Started the day with a fantastic sunrise, Mark's bike not good- sluggish and drinking far too much petrol. The scenery just gets more and more dramatic. High peaks devoid of plant life, mile after mile of moonscape/ 'Grand Canyonesk' scenery. Stopping frequently to take in the view, we eventually passed through some spectacular gorges after stopping to repair a sad looking pannier on Mark's bike result of being dropped (earthquake we suspect). Arriving in a small town we stopped for coffee and 'Brahim' a young lad cleaned our boots (ruined the ever increasing enduro/street cred look we are developing) The poor fellow got the wrong end of the stick and expected a small fortune for his services, we paid what we agreed and then he wanted to change the price, oh well a lesson learnt for him.
We pushed on with Mark's bike finally coming to a stop, we decided to have lunch/water and work through the problem, which was then compounded as Lars's tyre promptly went flat. Mark's bike had run out of fuel (and it shouldn't have) After an attempt at tyre fixing and filling tanks, the problems weren't fixed – Lars to tyre place, Mark's bike we nursed to Ouarzazate (60 miles) through a desert road as night fell. After a hairy ride travelling at 'Mark speed' (40 mph) and Lars hearing noises in his bike, we arrived and made our way to 'Bikers Home' what a find! Clean beds/ homely atmosphere/ a washing machine/ garage with tools and beer! The place is run by a Dutch guy (Peter) and his Moroccan wife (Zineb), the meal that Zineb produced was truly superb Moroccan fare. We joined some other travellers (Polish, French and English) and when we went to bed, we all were full, clean and comfortable.
We also knew that tomorrow would be a day for decisions to be made about the Mark and Lars bike situation; the bikes would not be able take on the routes we had thought about if they were not reliable.
Mileage 190
Moroccan Driving School
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