The Recce Patrol

[SkyGod]

Day 3

The start of Day 3 saw us leave AL Hoceima around 0730 but not before checking out a great looking hotel overlooking the Sea which I intend on using on our May Trip.

Lush bedrooms that will no doubt suit "Gentleman that are good with colours".
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The rest of the Hotel was fabulous and will certainly go along with my belief of hard riding during the day (don't lower yourself to comment on this bit please) met with as much luxury as we can get hold of at night .
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We had about 20 miles of fairly built up slow roads with an abundance of plod speed traps along the route. This was fairly tedious but then had 25 miles of fabulous 40-60 mph twisties with a great road surface. Just the ticket for scrubbing in the Michelin Deserts.

We then stopped at noonish for a Spitroast................oh please!!!!!!!!!!!!
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[SkyGod]

After a cracking lunch in Kassita we brimmed the tanks and set off again.

After just a few k`s it was my plan to find a way onto the piste that was a few miles to the East. The routes had been selected from old track logs folk had given me and a combination of google earth images. Clearly some of this was a few years old and if you know Morocco at all you will be aware that tracks and piste can change within a few weeks/months never mind years.

I stumbled through a river bed and headed towards what I hoped would bring us onto the main track. After 20 minutes of negotiating river banks and loose gravel we stumble into a small village that could have been accessed from the original road we where on. Mental note for the next trip!

We where then greeted with about 20 miles of spectacular piste. A mixture of tight twisty sections interspersed with 60 mph fast bits. This would be amazing on a big bike like a 990 or a HP2.
I have plenty of Go Pro footage of these sections which will arrive eventually after editing.
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[Ash]

more please mister..........

PS
Raise a glass for Ditchy, whilst your over there.....

 

[Earache]

Looking forward to more!

 

[mcinlb]

You do have an interesting turn of phrase, enjoying report so far............

 

[Tinytim]

Got me howling at poor Brian.

Loving it so far.

 

[SkyGod]

The piste finally brought us to a main road (N15) and we headed for our next nights digs in the town of Missour. Not a lot happening there and not much hotel accommodation to choose from but I find us a place in a motel type that had great food it turned out. A couple of Swiss types there on F650 Dakars who where on an epic trip. Interesting chaps.
You do meet some characters on the road.

No pics today but here is a tasty filly to keep you going.

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[SkyGod]

Day 4 Missour To Boudnib

Well this day started out at 0730 as we left our Motel and headed back up the N15 towards Outat El Haj. The piste onto the Rekkan Plateau started near here and it would be the last fuel we got for quite a while.

I was really looking forward to today as this was a new route for me and predominantly off road I believed. Little did I know as I left the lads getting fuel and started to look for the start of the piste what dramas the day would have install for us!

After 20 minutes of overlanding on a bearing I find the piste and then head back to collect the men.

We then set off and did a good 20 miles of great hard packed but dusty trail.
Although I had a rough route plotted into the GPS I was following waypoints which were at times miles apart so it was down to me to piece together the tracks in-between them.

Being no stranger to navigation in foreign climes I can say that this was about as tricky as it gets. Trails leading off in all directions and just your gut feeling to follow on which one was right.
A few more miles in and the piste starts to look less and less used. It becomes clear to me that I have made a bad call and we ended up in a stoney river bed.
We negotiate a small climb out and I consult the GPS. COCK ALL Idea of where we were!!!!
I know we are heading South East so head that way and hope to pick a trail up.

After a mile or so we hit a tricky little climb and Bill bins it at low speed.I capture a picture of him just recovering.
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You can see how remote it is out here and without any means of support you can feel pretty isolated at times.

 

[SkyGod]

We stop on the far side of the hill to have a rest and take on some water. As we set off again we hear Bills bike having a few dramas. Brian points out that every time he hits the starter a shower of fuel jets out from the left hand side.
We wave at him to stop trying and close in to see what the problem is.

It appears that in his off he dropped the bike and quite unfortunately split his fuel hose on a rock. Time to break out the tool kits and see what we have to fix it. Its now about 1030 and getting bloody hot in the sun.

An inch long split is showing itself in the fuel hose. I break out the gaffer tape and rap a shit load round the split then secure it with a few cable ties.

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[SkyGod]

So after 10 minutes of winding gaffer tape round the fuel line we give it a go!


FAIL: Fuel just spurts out from the gaffer tape and we are back to square 1. Taking into account we are about 30 miles from the nearest town and off our route in between two gullies that no 4X4 could cross puts us in an "awkward" position.
As the clock ticks away on our daylight and the temperature edges towards the 100 mark I get my thinking cap on.

I look at my bike and see the breather hose sticking out the top of the tank and have a lightbulb moment. Even though the hose is far from fuel line quality I decide that its worth a shot. Ten minutes later and a few more cable ties and we have this:

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We try the starter and it works with no leaks! Happy Days.

 

[SkyGod]

It appears we are back in the game! Just one little gully to cross and we should be able to make up some time........
Brian and I make it across but Bill has a bit of a moment and has a tumble.

Some how he manages to hit the ground before the bike and then his hand guard lands on his toe. It`s not good!!!!!

After a groan and a limp he takes his boot and sock off to see quite a bloody toe. Not Broken, but messy all the same and no doubt giving him a lot of pain.
Bearing in mind this was going to be a long day anyway and with the setbacks we where having was now starting to look like a disaster.
I was very keen to continue and get back on our route as this was key to ensuring I new the Terrain come May.

The wise move was to try and back track and head back to were we started and take stock from there. So thats what we did.
However we had to find the track first. I left Brian with Bill and set off looking for a suitable route over the next hill. It was only a goat track and full of large rocks but worth a shot.

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[SkyGod]

After 2 or 3 miles of up hill and down vale of fairly challenging terrain to say the least we stumble across a few signs of civilisation.
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A Mile or so from the camel we stumble on to a fairly prominent piste and take 5. I make the decision to head back to OUTAT AL HAJ and come up with a plan from there. Off we trot and it turns out it was a cracking ride back until about 1 mile from town............

 

[aspiring]

i bought the overlander 30 set up about a month ago but havn"t fitted them yet,do they stand up to a crash on rocky ground ok?

 

[SkyGod]

i bought the overlander 30 set up about a month ago but havn"t fitted them yet,do they stand up to a crash on rocky ground ok?

They certainly will, fantastic pieces of kit and I won`t hesitate to use them again. More than enough room in them if you pack wisely.

 

[SkyGod]

With some relief we see the outline of the town we left just 3 hours before. About a mile from the outskirts I drop to my seat and have a look in the mirror to see if the men are keeping up. I spy Brian but no Bill??????????

I pull over, let the dust settle and see an orange spec in the distance: Bill.
We make our way to him and I hope it`s not because his foot is playing him up too bad to carry on.
It turns out that he lost more fuel than was expected when we where fixing his fuel line and he has run out.
Just a mile from the petrol station would still make for a long walk so I donate some from my 17 Litre tank (£35.80 per litre)

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Drama averted and we arrive back in town. Fill the bikes with fuel and find a hardware store to buy some fuel hose and a couple of Jubilee clips for a more permanent fix to bills bike.

 

[SkyGod]

After lunch I started looking at the map and to continue to try and find a Piste route for Boudnib was not going to happen with the time we had left.
I decided the only way to get there and continue the trip on schedule would be to go by road.
180 miles of it. I didn`t relish this ride on my bike and I know Brian and Bill with their stock hard as nails enduro seats didn't either. But as we has lost so much time with the mornings dramas it was time to Man Up and crack on, so off we set.

Back through Missour that we had spent the previous night in and onward.
As it turned out it was a spectacular road (R601) and to do it on a GS or similar would have been brilliant.

There was no time to hang about and I adopted the ride for 55 minutes and stop for 5 philosophy. We got fuel in a tiny place with a bustling market called Talsinnt.

Only one quick picture from this leg as we where on a mission!!
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[Timolgra]

After lunch I started looking at the map

Funny how when it's hot in a remote place and something starts to go wrong we sense a 'situation' developing which can be quite alarming, it gets sorted and in no time at all we're back on track or drinking a cold one.

 

[SkyGod]

We enter another small town and the GPS says we are only 40 miles from Boudnib. If the road ahead was anything like the last 3 hours then we should be there in about 45 minutes well before the sun went down.

Well things didn`t go as planned!!!!!!!!!


Following the GPS route I had got from google earth it appeared to be Tarmac all the way but after 10 minutes we picked up a hard packed dusty trail. After several hours of tarmac I was quite happy to get on it to be honest and as we where averaging about 35 mph we should still be there within the hour.

A lovely twisty piste with the odd bit of rock thrown in. It then started to get a bit technical.
We where now at about 4pm and the sun was starting to edge behind the horizon. The men needed a rest but I urged them to crack on as I have ridden Moroccan piste before in the dark and it can get quite emotional.

The sun finally left us and we had to slow right down. It was then that we hit "the hill". Only a few hundred feet high but with technical rocky steps that would have been a quite a challenge in the day. The lights on the 690 where close to useless. I was running Vision X optimus and they saved the day. Bill also had a couple of the smaller vision X on his bike and they where invaluable too.
They didnt stop Bill coming off though a few times and his morale was starting to get low.
The GPS said we where about 40k from Boubnib but at this pace would take us hours.

I started doing a quit assessment in my head if we stayed on the piste for the night.
I had a few emergency chocky bars and a bit of bread so we wouldn`t be having a banquet but certainly wouldn`t starve either.
I also had 3 survival blankets so it wasn`t all doom and gloom. Get as comfy as we can and wait for first light!!

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[SkyGod]

After a good 90 minutes of night trail riding we see a few lights in the distance. I didnt want to get my hopes up but I was hoping it was a road. 15 minutes later we find ourselves on Tarmac. To say the men where relieved is a massive understatement!!

30 minutes later we roll into Boudnib. A one horse town and we had no accomodation booked so it was time for a cruise around.
After a few minutes we find ourselves in the centre on town parked next to the one and only hotel.
Now, I have stayed in some shit holes in my time but this place was honking. 3 of us in 1 room with sheets that looked like part of a crime scene. No hot water and filth everywhere. If we hadnt had the day we just had then there would have been 3 very unhappy campers.
Having said that as we where all bolloxed it would do.
We changed the dressing on Bills toe and relaxed with a bottle of coke and a tagine made up entirely of vegetables and tumours!!!!!
Anyone considering a trip with us then dont worry, we wont be stopping there
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[Dansin]

Any more?