Day 17 Are we in Morocco???

After a little bit of maintenance ( where most of the oil went on the floor), a late start today (11am ) from Tata . Destination unknown , we headed off towards Agadir direction.

It's Justin's turn to feel under the weather today ( stomach and bottom problems) , so off we set carefully !!!

Followed the Oued Tata North West we rode the most beautiful road uphill to Igherm for a coke and a rest for Justin .He would have used the toilet but he doesn't do holes in the ground types .......however a tree and a rock shortly afterwards were fine!!

The egg seller in the village was doing a roaring trade , just a little worried that the chickens in the back room can keep up with him !

Wow what a road , steep drops ,hairpins , rocks , greenery ......it was like a Swiss mountain Pass , and fast ( but maybe not so good if you don't feel good) , but heh , I had fun ! We had to question if we were still in Morocco it was that good !

The road continued in the same vain after our break and at approx 3 pm we called it a day in Taroudannt to give Justin longer to recover before we set off tomorrow for Essaouira for a couple of days .

As we have a quiet night indoors the card is glued to X Factor .

Day 16 Deciscion Day

After waking up we found we were still in with a chance of joining in with rallye Libya as they were still enjoying breakfast!

Off we went .....and turned right at the gate (luckily the rally guys turned left!)
Hopefully we would rejoin our beloved card who if you remember from yesterday had left us with a new friend!!

So off to start our day . N12 track which should have had us by the famous Timbuktu 52 days sign ......but we couldn't find it .........typical we travel 3000 miles and miss it ........never mind!
N12 fast gravel track but so straight with the odd deviation ( very boring ) but needed to do if we wanted to go to Tata without roads !

However who should we bump into at midday but a checkpoint for rallye Libya (not planned we promise ) .So we watch a few bikes,quads cars and predators come in (see photos ). Justin was worried that the longer we stayed there that the rally would come flying passed us later on, but Ian assured Justin that's this was not going to happen!!!

After an hour we head off in a different direction to the rallye boys (and girls ).But......5 minutes later a quick glance in the mirrors and we can see a BIG TRAIL OF DUST coming quickly behind us . A quick decision was made ......get off the narrow track !!! Good deciscion !A quick Mitsubishi flew past chucking stones at us !!! We decided to retreat even further up the hill !!!!!

Out with the stove and on with our curry and shepherds pie for lunch ......Very English ! But to add to the atmosphere ,on with our Shemagh's (head gear) and sit on our stools watching the rally boys come by at high speeds ......Great .....what a way to spend a Lunch Hour !!! And all was good until Ian heard a rattle snake and went all observant, now Justin was tempted to explore this over lunch, but waited until Ian went for a walk, then Ian did the whole snake thing and shed another skin, sorry Ian!!

After lunch we continued for some mine numbing miles on a variety of track, road and a little sand before arriving at Ta Ta and a 3 star hotel (when it was built 40 years ago) but we love it!

Unfortunately this is as far south as we are able to go due to time constraints and not wanting to spend the next 7 days doing 500 a day on a motorway. We have also decide that an adventure is not the miles travelled but the people you meet, the places you see and the experience you have. And we can honestly say that we have experienced some of the best and hardest things in our lives on this trip, which is not over yet!!!

Today we have covered 265 km, 111 km off road in a cool 28 degrees!

+ photo of beards after 17 days!!

The card has decide to return to us after an eventfully day with the rally pilot!!! She is now sleeping in Ian's bed, but she is so tiered she could not remove even remove her helmet!!

Day 15 We joined the Libya rally!!

After yesterday's success in the desert (and yes we have found beer) we have joined the Libya rally in Zagora, see www.touareg-trail.be.

After a relaxing morning and unfortunately a wash of the bikes to assess the damage from yesterday and a serious amount of servicing all was good, but only after Ian claimed the washing man lost his clip for his tank bag and Justin, yes Justin not ian had his hand and arm down the drain fishing around for the clip, which was in the room all along!!!

We paid our bill and set of on the roads towards either Zagora or ourazazate, this was the first time in over 2 weeks that we had no destination and no time scale to get there and it was a great feeling. The scenery was out of this world with mountains, rock formations and oasis's which consisted of a 40 km stretch of palm trees in the valley du draa, after a long lunch of kebabs and a omelette for ian we decided that Zagora was the final destination as we would try some more trails to Ta-Ta tomorrow.

So sat nav set on hotels and enter Zagora we did, with Mohamed following Ian on his moped trying to direct him to his hotel or a game of poker (honest) while fitting the traffic in the biggest town we have entered so far, but ian decided to dispose of Mohamed on a roundabout, literally. We got very excited when the nav showed the hotel Palmarie just up the road and we saw a magnificent building ahead and we agreed that it was worth asking for a room rate, unfortunately (again) this was the local government building and the hotel Palmarie was a dark and dinger bedsit on the right! We carried on to the next on the list and as I came over the hill I could already hear Ian getting excited, as in the car park of the hotel Ksar was the Libya rally entourage, we pulled in past the police guard and though it was worth asking for a price and for £60 for the room with diner and breakfast there were no options this time.

Whist Justin was checking in, Ian was approached by a Yamaha mechanic to enquire if the bikes needed a service before tomorrow's stage, this got ian thinking, and as typing this now on our 4 th beer we think it would be a great part of the adventure to join the rally tomorrow??? Maybe for just 1 stage!!

The card has taken some time in the pits and has decided to run off with a very good sand driver in a bugged, he is also French and good looking.

Join us tomorrow to find out what happens!