Made it!

We have just arrived back in Ouarzazate safe and sound after a great last days riding. All is well in camp and the majority are chilling by the pool ready for their last tagine of the trip tonight and some traditional Moroccan music to finish off! Mick, Wil and myself are leaving at 4am in the morning to start our four and a half day trip back to the UK! Looking forward to getting home and seeing everyone now that the riding is done!! Jason is doing well and thankfully has no major damage (no more than previously anyway!!).Join us again in February!!!That's all folks!!!! ...

Day 7

Day started very well, leaving Todre Gorge around 8am ready for our ride through the mountains armed with sweets for the Nomad kids. We hit the trails as soon as we left the gorge and Mick decided to take a few short cuts just to make sure we were awake! Good fun if not a little early for me!! : 0 ) Certainly woke me up thats for sure!! I haven't downloaded my pictures yet but will en devour to get some on of the cave homes and of the gorge itself! You wont be disappointed! The trail soon gave way to a very rocky river crossing that went on for miles. Only a few boulders to tackle!!!!!! Oh and then a few more! Everyone coped with it really well though. I think they might have even enjoyed it! At the end we got on to the road. Not just any road though. This was miles and miles of switch backs that led down in to our third gorge (Dades Gorge). What a road (as featured in MCN a few weeks ago). Amazing! Sadly though 200 yards away from the bottom where we were going to stop for drinks, Jason had an off and managed to knock himself out against a camper van! Luckily the camper was traveling up the hill and was only managing a slow speed. We managed to stop the traffic and give him time to come around before the ambulance arrived and took him to hospital. Luckily he is doing well and is already on the road to recovery. Get well soon Jason and "Man up" (sorry. Private joke). We are now in our last hotel stop before traveling back to Ouarzazate for our last day of riding. It is a lovely trail this one so I am sure the gang with love it. Hopefully no unplanned events along the way (although this is and adventure after all!) and we will get back for around 3pm ready for a shower and some traditional Moroccan music over dinner!

Random pictures

Day 6

We left at 8am this morning and set off on our longest day of 300km. I had a bit of weird turn and found myself struggling to ride the bike at all! I fell behind but managed to keep going. Not sure if it was dehydration or heat exhaustion but it felt like my head was going to explode and I just couldn’t see what I was doing. My riding suffered and I really struggled until we made it to our first stop. I was given lots of drink and sugar and recovered fairly quickly in the shade. After that I got my Ipod going as we got on some road riding through the stunning gordes and villages! Nice bendy roads all the way, passing donkeys and camels along the way! Smile returns! We stopped for a drink in Todre gorge and rode down the hotel steps and across a small planked bridge to the main entrance (much to the onlookers delight!) Imagine doing that in the UK! They’d have the helicopters out for you in minutes!! We are now in our little Riad at the end of the gorge and have all been fed and watered and now chilling on the plentiful cushions! Everyone has had a good day I think and the wine is flowing! Look forward to the ride tomorrow up in to the mountains to visit some of the Nomads up there and take a few sweets and pens to the kids before arriving in Dades Gorge mid afternoon ready to settle in to our cave rooms!

Day 5

The ride out didn’t really go according to plan but then nothing much goes to plan in Morocco! Ali’s mate came and rode with the group and managed to crash in the first hour! He was brought back to camp and the rest of the group continued to the oasis. When they got back we went beetle hunting and had a sweepstake on a dune beetle race after dinner! We numbered the beetles with some bits of paper stuck to their back with some olive oil!! You have to improvise in the desert! We then made a circle with some sand and released them in the centre. The first to the edge of the circle wins! Paul won and made an easy 100dirams! We then set off some fireworks by the dunes, Wil style, and then chilled in Ali’s rather large living room!!

Day 4

We decided to head out early today to get in the dunes before it got really hot so we were off at 7.30am for a couple of hours.  The riding has been brilliant. Just playing on the dunes together in the sunshine. Some falling off more than others!! : 0 ) The pictures tell the story far better than I could! We set off on a camel ride across the dunes at 5.30. Just in time to get to the highest dune to watch the sunset. The camels go so far and then you’re on your own getting up the sharp ridge to the top. Its ace! I thought I was doing really well climbing up but the Berbers who were with us just climbed and climbed without missing a beat and somehow without slipping in the sand like the rest of us. One of them gave me his hand and managed to pull me up the last 100 meters! They are so fit! He wasn’t even breathing heavily at the top. My lungs were on fire!!! We sat with our beers and had the full moon on one side and the sunset on the other! Magical! What a place!

There has been a lot of campness in the group this trip! Sorry lads but you know its true : 0 ) So I asked  them to do YMCA at the top of the dunes. They obliged all too willingly!!!! : 0 ) Photo evidence provided!

Tomorrow some of the group are going for a ride out (most I think) and I am having a day off.  Not one for lounging by the pool I have decided to spend it hunting for sand beetles. I plan to find some paint so I can put numbers on their backs and have a race tomorrow evening! We will have a beetle each and can place bets as we sit around the camp fire! We spend the last night in the desert camping in the dunes with dinner out there under the stars, fireworks and now this beetle race!! Should be good!

Day 3

We left Riad Nomad at around 9am this morning and headed off over the river beds, which changed from mud to sand again without much warning, and headed for our first stop at the Auberge for a Diet Coke break. The guy that runs this is the guy that dug us out last year when we managed to get our Land Rover stuck in the mud! Good man! When we arrived I got some sweets out of my bag for the kids in the village and practically started a riot!! Oops! : 0 ) They were pretty keen to get hold of them.  We bought a few trinkets from the kids, had a drink and then headed off on the trails for about 40k of a blast before reaching Nomad Palace. These trails are great! I love this bit!

We arrived at the dunes for lunch and of course everyone wanted to get straight out and have a go at the dunes. Much fun to be had by all and a massive learning curve for most! I think everyone was in bed by 9pm!!!!

Day 1 and 2 riding

Well the trip has gone off to a flying start. We have had a little bit of everything so far. I am now sat in Riad Nomad, a hotel built in the middle of nowhere overlooking the vast planes we have just covered on our Honda’s. There is no signal or internet and the generator keeps playing up so we are running on candle light half the time. It’s ace. No light pollution apart from the moon on full beam and regular bursts of shooting stars to keep us entertained. We have also been watching the stars jumping around, almost dancing in the sky.  Something to do with the atmosphere! Oh what an atmosphere! : 0 )

I can’t believe it was only yesterday we set off from Ouazarzate! Seems like an age ago. We have covered 500km to get here. Day 1 saw my dad have an off and sadly has had to ride it out in the Landover (damage to his thumb. Not sure what yet. Possibly ligament damage). He is enjoying his ride though and making the most of the comfy seats! We managed to make it to Chicaga dunes before dark after tackling our first bit of soft sand riding! That was great fun! Sailing on the sand! Bring it on! We have seen wild camels, ridden through the mud (there had been lots of rain before we arrived and Ali had been worried about the tracks ahead but we made it through and enjoyed every minute. Sand, mud, sand mud. Bizzare!!) and slept in our first Berber camp in the dunes! What a great start. Day 2 saw us set off at 8.30am and hit the soft sand again for a good 15km before passing through the military check point and start our climb up through the mountain pass (near the Algerian border, hence the checkpoint) and down the other side. This pass had also seen a lot of rain and so had completely changed since our recci. It was now covered in loose rocks and boulders! Our trials skills came in handy here as we picked our way down the mountain. It was so cool! I loved it! Chilli Peppers blasting on my ipod giving me just the right rhythm to ride this track to!  This place just gets better and better! Eventually we made it down and got on to the salt lakes. We blasted across for about 50k before stopping for afternoon mint tea at an Auberge that happens to be, yes you guessed it...in the middle of nowhere!! : 0 )

Now refreshed we did the last leg of the journey to our hotel with a great big muddy water crossing to tackle before we finished! Perfect end to a perfect day! The sun has been shining and everyone is happy! What more can you ask for : 0 )

Just had dinner in the moonlight and now ready for bed! Its only ten o’clock but it has been a pretty busy day all in all!! Can’t wait for tomorrow! See you in Erg Chebbi for some serious dune riding!!: 0 )

Still struggling

Sadly just not getting enough coverage to update the blog properly. Only signal is too far from a socket for my laptop which has a dicky battery! May be a few days before I can do a proper update. Shame. Rest assured though dunes have been another great experience. This is our last night here before we move on to the gorge. We have been out Dune beetle hunting so we can have a beetle race after dinner! Big things. Look like dung beetles! Cant miss them! :)  will update soon as i can.

Not much signal

All made it to our camp in chicaga after some fantastic riding. Signal is poor so this is best if can get you for now. Will update properly as soon as I can.

Are we sitting comfortably?

Sorry for the slightly out of focus picture! I'd had a couple of glasses of the local wine by then! ; 0 ) As you can see all the customers arrived safely and have been fed and watered ready for the adventure to begin! It is now 6.30am and I am about to go for my morning swim before packing up and heading off on to the trails. I think everyone is feeling a little nervous about  what to expect. Myself included. It always good to get the first day under your belt and to see that everyone in the group is happy and enjoying the challenge. The sun has just come up and I would bet that everyone is already awake and dealing with their first day nerves in different ways! We head for Chicaga today. 240km. We will be sleeping in the dunes and have a Berber camp set up waiting for us. All we have to do now is get there!! I doubt there will be enough signal to update the blog tonight (or even a socket for my laptop) so....Stay tuned folks!!! I will update as soon as I can.

Lazy day before the rest of the team arrive

Just pottering today really. Getting all our paperwork and bikes in order ready to greet the gang tomorrow. Dad arrived today from Marrakesh after a long coach trip across the mountains! Wil and Mick went out to "test" the bikes AGAIN!! : 0 ) Bikes are ready to go and we are dying to get on the trails. There are reports of a lot of rainfall in certain parts of the South so it could be an interesting ride to the Sahara! More river crossing than we had planned me thinks!! Morocco is most definitely NOT paved!! Hoorah!