Morocco - like I said, it won't be easy

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The trip starts nice and tame with first stop in Azrou and a chance to meet the locals

 

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On to the Cascades d'Ouzoud waterfall in the middle Atlas north east of Marrakech and another chance to marvel at more of natures wonders

 

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Following a two night stop over in Marrakech we head towards Tafroute, but at the top of the Tiz-n-Test are met with an unexpected bank of cloud, although this was actually a welcome sight as it kept the temperature down a little

 

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On through Taroudant towards Agadir but turning south via Ait-Baha we then ride a stunning road all the way to Tafroute

 

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Our first piste which runs through a palmerie in a deep gorge south of Tafroute should be an easy half day ride, but a series of around five new bridges are being built and with still wet concrete the man says NO!.

However, 200 Dirham was enough to persuade him to say YES!

So with a few planks we could get the bikes over and often just ride them straight off the other end with a couple of foot drop back onto the piste

 

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A beautiful and cool shady place to ride

 

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And there's all six of us together, a sight which was to become less familiar later in the trip.

 

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Next day we ride to Tata via Igherm, a stunning road through the Anti Atlas

 

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Here the mountains could not be more twisted, more spectacular in the heat with huge lizards either running the gauntlet of 12 TKC's or just watching the world go by

 

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After refuelling and lunch in Tata we head north back to Igherm but this time via the piste.

The description in Chris Scott's book says that after 20km the tarmac ends, it doesn't now but carries on for a further 16 km to the palmerie of Souk Tleta Tagmout, but that didn't stop Ian and I trying to ride the old piste which was sandy and blocked in several places

 

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After several 'roadworks' the the pistes crosses a river bed although poor Gavin thought he would just keep riding on up it, I er just happened to be there with the camera

 

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The route climbs steeply with rocky tight hairpins and big drops, not for the faint hearted but a stunning ride

Note how everyone is on the nearside there were a couple of offs on the way up but thankfully only minor

 

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As we climbed higher the views just got better

 

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With the sun already low in the sky, shadows enhanced the mountains and our remoteness

 

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As Ian takes in the view, we still have to get to the tarmac at Igherm before dark then ride across to Taliouine for the night.

A great days ride which I think we were all agreed on

 

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Next day is the piste from Taliouine to Foum Zguid where we'll camp somewhere before carrying on to Zagora the following day.

The first part of this piste is now tarmaced all the way to Akka-Irhen but still well worth doing.

Unfortunately we are down to four as one bike has developed what we believe to be a faulty TPS and is running very rich and one rider recovers from an ankle injury following a spill on gravel covered tarmac the previous day. They go on to meet us in Zagora.

 

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This leg also has it's moments with sand storms and the odd hiccup

 

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The late start due to trying to sort the dodgy TPS leaves us arriving in Foum Zguid with just enought time to refuell and grab a quick coffee before heading out on the piste to Zagora and finding a spot to camp before dark.

 

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40km east of Foum Zguid and it's nearly dark as we make camp.

A guy appear from nowhere to help put up the tents, I swear he said "donne moi un tictac" Steptoe texts me to tell him to 'go do one'

We cook dinner, I break out the Jack Daniels and a smoke, Ian has stashed a cool can of beer for the occassion which he guzzled gleefully

 

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We're up around 6am to make the best of the coolness and on our way an hour later