouds safely, and after refuelling at the petrol station just to the north of Oued Berhil, the bikes all stopped in town to grab some provisions for the next day, when we know it was pretty unlikely that they'd be able to find a proper cafe on the trail for lunch

We were heading for one of our favourite hotels, the Riad Palais Hida, and one of the nicest things about getting there is the total contrast of the surrounding town and the approach to the Hida, and what you find once you're through the big sliding iron gates.

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Normally, there's an open market on the street that you turn down to reach the Hida, and the stench of an open air Moroccan market in hot weather adds to the effect of getting into the oasis within its walls, but on this trip, because we'd reversed the routes, the town was very quiet with no market on.

The Hida is a renovated Pasha's palace that gets better every year....the gardens are wonderful, there's a great swimming pool and peacocks stalk the citrus groves inside the walls.

If it's hot outside, the vegetation and tall trees create a strange effect and you can feel the heat being sucked away...it's at least 10 degrees cooler in amongst them compared to outside the walls (subjective feeling, never measured ;))

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Once we've got the guys booked in and off to their rooms, a bit of fettling is indulged in :)

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Anders attends to his frail exhaust again

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But a few small snifters of Aquavit are indulged in

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Mohammed Laafissi, the manager, has a great set of staff at the Hida, genuinely friendly and helpful, and we've got to know them pretty well over the years.

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Some of the guys go for a wander around the gardens while their room mates dive in the showers.....Ole finds one of the many little alcoves and has a quick nap :D

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In the gardens, there are limes, oranges, lemons and several banana plants....there are no bananas ripe this time, but as usual, the trees are heavy with the other fruit.

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It's just a nice place to be, especially after a tough day with some challenging riding :thumb

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Anyone who knows Tim knows that although he's well under the thumb now (ooo, that's going to sting!) and deep in Luuuurve :hug, it will never stop him from trying to pull a bird :blast

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And he's spoilt for targets here at the Hida :D

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Preprandials are taken, amd we arrange to meet up just before dinnner for a briefing and a beer (The Hida has a nice but rather too modern and dark 'lounge' bar now as well, but on this occasion we meet outside the restaurant)

Liv....these two are just for you ;)


Ken
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Ole
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A while later and we order up some cold special slags

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Thank you soooo much for the pictures! :thumb2

I have seen bikers have fun in mud before, but this is... -I can't find words! :clap:bounce1:clap

...and I have never seen a man wearing a tube and no shirt before... :drool
And the other no-skirt pictures is :drool too! Thank you, Fanum! :angel :hug

Dirty kids = happy kids.
Mud = fun.
One of the best close-up-pictures is Anders' happy face; not clean but happy!
-But how did he get a dirty face and a clean jacket and helmet?

I'm looking foreward to more pictures! jiiiiiiiii-ha! :JB

:) Liv.
 

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Tim: Go On Gaz, bend the knee a bit more, arch your back love, that's it, push for it dahling
Gary: What if I cross my boots over like this? is that better? Is the rugged thing showing through?
Tim: God yes, you're doing it for me...go on, hold it, hold it!!!!
Gary: But it hurts Tim!
Tim: Art has to hurt love....now suck it up beeyatch, you look hot!
Gary: Does my bum look big in this?
davidoffadventure_ewanmcgregor.gif


Mup.
 
This is the outside of the main dining halls of the Riad Palace Hida

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Looks nice doesn't it, but it still doesn't really prepare you for the splendour of the inside....and it's a non-bling type splendour as well, if you see what I mean...this place has class.

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Our table is laid

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It's often only after they've sat down that people look around properly.....

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And then, they finally look up at the carved wood, plaster painted and tiled ceiling.....you see 2d replicas of this sort of work all over Morocco, but this is the real thing, exquisitely done.:clap

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Food at the Hida is lovely too, extremely nice grub, though it is a fixed menu.

When we arrived though, we asked specifically if they would do our favourite Tagine for everyone, as the guys hadn't had it yet on this trip, and we knew they wouldn't be disappointed.

They keep some nice wines here as well- Ksar Rouge is nice, either in its premier cru version or the only marginally cheaper standard form, or if they have it in, we ask for Sahari Reserve, delicious but it doesn't travel well :(
First to eat though, a lovely fresh salad...

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Then the Tagines arrive

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And as always, are unveiled with a steamy flourish

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Beef, Onion and Prune tagine with sesame seeds on top :drool
(hold your dislike of the prunes for a second...they are lovely with the extremely slow cooked and fall-off-the-bone beef!)

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Very soon after this, there's none left...the remaining juices in the Tagine are quickly scraped up with bread and devoured as well, then we are served fruit for pud to round it all off :clap
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i popped round to see the big ginger tosser this evening to give him an ear bashing for not finishing this report:D:D:D:D:D

turns out that BT are ****ing up his tinternet:blast

so he sends his profuse :dabone and will continue once his connection is restored:thumb2
 
Thank you for a brilliant story:)

We (The Vikings) are currently reading through this story to verify the content, so far every seems to be ok, except from some mixed up names

I'm happy that Anders was pointed out to be the scared one:augie

Anyway, We had a fantastic adventure, hope every thing is ok with you Bill.

Br,
Geir
 
Wow, it really is time I got stuck in and finished this bugger off :blast

More to come soon........

:beerjug:
 
No rush :augie
It's only been 16 months :blast

:kissy2
 
Ok, I'm going to re-start , but first I'm going to back-track a little, as I've now got access to Ian's photobucket (Cheers big boy :kissy2) and there are some nice pics that I missed from the days I've already covered :blast

Timmy Oneblonde's rather nice orange thing:

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And Ken's Orange tool....

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Just south of Fes again, running from the rain.

Meat is on display rather than hidden away unhygienicly in fridges :blast

From right to left......half a cow, half a goat and a nice bit of donkey cock :thumb2

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I love this one that Borre took......

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