Not dead, nor kidnapped!

It’s been over a week since our last post and there’s been good reason for that. We’ve been busy. We reached Agadir as planned after negotiating one of the most treacherous roads in Morocco. Think very bad non marked mountainous roads with slow trucks a dozen and irate drivers trying to overtake them at any opportunity. Then picture all this done at night. It was scary!

We stayed three nights in Agadir kipping in Rohans swank 4 star hotel room. It’s most likely one of the last laps of luxury we’ll experience on the trip. On our first night we found the joys of alcohol again. It was the first bar we’d seen or been to in Morocco. Alcohol is not appreciated/allowed in the Muslim world and is not illegal but is just not done openly. We dived back in with much gusto and enthusiasm. The following day we were regretting it. While in Agadir we met some locals and after Rohan left for Libya we ended up in a relaxing little surf town just north of Agadir called Taghazout. We still haven’t left. Khaled, one of the locals we met, rented us a room there. It’s ridiculously cheap and perfectly placed sitting beside the sea.

While in Taghazout we’ve chilled out quite a lot. I think it’s the first time Jeremy has actually relaxed since quitting work. Mariah one of the other locals we met brought us to a cool trance party in the mountains. It was full of new age European hippies in camper vans and a few like minded Moroccans to boot. We’ve also now had our first proper off-roading adventure. On Wednesday we left most of our luggage in Taghazout and departed for two days. On the first night we camped near Foum–Zguid before attempting a 150k off-road trail leading to Talouine. The trail we undertook started excellently and ended in the same way however it didn’t end in Talouine.

While in the mountains we were invited in for tea and even cooked a fabulous and unexpected cous–cous by a very welcoming and friendly Berber village. We had a similar experience when we went off-roading with Rohan in Agadir on a small 4k trail. It’s these types of encounters which really make Morocco shine. The people are so warm and welcoming and expect nothing in return save your company and some stories. The trail was not without a handful of hardship. There was a 10k section in the middle where the trail ended. It took us two hours of bouncing and falling over rocks to navigate our way to where the trail resumed. That part I could have done without. Jeremy the sadist seemed to think it was the best part.

The plan from here is to get booster injections today and get our bikes serviced before heading down to Mauritania. This could take the best part of a week as we need to fly in a new master clutch cylinder for my bike. For now we’re just refilling the mineral oil as it seems the master cylinder has developed a slow leak. It’ll work for now but if I sustain another big bash it may ground my bike and become a nightmare to get fixed. Especially if this happens somewhere remote. Jez has updated the route page and I’ve created a Morocco gallery. The last time there were some technical difficulties. There’s a few pictures from our off-roading which have to be uploaded but I’ll get around to that later.

Thanks to everyone for their support.

Cheers K+J