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There are a few people living out here in total isolation in tents with a few horses and animals.
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8805/...b751d02d_c.jpgcanyon cross road 35 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7676/...a2460db8_c.jpgcanyon cross road 51 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7684/...4ae56dd3_c.jpgcanyon cross road 36 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7586/...5076ae20_c.jpgIMG_1286 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8826/...43ce843b_c.jpgIMG_1289 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8785/...d67a6351_c.jpgIMG_1291 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8798/...0acf0324_c.jpgIMG_1298 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8748/...a2362d21_c.jpgcanyon cross road 37 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8788/...b5262c97_c.jpgcanyon cross road 38 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7609/...aac634ce_c.jpgcanyon cross road 40 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7669/...7c4043bd_c.jpgcanyon cross road 42 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7597/...552a8a9f_c.jpgcanyon cross road 43 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7641/...792432d7_c.jpgcanyon cross road 44 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7680/...998092d0_c.jpgcanyon cross road 47 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7689/...2ffc5357_c.jpgcanyon cross road 46 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8752/...22983bab_c.jpgcanyon cross road 49 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7663/...7b14e58c_c.jpgcanyon cross road 71 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7604/...d5afa9a6_c.jpgcanyon cross road 72 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7655/...e45f9f21_c.jpgcanyon cross road 73 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7660/...0c14f00a_c.jpgcanyon cross road 75 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7706/...da0cfd40_c.jpgcanyon cross road 77 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr |
From here we thought we had it made since it was only 16 km more down to the pavement, but here is where it got really hard. We were more often driving down the riverbed, which were large rocks at times. Poor Dan had to ride some of the more tricky parts TWICE!
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7660/...4a1f9de6_c.jpgcanyon cross road 63 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7588/...d6877a9d_c.jpgcanyon cross road 48 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7721/...491a1dcb_c.jpgcanyon cross road 52 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7646/...4b0814aa_c.jpgcanyon cross road 57 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8793/...dc9d8687_c.jpgcanyon cross road 58 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8753/...7c75a1fa_c.jpgcanyon cross road 54 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7605/...40eb185d_c.jpgcanyon cross road 61 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7646/...1f700cd8_c.jpgcanyon cross road 62 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr |
The worst part was at times where the road was not washed away it was quite good, but around the next corner it was even worse than before. Like all these things where the route was really hard and the going very difficult we did not stop for photos.
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8765/...395a8a78_c.jpgcanyon cross road 65 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7642/...0b7ff9a1_c.jpgcanyon cross road 66 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7593/...65819630_c.jpgcanyon cross road 69 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8777/...f53aee4b_c.jpgcanyon cross road 78 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8782/...67459c43_c.jpgcanyon cross road 82 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7613/...02226391_c.jpgcanyon cross road 84 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8703/...36dc527a_c.jpgcanyon cross road 85 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr |
Getting in and out of the riverbed when there was road was sometimes a challenge.
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8802/...32824c20_c.jpgIMG_1305 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8790/...67041563_c.jpgIMG_1307 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8725/...43bcac52_c.jpgIMG_1308 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8813/...5c45bc31_c.jpgIMG_1312 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7626/...38561cd0_c.jpgIMG_1320 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr |
Sara whacked her right pannier on a low-outcropped rock and took a spill. No damage to her, but we had to take a rock to get the pannier back in shape.
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8767/...7c923c99_c.jpgIMG_1330 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8811/...5bf8dbca_c.jpgIMG_1333 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8704/...3665c56a_c.jpgIMG_1335 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr We finally saw a 4 WD vehicle after here so at least the way was passable! We were mostly riding in the riverbed as the road was washed out. There were some stretches with large rocks to ride over and lots of just riding down the river. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7637/...ae71222d_c.jpgIMG_1338 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7701/...ce68578b_c.jpgIMG_1340 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8715/...12da2219_c.jpgIMG_1353 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7597/...d0cf1fa1_c.jpgIMG_1359 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7693/...59accdd9_c.jpgIMG_1378 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7631/...03dacc28_c.jpgIMG_1379 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7711/...c287f3d3_c.jpgIMG_1381 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8810/...c2f9607c_c.jpgIMG_1383 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8820/...07ba4a35_c.jpgIMG_1384 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr |
When we got 4 km from the road we met 2 guys on big bikes, who by the way turned around when they eventually saw what it was like the way we had just come.
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8755/...6cd92959_c.jpgIMG_1350 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr When we were 1 km from the road we made a left on the track and not a right across the river and Daniel almost made it thru that way, but ended up buried in the deep mud. Thanks to Bramed, who was “guiding” the other bikers as he helped us to unsuction the front tire and drag the bike back to the dryer ground. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8729/...720bdab2_c.jpgIMG_1388 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7718/...fd2a1b01_c.jpgIMG_1387 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7661/...e7e1c180_c.jpgIMG_1390 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7698/...160cbfb4_c.jpgIMG_1392 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7711/...f775098a_c.jpgIMG_1393 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr |
Sara’s bike was having issues again and now would start, but stall in first (side stand sensor) we flicked the stand up and down a few times and it worked. Later we saw that the side stand sensor must have been damaged after hitting all the rocks. As well as one of the bolts from the side stand was sheered off making it unusable.
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7727/...9c375b4a_c.jpgIMG_1395 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8700/...89bc0d45_c.jpgcanyon cross road 89 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7600/...a7863697_c.jpgIMG_1399 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7652/...8541b08f_c.jpgIMG_1403 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7619/...93585323_c.jpgFILE0411 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7602/...597f7f7b_c.jpgIMG_1404 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7688/...f27cd387_c.jpgIMG_1407 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr |
Cut the brown wire
When we got to the viewpoint it would not stay running. Lucky Dan had read ADV Geeks and we had been joking since we left Vancouver about “cutting the brown wire”. We removed the sensor, took apart the connection, cut the (center) brown middle wire, and reconnected and installed the sensor. Voila bike running!
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7618/...0e7d5cee_c.jpgIMG_1409 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8730/...02aa244a_c.jpgIMG_3784 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7646/...666aee1d_o.jpgsensor by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr The problem now is that it was 630 pm and we had 204 km to get to Ait Ben Haddou. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7718/...30f287c7_o.pngScreen Shot 2015-04-05 at 6.19.36 PM by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr We raced the sun and made it almost back to Ouarzazate by dark. We hate riding in the dark. The road north is on the main N9, but the last 10 km was on a road paved only in the center, which made it a challenge when there was oncoming traffic. We had reserved a hotel on bookings (as we do in Big cities, tourist towns, or when we may be very late in the day) and had the GPS coordinates. When we arrived at then GPS location the hotel was not of the name we had booked at. We checked next door and the owner said she had never heard of this property. So we checked back at the first place. The guy came out and we showed him the name and he said that is their booking.com name and he had our reservation. Long story short both were lying. The first lady owns the hotel next door to the one we booked at! The second guy did not have our reservation! Bookings is sorting it out for us. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8734/...2786afe6_c.jpgFILE0484 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr |
The back way to Marrakesh
We backtracked 10 km to the highway for gas and then thru Ait Ben Haddou again to go on the back roads north to Marrakesh in 180 KM.
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7680/...40b1c0d8_o.pngScreen Shot 2015-04-18 at 10.47.52 PM by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr The road is initially paved and snakes up into the mountain past several remote villages. The center section is a good hard packed (when dry) dirt road with only one real river crossing. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7617/...eb0aacb2_c.jpgFILE0514 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7675/...91c783fa_c.jpgFILE0549 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8805/...33235c66_c.jpgFILE0571 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8786/...38fe5b29_c.jpgFILE0573 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8779/...72cd1d65_c.jpgmarrakesh 5 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7700/...67c6f0e4_c.jpgmarrakesh 4 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7688/...b3fb6dd6_c.jpgmarrakesh 6 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr |
The end of the road is paved also and takes you back to the N9. This is a windy road that includes the famous Tizi-n-Tichka pass.
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7703/...dc01718f_c.jpgFILE0589 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8822/...37f3ae08_c.jpgFILE0609 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7646/...a6fc4f53_c.jpgFILE0626 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7654/...3c960a65_c.jpgmarrakesh 12 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7593/...608ecc52_o.pngScreen Shot 2015-04-18 at 10.48.10 PM by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7688/...45a4487a_c.jpgmarrakesh 7 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5453/...d1d0f493_c.jpgIMG_1421 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr |
From here we headed into the city and actually the traffic though a bit hairy was not actually that bad.
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8762/...69a0ffe0_c.jpgmarrakesh 13 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7715/...4df6fe7c_c.jpgmarrakesh 14 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7612/...2f061446_c.jpgmarrakesh 15 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr We had booked a hotel outside of the Medina with nice underground parking. We need a few days rest from the bikes. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7604/...78cdff96_c.jpgmarrakesh 16 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7685/...3efe315e_c.jpgmarrakesh 17 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr We just missed Snoop apparently! But we did not miss out on finding a “lounge” where you can get BEER! https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8801/...512925d4_c.jpgmarrakesh 19 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8819/...73b84ccf_c.jpgmarrakesh 20 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr |
The first day in Marrakesh we walked down the wide Paris like avenues and to the Medina thru the main gate, which is the mot picturesque and then to the main mosque. We had a strange incident on the way to the gate. Walking towards us on the 5 m wide pedestrian walk was a man dressed in white robes, with a white Moroccan hat and a long white beard. He was caring a lap top case ans seemed to be just strolling along. When he was about a meter from Orvar and Daniel who were walking just behind me he suddenly vered towards Orvar and almost chest bumped him in an aggressive manner and walked away. Very weird and a bit unnerving. The other locals looking on were also shocked at the man’s behaviour.
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8783/...3bdcb414_c.jpgmarrakesh 22 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7598/...6a2dd22f_c.jpgmarrakesh 23 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7680/...7167cd2c_c.jpgmarrakesh 24 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8711/...ac0f02cd_c.jpgmarrakesh 29 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7698/...5fea7b35_c.jpgmarrakesh 80 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr |
Like many cities here very high walls or ramparts surround the old city.
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8798/...2d8a762c_c.jpgmarrakesh 26 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7647/...72847a85_c.jpgmarrakesh 25 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7667/...7f5e7904_c.jpgmarrakesh 27 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr The center of the city is the main mosque, with its high minaret https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7614/...2241929d_c.jpgmarrakesh 30 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7681/...3dd8d506_c.jpgmarrakesh 32 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7643/...4783dcd3_c.jpgmarrakesh 33 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7622/...abec124e_c.jpgmarrakesh 34 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr |
Having a coffee on the avenue was a great place to people watch.
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7717/...7b3808a4_c.jpgmarrakesh 41 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8704/...3198ab2c_c.jpgmarrakesh 35 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8772/...62874948_c.jpgmarrakesh 36 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8786/...b742e26b_c.jpgmarrakesh 37 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr |
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