Day 9 – remainder of 1000++km by bus Wednesday 11/04/2012 Ouarzazate – Tchika - Marrakech – Casablanca – Tangiers - Tarifa

It was a little bit tricky getting the bike onto the bus, why they wouldn’t let me just lay it on its side I will never understand. In any case I was pleased that it was loaded and that things should be fine now. A police-man then entered the bus and asked whose bike it was. Oh dear I thought, what now. Luckily all he wanted was to see my registration document, passport and temporary importation papers – I never did get asked for my insurance thankfully!

I sat next to a local Ouarzazate man ‘Saiid’ who explained in French that he’s on his way to Tangiers to find some building work. He was a nice guy and insisted on keeping me well fed and informed throughout the journey. I must have looked like a total div with all my motorbike gear/boots sitting on a bus.

The bus took the Tiz’n Tchika mountain pass that I was so looking forward to riding. The pass went on for hours and the coach driver was obviously enjoying himself on the bends. Unfortunately at least three of the passengers sitting around me didn’t enjoy it quite so much and started puking for much of the remaining 13 hours on the coach… Anyway, after a quick tour of several Moroccan cities including Marrakech, Rabat (the capital) and the very uninteresting Casablanca, the bike and I were safely delivered to the bus station in Tangiers.

Managed to drag the bike of the coach pretty quickly before 10’s of unnecessary ‘helpers’ got involved. Whilst re-assembling the bike and collating all of my gear and bags I re-enquired about the distance to the port. I was told 5km which seemed about right considering that I recognised a petrol station where I filled-up after having first got off the ferry into Tangiers. Anyway €10 later I’d managed to half squeeze the XR400 into a tiny Suzuki van (it was literally hanging-off the back, secured by some rope that I happened to have on me) and I was dropped off in the port at customs. All the paperwork was done quickly and efficiently as soon after I was on the 13:00 ferry back to Tarifa.

The wife and kids were waiting for me at the port in Tarifa and were obviously glad to see me back in one piece. Also, it was handy they were there to help me push the bike back up the hill to the apartment where my car / trailer were waiting to whisk us all back home! The journey home, whilst long, was a doddle and it was great to be back with the family. This adventure travel stuff is fun, but it’s great to be back home – I suppose these kind of trips make you appreciate what you have. That said, one day I will return as I have some unfinished business……..

Day 1 – 360km Tuesday 03/04/2012 Tarifa – Chefchaouen – Mokrisset – Zoumi – Fes

Got up nice and early to catch the 09:00 FRS fast ferry from Tarifa to Tangiers. Sam kindly guided me down to the port where I purchased on open return ticket for €111. The rain was pouring down and I was already wet having neglected to put on my waterproof trousers…. The crossing was pretty uneventful despite the amazing thunder / lightening / rain storm.

Got my passport stamped by some Moroccan immigration guys on the ferry itself which saved a bit of hassle later on. Going through Moroccan customs wasn’t too bad. I’d filled-in all of the ‘temporary importation’ papers for the motorbike on-line to save the hassle of filling-in loads of forms at the port. The older customs guy insisted that I fill-in the ‘yellow form’ again which I wasn’t happy with and all the touts were trying to make a fast buck by ‘helping’ me. Eventually I found a younger customs officer who was familiar with the Internet form and said that everything was in order, but the older guy still had a problem and kept me waiting for ages. Eventually he sent me to see a Policeman in an office who made a correction to my CIN (Moroccan ID number) which wasn’t stamped very clearly in my passport from an earlier visit to Marrakech.

Left the port in the pouring rain and rolled straight into a petrol station where I met some Italian bikers sheltering from the rain. Moreno, Martino and Graciano were a nice bunch of guys riding old, but well kept, Tenere and XL600 bikes. We compared notes and it looked like we were travelling a very similar route so we all stuck together until Fes. We chose to take the ‘scenic’ route which would have been great, but the roads were narrow, windy, full of holes and slippery due to the rain. Things got worse when we eventually got fog so we didn’t get to see the nice views. Sensibly, the guys decided that we wouldn’t make it to Fes before night time if we continued on this route so we took a ‘short-cut’ back onto the main road. I loved the ‘short-cut’ but it was very muddy at times so we all got caked in yellow mud.

We finally rolled into Fes at last light and kindly the guys let me share their room in a lovely Riad called ‘Sara’. The accommodation was pretty central and it really was impossible to find so Graciano enlisted the services of a moped guide. The Riad entrance was situated in a very narrow alleyway so we had to unload the bikes and then leave them in a guarded underground parking just down the road.

Didn’t want to get in the way of my fellow riders, so went for a meal on my own to a tiny restaurant where the owner served me red-wine in Coke bottles and told me to keep it quiet. Moroccan Cola. It tasted of rubber tyres but had the desired effect and I didn’t get the trots from it, so all good. Finally managed to find a working cash-point and got 2000 Dirhams out on my Caxton FX Global Traveller Card (most economical way to officially get cash out abroad) before hitting the sack.