After a great home made Moroccan diner cooked by the man!! Three courses of, local soup which was hot, meat tagine, which we think was goat but great and then fresh fruit we were in bed by 9. A cold night in the town and the room but we both slept through till 8.00. Then a hearty breakfast of pancakes with jam and some very strong coffee it was on the road by 9' after a little photo shoot and negotiation with about Half a dozen children who had gathered to see us off, (or extract money from us).
A great start to the day mainly Tarmac with the odd washed out corner, we climbed to 2900 meters and then came down very quickly, nearlymade it to the gouge du Todrha When we realised we had gone the wrong way, so in true explorer fashion we went to the gorge du Todrha Which was beautiful, we went past the gorge as ian suggested and then went back to a little restaurant on the other side of the river, the only thing ian did not see was a 4 x 4 crossing the river to park outside, and I thought this would be great idea.........
There were a lot of expletives as I descended the bank and entered the river, just about holding it steady and spinning up in all sorts of mess, but made it to the other side and waited, and waited and waited, until ian found the courage to cross.
We enjoyed a lovely lunch of chicken kebabs with curry potatoes and veg with a couple of cokes, as we were taken some time out and watching the world go by, a 4 x 4 got stuck in the river going out, which did not make ian very happy about the exit!!! But we both made it and headed back the way we came form LITTLE track ian had spotted (big mistake)
About 10 km back up the road we found the track and headed off, but a few hundred meters there was a diversion in stones saying the route went left, so we went left only to find children demanding money for the correct route, the little buggers had made a diversion to get you to pay them to go the right way. Us being tight people decided not to pay and go back to the diversion sign, which was the right road. Not sure you could imagine a desert landscape with at least 5 different tacks that all seem to head in the right direction so you never really know!!
The first 10 km was great gravel attacks with climbs and decent's, we even met a German on a rt 80, he said the route was good but a little narrow, but I could tell in his eyes he was scared,,,
All was good for the another 5 km until we hit the river bed, and that was tough, but it was thinking mans riding, not fast but planing and I was really enjoying it. Ian was showing me the way through then river bed and all was good until........
I split from ian he went right up on to the bank and I carried on the river bed as I was enjoying the test of the planning the route, then I heard on the radio MAN DOWN, MAN DOWN, I looked and saw Ian's bike on the floor but no ian???? I looked again and saw ian he was under the bike trapped!!! I was about 100 meters ahead of him so I disconnected myself from the bike and ran in the heat, in my gear with my helmet on and I can confirm it was a big sacrifice to run that far in the heat!! When I got there I tried to lift the bike for the from front and it was not happening, when ian shouted xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxx the back, so I went to the back and lifted it and he was out, a little hot and sweaty but free, still not sure it was the right thing to do, as at 10.09 a mere 6 hours after it happened he is still coming up with excuses, it was hot, the bike was tired, I meant to, I thought I would do it for you, it would be a great picture etc etc etc.....
We then followed another 10 km of river bed and mountain without incident apart from a number of donkeys and angry Moroccan women before we found a very nice hotel with a pool and great food. So day off tomorrow, a little maintenance on the bike and some sun bathing.
The card is enjoying a private roof terrace and a beer!!
Tomorrow we will update on things we have found out and learnt, mainly about ian being mean to the children of the country and women!!
Stay tuned.
Meanwhile Ian's version of events today ..........
Up until the Stoney River bed adventure , when my novice trainee beginner inexperienced riding partner was still listening to my advice all was going well and he was learning from the Jedi master (papa smurf ,see beard to be updated tomorrow ) , but as I have often learnt in business never ever divulge too much information to your trainee !!!!!!!!!
For on this occasion I was searching for a safe passage for my trusted friend when I decided to take the high road and he didn't follow..... So there I was alone without friends on a narrow , very rocky track whilst my protege was riding nicely in the lower river bed . Then disaster struck .....I had nowhere to go but back down into the river bed with the new master !!!(obi one )
Ok so now this is what happened....... I fell off !!!!!!!!!!!!! And got trapped under my motorcycle and all occurred at the extremely high speed of approx 1mph . However I still managed to advise my new best friend that I was trapped under my motorcycle via autocom (another benefit of the £500 spent on this item !After what seamed an age (see beard). Justin finally appeared with camera in hand ....the rest has been documented previously .
No comments:
Post a Comment