Morocco – Road Trip – Day 1 & 2

Louisa: Tuesday morning we packed up all the stuff we would need for the next three weeks as we hit the road.  This required quite the reduction in volume of stuff as we are only able to carry a minimum of stuff on the bike but we still need clothes, toothbrushes and beach wear for later.  The remainder of our luggage is staying with the motorcycle rental people.

Louisa: We made our way out to the new city to pickup our bike.  It is a big machine – BMW GS1200.  In the last days before my departure I madly ran around Toronto buying motorcycle gear and even then Eric had to order some stuff online for me.  It is surprisingly hard to find women’s protective gear in the right sizes.  Eric brought all the stuff with him including helmets, jackets and pants (with body armour built into them), gloves and special boots.  These will be our primary clothing for the next couple of weeks (and are such a lovely fashion statement).

Eric: The bike really is quite big — usually — but I don’t think most customers who rent this model are my height because it was setup to be used by someone much shorter. I felt cramped! Getting on my 800GS was much harder! We were able to make some modifications on the road before parting ways with the owner of the bike that made it much better. Brought up the driver’s seat height and adjusted the angle of the handlebars. Much better.

Louisa: I have to admit that I was terrified on Tuesday morning.  I was pretty much having a constant panic attack thinking about doing this road trip.  I have only ridden short distances in Toronto before on the back of Eric’s bike.  As well, it is totally beyond my normal comfort zone as the planning has been fairly minimal and will be done on a daily basis, including booking accommodation.  With so many unknowns my anxiety level was very high.  Eric kept me calm though and we made our way out of Marrakech safely.

Eric: Louisa wasn’t the only one who was anxious about this trip! However my anxiety happened before coming to Morocco when I thought I had gotten us into something much more than I could handle as a driver. Examining road conditions with Google maps and reading forum posts by other riders only goes so far! However, Louisa and I ordered a book called Morocco Overland and for me, the knowledge in the book was invaluable; it gave me the insight I needed and was written in a context that a motorcyclist needs. Once I was actually in Morocco watching how people drive all of my worries faded away, compared to India, Cameroon, and Costa Rica — oh and don’t forget downtown Toronto in rush hour as a cyclist — the traffic in Morocco is easy.

Louisa: Our first destination is Fes.  It is about 485km from Marrakech and so has taken us two days to complete.  We can only average about 50-60 km per hour because of the condition of the roads, speed of other drivers, and we are passing through many small towns.  We also require frequent stops every hour or so to stretch our legs.  Also the vibrations of the machine cause quite a bit of bruising to your sit bones (much like riding a camel or donkey for a few days).

Eric: We are definitely travelling slower than local car traffic and faster that local truck and bike traffic. It works pretty well except when a car tries to pass on my left and comes a bit too close without my noticing. This may be par the course for Moroccan drivers but it’s startling for someone used to a well defined zone surrounding a moving vehicle. Easy enough to deal with though, I check my mirrors more often and if I see someone coming who I feel is a bit too impatient I slow down and pull to the edge and wave them through. The drivers and passengers of these passing vehicles always make sure to make eye contact and wave thankfully as they drive by! That is quite nice.

Louisa: We are stopping in small towns for food. I’ve quickly learned that I need to just eat what is available and that might not always fit with my normal dietary preferences.  So far this has included eating rabbit and lamb tajine.  Very helpfully they left the head on the rabbit tajine so you could verify that that was what the meat was!

Eric: I love tajine. Morocco basically has slow cookers running non-stop (it seems) every reasonable place to stop along the road. You have to ask first how much the tajine is or else you may end up paying twice the going amount for your foolishness! I’ve been really impressed with Louisa’s ability to adjust her desires/ideals to align with the reality we find ourselves in. We typically share a tajine between us… I am definitely consuming less food while I’m here and that is really nice.

Rabbit tajine

We have enjoyed a lot of beautiful dramatic scenery though passing through flat brown planes before climbing up into the hills.

Louisa: It is fun to wave and smile at people as we are going along.  We must look like aliens from outer space in all our gear on our big machine.  The kids get a big kick our of waving.  The girls especially always break into a big smile when they realize I’m a woman. It is very unusual for women to do something like this here.

Eric: Louisa is the designated waver between us. I tried waving to people as we passed by but it was too risky to take my hands off the handlebars. It also makes it feel like I’m the driver to her royalty and we’re making a tour through the country to see her people!

Louisa: We arrived safely at our hotel outside Fes last night.  This will be our base for exploring the area for the next few days.

Eric: As we were arriving at Fes a young man on a scooter started talking to me and to Louisa’s dismay I continued engaging him! He was trying to see if he could a kickback off any hotel he may direct us to or tour he may sell us on. He lead us towards where we were going but had to drive away disappointed. When we finally found the reception for the bungalows we were going to stay at we were led to a building that really did not live up to what was advertised and after a bit of stern discussion en français Louisa made sure we got what was promised (and a bit extra).

Louisa: I’m sorry for the delay in updating the blog.  Wifi connectivity has been very hard to comeby and I have to admit that having Eric has been a bit of a distraction.   As we will be driving around for the next couple of weeks this may be the norm for a while.  So stay tuned!

Eric: Hope nobody minds me butting in on Louisa’s blog!!!