Monday, April 25, 2016 | Ted Goslinga / Angela | Africa
And so unfortunately this tour came to an end!. Thirteen fantastic days in a wonderful, everytime amazing Morocco. Also this riding day was again under a blue sky and 22 degrees, so a perfect riding day to finish this tour. Following the coast line to the border where we smoothly did gone through. Waiting for the ferry gave us a bit time to spend our last Moroccon Dirhams for a quick bite and a drink before we sailed the Gibraltar Strait back to the European continent. After the farewell diner a nice and hilarious debrief (!) and the tour was a fact!
Thank you Phil, Brian, Hans, Iris, Ted (John), Robin, Les and George for your great company, many laughs and jokes and of course the very memorable night in the desert camp! You were al great company!
Hope to see you all on another Edelweiss motorcycle adventure in the near future and all the best
Ted & Angela
And so the Morocco loop is a fact! The last wonderful day of riding in Morocco! Under a constant blue sky we fully enjoyed the last full riding day at the North African continent. In the morning we visited the old Roman excavation sites of Volubulis. THis was the most southwestern border of the former Roman Empire. With a lot of beautiful flowers still in bloom, this place is really a peaceful environment to visit. After our lunch we took of to the last part up north to Chefchaouen. A gorgeous trip over nice and swerving mountian roads before we hit Chefchaouen again. In our authntic hotel we spend our last night in Morocco enjoying each others company and the scenery in our own created living room!
A perfect city to have a rest day. One of the Kings cities in Morocco is really worthwhile to pay a visit. And so we did! The entire group hopped in the taxi arranged again by our local tourguide Achmed and his assistant Mohammed. Visiting a genuine pottery, leather tannery, and of course numerous shops where you could buy the real souvenirs from Morocco. And so the shoppingbags were filled quickly and after a late lunch everybody went back for a couple of hours rest (after all it is a rest day...!) and by the time it was 7 p.m. it was time to go back to the old Medina and at a nice restaurant most of us were trying out a real camel burger!
A last drink in the hotelbar and some good laughs one by one disappeared to their rooms for a good night rest for the upcoming last full day riding in Morocco! Time flies.......!
A bright blue sky again, birds singing and a fresh cup of coffee: who doesn't want that? That is how our day started in Erfoud in the desert environment of southeast Morocco. Toay it is the last day in the south. The longest riding day of this North African motorcycle adventure is about to start. Taking of after the morning briefing tourguide Ted took the group northbound. Swerving the beautiful roads in the Ziz Valley you could see an endless line of palmtrees.Heading more north the air temperature soon drops down to about 15 degrees upon the mountain passes of the Mid - and High Atlas mountains! But still with a bright sun, it was certainly not a punishment to do so! After a late coffestop the road took us to the famous roadside grill in Midelt. Angela was already ahead to pre order the food, so by the time we arrived the food was almost prepared. After the lunch unfortunately the weather became misty and wet so we had to slow down pretty much. Riding through the cedar woods we soon start to descent to the city of Fes where soon we were in the middle of the evening rush hour. Safe and sound we arrived at our hotel at the top of one of the hills that surrounds Fes.
While most of the group stayed overnight in the desert camp, Iris and Angela enjoyed the amenities of the Kashbah-like Hotel in Erfoud. The next morning, though, we decided to meet the meanwhile converted Berber motorcyclists in the desert hotel for breakfast. So Iris and I had an early start towards Merzouga to await the wild ones
What a fantastic day on this African motorcycle adventure! A clear blue sky was waiting for us on our ride to Erfoud today. Starting of visiting the awesome gorge of Thodra was a very nice beginning of riding day number eight. It was clear that we are now entering the warmest part of southern Morocco since the outside temperature hits the 33 degrees Celsius today. After the nice coffestop in the morning the group headed to the desert for the famous desert picnic. This time it was tourguide Ted's turn to fix the picnic. Looking like a nomad camp the group relaxed and get themselves some welcome refreshments on the foot of the "tajin" hill (with tourguide Angela on top!) Then it was time to head for the Erg Chebbi desert south of Erfoud to start the famous camelride out to the desertcamp. Accompanied by still a clear blue sky and some nice winds the group very much enjoyed this desert trip. Around 7.30 pm we arrived at the camp and with some nice refreshments we relaxed Berber style. An hour later the camel boys prepared us a great Berber Tajin dish which was greatly appreciated by everyone. After diner it was time for some Berber drum music and some dancing ....!
Great finish of a great riding day both on wheels as on 4 legs!
Riding day 7 started at the fantastic hotel in a authentic Ksar hotel with a beautiful view on the legendary village of Ait BIn hadou what was used for many movies. Speaking of movies: after a short picture stop we paid a visit to the Atlas studios where some famous movies were recorded, starting with the Jewel of the Nile in the early eighties. Very interesting place. We continued our tour along the famous Route of the Kashba's where in the earlier ages the camel caravans used to ride. Beautiful stretch to ride. Then it was about time to start our ride through the awesome Gorde du Dades (dades valley). But not before tourguide Angela prepared us a great picnic at one of the best spots in the valley, at the so called "brains of Morocco". After a great motorcycle ride through this valley we returned to our hotel in Boumalne where we ended this great day with a nice cold beer and a nice buffet. So far , so good!!
This day promised us a nice and dry ride over the Tizi-n-Tichka pas which is about 2260 meters high. And nice it was! Perfect riding temperature around 20 degrees is a great companion to travel with! Morning coffestop under a clear blue sky with the best coffee you can get in Morocco, can be a real treat to the senses!.
After a challenging ride to Telouet we stopped for lunch in a berber tent and after that local guide Ali took us to an old Kashba house of the Glaui tribe. Very interesting stories about the history during the French colonisation and also about Ali's family!. Following our way through the mountains and the fantastic villages on our way to Ait Bin Hadou was for everybody a sensation!. At our famous Ksar hotel everybody enjoyed the real South Morocco scenery . Another great day in paradise!
Restday! That means first of all a nice sleep in! At 9.30 a.m everybody had already had breakfast and was ready to go. About half of the group joined tourguide Angela for a ride to the ski area in Morroco and the other half was going with tourguide Ted and city tour guide Achmed for a guided city tour.
Achmed surprised us again this time to compose a very nice city tour which led us through the souk in the medina of this old city and to enjoy the different aspects of life of the people who live and work here.
A nice lunch on a rooftop restaurant concluded this nice tour and after we returned back at the hotel it was just a short time away before we got together again for a visit at the famous Djemaa al Fna plaza in town where hundreds of artists, musicians, storyteller and snake chamers did their very best to earn some money. Also the riding group reeturned and they had a very clear beautiful morning too!
At one of the pop-up foodstands we had our diner. This is really a challenge for all your senses to keep up what is going on!
Back at the hotel everyone was ready to go to their beds.....after a nice drink in the hotel bar!
As every morning in Morrocco we woke up by the numerous loudspeakers of the minarets for the morning prayer. For most of us is it the sign to sleep another hour or two! Leaving the city along the breezy Atlantic coast is a real relief after the noisy morning rush hour in Rabat. Following the coastal road we hit the highway for another 50 km in order to be in the huge Hassan II mosk in Casablanca in time for the guided tour. For all of us it was an impressive visit. The mosk is a real beauty of architecture and symetry , located right at the seaside of Casablanca. After the visit we followed the coastal road again to have a very comfortable and great lunch at the beach. Since it is about another 250 km down to Marrakech, we mostly rode on highway today. But nevertheless it is still a great landscape to ride through and to experience the pretty quick transformation from coastal landscape to more drier desert landscapes. Immidiatly it also turned warmer outside. A great day to ride and once in Marrakech, we could look forward to a well deserved rest day in this enchanting city
Today we leave Chefchaouen and cross through the foothills of the Rif mountains towards the Moroccan west coast. Rabat is our tonights destination but the most breathtaking landscape and riding is definitely in the mountains. Some of the scenery looks like as if it was painted. Thinking of Morocco, desert, sun and heat is usually what comes to your mind first. But Morocco has much more to offer than that...
Riding day 2 is about to begin! The sky looks way better than expected, so at 9 a.m we took off in southern direction towards the Spanish-Moroccon border. After all the paper work was done we started the Morocco adventure. The weather gods were in a good mood today. Only a couple of raindrops bothered us a bit but during the morning coffeestop and the lunch the sun came through. The afternoon ride through the valley from Ouad Laou to Chefchaouen was a treat to the senses!. Temperature around 20 degrees Celsius makes riding through this valley really special. We arrived in the hotel pretty good in time so that everybody could enjoy the souk in the medina of this beautiful "blue city"
A splendid first day in Morocco!
And so already the third Edelweiss Morocco tour of this year started today from Malaga. A new Motorcycle adventure this time with customers from Australia, Canada, South Africa, England and Switzerland. Completed with the tourguides from the Netherlands and Germany, it makes this group a real international one!. After two days of swapping out and cleaning bikes at the parking lot of hte start hotel, we took off for a loop in the Andalusian mountains , followed by a visit to Gibraltar. After the ferry ride to the Northa African continent, the sun accompanied us for a nice roundtrip over the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. After a real nice diner with splendid paella, we ae slowly preparing us for the border crossing tomorrow and a beatiful ride along the coast
MCT 1602 is a fact!
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