Having trailored the bikes down from Andorra, camped & caught the ferry at Tarifa, we then spent about 7 days living in our roof tent in Tangiers customs, by the trailer, before being allowed through. The port was full of glue sniffers & thieves in those days.
The tour started at Michlifen, south of Fes, one of 2 ski resorts in Morocco. Lasting 12 days we travelled the tracks in the High Atlas, Imilchil, Merzouga, across the desert to Zagora, Draa valley and lots more.
Snow was our first experience in this country known for its dunes & desert. The very rocky tracks over the High Atlas were amazing. Unfortunately most of them have been paved now.
We were very ambitious with our roadside lunch plans. Johnny decided we should serve a hot meal… sorry, I should…. so every night in our hotel rooms, I’d be making a stew in our pressure cooker on a bunsen burner. The beef came in vacuum packs from my local butcher in Andorra! We even supplied a camp stool for everyone. I nipped that idea in the bud pretty quickly!!! Johnny & his brother Guy had done the recce in early autumn 97, and failed to realize that the lovely pretty local inns they chose with their colourful flower filled terraces, covered in vines & bunches of grapes were barren in February when we went through. đ
The trip went very well, and we learnt a lot, the main thing being that 12 days was too long for an offroad tour! So at the end of the year, after the catastrophic accident with our “Pig”, we upped & moved further south to our lakeside house at Bin el Ouidane in the High Atlas mountains.
As a result of the tour Mac Mcdiarmid wrote our first ever colour spread in Bike magazine called “Rock the Kasbah”, which helped us get started with Morocco, more than 25 years ago!
See the Article “Rock the Kasbah”
