Morocco - Rabat to Ouezzane

Day 17 - Monday 13 May, Rabat to Ouezzane, Morocco

We were awake early on Monday morning as the Rabat streets gently started to come to life. Badger had suggested that we head East to Fez for a very quick look round then turn north towards Ouezzane leaving an easy ride to Ceuta and the ferry back to Algeciras the next day. I had been away from home for 2 and a half weeks and I was starting to get a bit homesick so was more than happy to agree. We got showered and dressed and were ready for breakfast by 8am.

We went to the cafe next door to the hotel to get breakfast, but they asked us to come back in 15 minutes as they weren't ready to start serving, judging from the lack of people out and about, I'd hazard a guess that Moroccans aren't such early risers. We decided to have breakfast on the road and took turns to fetch the bikes round to the front of the hotel. Loading up took quite a bit longer than expected as a couple of the locals came over to chat about the bikes and our trip. I got talking to one chap who split his time between Calvados in Normandy and Rabat and we ended up blethering for quite a while. We eventually managed to set off at about 9am - just in time for the Rabat rush hour.

Getting out of Rabat proved quite tricky and we got a bit lost in the diplomatic quarter but eventually Badger got us headed towards the airport and the motorway to Fez. The skies had cleared and it was turning into a hot day. The traffic into Rabat was really starting to build up and I was pleased to get out of the congestion and fumes and onto a reasonably clear road. We stopped at the first services we came to for breakfast, which was pretty decent and reasonably priced. By 10.30 we were ready to set off for Fez. The motorway from Rabat to Fez is pretty decent and it was a fairly uneventful if rather warm ride. We stopped once for mint tea and biscuits and by about 12.30 we were turning off for Fez Airport and Fez itself.

Badger's plan was to head into the centre of Fez, check out the main railway station then head towards the Medina area, take a few snaps just to say that we'd been to Fez and then leave most of the afternoon to ride up to Ouezzane by a national road. However as we rode into Fez Badger got chatting to a guy on a scooter and before we knew it we were following him to a cafe. To cut a long story short the guy's cousin, who claimed to be a guide turned up and offered to show us round. Despite us explaining that we didn't have time for a tour we ended up following him to his house, we left our bikes in the street outside his house and went with him in his car to the Medina.

Badger and our Guide

One of the Main Avenues in Fez

Outside a Royal Palace

Initially this worked well as he took us to a hill above the Medina, where we took some pictures, which was all we wanted to do, however then he took us to the Medina itself and started doing a "tour". We went into one of the tanneries, I thought that we would just get a couple of snaps then head off, but no we had to have the guided tour - we of course ended up in the shop, where I bought a belt and Badger a pair of pointy leather slippers. By now we were starting to get anxious about the time and our "guide" took us to the Argan oil co-operative shop. By now I was getting seriously pissed off both by our guide and by the "hard-sell" tactics. I insisted that we head back to the bikes and get back on the road.

A View of the Medina

Another View of the Medina

Donkey Power

The Tannery

Badger and a Heavily-Laden Donkey

When we got back to the bikes our guide asked for a very large tip for his "tour". Badger quite understandably got quite cross as no fee had been mentioned and as we were arguing the toss the scooter guy turned up and joined in the "discussions". In the end we reluctantly paid a small fee and headed off in ill grace. I just wish that I had been much firmer earlier and said "No thanks" or at least negotiated what services were to be provided and what fee was to be paid. We both felt that the guy was trying to stiff us for providing a service that we neither needed nor wanted and that left a sour taste in everybody's mouth. Now Badger and I understand that people have to make a living, and are both happy to pay for a service, but we weren't happy about the way the whole thing was handled. The best we could do was write it off as "cultural misunderstanding". I hate tourist places at the best of times and Fez was not a good experience.

Once we got back on the bikes it was time to navigate our way out of Fez, which is quite a big town. As luck would have it we ended up going back the way we had been with our guide and then got lost trying to find the road out towards Ouezzane. We ended up following another guy on a scooter who did actually lead us out of Fez onto the right road and we were happy to pay him a tip. We stopped for water and an ice-lolly before finally heading out of Fez at about 3.30.

Badger's map indicated that there was a red national road - the D501 which would get us to Ouezzane without going on the motorway. The first few miles on this road were very interesting - tight mountain bends and narrow roads but a reasonable road surface, however after about 10k the road started to get a bit bumpy and on one descent I bottomed out the Honda's suspension on a large pothole, it was to get worse. Another couple of miles down the road and the road surface completely disappeared and for a few miles we were riding on compacted sub-surface covered in stones and pebbles. It looked like they were repairing this section of road and had stripped the tarmac off leaving only the compacted rubble foundation. We descended into a valley and the surface improved a bit.

By about 5pm we got into a small town called "Karia Be Mohammed", which felt very South American. We filled up at the local garage and stopped for mint tea at the adjoining cafe. We really felt like "7 day wonders" as the locals stared at us and the bikes as if they had never seen either before although the local mechanic was riding a Yamaha R1 race bike. I expressed a hope to Badger that we had done the worst of the road and the surface would get better here on in. Boy was I wrong! As soon as we got out of town the tarmac simply disappeared and we faced about 30 miles of unmade road. The surface was worse than a dirt track as it was so hard and covered in stones. We were struggling to do more than 10mph on this stuff. It would have been OK on off-road bikes with knobbly tyres and long-travel suspension but it was hellish on big touring bikes. The other hazard was dust - it was bone dry and soon both Badger and I and the bikes were covered in a fine white powder - my eyes were getting inflamed and all-in-all it was turning into a mightmare ride.

It was also getting quite late in the day and the sun was pretty low and we still had another 30-40 miles to go to Ouezzane. I took the lead and gradually started to speed up - out of sheer necessity. We were in the middle of nowhere - well somewhere in the Rif mountains and there was no choice other than to press on. After a while desperation started to kick in and as I started to get a feel for what I was doing I started winding up to 30-40mph, which felt seriously scary in the conditions. We went through a couple of small towns, but they were even worse as they had the remnants of what had once been speed humps.

One thing we both noticed is that there was a string smell of dope in every town and village that we passed through. I thought that it was just my over-active imagination, but we later realised that we had been riding through the Rif mountain region, which is a the centre of the Moroccan hashish trade and we had been smelling the smoke from the locals' joints.

By about 7pm the light was really starting to fade, but after a particularly horrendous section little patches of tarmac started appearing. There was between 6 and 18inches of tarmac in the centre of the road and we both just went crazy. We speeded up to 50-60mph, sometimes more, but had to be incredibly alert for oncoming vehicles. Luckily there were very few of these about and what there was moved over for us. We were amazingly lucky not to come off as 50mph round a tight bend with only a few inches for error in twilight is not to be recommended.

Just as we thought the worst was over the tarmac disappeared completely again as we came into a tiny village where we asked about the best way to Ouezzane or if there was a local hotel. It seemed like the whole village was watching us intently. After much discussion the locals informed us that there was nothing until just outside Ouezzane so we had to press on. We asked if this was the only road and the locals pointed us back down the road to a turn-off, which they said was the least direct route, but the one with the best road surface, so we turned the bikes around and headed off as directed. By now it was seriously gloomy - twilight at best, but we pressed on.

We crossed a steep valley and as we descended over the other side the road surface started to improve and we were able to press on at quite a frantic pace. About 10 miles down the road we came up to a t-junction onto a decent road and asked some locals where the nearest hotel was. I wondered why they gave us a very funny look when they pointed to the rather large sign we stopped by - Rif Motel 5 miles! So off we zoomed and sure enough about 5 miles down the road was the Rif Motel, which we pulled into.

Arrival at the Rif Motel

It's hard to describe how elated we were to get into the Motel, we were like a couple of kids with a new toy. The motel was quite new, had a swimming pool and a restaurant and they served beer as well - what more could a dusty, dirty biker need? We took a quick piccie - as you can see it was pretty dark by the time we arrived and we both hadn't sprouted white side-burns - that was the dust - we were covered in it from head to foot! We got a room each, showered and had supper, a few beers and turned in - exhausted but elated and with a genuine sense of achievement.

Day Summary

Day -	17
Miles Covered in Day	210 approx.
Miles Covered in Trip	2740 approx.