Day 10 - Mirleft to Tafroute

 We headed inland through mountain passes.

Day 9 - Essaouira to Mirleft

 Mainly costal roads today with a lovely French hotel being our final destination.

Day 8 - Marrakech to Essaouira

 Nice riding today to the little town of Essaouira. We stayed in a hotel in the old part of town with lots of narrow laneways making it easy to get lost!

Day 7 - Rest Day Marrakech

 A rest day today to recharge and do some washing. Took a stroll around the markets and the group had a nice dinner at a rooftop restaurant near the square.

Day 6 - Bin El Ouidane to Merrekech

 A sobering day as the news of the earthquake came through with at the time up to 800 dead in the city. The tour leader made contact with the hotel we were to stay at in Merrekech to ensure it was still open and that we were able to continue as planned. We crowded around the TV at the lunch stop to see the news come in. So a dilemma whether to stay safe from aftershocks or to go to the city and spend some $$ to help out. We decided on the latter.

Day 5 - Ifrane to Bin El Ouidane

 Another great day starting with some narrow country road then main roads through to our destination which is near the main catchment lake that supplies water to Marrakech, the city about 200km away. The main drama took place at about 11pm when a decent earthquake struck in the Atlas Mountains near Marrakech, killing many people in the old part of the city. Devastating news, and spent some decent time telling family we are OK. We are scheduled there tomorrow.

Day 4 - Chefchaouen to Ifrane

Well in to the routine now. Another 0900 departure. Starting to get in to the groove now with the roads. Visited the Roman ruins at Volubilis on the way. The walk found the ruins with a local guide (hired for the group for $33 NZD) was interesting, but boy it was hot! About 34 Degrees with no shade. At the hotel by 5pm and enjoyed some cold beers and dinner.

Day 3 - Casablanca to Chefchaouen

A long day! Left the hotel at 9:15 after the usual corner marking/daily brief. Took us a long time to get north of the city. I can’t remember a longer day than this on any of the previous rides. Got “lost at one stage when the van passed me by without acknowledgement (when corner marking you always wait for the van), but the big enhancement of this trip is the addition of WhatsApp to the fold. It allowed me to contact the group and also them to send me their current location. After lunch the roads got a lot quieter and more fun with a couple of gorges to traverse. We didn’t get to the hotel until 7:40pm. 

Day 2 - Arrived Safely

Arrived safely in Casablanca WITH all our bags! Had a quite tight connection in Dubai with a late departure and delayed arrival. No time for a shower etc. as we had to change terminals and proceed straight to the gate. Slightly late arrival in Morocco too. Forgot what it was like to have to line up at immigration - just so used to E Gate. Pretty straight forward from there through customs/ATM/Cell Sim Card etc. The taxi drive was long... over an hour I reckon. Traffic pretty busy and it was interesting to see some of the giving way protocols at roundabouts bearing in mind we will soon be experiencing that first hand! Decided not to sleep and just go and have some beers with our fellow tourists before hitting the sack about 9pm. Feeling much better this morning after some sleep. Now it breakfast then signing the paperwork for the bikes. This afternoon we will be visiting a Mosque and awaiting the arrival of the Tour leader who is stuck in China at present.

Day 1 - Off To Morocco!

 Arrived back from speaking at a conference during yesterday at 9pm last night. This the probably the most organised I have been for one of these trips. Experience has taught us what to pack as far as motorcycle gear is concerned and our gear was surprisingly light with our 4 bags ranging between 16 and 19 kgs even though we had an allowance of 4 pieces at 23kg each. In our first post Covid trip, I am masking up on the plane and in the airport, but Aly seems a little more relaxed about things. The Wellington - Auckland flight was very smooth, and we are all checked in and through security. Just the slight matter of a 17hr flight to Dubai then 8hrs to Casablanca......

The Last Day - Bovec to Ljubliana

So the day dawned and we were 50 odd km from Ljubliana. We again took the long way around as Mike wasn't quite finished showing us some excellent motorcycling roads. Again a mixture of mountain passes and long sweepers before a final fuel and dropping off the bikes off ay the Depot about 5pm. A couple of well deserved beers after drop off and then a farewell dinner before everyone scattered to catch planes, trains and other transport.

Trip Summary

Was it worth it? I could do it cheaper?

This is probably the most common comment aboiut the trip. Yes it is expensive at $8,000 USD per rider (or about $16,000 NZD). I'm sure you could do it cheaper by hiring bikes yourself and doing all of your own planning. One this that we consider with these trips is that all you need to bring is spending money. 90% of meals (the rest day meals are at your cost) and all fuel is paid for. You have to take in to account the many many hours you would spend planning, what you would have to do if there was a disruption of some sort and the hours you would spend each day finding routes to take etc. Also, the support vehicle to carry gear and have any problems dealt to is included and is an important factor. For example, if you had an accident imagine trying to recover the bike and get to your accommodation 150km away?

The Bikes

Were very good and in excellent condition. Mine for example was brand new at 1500km. We travelled about 3700km on the trip (400 of which in my case was the Stelvio Pass day). My bike as a little tall for me, but had a comfortable riding position. Some took the extra option of a BMW R1200GS or Ducati Multistrada, which were great for two up riding. The bikes performed very well with the van driver Martej looking after a few light bulbs and rattles and the Ducati Multistrada pucked up a puncture which was promptly fixed.

The Group

Go on very well with a variety of ages from mid 40's to 82 (Graham was a legend doing it at that age!). Everyone got on very well. The riding pace was pretty good with no more than a 10 minute wait at most stops for the regroup. The van following was also golden and was able to recover the damaged bike following the accident early in the trip.

The Weather

Was fantastic! I had 2 hours of rain returning to the hotel on Stelvio day. ike said the weather was better than normal. Pretty much every day was between 25-32 degrees, except sometimes it dropped to about 15 in the mountain passes