Thunder's Road - Calum's Road 2010

19-1-10

Morocco - Rabat

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An early start (took Mikey a week to get over getting up in the dark:D) found us battling the confusion and insanity of a bustling ferry port packed with wobbly boxes, over laden cars, lorries and some serious 4 wheel drive stuff. Still it was a gentle lead up to what was to come on the other side, but more of that later....................

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Dawn came up, she was a nice girl, that's her in the middle of the picture! :D

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We admired the ingenuity of the passenger who had a van packed on a lorry on the back of a bigger lorry, way to save on fares or what? :thumb

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Once on board the bikes were eventually secured where space permitted.

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With the number of wobbly boxes on board space was limited

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and Gert had his bike squeezed in beside a lorry. Luckily his extra tyres provided some protection. :augie

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Upstairs we started on the paperwork for immigration

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before staring out at Africa

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posing for pictures at the back of the ferry,

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while one of us tried to work out which way to hold their camera :blast

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Soon we could see Tangiers and headed down to disembark

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Soon many of us would have our first experience of Moroccan immigration procedures first hand rather than just reading about it on here. Well it could'nt be that complicated could it?

TBC :thumb
 
Tangiers - Immigration

Well we had read it was chaos but nothing could prepare you for the experience of entering Morocco for the first time with your own vehicle, there must be a system but to this day I can't work out what it is. :nenau It was also our first experience of Africa time, adjust your attitude, relax and go with the flow.

Almost 5 hours later we had cleared the police checks, immigration (even though we had done it already on the ferry :blast), changed money and purchased insurance ready for the ride to Rabat. :bounce1

Not a lot of pictures of the event as the local authorities get pretty annoyed if they catch you snapping away in what they consider a secure area, but here's a few we managed.

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We stood and waited for the recorded announcement "Cashier Number 1 please! " queuing like good UK residents do before it hit us things did'nt work that way anymore. :blast

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Sid's infatuation with Dave had taken a down turn, I personally think the pink lippy heart Dave insisted on retaining was the final straw.

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2 hours later we were through the immigration terminal, unfortunately our passports and documentation were still inside, the officials had moved us as we were getting in the way and the locals were complaining about the smell of Mikey's kecks

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he was not amused!

Finally cleared we split into 2 groups to make the traffic easier to manage and headed off for Rabat. The brief was to meet at the Mauri Embassy to see if we could start the visa process that afternoon or if not all head off and find a hotel for the night and know where to go the following morning. Those with working GPS programmed in the co-ordinates for the embassy Sid had with him and off we went.

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An hour down the road Gert, Dave, Mikey and myself called in to a petrol station with a little cafe attached for a bite to eat. We ordered the menu of the day and were treated to our first Moroccan salad starter followed by lamb and paprika sausages, chips, rice and more salad, all washed down with water and coke of your preference.

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20 minutes later we heard the familiar roar of a boxer engines and the others rod passed heading for Rabat. They'd stopped off for petrol and a coffee at a previous service station.

We finished out meal with coffees all round and headed off for Rabat and the Mauri Embassy, things were going well, we should have known our luck had to change. :blast

Heading into Rabat Dave took the lead following his GPS as beast he could owing to the crap base map heading teords the Embassy POI, next thing we knew Gert, Mike and I got boxed in at traffic lights going on to a roundabout, lost site of Dave and when we got clear of the lights found he had disappeared totally. :eek:

Gert took the lead (my GPS had fried with salt corrosion back in Spain hoping to pick up Daves trail as he had the same waypoint. Problem was the traffic was our first experience of driving in a built up area in Morroco and like the immigration area normal rules of conduct don't apply, basically he who gives an inch loses.

As we continued the hunt for the embassy it started to get dark making things even more confusing. Just when we thought we were nearly there we ran out of road, we kept circling for 30 minutes before deciding it was a waste of time and we should head back to the city centre and see if we could find the others.

Thus started one of the most mental rides we had ever experienced, pitch black, no idea where we were going and local scooters and mopeds cutting you up and waving. I stayed close to Mike with Gert playing tail gunner, Mike says all he could here at each junction was me swearing like a trooper. The next day we heard some kids yelling "f*ck away off" in a perfect Norn Iron accent, he may have been right. :rolleyes:

We pulled off on to a side street and finally got the phones to work. Got 2 messages, one from Dave saying he was OK and sending us his co-ordinates, the second form the other group saying they to had given up on the Embassy hunt but had managed to find a hotel. When we checked the co-ordinates we saw it was only a mile away so forwarded the details on to Dave and headed off.

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Met up with Dave and the others at the hotel. Turned out the original waypoint we had been using was incorrect but he'd managed to find the embassy by charming the locals and found his way to it.

Turned out there was some sort of convention on in Rabat and this hotel was the third one that had been tried the others all being full.

We booked in and regrouped in the bar to discuss tactics. :jager

TBC
 
19-1-10 Rabat (continued)

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We settled into the hotel, got the got the bikes parked up for the night and met up with 2 English bikers who both groups had met individually earlier also looking for a hotel. They were not looking for the Embassy as they did not intend traveling in Mauri but where experiencing the same insanity of Rabat traffic.

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Feeling slightly intimidated by BMW's finest they elected to park in the scooter section of the hotel. :augie

Mike was approached by the hotel night porter who offered to keep an eye on the bikes overnight and ensure they were safe for 20 Dhirams (about £2) a bike. Given the fact we were on local 3rd party only insurance most of us thought this money well spent and I went out to sort things out. Initially I discussed half now, half in the morning but on reflection paid the entire "fee".

Security sorted, gear dumped Dave, Get Mikey and myself headed off to find an Irish Bar that Glen had seen close by. :beer:

Now personally I hate Irish Bars unless they are in Ireland but make a point of visiting them when abroad just to see what people view as being Irish and a bar, this one based in a 5 star hotel in the city centre was the worst ever, it's idea of Irishness were water colour pictures on the green walls and that was it! :(

We started a kitty deciding to have a drink before we left and placed an order for 3 beers and the usual Smirnoff and diet. Beers arrived first (bottled poured in glasses) and the Smurf last with the bill and the beers have finished. It worked out at £34 for the round!!! :eek:

At this point the rest of the group arrived, we mentioned the cost and suggested this we not the bar they were looking for, they headed off to find alternative refreshment and somewhere to eat, we stayed to finish our drinks and cried in the beer! :tears

Refreshment over we headed off to find somewhere to eat and after traipsing the streets came upon an eatery packed with locals (which is always a good sign).

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When we saw the illuminated sign we knew it was for us!

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"Coq Magic" just the job! :D

After a decent salad starter we elected to try the mutton cooled on a spit just inside the door, it was great and came with frites :bounce1

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Appetite sated we returned to the hotel and hit our beds, this adventuring is tiring business ya know :D
 
20-1-10

Rabat -Visa time!

Waking early I headed down to check on the bikes and see if our investment in the night porter had paid dividends. It had, I found him wrapped in an over coat, sitting watching the bikes true to his word. :thumb

He'd even blocked them in with a couple of the hotel's cars for additional security. :bow

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Even the 2 English guys bikes had been watched although they had refused payment until they inspected them in the morning.

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Bikes checked, breakfast eaten we headed off in true adventure style for the Mauri embassy to apply for our visas

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we took taxis! :D

Outside the embassy we found loads of people waiting and filling in application forms, all types, including an Asian couple who were walking through Africa with all their possessions on a Mac Laren buggy. No baby, but they did have a guitar on board! :eek:

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At this point we regretted having the taxis drop us at the door! :toungincheek

Sid managed to track down some forms so we adjourned to a nearby flat bed pick up, used it as a desk,( Mikey thought it gave off an appropriate image of adventure :D) and headed back to be at the door of the visa section ready for the next time it opened to let applicants in.

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Sid's infatuation for Dave was definitely over which did not seem to bother Dave

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even if he was now infatuated with Gert :D

Once inside the door we had our first experience of African government officials and found out very quickly that they don't have a sense of humour and don't like to be kept waiting.

With the cancellation of the visa at the Mauri border they now no longer offered a 3 day visa, you got a 10 day one no matter what box you ticked on the form at a cost of 340 Dirham.

Luckily I had a photocopy of my passport with me as he wanted that with my 2 passport photos but most of my currency was in Euros which he would not accept. :blast

As we did a quick calculation of who needed Dirham ( I was a 100 short) the official began clicking his fingers and telling me to hurry up or he would tear up my paperwork. Luckily between us we had enough for everybody so money paid I eft the building and headed to an ATM with Sid discussing the situation as we went. Next thing we know the officials out the door telling us to stop loitering and get off the premises! Made me feel homesick that did! :D

Applications submitted we headed back to the hotel to meet Andres and head off to do some site seeing before returning to the Embassy at 3 to hopefully collect our visas.

TBC :thumb
 
With time on our hands and the hotel bar closed some of went off for a walk and ended up at the tomb of Mohammad the fifth which had ceremonial guards on horseback at the gates, a bit like the guards at Buckingham palace but with sand to catch the droppings.

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Pretty impressive building but we didn't go inside as it meant taking your shoes off and we couldn't work out the protocol for a person with a false leg. :D

Instead we admired the site

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and practiced our adventurers poses :augie

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before heading back to the embassy to see if we had been issued with visas.

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We had! :bounce1

So in true adventurer style, went back to the hotel to prepare to celbrate the event! :jager

TBC :thumb
 
20-1-10 - Rabat - evening

All of us who were intending to ride all the way to Gambia now had visas, unfortunately Sid had the same as the rest of us, a 10 day single entry visa rather than a longer multi entry one he needed for his return trip. :blast

We headed for the local market for a browse and to find somewhere to eat.

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I bought some nougat which was magic! :D

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Glenn bought some dried fruit which was not :(

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Glenn had already demonstrated a natural instinct for finding decent places to eat and as we walked through the markets his "spidey" senses started tingling in front of a dark stairway which you'd easily just walk past.

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Fantastic place, superb food, great atmosphere, attentive service and a fantastic view of the area from the rickety wooden balcony right beside our table.

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Some of us had a tajine

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which I renamed tangine in memory of Tangine Mc Queen, an old girlfriend with a pointy head, Sid did'nt understand and insisted on correcting us. :D

Mikey and myself went into giggle mode, spent the entire time giggling and laughing uncontrollably. I blamed the magic nougat combined with an allegedly purloined supply of Dave's up market malaria medication :drool

Glenn was looking flushed

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which was an indication of things to come..............

Meal over we returned to the hotel for a night cap, 5 minutes after we sat down Dave's phone rang. It was Andres ringing from his room. He'd broken his leg! :eek:

Now in this case it was his prosthetic leg but still an issue which would have to be dealt with the next day.

TBC :thumb
 
Superb Report......




I don't want to appear Ignorant of all things Airhead and I know I'll be derided for years to come for not knowing about Weird Dakar bling bits BUT.....


Isn't that an old FJ1100 fairing on the 80 Roger ?:hide
 
Superb Report......




I don't want to appear Ignorant of all things Airhead and I know I'll be derided for years to come for not knowing about Weird Dakar bling bits BUT.....


Isn't that an old FJ1100 fairing on the 80 Roger ?:hide

FJ1200 actually, but well spotted that man :thumb

You can read all about it over on the Gambia on an Airhead thread, was a very special bike built in the early 90's by an enthusiast now deceased, I retained the fairing for the trip as that's how he had designed it. :rob

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21-1-2010

Marrakech

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The day started with some issues which had to be sorted. Andres had a broken prosthetic which needed fixed, Sid had the wrong visa for Mauritania and Glenn was suffering from the healthy dried fruit he'd purchased the night before and had spent a restless night between his bed and the bathroom sitting on the toilet. :eek:

Sid was going to return to the Mauri embassy to sort out his visa, John was going to go with Andres to find someone who could rivet the broken leg while Glenn would join Gert, Mikey Dave and myself to ride down to Marrakech and find accommodation for the night.

Plans in hand we set off on our respective journeys but not before Glenn threw up twice outside the hotel. What made things worse was he did not give us any warning so no one had a camera ready. :blast :D

The five of us set off for our first ride away from the dreaded but essential motorways we had been forced to use so far.

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Once clear of the city we started to enjoy ourselves

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and of course there was the scenery..................

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Glenn was still feeling the effects of the dried fruit but never let it show, what a trooper :thumb

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Heading down through the mountains we stopped to stretch our legs.

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Dave had an idea

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and headed off to try his new tyres

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We let him get on with it before heading on to the outskirts of our destination but had another stop for some drinks at a road side shop.

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before the final hop to Marrakech

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where we found an Ibis hotel with secure parking, booked in and sent a text to the others telling them where we had ended up.

We adjourned to the bar to await their arrival. :jager

Tonight we'd explore the market place. :thumb

TBC
 
Roger you missed one of the classic moments!!!!

Roger you missed one of the classic moments!!!!

We took a wrong turning about 60km for Marrekesh.

Looking at the map there was a single track road. Gert and I decided it was a good idea.

Off we went.
To be honest it wasn't too bad - that is when there was no other traffic on the road.

At times passing became very interesting with the use of the verges and the tiny amount of dirt at the side of the road.

On one occassion many "fecks" were heard as Thunder skittered off the side of the road narrowly missing a ditch he was forced to take this action as a large truck was bearing down on him, they passed each other with the truck driver giving Roger a pleasant smiled and continued on, how polite the Moroc people are.

All good character building stuff for later in the trip :augie
 
Roger you missed one of the classic moments!!!!

We took a wrong turning about 60km for Marrekesh.

Looking at the map there was a single track road. Gert and I decided it was a good idea.

Off we went.
To be honest it wasn't too bad - that is when there was no other traffic on the road.

At times passing became very interesting with the use of the verges and the tiny amount of dirt at the side of the road.

On one occassion many "fecks" were heard as Thunder skittered off the side of the road narrowly missing a ditch he was forced to take this action as a large truck was bearing down on him, they passed each other with the truck driver giving Roger a pleasant smiled and continued on, how polite the Moroc people are.

All good character building stuff for later in the trip :augie

Feck I forgot about that. :blast Well blocked it out more likely. :D

Was actually one of those days that scared you shitless yet had you whooping like a lunatic after a while. :bounce1

Bike's were doing a fine job, back ends all over the place, sun in your eyes and dirt in your face. :D
 
Marrakech by night.

Andres and John arrived on four wheels and four legs. :bounce1 Thanks to a friendly hotel porter and a local saddle maker they got the repairs completed successfully. Sid also arrived with his correct visa so in true adventure spirit we headed off to the square in Marrakech by getting 2 taxis!

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Even off season it was a tourist haven.

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We wandered around soaking up the atmosphere with the smell of adventure in our nostrils.

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Bhud's bottle had broken in his saddle bag on the way down, it was not pleasant, even the locals were complaining! :D

We selected one of the out door restaurants in the square and perused the menu

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between the smell of Davidoff and excessive flatulence Dave was not having a good day

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Food selected we tucked in to the evening meal

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listened carefully while the owner explained the billing system

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and posed for a picture while he realised he could finally afford that new Mercedes and his wife thought of how many pairs of shoes she could buy now we'd settled the bill!

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We went for a dander and found her shoe supplier had heard we were coming :augie

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exploring the stalls Glenn was heading for a purveyor of dried fruit, but we dragged him away explaining it was his for his own good and oranges were not the only fruit!

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We decided to do something traditional so went to a local barbers :D

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Andres had a shave while we discussed the sad state of local football with the owners son.

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Sid had a trim while Andres fell asleep in the barbers chair.

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Gert had a close shave

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and Dave and I went for the full monty! :eek:

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much to Mikey's amusement

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All sorted we split into 2 groups, those ready for the hotel and those in search of sticky buns, I'll leave you to guess who was in what group but to give you a clue I was with Dave. :augie

Another day, another doughnut :D
 
22-1-10

Tiznit

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Another dawn, another day up and breakfasted we broke in to 2 groups to continue the journey south, Gert, Mikey Gert and myself headed off on the more direct yet supposedly boring route to see where we ended up.

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As usual we stopped off to admire the scenery

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Mike was relieved to find a sheltering bush

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while another of the party was relieved to find Dave's sheltering bike, and even more relieved that Dave was elsewhere topping up his tan. :augie

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which was essential after the head shaving the previous evening :D

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further up the road we stopped for our morning break,

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coke and choccy biccies, the break of adventurers. :drool

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The mountain roads beckoned

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At the next petrol station we stopped to top up our tanks and grab a bite to eat. I forgot we were in an Islamic country and made the mistake of asking for a ham and cheese omelette :blast

What we got though was one of the best (and cheapest) meals of the trip so far, local omelette with onions and tomatoes in olive oil, 2 fried eggs on top with fresh crusty bread. Fantastic! :drool

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As we approached did some research for potential accommodation. Talking to one of the locals in a shop he was told the Hotel Izou was good and worth staying at.

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Dave spent the time perfecting his adventure pose.

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The hotel was right in the middle of the town right on the main road, modern, clean and very reasonably priced.

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Staff could'nt have been more helpful, taking our bags to our rooms, storing helmets in the porters office and clearing space in an underground storage are so we could park the bikes securely over night. :thumb

Only thing was it was another bloody four star!!! :D

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Dave was pleased with the extra soft quilted toilet roll in the rooms. :augie

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We heard from the others that they had stopped in Agidir so adjourned to the bar for some pre-dinner drinks. 3 hours later we had dinner in a little cafe across the road from the hotel before heading for our rooms for a reasonably early night.

TBC :thumb
 
23-1-2010

Laayoune

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We decided to make an early start after breakfast and a sound nights sleep so were on the road just as the sun came up.

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As we left the town we started climbing again on some cracking roads

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and soon dropped down on to a plain where we stopped for our by now obligatory photo stop.

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On the road again we settled down to a gentle bimble and rode on tarmac through fairly barren landscape with the odd town thrown in. It was pretty uninteresting as at no point did we stop for photographs.

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Then just before 2 in the afternoon we crossed a causeway

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and we were stopping all over the place! :D

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sometimes in the wrong place..............

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but soon sorted. :D

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The scenery just got better

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with so many contrasts in the colour of the sand which Gert explained to us was down to oxidisation and age. As his fische said he was a mechanic his encyclopedic knowledge of geology just continued to amaze us! :augie

Yet another stop overlooking the sea found us enjoying yet another view,

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when out of nowhere a local fisherman appeared for a chat, he lived on the beach in a tent, had heard the bikes arriving and came up to see what was going on.

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Gert chatted happily

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Mike practiced his adventure pose

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and Dave answered a call on his experimental sunglasses phone :augie

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The future may be bright, but it ain't orange! :D

We continued on and soon arrived in Laayonne a town filled with members of the UN, accommodation was limited but on speaking to a local policeman were directed to a little 2 star hotel on the main road into the town.

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We booked in and were joined later by the others who had seen the bikes parked outside, Andres had as planned headed back to play in Morocco before heading home. So now we were seven.

TBC :thumb
 
24-1-10

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After a good nights sleep and a decent breakfast in the cafe attached to the hotel we packed the bikes and headed off for what would potentially be our last night in Western Sahara.

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Shortly after leaving the town we pulled in for some pictures, Dave was determined to see a camel toe at close quarters.

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while Gert got creative with his helmet

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On the road again Gert, Mike , Dave and myself continued through the next town while the others called in for fuel and coffee. We didn't get that far though as we found yet another photo opportunity. :blast

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Mikey topped up his tan

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Glen and John stopped to admire the view

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and show us how effective John's crash bars were :D

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Life was indeed a beach!

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But the road beckoned

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At our next fuel stop we got chatting to guy from Wales who lived in Dahkla and was a regular traveler in Mauritania. He gave us lots of up to date information on the situation.

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The Dahkla peninsula approached

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we stopped again :augie

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Dave went to check the condition of the sand on the left

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Glen was on the right

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Dave headed off on his bike followed by Gert, Mike and John

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well for a while at least :augie

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Glen was also having problems and had dropped his bike in the sand. :blast

Cold beer and a shower was now the order of the day so we headed into Dahkla to find a hotel.

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As the sun set tans were topped up

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and we settled in for the night to discuss Mauri. Would we wouldn't we? Well you know the answer, but at that point we didn't!

TBC :thumb
 
Thunder,

Was the chap you bumped into in Dakla called Colin? If so I met him on my trip through. Had a lot of info on crossing into Mauritania.
 
Thunder,

Was the chap you bumped into in Dakla called Colin? If so I met him on my trip through. Had a lot of info on crossing into Mauritania.


Yes his name is Colin, he passed on a heap of useful information particularly on the crossing of the minefield



The sand is deep in the middle: for any future passage planners - stick to the edge!!!! You will find it alot easier!
 
25-1-10

Goodbye Western Sahara

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Sun was up and so were we, breakfast over bikes being packed and Mikey was doing a bit of tidying up after those involved had taken the opportunity to remove great chunks of the Sahara which had become lodged on the bikes after yesterday afternoons little excursion, :augie

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On the way back to the main road south (well only road south actually) we admired the scenery and the wobbly box village out on the peninsula.

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We called in at a garage so those who needed to could top up their tanks, we'd learned to top up when we got the chance as some garages only stocked diesel and it was common to arrive and find that the petrol was sold out. :eek:

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It was still windy.

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Gert continued to remove compacted and now solidified sahara from his bike

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A land rover with a camel in the back arrived

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Dave was well pleased, he got the picture he'd been looking for. :bounce1

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Heading off on the final leg of the trip to the border the winds increased and we ended up riding through shifting sand which at times totally obscured the road. John managed to get some pictures holding his camera in his left hand as he rode. :clap

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We arrived at the border in the early afternoon and began processing the paper work to exit the country. Soon we were sitting at the final checkpoint ready to enter no mans land. Photography was forbidden but we managed to sneak a picture just as we were about to leave. :augie

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TBC :thumb
 


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