2ridetheworld.com : diary

18-11-2003 : Morocco	Page 1.- 2.- 3.- 4.- 5.
Instead of going down to Zagora Simon and I decided to continue with Paul and Melissa to Gorge du Dadés. Heading off on the N10 we headed towards Boumaine Dadés and arrived after a fantastic trip between the mountains where the earth and rock colours changed continuously.We arrived at a hotel /campsite after going up a rough off road track for a short while. The meal was great but the owner came to warn us that it was quite windy outside…we took the news in a blasé fashion only going out to look 20 minutes later to find that the wind had got up to about force 10 (!) and our tent was doing a great impersonation of a 20 foot wiggly green caterpillar! All hands to the deck as we all grabbed more pegs and mallets and started hammering in the tent to try to stop it from taking off down the mountainside. Freezing cold by the time we had finished we went back to finish our meal.
19-11--2003
So cold last night but not surprising as we are up at 6 thousand feet. Off today to ride the Gorge du Dadés. The road is a small one and one that I’m not looking forward to – all 63 km of it. It looks very twisty and we are going to try to connect to Gorge du Todra by using the off road track over the mountains…you know just pop across the High Atlas and do a bit of off roading!!! The road started off really bad tarmac, all potholes and grit – lovely. And got worse. Some good parts but some real twists – not just switchbacks but double ones!! The gorge however is so beautiful – towering rocks all ochre coloured, massive cliffs – really unusual rock formations that looked like feathers……Berber villages, palmeries (areas of palm trees) and vivid green beautiful ruined Kasbahs. Wow. The road got steeper and then stopped! No more road just dirt ……aaggh. We were high and playing off road – how fantastic! Mud tracks quite steep – over oueds and rocks – had to turn back and go back down the road as rockslide had blocked the track to the next gorge. On the way back down we camped at about 5 thousand feet. Still very cold during the night with fresh snow appearing on the peaks not far above us.
20-11--2003
Once again after discussion with Paul and Melissa we decided to continue South East towards Merzouga. Heading off once again on the N10 towards Tinejdad and cutting through on the smaller roads to Erfoud and then onto a piste towards Merzouga and the dunes. The dunes – the famous Erg Chebbi - are about 50 km south of Erfoud and it is Morocco’s only genuine Saharan dune! The landscape was just unbelievable…the Lonely Planet book says its magical, it really is. The dunes don’t look real – rather like someone has painted them! The piste was horribly corrugated (now we know what they are after reading about them in Chris Scott’s books for so long!) and practically rattled our teeth out, seated riding was definitely out of the question. Lisa had one gradual slide off in soft sand.It started to get dark and we still had about 12 km to go before we arrived at the place that we had chosen to camp( a French run auberge). But darkness comes quickly out here and we decided to stop and camp 12 k short of our destination. Very wise as it would not have been a good idea to carry on out into the desert in the pitch black!
21-11-2003
Quick pack up – 12 km on to Merzouga and quickly out the other side to Ksar Sania with its camping and French restaurant! Which we found later does only Moroccan food for its evening meals – we are getting couscoused and tajined out!!
22-11-2003
Deciding to stay camping for another day at Ksar Sania we woke up to a bit of a dusty day – our first real sand storm! Very colonial day as we spent it relaxing in the lounge area with our computers working out the next days route and writing journal and editing video footage. In the evening a treat as they serve gin and tonic here!! Looking forward to tomorrow (I think) as this will be the continuation of the real off road stuff – maybe we will be able to complete the 1000km Grand Traverse of the Moroccan Sahara!
23-11-203
Lisa writes: Today was the day of crossing from Merzouga to Zagora. It started fine but half way through the morning and packing up (after sweeping the thick sand off the tent from yesterdays sand storm) another storm started to blow. We decided to make a move anyway and packed up the bikes whilst Melissa and Paul packed up their Land Cruiser. It always makes me feel bad as they are able to pack up quicker than us and are usually waiting whilst we haul the bags onto our bikes. I wasn’t looking forward to the route – I had read Chris Scott’s plan and it sounded like some of the route was not nice at all!So, having paid the bill (more expensive than we thought but it did include food) we left Merzouga to the south. The first part of the track was awful! My heart sank as I thought that it may be this awful for the entire 239 km. Big hard packed mud ruts that pushed the bike and threw the handlebars around. Then, to further my dismay, a big thick stodge of sweeping dune! Yep, you guessed it, my front tyre dug in and I was off -(I hadn’t yet changed to my knobbly front tyre yet and still had my road tyre on and also hadn’t softened the tyres as only a small part of this route is meant to be sandy and deep) - My right leg was now underneath the bike and on a stone – probably the only stone in all the deep sand around! The bruise is going to be good. Simon, with his long legs, managed to throttle it and paddle through and stopped to come back and haul the bike off me – the job was made easier with two previously watching Berbers now coming to help. How the hells do you do this soft sand – the off road BMW course had been great – but this stuff was something else – especially with a very heavy bike. Today was going to be a bad day for me – I could feel it. Anyway, back up and nursing a numb leg we were all off again with the warning of the two local Berbers ringing in our ears – the trip across is difficult especially for two bikes so big and heavy and in the sand storm. We should get a van/truck to help us carry the bags and go unladen otherwise we may not make it…was this sound advice or just a ploy to make us hire a van…? So, we thanked them and said we would go a bit further and decide whether to continue or not. Oh dear, from bad to worse, the weather was really closing in and visibility was below 30 feet! This made riding even harder as we were unable to see and prepare the best way along the piste. Potholes and deep sand approached unseen, as all we could see was the moving and undulating sand being blasted by the strong wind. Halfway across a wide sandy oued Simon and I stopped and decided that this was not fun and we were being silly by continuing. Luckily at this point Melissa and Paul had also turned around and were also considering turning back. A few more spills later we all arrived back at the Auberge, tired, disappointed and very, very sandy. During our return journey through Merzouga Simon had spotted a large orange truck and thought, because of the logos etc, that it may be something to do with the Paris Dakar Rally (arguably the most dangerous and demanding rally in the world) and so returned to say hello. Returning really chuffed Simon had chatted to one of the co-drivers of the Renault entry who had turned out to be English despite it being a Portuguese team. Simon was impressed that the driver of the huge truck was a female – Elisabete – and that we had been invited to their hotel (just down the road) this evening for a drink. We were all knackered but at 5:30 Simon and I returned to our bikes and set off to meet the Dakar group. We arrived to find that Charly was out on the road coaching Elisabete in more dune driving (now it was dark) and so we were invited to sit with Sandra (journalist), Duarte (photographer), Anna (journalist), Pedro (press Manager) and Jose (photos), the Portuguese journalists who we covering the whole training period in Morocco. What a great time! Whilst we waited everyone was so friendly and by the time Charly arrived back we had been invited to stay and join them in their evening meal. Despite the long day they must have had both Charly and Elisabete had time to chat and offer advice about our route and riding hints. We had by then realised the full expertise of both…………..Out of the blue Charly offered his services to us tomorrow morning – he would meet us at 7:00am (aaggh) and take us out into the dunes for some sand training (aaggh again!) What an opportunity to be trained in the dune4s by a guy who was competing at this level. The fact that Charly runs a motorbike school in Senagal teaching people to ride sand didn’t hurt either.
24-11-2003
6:30am – this is the earliest we have got up in a long while! Simon was so excited that he practically jumped out of bed (so unusual!) dragging me with him. The sun was just rising and it was going to be a glorious morning – the sand storm of the previous day having completely dispersed. Charly was already there waiting for us and after taking off our panniers we headed for the dunes. I was (and had been all night) so anxious and apprehensive which was the complete opposite to Simon’s anticipation and excitement! The Erg Chebbi dunes look so huge – how the hell was I going to cope – especially as yesterday I kept sliding so much in the sand and ending up in it.Charly began by letting air out of our tyres and saying that I would need to change my road tyre at the front to a knobbly (we have actually been carrying new knobblies for me since we left Spain so this would be no probs later). After a short chat Charly pointed and told us to head off – using (hopefully) all the pointers he had just given us……….”Oh dear”, I thought, its even more difficult that I thought it would be! The bike was a alive under me, squirming and sliding, I did all the wrong things; stiffened, slowed down, clutched in and…slid to a halt, put my feet down and the ground (actually deep sand) disappeared beneath my feet, I followed suit by disappearing beneath my bike!! Charly was immediately there and lifted my bike whilst explaining all the actions I had done wrong – all of it actually! The most annoying thing is I know the textbook theory but is just getting my head to accept it.After a few false starts and some paddling, Simon was off having fun. I needed more time and Charly’s patience was great and his calm explanations so clear and confidence inspiring. “OK, getting started in soft sand is tricky” Charly explained, “Be aggressive, full throttle and then dump the clutch!” he shouted. OK – so now I was at the top of a rather large dune, but having got up there I was now looking over what felt like a razor sharp edge, was I going over that? How could I keep the bike from just falling down and tumbling after me? Once again, this time with Charly running alongside me, I made it down safely. Well, that was quite a nice feeling. Looking back up the dune it looked impossible for me to have even attempted it – but I did! More turning in soft sand, turning over fairly deep soft ruts (not nice) and more hammering up dunes. Oopps! Just stopping before the crest of a dune is NOT a good idea. In trying to start again the back wheel simply spins and digs itself in (well it does at our inexperienced stage) so for us its off the bike, push the bike right over on its side (this lifts the wheels off the sand) kick the sand back into the whole we’ve just made and lift the machine back up again and then yank it back down the dune and try again. OK so the saying is you learn from your mistakes and I was learning a lot and realised I must be a lot more aggressive – “full throttle, dump the clutch” - “full throttle, dump the clutch”. ……(and then leave the clutch alone, pretty much…the idea is to use the sand as the clutch) and suddenly there it was – I was doing it …….and it works….and when the bikes ‘squiggles’ underneath you, you relax your body and arms, control your balance and just throttle out – WOW! OK so now I was off. Things had clicked and what fun it is! Yes I fell off a lot, yes my tank has even more scratches and paint hanging off it and yes my kit is full of sand and I’m knackered – but oh what fun! With Charly and the team packed up it was time for them to head back to Europe. With our appreciation expressed and telephone numbers exchanged we also made our way back home. Taking Charly’s advice we rode all the way back through the dunes for practice. We rode in areas and soft sand that we could not have thought possible only this morning. Click here for more info & photos of our time with the Trifene-Renault Dakar Team.

ok the third part is over click here to go to the fourth part of the Moroccan section