This tour has ended, and it is amazing to everyone how quickly the time passed....  memories of a life time were made. We shared many new experiences together.  And though our language and culture may be different from the tour guides to the guests, this rings true: we are united in a common bond ; we have the love of exploring the world on two wheels...   united we stand, ..... this tour was simply spectacular!! .  

Good bye Africa see you again

Fes to Chefchauen

Day 12 - Restday in Fes

but how can you  not ride on a restday... so we did... through the beautifull vally around Fes

Day 10 Restday in Erfoud

we rode down to Rissani and took a walk through the market. Afterwards we left to Merzouga.

there some went for a camel ride and other on ATV`s

Edelweiss-best RIDE there is- no mather on which vehicle or animal

Is it day NINE already????  Holy jumpin, this tour is going by so quickly, and that is ONLY because we are all loving it.  Today we had a "rest day", which generally means just staying at the hotel for an extra night.  We came here to RIDE and ride we did.  We took of south from Erfoud, our destination today was a visit to some sand dunes of the GREAT SAHARA DESERT.  We had a minor mechanical issue along the way, would you believe a bus full of Spanish tourists passed us, breaked, put the bus in reverse and came back  to us.   A couple guys climbed out and assisted us in a quick repair.  How awesome, people on the road helping one another.   20 km later we were at the impressive sand dunes, as far as the eye could see there was nothing but sand............................something to behold indeed.   Some of us explored the dunes on camel, others on ATV's and a few by foot.  Whatever the means of exploration was the impression of this vast desert leaves an impression on us all.   Tomorrow we say good bye to the vasty desert and climb again in to the mountains......there are surely more treassures to find in this great land!!  

On day 8 we rode from Boumalne Dades to Erfoud. Without a doubt the highlight of the day was the awe inspiring Todra Gorge.  A man made paved road goes right through the towering red cliffs which dwarfed us on both sides. One of the group riders commented how it reminded him of certain areas of Colorado, one of the tour guides, an expert on Colorado readily agreed. After taking in the beauty of the gorge we headed towards Erfoud.  This was pure desert riding, wind, sand, dust and heat.  It makes one realize how small we are as we rode through the vastness of the Sahara. We arrived early at our final destination, a lovely picknick awaited us. Then for some it was time for adventured filled ATV riding in the sand dunes, others decided to chill poolside and just enjoy some peace of mind.  This trip is quickly going by, we are halfway through and already we have made memories which will last a life time.

Riding day 7 Aid Benhadu - Bolman dades

Today we rolled South out of Marracech...finally the snow capped Atlas Mountains appeared before us...first the foad was striaght with a gradual climb..then we encountered the first bends of the Tizi-n-tichka which is the maij pass from North to South in this splendid country. At 2200 meters we enjoyed tasty pizzas for lunch. After the feed, we headed down the pass, one could feel the heat of the Saharanas we made our decent..  it was an amazing ride indeed. The splendid red colors of the land was a sight to behold.  Desert riding is something special indeed. Riding on a Harley in its vastness is indeed a definition of freedom..."ride to live, live to ride"  The land has its own brillance, a beauty like none other, so different from the green lush vegetation we rode through just a few days ago.  Time for a nice dinner and a peaceful rest as we bid you good night from Ait Benhaddou. 

Day five was a rest day.....all the bikes had a nice rest outside in the sun,  they had a peacful slumber today....   the tour guest however participated in golf, sight seeing or just relaxing as well......some partied into the wee hours of the morning and layed down at 5a.m. after a fun night. For others, this morning was time to take a guided city tour through the streets of Marrakech.  We ventured through places and markets of the busy city.  Then most went back to the hotel just to chill and prepare for tomorrow's ride....Atlas mountains....here we come.

Day four......the day started under a cloudy sky in Casablanca, no worries, it was still quite fine to head to the Casablanca Harley Davidson shop.  You see, there is one thing EVERY Harley rider wants from places they visit...we wear our Harley Davidson t shirts with pride, so a city that has a H-D shop is a must visit to buy t shirts and other souvenirs displaying the name of the cities we have visited....after a nice welcome from the H.O.G ( Harley Owners Group) in Casablanca and a  chapter flag trading, signed by all memebers...we were off to ride along the coast to the town of El Jidida. Where the guys enjoyed a nice sea food  restaurant, (not exactly the favorite food for one Swiss/American tour guide, but we will not mention his name,  and that is an entire different discussion anyway) after lunch we had a nice walk through the nice old town, there were very interesting shops with along the way, the old cannons lining the fortified harbor from by gone days were a particular highlight for some of our guest.  Back to the bikes and we rode inland towards our destination of the day, the "Red City" of Marrakesh. Where after two days of flat land riding in lush green farm land the landscape quickly turned to semi desert flat plains, and finally a few hills and twistes in the desert landscape..... this only a teaser for what lays ahead as we are off to discover an Oasis in the African dessert.......we are excited for the ride in the next days in the Atlas mountains....... and we arrive to the vast Sahara dessert in a few days.  Did any of us ever dream in our youth that the Sahara would greet us as we ride our "Iron horses" into its sure spectactular beauty??!! "THIS IS WHY WE RIDE"

Day Three...........we left Chefchuan,  the rolling twisted roller coaster of roads continued through the day.  The scenery simply breath taking.  Eventually the twistes faded away as we rode through rich agricultural land. However the ride was still amazing none the less.  Through the small villegages, and towns we were quite the spectacle to the locals. Waves and smiles greeted us the entire way, we could not have felt more welcome by the citizens of this amazing place on the way to Casablanca.  In the evening we took a stroll through the central part of Casablanca.   Truly an amazing maze of markets, shops and people. The smells and colors of the markets will leave a lasting impression.....this place is truly AWESOME.......and the gang from Shanghai, Harley Davidson are having a great time........oh......and the tour guides certainly are too......."Edwlweiss, the best ride there is".

Day Two.....we left right on time from our hotel Ceuta, Spain, which is actually on the African continenet....we were so happy to see no lines at the border. However, it was not quite so easy to get into Morocco as we had thought. As it turned out we spent SIX HOURS waiting to cross the border as there was a "slight problem" with our visas. We made the best of it, enjoying the sun, people watching..as this border is quite interesting, and sharing some cookies along with a few laughs....Finally when we crossed the border we rode through some suburban traffic until our lunch stop. You can be certain we were all quite a bit hungry...after lunch we were rewarded with amazing coast line scenery. The rocky cliff filled coast line of the Med side of Morocco is simply amazing...then we headed in lnad where the roads became a twisting roller coaster of treasures.....  and plenty of donkeys, goats, dogs and people to dodge along the way.  Tthe roads here are quite narrow and challenging, but rest assured we concured them on our two wheel machines......we rolled into Chefchaouen right as dusk was settleing...... what started out as a day that required a good amount of patience turned out to be a great day indeed...as we head into our night time slumber we are all excited to hit the road tomorrow....Morocco is HARLEY DAVIDSON COUNTRY....."SCREW IT, LET'S RIDE".....

Day 2: while others search for easter egg we search for a new country- Africa here we come

 Malaga to Ceuta a gorgeous sun rise greeted us this morning over the Mederterainian ocean in the Cosat Del Sol!!  We eagerly headed west through
 the lovely country side of Spain. The sun that greeeted us in the morning quickly disspaeared into misty rain, though it was still quite comfortable to ride.
We arrived at Gibraltar, where we had some slight hang ups with visas to our guest from China, after about forty minutes of taking care of some paperwork we were
on our way to the center of town and took the cable car ride up to "THE ROCK",  the views were fabulous when we could see through the patches of fog.
After a quick lunch it was time to head to Algeciars to catch the ferry to Ceuta....an hour after the boat deperted we were spinning our wheels on the Afriacan
continent.   ....... we kind of amazing things will we find over the next 12 days??!!

.......

Arrival day Malaga.