TUNISIA The ride there but flight back

day 10

6 litres of oil.

Getting on the bikes today meant we first had to get out of the bush land come olive grove and back onto the main road. Hanging on and trying to balance the bike whilst picking the best line sure is a good way of getting the brain working first thing in the morning.
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No sign of the farmer at this time of day.


Going through a largish town we stop for the obligatory breakfast of cake and fizzy drink, and I have to say I was not missing a real bacon sandwich with loads of hp sauce much. All trip we searched for a bread shop or equivalent but found nothing. I did however spy a bloke walking out of a door holding what looked like a pancake. I was in there, I did not care that I was full of cake and coke I wanted some carbs! when I walked in the door I was faced by a very beautiful woman with a small counter and a large griddle, "2 of whatever you are selling please". It turned out to be a concoction of an omelette come tuna come chilli sauce thing in a large bap, to me heaven to Shads too much at this time in the morning so he donated his left over half to 2 young lads looking starry eyed at these wonderful travellers on monster bikes.
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The omelette shop is just behind the donkey head if you look really closely you might see a beautiful lady
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We were still heading south loosely following the border between Tunisia and Algeria, being further south we had another go at the border but this time following dirt tracks rather than roads, yet again border patrols got in our way and turned us around. Trying to stay on the dirt roads passing through small villages with nothing more than broken brick/mud huts, gangs of men sitting around drinking coffee, we missed any sign of the next piste we needed to take us from Sidi Boubaker down to Umm Al Arais.
We ended up staying on tarmac through to the next town. Coming out of Gafsa we took a compass bearing found a likely dirt track and headed off as the crow might fly if slightly drunk. This was great riding, making it up as we went, missing out all civilisation, Taking in a bit of gravel then compacted sand, thankfully it was not too loose as neither me or Shads had any real off-road sand experience. Our only major obstacle was a large dry riverbed/wadi. This caught me out spitting me of sideways and counted as my first drop. Shad’s obviously seeing how not to do it took a wide berth around me then gunned it promptly falling off in a fashionable style, snapping his screen on the way over his bars. After picking both bikes up, pushing, pulling, plenty of throttle control and making hard work of it we got out of the wadi, then headed straight to the nearest piece of tarmac.

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Looking at the map I had marked of some gorges, which were not too far from us, cue next point of interest. The gorges were worth a visit, not massive but impressive none the less. We were greeted by a local guide who was keen to sell us his services and trinkets afterwards. You could see this place was set up for coach load after coach load of tourists, but there was none, not a sole except me Shads and groups of local men sitting around drinking coffee. The guide we hired to show us around said that since "The Revolution" they had hardly had any tourists and it was extremely hard putting food in his families mouths.

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Checking out my list of 10 things to do whilst in Tunisia, there is a second and larger set of gorges further inland, but only accessible by a tourist train. Being complete idiots we decided it was a good plan to ride the tracks through the gorge. Once we got close to the start of the train tracks we made sure we were fully stocked up with fuel, food and water then headed off. This turned out to be a bad move, we were not able to ride next to the tracks because of deep sand so resorted to riding on them. The concentration of keeping your bike in the middle of the tracks in gravel is overpowering, knowing that if you just touch the track you will be coming off. That and the fact we were passing over large bridges and culverts made it even more hair raising. After an hour of this it was decided to bin the idea.
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After finding some shade under one of the many culverts we had an early finish to the day. This gave us chance to do a bit of bike maintenance Shad to tape his screen on, have a good feast and rest. I was now feeling immersed in this adventure. Dirty sweaty and happy.
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Day 10 Extras

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http://s1140.photobucket.com/albums/n580/deathappy/Tunisia Sep 2011/?action=view&current=00007.mp4 Video of the Final push coming out of the riverbed

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Day 11

Running total, oil used 7 litres

Sleeping under the culvert was not the best idea I have ever had as during the night the wind tunnelled right past me, and as I had opted for just my bivi bag I woke up freezing several times during the night, getting up and finding my sleeping bag just seemed to be much trouble.

We didn’t know it yet but today was going to be epic!

Not in distance travelled but terrain travelled on. First thing first, we had to get our bearings then get back onto a reasonable road. Following the riverbed, which had been our campsite for the night, we headed towards what we thought may be a nice 30 mile off road stretch. As it turned out it was a massive construction road wide enough to take 3 massive lorries side by side. The track was super compacted as you can imagine and having never been on this sort of track before we were enjoying it. We could get up to a nice pace, take in the arid landscape, kick back and think about the mountain area we were heading towards.
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It took about 30 mins before we were stopped by a local at a compound holding huge diggers and road graders. Apparently we were on the outer perimeter of an active blasting mine. He turned us around, although I could not see the point in this as even though we had passed numerous nice looking turnoffs into the mine we had no intention of leaving this track, I mean who was going to blow a main road/track up anyway?
Back tracking we managed to find a small access road skirting round the compound. As the morning progressed we were seeing larger and larger mining machinery, huge excavation holes in the ground, the road turned to a white powder, coating both the bikes and us.

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But the highlight had to be dodging the dumper trucks, now these where not the ones we have on our construction sites but the big 100 ton buggers where the driver has to use a ladder to get in to the cab, no wonder the road was as big as it was.
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Check out the tyre tracks.

It took us about 2 hours to get from one side to the other but that was not at any great speed and for once we aired on the side of caution due to the type and sheer size of traffic.

Still heading south the salt lake was next, one of the things I most wanted to see in Tunisia.
We were both suffering from redneck syndrome so decided to stop in a town for some sun cream. The next stop had to be at a pharmacy to make a sunblock purchase and take some photos. All creamed up it was now a very long straight road for a couple of hours next to a train track.
Half an hour later we could see an old American western steam train coming towards us, shads goes to pull his camera out from around his neck on the lanyard, only to find it missing.
We have already had my lowest point of the trip well this was shad's. He was well pissed off to say the least. He must have dropped it at the pharmacy, which was in the middle of a bustling local market. "I have to go and see if I can find it" he said. I agreed but there was of course no chance it would be there. This was a major blow, as Shad was trip photographer and had shot thousands almost, where as I might number 100 or so.
We both turn round to head back. Shad leaves me standing shooting of at 100mph +, I potter on max speed of about 60 - 70mph.
When I finally catch him up he has a big grin on his face "I cannot believe it, it was just laid on the road right next where we parked the bikes". Now there must have been hundreds of people walked over it in the last 45 minutes as you can see by the photos, so are all Tunisians blind or just really honest people, Who knows but I like to think the later.
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More going back the way we came! Finally we got into Tozur. Stopping of for Pizza, coke and a spot of map reading. There should be a tarmac road circumnavigating the salt lakes. Leaving Tozur we see our first tourists since getting off the ferry, they were on a nice air-conditioned coach all pointing and gawping at us and I'm sure I lip-read someone saying “weirdo’s”.
Following the edge of the salt lake the heat steps up a notch or two, so much so that it is cooler for me to ride visor down, other wise it is like being blasted with an old hair dryer which is full of sand.
Reaching another Algerian border checkpoint I step off the bike without putting the stand down, not clever and the bike lands on her side, cue chuckling border guard and Shad pissing himself.
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A brief photo snap of nothing in particular and a coke from a local stall and we are on our way back the way we came........again.
This was where the day turned into something special.
We spotted a rough track and using a bit of compass, map, GPS and bravado we decided to go for it. I had a bit of a scout around and the track looked good, Shad was a bit concerned because the track definitely did not match the Northing's and Easting's on my map, but nothing ventured nothing gained so we were off.
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I had always wanted to put my riding to the test and this was doing it, my suspension was working to the max but coping with all the extra weight and rough ground. As we covered the miles my confidence grew. At first we took it in turns to take the lead. I do owe shads an apology here. I have a very bad tendency to follow far to close and one instance in particular Shad crested a hill just as I decided to overtake him, only there was a large rock in front of him so he went to the right and I nearly took us both out, my bad, lesson learnt.
From here on I stayed up front occasionally blasting off for a bit of a play building more and more confidence and getting quicker, I was even managing air off some of the lumpy bits.

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2 hours in and the pace was slowing. There was more and more sand drifts blown onto the path, at first we could skirt round them but in the end we had to start going over them. A bit, well very twitchy at first but it was happening we were living the dream.
The dunes got bigger and longer. Stopping for one of many water breaks we discussed options,
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neither of us wanted to get stuck in the desert. We had two options turn back, we had just about enough fuel and water to get back to Tozur or trust our map and compass and push on the extra 30 miles to a small town called Matrouha. Forwards it was then. With our new found confidence and taking it easy we set off, well forget the easy bit, as by now I was a Dakar rider, I blasted off at....
60 mph, not fast you may think, but I was making the most of a rocky part of the track. I hit a deep patch of sand, the bike swerved left, then right and all I could do was pin the throttle wide open and hope for the best. I knew Shad was right behind me. I got through the sand, stopped on a hard bit of ground and looked behind me just in time to see Shad and his BMW hit the deep stuff. He had no chance and flew over the handlebars, the bike hitting him in the back before coming to a rest on its side, Sand flew everywhere, he did not move.... He still hadn’t moved by the time I had gotten off my bike and covered the 50m as quick as I could, (which is bloody slow in all the gear I had on), I turned his bike off. "Bloody hell mate are you ok", "I am fine I just need to sleep for an hour" was his reply. Thank god he was joking with me, it took him a good 5 minutes before he was able to get to his feet, catch his breath and take stock of how lucky he was, in fact how lucky we both were that nothing to serious had happened.
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Shads' off had knocked our confidence; we were both a little worried as to what we had got ourselves into, again, (Re last year's trip)). Forwards or backwards we probably had just enough fuel to make it back but no guarantee. We would have to travel through the sand to go backwards and even more sand to go forwards. However we had noticed in the distance a water tower (meaning people). This seemed like the better option at the time so we headed that way hoping for the best.
We managed the rest of the dunes without major incident, but no more pictures were taken on this last part as neither of us wanted to stop and risk bogging down.
Finally we made civilisation, not yet a hard road but something that would probably be taken as one in these parts, we turned east and came to the town we had been heading for all afternoon. I would like to make a joke about it being all luck but we made a decision and trusted in our navigation to get us there. some may say it was fool hardy but it worked out and I would definitely push my boundaries again (next September if any of you fancy a trip with me and Shad). We made a quick stop at a local shop to stock up on water and some grub for the night and headed off for somewhere to camp.
We where both knackered at this point, it had been a good 5 hours hard riding across the desert, but at least 10 hours in the saddle that day. We road about 5 miles out of town then just turned off the road into the dunes. One last bit of sand to negotiate and we find what has to be my favourite camp spot ever, Crisp clear surroundings, nothing but sand dunes all around, no danger of a local strolling up.
Whilst setting up Shads tells me to stop what I was doing and listen, silence, there was absolutely no sound, no birds, no wind, no cars, no animals not even any flies, not a sound anywhere.
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This in my opinion is what it is all about, good bike, good road, good mate to share it with, all that was missing was a cold pint of Guinness.
A very satisfying end, to a very epic day.
 
Am i the only one who seems to think there is a hell of a lot of oil being used ?

....and the top speed and fuel consumption tells me the xtz is well knackered.
 
Kaister said:
Am i the only one who seems to think there is a hell of a lot of oil being used ?

....and the top speed and fuel consumption tells me the xtz is well knackered.
Click to expand...


What can I say, but yes and most defiantly yes
 
roadrider said:
Really enjoyed that, and the last 3 photo's excellent :clap:clap
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I know he wont mind me saying this but I have to take all the credit for any photos because alan has the worst eye for a photo i have ever seen, its as if he is :rob before his time or permanently :jager

:thumb:thumb
 
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Shadwell said:
I know he wont mind me saying this but I have to take all the credit for any photos because alan has the worst eye for a photo i have ever seen, its as if he is :rob before his time or permanently :jager

:thumb:thumb
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Hah hah hah... I agree with Shad here ;-) (sorry Al)
 
Day 12

8 liters of oil used

Waking up in the desert having a good old stretch with the sand between your toes is a good way to start any day.
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Probably my only arty shot of the hole trip.

After a breakfast of stale bread and mayonnaise I topped up the oil, had a quick check over the bike then realized how much we had pushed the bikes with the rough ground. The picture shows how the rear fuel tank had come down hard on top of the chain, luckily only bending the alloy and not puncturing it, I dread to think of the consequences if it had punctured.

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Waving good bye to our little home for the night it was back to the only road in the area, which gave us chance to just ride with no map reading. By the time we reached Duos we both needed fuel, but finding a petrol station that was not either smashed to pieces or closed because of all the riots was turning into a major task and becoming a bit of a mission. The one we finally found had 1 pump working but no glass in any of the windows or displays.

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There was plenty of evidence all around Duos of "La Revolution", from the harmless graffiti up to burnt out buildings and what looked like bullet holes from all the gun battles around the government buildings.

Back onto the tarmac we headed northeast to the salt flats. It was still hot which was another incentive to keep moving to try and keep the air flowing. Once we reached the salt flats the road we were on cut across a corner of the lake. We could see either side of the road where it was obvious the salt had not quite dried out so decided to play it safe and stay on the road. There were plenty of track marks where people had not made it more than 10 meters before getting stuck.
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HOWEVER half way across things looked a little more compact..... can you hear it, another wonderful idea brewing. “How good would it be if we could get a picture of just us and the bikes with nothing around”. Now to get this full effect of nothingness I knew we would have to travel about 3 miles so as not to have the road in any of the pictures. 3 cautious miles later Shad puts his bike on the side stand then watches as it sinks and topples over, I avoided the same by using a plate I carry around with me.
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Pictures taken it would now be 3 miles back, but not the way we came, as we needed to be the north of the lake. I take the lead, everything is going great, bombing along, but then Sky starts to slow down on me, we can see the road, then my bike starts to slow down and loose power.

Now we have had our problems me and Sky, but I have tried to treat her properly with oil and water, but this is not the time for her to play me up. Bending down to play with the fuel tap I notice I am leaving a dirty great skid mark in the ground. She is not losing power but sinking!!!!! Time to panic, turn around and find something a little more solid. It’s all too much and I stop dead, I notice Shad hasn’t. He nailed the throttle throwing salt and sand everywhere, I thought he would stop to help but he just kept going and left me there! He can't have seen me I thought. As it turns out he had seen me but decided to get to the hard stuff before stopping about half a mile away and walking back to sort me out.
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I am a great believer of what goes around comes around. For those times I have helped Shad pick his bike up or pushed it out of sand it was now my turn. It was hard work for me, but nothing compared to what Shad had to endure, I span the back wheel as he was pushing and covered him head to toe in salt))))

<a href="http://s1140.photobucket.com/albums/n580/deathappy/Tunisia%20Sep%202011/?action=view&current=DSC03417.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n580/deathappy/Tunisia%20Sep%202011/DSC03417.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
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After I get out it is my turn to leave Shads.


The fun does not stop there; we now have to get back onto the road that is now up a steep embankment, my approach was to speed up, pick a point on the horizon then go for it. It felt like I pulled of about 6 foot of air then I am informed it was more like 6 inches, I can but dream I suppose.

Heading back to Tozeur we pass the only other traveling bikers on the whole trip, one on a big GS and the other on a KTM. We ate the usual 2 pizzas plus an extra 5 side dishes all for the princely sum of £5.

Being able to smell Shads before I could see him it was time we factored in a shower and soon. Out comes the map, time to tick of one of Shads to do list, a night in the Hotel Sidi Driss better known as the Star Wars Hotel. It was going to be a 100-mile slog of 45-degree heat, sandstorms and strong cross winds but great roads, the weather was that bad even the camels where hunkered down.

Getting off the bikes was a relief, not having to set up camp was another welcome change. Shad goes of to barter a price while I try to find somewhere to give my bike a good hose down, all that salty mud was starting to rust my rear break disk already.

With us both being knackered there was no air’s or graces we just unloaded the bikes and dumped everything in the compound that our room was in, not very elegant but it was all I was good for.
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Shad had got us the room and evening meal for about 10 quid each, bargain. When he came back to give me the key and tell me the price he handed me a cold beer, what a bloke))

Once I had had my cold shower and scrubbed my self-clean, all that was left was dinner and a chat with the only 3 other guest a Russian army captain and 2 Japanese back packers on a gap year. As with several other tourist attractions we had seen, no tourists.

One funny thing the Russian guy said was he had met a large group of tourist on the coast and all they wanted to do was get burnt in the sun and drink beer until they passed out, "bet they were English" says Shad, "yes they were" said the Russian, "they were all from a place called Swansea")))!!!
 
brill

brilliant brilliant write up i cant wait to do something along those lines
 
Day 13

10 litre

It seems that even having a shower, clean sheets, a bed and some deodorant you never lose the stench of sweaty gear but then it doesn’t help waking up rolling over seeing and smelling the pile of bike clothes that never got the same degunging treatment as their owner. The few clothes that we had managed to wash where spread out over the only tree in the compound drying.

Seeing as the hotel was part of the film set used in star wars it is only fair I did the tourist thing, dig out my hardly used camera and snap some of the memorabilia. To start with every room has been dug into the earth, then crammed with as many beds as possible to make the most of what was once a very popular tourist attraction.
<a href="http://s1140.photobucket.com/albums/n580/deathappy/Tunisia%20Sep%202011/?action=view&current=DSC03430.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n580/deathappy/Tunisia%20Sep%202011/DSC03430.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
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The toilets, lets just say even I found myself hovering then wiping my feet on the way out. You had a choice of 3 shower cubicles but then that was whittled down to one, as I’m sure I would have come out dirtier than when I had gone in if I had used either of the end ones. At least I didn’t have to worry about the mixer tap not working, as there was no hot water))). Getting close to the kitchen I was starting to feel a touch of dread but when I saw it I was pleasantly surprised, it was properly decked out commercially, with stainless steel, gas hobs and all the mod cons you would expect to find back home.
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THEN
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NOW
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It turns out that in the good old days of 2010 and before, the coach companies had a deal to supply the tourists and the hotel would cater for them. It would explain why last nights dinner was very tasty.
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Made ready just in case

Loading up the bikes we manage to wake up a local who was sleeping on the floor next to the bikes, apparently he was our bike security for the night and wanted paying, 10 quid well spent I think.
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All trip I have been checking the bikes oil at every fuel stop and always carried a spare 1 litre. Well this morning I used that up and still there was still no mark on the dipstick. It was going to have to be a gentleish sort of ride until we reach a garage. On top of that I never managed to get the bike washed yesterday and things where looking dire in the sprocket and back wheel department, the salt was eating my bike in front of my eyes.

On the move again feeling refreshed and clean we aim for a piste, which is a direct route to the nearest garage. Again my map lets us down, after a bit of a search riding round a village we have to admit defeat and go back to the main road. This is not as bad as it first seemed, the road was following the ridge of an escarpment giving amazing views.
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The last thing that we expected to see was a bloody huge great dinosaur on top of a hill. There was no explanation or reason for such a thing.
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Getting to the garage it is time for our fix of fizzy drink and cake and for the bikes a power wash and top up of oil, in fact oil for every bit we could reach to try and combat the salt.

Still heading south, Tatouine sounded like the perfect photo opportunity for Shad. Unfortunately we never did find a sign saying Tatouine. Stopping for lunch in a café brimming with locals it had to be are most tasty, filling meal for the smallest amount of cash yet.
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1500 is worth about 75p

There was a busy market going on outside the restaurant so having a walk about we both made some exceptional purchases me a pair of Fela not FILA swim shorts and finally a set of spanners to adjust my rear wheel and chain.
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We still hadn’t traveled as far south as we wanted, i.e. Libyan border. It was going to be another head down and get some distance day. After an hour we got stopped at a manned check point, they were a bit reluctant to allow us through but we managed to blag it after 10 minutes of questions, passport swopping and general good humor.

Unfortunately at the second military check point, which was the last one before the Libyan border, they decided we were a pair of twats and we should turn around before someone shot us. They passed us and our passports around, slowly getting to more senior soldiers until we reached the top bloke, he made a phone call and I genuinely thought we were in the poo. Shad got roped into the phone call and he luckily made some jokes and apologized profusely saying we would turn around and head back in land. This calmed the situation down and we were on our way again. Defiantly no photo op, though we did ask

Back the way we came again, there was not even anyway we could make a loop east and get to the coast. With time getting on we had to find a place to camp. Turning off the road we had to negotiate a large berm, which caught me out dumping the bike onto my leg, which was stretched behind me. It is fair to say that I only avoided a snapped ankle due to the fact I had decent motocross boots on. Also if Shad had not helped lift the bike off me I would probably still be laying under the bike on the burm.

There was a lot of debate as to what was going to be the best spot to camp as no matter which way we rode the ground was covered in rocks, uneven and generally uninviting. In the end we just went for it and set up camp.
<a href="http://s1140.photobucket.com/albums/n580/deathappy/Tunisia%20Sep%202011/?action=view&current=DSC02033.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n580/deathappy/Tunisia%20Sep%202011/DSC02033.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Once camp had been sorted out Shad tried for another photo shoot but far more cheesy.
<a href="http://s1140.photobucket.com/albums/n580/deathappy/Tunisia%20Sep%202011/?action=view&current=DSC02038.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n580/deathappy/Tunisia%20Sep%202011/DSC02038.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
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Shad then tells me to have a go and true to form I cock it up.
<a href="http://s1140.photobucket.com/albums/n580/deathappy/Tunisia%20Sep%202011/?action=view&current=DSC02043.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n580/deathappy/Tunisia%20Sep%202011/DSC02043.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
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The end to another good day.
 
Extras

<a href="http://s1140.photobucket.com/albums/n580/deathappy/Tunisia%20Sep%202011/?action=view&current=DSC03423.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n580/deathappy/Tunisia%20Sep%202011/DSC03423.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><a href="http://s1140.photobucket.com/albums/n580/deathappy/Tunisia%20Sep%202011/?action=view&current=DSC01990.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n580/deathappy/Tunisia%20Sep%202011/DSC01990.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><a href="http://s1140.photobucket.com/albums/n580/deathappy/Tunisia%20Sep%202011/?action=view&current=DSC02007.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n580/deathappy/Tunisia%20Sep%202011/DSC02007.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><a href="http://s1140.photobucket.com/albums/n580/deathappy/Tunisia%20Sep%202011/?action=view&current=DSC01984.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n580/deathappy/Tunisia%20Sep%202011/DSC01984.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a<a href="http://s1140.photobucket.com/albums/n580/deathappy/Tunisia%20Sep%202011/?action=view&current=DSC01927.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n580/deathappy/Tunisia%20Sep%202011/DSC01927.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><a href="http://s1140.photobucket.com/albums/n580/deathappy/Tunisia%20Sep%202011/?action=view&current=DSC02013.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n580/deathappy/Tunisia%20Sep%202011/DSC02013.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><a href="http://s1140.photobucket.com/albums/n580/deathappy/Tunisia%20Sep%202011/?action=view&current=DSC02018.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n580/deathappy/Tunisia%20Sep%202011/DSC02018.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><a href="http://s1140.photobucket.com/albums/n580/deathappy/Tunisia%20Sep%202011/?action=view&current=DSC02047.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n580/deathappy/Tunisia%20Sep%202011/DSC02047.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
 
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