London to (maybe) Cape Town

Tuesday 30th May
London to Exeter. 

1st June

Yesterday: 

The Lexmoto guys weren’t satisfied with the sound quality on their recordings of some of my ramblings yesterday. Or maybe the task of editing out my verbosity proved just too daunting. So we did some of it again inside their premises. Hopefully I was a bit more concise this time. Apparently Motor Cycle News might run my story, but only if I actually reach Cape Town. 

BORDER CROSSING (No 1, Entry to Spain at Santander). - Showed my EU (Irish) passport. Waved through without formalities. I think other passport holders needed to collect a stamp. 
 

After so many broken nights I finally slept well on the ship. Probably helped by:
- perfect darkness in my inboard cabin,
- calm seas, and
- several pints of Murphy’s stout (over many hours of course). 

Cold damp morning. In Spain. In June. 

A lot of my gear was still damp too. But the stuff I was wearing soon dried as I rode along.  And as the day warmed up I was enjoying the ride and keeping warm too. But I became aware of a steady loss of power and, remembering something Ahsan in the bike shop told me, I took to stopping every hour or so to give the little engine time to cool down. That seemed to do the trick and, without the self-imposed pressure to keep pushing on, I enjoyed the day and the mountain scenery more (I actually rode through a small ski region).  

BORDER CROSSING (No 2, Spain to Morocco):

- simple entry form to complete and submit with passport for stamping at a desk on the boat. Virtually instant and no fees. 

- the customs people only processed the bikes after everything else. All they wanted was my passport and registration document. Very friendly service, and they issued a 180 day temporary import permit free of charge. 

Reaching Casablanca is now the only deadline on the whole trip to Cape Town. When I come back in August, the rest of it will be open-ended. (Although I very much hope to do my usual Kitzbühel gig in January/February again).  

My little bike was still there in the nearby public car park when I got up on Monday morning. Of course it was. This is Morocco, not London. 

After a very decent breakfast I was on my way with only a 60 mile hop to Casablanca. On the way I completed the full transit of Rabat and confirmed my first impression that it is a smart, clean and modern city. Even the low-rent areas looked tidy and well-maintained. The roads were in perfect condition too - and the roadside landscaping was immaculate. A marked contrast to the UK after 13 years of cuts and corner-shop economics. 

Yesterday’s day-trip by minibus to Marrakesh was fun, but strictly-speaking it was not part of my motorbike odyssey. So I will confine myself to posting a few photos and a video clip, and saying that I had a very pleasant day with three delightful companions: 
- Carol, a Korean-American originally from Hawaii and now living in Washington state. An engaging young lady who, to my surprise, told me she has two grown-up daughters. 

I have just walked through my front door back in London. 6 weeks now to sort out visas, customs documentation, insurances etc. Then 3 weeks holiday in Japan, before I press on with Stage 2 of this bike trip in mid-August. 

Please watch this space. It will be a big comfort when things get tough to know that people are taking an interest and thinking about me. 

Morocco is sometimes described as “Africa Lite” so,  as well as being a lot longer, Stage 2 seems bound to be more challenging - but hopefully also exciting and interesting.  

Observant readers (if anybody is reading this) may have noticed that this is in fact the 78th day since I first set out from London on my little bike. As detailed above, I took a break to sort out some visas and other admin in London and to take my wife on holiday (a necessary condition of being allowed to do this trip).

But it is only the 10th day of what can properly be considered part of the motorbike journey. 

TIA: This is Africa already! I spent all morning in Casa just getting a SIM card, and local cash, and taking a modest thank you offering to "Tom's wife's sister's husband's brother" (he has been looking after my bike since early June). Then a swim and lunch at Tom and Mehdia's place with the kids, collecting the bike, fixing an appointment for crash bars and an oil change tomorrow, a hair-raising ride back across town, and reorganising my packing - once again! 

I was at the motorbike workshop 5 minutes early for my 10am appointment  No time for breakfast. But I soon learned (once again) that my up-tight British approach to timekeeping is not quite how things are done here. 

When the guys finally got into action we raced around several Dickensian establishments talking (not me) animatedly to people (men) who do welding and fabrications in every kind of metal. They all addressed the task of designing and customising crash bars with due solemnity and usually finished by shaking their heads. 

First day back on the bike after a 10 week hiatus. I was up and off soon after 7.30 in the hope of covering as much distance as possible before the day became excessively hot. 
I eschewed the possibly-more-scenic coastal route in favour of covering the maximum distance efficiently. There is a long way to go, and I will rarely again have the luxury of good modern roads. So motorway via Marrakech, hoping to reach Agadir today. 

Today's first job: sunblock. There is a gap between my (necessarily) lightweight gloves and my shirt cuffs. I didn't notice the sun's effect on my wrists until last night. 

Border crossing No 3: Morocco to Western Sahara: 
There is no border. It exists only on (non-Moroccan) maps, not on the ground. You just have to slow down for a rather redundant roundabout, and maybe wave to the nice policeman. Whether anyone else likes it or not, for practical purposes WS is a part of Morocco. 

I have been advised not to let this blog become a list of breakfasts, but today's in Hotel Oscar, Laayoune is probably worth recording. Pain au chocolat and a croissant each as big as a [insert: something between a grapefruit and a melon in size], plus fried eggs, yoghurt, bread, jam, honey, olives, coffee, real orange juice - from real oranges. Described by the hotel as "free". Hahaha. 

I am doing daily write-ups but will only publish them when I have the headspace. I simply can't wrestle with these IT issues as well as everything else. The latest problem is that Côte d'Ivoire is not given as a country option here. And, yes, I have tried Ivory Coast. 
 

Meanwhile I am posting on a website/app which tracks my position in real time. If you are interested, Google: "Christopher Allsop Polarsteps". 
 

Mariental.

15 countries and 9752 miles so far. 
757 miles to Cape Town. One more border crossing.

I'm starting to get ground rush. 

If you want to see the whole day-by-day story, with maps, daily write-ups, photos and video clips, just search for: "Christopher Allsop Polarsteps".