To the Gib, and then Africa.

We took some narrow roads on leaving the Sierra Navarda and made our way to Gibralter.  We were hoping to find a hotel on the rock, as we had only budgeted a short time here due to the expensive costs.  We stayed at the Bristol Hotel, it was old but okay for our stay.  The afternoon we arrived we quickly changed and headed off for the cable car to take us up to the top of the Rock.  The views were magnificent, although the weather was a little over cast, unfortunately we could not see the African Coastline of Morocco as it was too hazy.

Rock Ape...

Barbary macaque

View looking North from the Cable car Kiosk and viewing area.

Mum and Bub.

We then hiked to the Southern end of the Rock, looking at sights along the way before winding down the Mediterranean Steps checking out WWII old gunning placements, barracks and an assortment of historical features from the day. 

Down the steps we go...

And some more steps..

We met up with many locals, but 2 guys in particular they were great tour guides (at an excellent rate).  They gave us more insight into the history of the Rock.  We then hiked back up the main road to join the cable car at the mid way station, before ascending to the top of the Rock once more for a quick sight see as this was the last cable car to return from the Rock that day. 


We enjoyed chatting to the cable car operator who also gave us some more information about the Rock.  That night we went to a small British Pub on the Rock, where Steve had steak & kidney pie & a couple of pints of Guinness.  I had a very nice ham & salad.  We then ventured back to the Bristol for a night cap by the poolside. 


The next day we packed up & put all our luggage down stairs & took off on the bike up the Rock again to see St Michael’s Cave & the Siege Tunnels.  The Siege Tunnels were very interesting; Steve thought that was the best thing about the Rock.  St Michael’s Cave whilst interesting, was not as impressive as the caves we have in Australia. 

Now it was time to get back to the Bristol to pick up the luggage & ride to the ferry terminal departing for Algeciras.  We now know why there are many ferry ticket offices along the highway!!!  The terminal is a very busy little place…..Touts rushing you to get the ferry…adding confusion to the whole trip!!  Then wanting Euros for his trouble….which he didn’t receive. 

Lunch on the Ferry.

 Once off the ferry we were heading towards Tanger, which of course was the wrong way!!! We then changed direction & headed for our over night stop in Chef Chaoune, where we finally found a hotel which looked reasonable. The owner had obviously other ‘bikers’ stay there before us, as he happily ushered Stephen & the bike into the restaurant!! Stephen was most thrilled to have his baby snug & secure. Mind you when the owner locked up he had a big metal door that he padlocked. 

Video of riding through one of the Northen Morocco Town. (Bab-Berret).

Fashion Statement ?

The next morning he made us fried eggs & bread for breakfast.  Now we were heading towards Fes.  In Fes, we experienced some very interesting driving techniques (not quite sure they had a license).  We entered Fes on Friday at around 2:00pm, but due to poor planning we did not appreciate the size of the city we were entering.  We had no routable maps (topographic with large roads only). We drove about Fes and very quickly we were intercepted by a Tout, who kept riding in front of Stephen, trying to direct him to a hotel.  By this stage Stephen was getting rather frustrated with this type of behaviour.  He was very persistent & would not take ‘NO Thank you’, for an answer.  We had, had enough of this behaviour so Steve basically turned the bike around & drove back out of town with the intentions of driving on & not visiting Fes all together. We found a little café & pulled over for a coffee.  Steve got out the lap top & did a bit of searching for a hotel.  We decided to get back on the bike, but as we headed off down the road Steve realised we had a flat rear tyre.  So we were off the bike again & changing the tube.  As I said earlier, we had no detailed maps so we did turn around & head back to Fes, by this time it was getting dark and being Friday night as you may know, all good Muslims were coming home from Friday prayers!!!!  What crazy drivers they are!!!  We eventually found a great hotel at a great rate and booked it for 3 nights.  We would recommend the Barcelo Hotel to anyone.  Great food, great service & great accommodation.

In the Laundry Room!!

Off to the Medina.

Fes Medina, main street ?

Come into my shop, I give you good price...

Another view of the shop.

Okay it’s now Monday 10^th October, we packed up and left the very nice ‘Barcelo’ Hotel heading south down towards Midelt and Ar-Rachidia.  We stopped about 45 kilometres from Ar-Rachidia, just after the tunnel Du Legonmarie and in the gorge Du Ziz.  We stayed in an old Riad, it was basic but comfortable.  We had a nice meal cooked in tagine pots, 1 was chicken & vegetables the other tagine looked like a type of minced meat balls (don’t want to think about what that was made of!!).

Our room was in this corner.

The garden in the Court Yard.

Tuesday 11/10/11

Yesterday we got underway by 8:30 am! Surprise, surprise Stephen was most impressed!  This was a big day.  We headed for the gorges du Todra & du Dades.  We made good progress and we stopped in the du Todra gorge & got the billy out & made a cup of tea.  We made an economic contribution to the local economy.  After our short rest we continued north through the gorge system taking in the scenery.  We were heading for a dirt track that joined these two gorges. 

Lets make a Deal! Moroc Version.

Luv that Bike...

Road was Great to start.

Not so good that last 8-10 kms or so.

Billys on, and re-air tyres.

Goggle earth gps plot

That bit of road...

The one photo Deb got ...

The road was in condition to begin, but 10 k’s from the du Dades gorge had been washed away, the track was then a rough track in and out of the river bed (we did a bit of rock hopping).  It was hard work 2 up, but we pushed on regardless.  We got back on the tarmac and headed for a scenic spot where we again stopped for a cuppa, whilst re-airing tyres and enjoying the scenery once more.  We then headed for a section of road Steve had seen many photos of, and had dreamt of getting some photos of himself on this section of road…..unfortunately the photographer he picked does not like being close to the edge of the cliff!  This equates to photos that he was not impressed with!!!! By any means…(we may have to come back this way)  Continuing on we headed for Ouarzazate where we stayed overnight at a hotel.

Wednesday 12/10/11

Today we left at around noon, heading towards Marrakech 220 k’s away.  We rode over the high Atlas Mountain ways, with some great scenery (thanks Werner).  We plan to stay 2 days in Marrakech and take in some of the local sights it has to offer.  In a couple of photos of the cattle trucks have a look Have a look at the ‘cattle trucks’, I don’t think they’d meet the approval of the RSPCA some how.

Billys on again...

A freind comes to visit.