Hello one and all

I think I may have found my rhythm. Blogging and resting once a week after doing about 1000 km. This is my weekend so to speak. Tough life I know :).

I left Agadir on Tuesday 8. October 2019. Very thankfully, Kamal and his crew of mechanics were able to repair King Kong to a nice cruising state. They managed to find a new piston and (as far as I understood with my Français fédéral) sanded down the rocker arms. They also got my odometer working again. I am very grateful that my bike is running and that I was able to continue. Praise the lord :). 

I was happy to be on the road again, but spent most of the rides on Tuesday and Wednesday thinking about the awesome people I got to meet in Agadir. I really miss Abdulatif and the gang and feel very blessed by their friendship and hospitality. My last night Monday in Agadir I stayed over at Abdulatif’s house and got to meet his wife and young son Adam (see the picture of father and son with King Kong below :). I’ve also added some of Ayoub’s professional pictures from the off roading in the desert, as I feel my last post didn’t do the event enough justice. Thank you all kindly for everything and see you next time!

I spent Tuesday night on a lonely campsite outside Mirleft and I got some reading in, which was also nice. 

On Wednesday I made it out to Tan Tan plage and met Ayoub and Debbie (see picture below) who were travelling up from Dhakla in their old Range Rover (300’000 km and their thinking about driving down to South Africa if all goes well). They invited me for some fire grilled fish and introduced me to the app “polarsteps”. It’s a GPS tracker that you can install on your phone. If you do – add me (Christoph Huegli) and you can see exactly where I am at all times (you know, in case you want to send in the cavalry or something).

On Thursday I spent most of the day in Akhfenir. I initially just wanted to do a 500 km oil change there. Hossein the mechanic was very helpful however. I only made short reference to my battery being 6V and thus not being able to charge my 12V GPS. He offered to take a look with regards to a transformer. In the end he discovered that my regulator needed replacing (oh yeah – my battery wasn’t working at all ;). That’s something that I will need to take care of in a bigger city (I reckon probably Dakar, where I anticipate to have to stop for a while for some Visas). The people of Akfenir (yes - I think I met them all :) were very friendly and helpful. I spent the afternoon discussing religion, motorcycles etc. (...) with Boujemaa, an environmentalist. In the meantime Hossein was inspecting my bike. After about 3 hours he didn’t want any money for his analysis (unbelievable –I finally managed to convince him that labor also had a cost). 

I made it to Naila just in time for the evening. Naila is a beautiful lagoon and is under government protection. There’s nothing there but some fisherman and flamingos. I missed the evening boat to see the wildlife and instead swam out. It was absolutely breathtaking! I managed to get quiet close to the flamingos. Come suppertime I was invited to dinner by the lovely French couple Jean Pierre and Sylviane. We had some nice conversation and mouton in their camper van. The photo credit for the Naila shot of me from afar below goes to Jean Pierre (thanks!). I finally did some wild camping in Morocco as well. Albeit maybe not super wild –I set up my tent next to the camper. 

The next day Friday I decided to back track the 25 km North from Naila to Akhfenir because my carburetor was dripping fuel. Hossein already came walking over (with a face that I read as - “this guy really doesn’t want to get to Capetown”) and Boujemaa mad some coffee. Hossein air blasted the carb and said that I probably picked up some sand while fueling up. 

That night Friday I made it to just outside of Tarfaya and set up camp next to a military outpost on the cliffs overlooking the ocean. I asked the soldiers if they’d mind and after a phone call they let me set my tent up in the wind shadow of their shisha hut.  Swell guys and they even woke me up at midnight for some dinner. Unfortunately I don’t have any photos, as I didn’t think they’d appreciate the publicity.

On Saturday I made it out just past Boujdour and pulled up on the beach next to a big fisherman’s tent. I figured it would be safest to go meet my neighbors and ended up hanging out with a group of guys out for the weekend for some fishing with their fisherman friends. There were guitars and Paella (thanks guys!). The conversations were interesting – regarding the region, football, religion and guitars. It is interesting to see the change from the North to the South of Morocco. People speak more Spanish here and the landscape is definitely what I imagined the Sahara to look like.

The next morning I said goodbye to Ahmed and Babi (the two fisherman). Babi has crossed the straight from Boujdour to the Canary Islands in a small motorboat filled with people, (standing!) each paying EUR 100 for the 30-hour precarious passage. He further made it to mainland Spain and was picking fruit until he got picked up by the police and deported. These guys invited me to dinner and breakfast – I thank you kindly gentlemen!

On Sunday I made it down to Dakhla in the evening and sort of crashed here. I spent one night in my tent wild camping and then Monday morning decided that it had been too long since my last shower and two weeks since my last laundry (at Fernando’s in Totana). I’ve splurged on two nights at the “Imperial Playa Hotel” for EUR 11 a pop. I got my laundry done, my carburetor cleaned (again), fuel filter and oil changed and honestly spent yesterday afternoon watching goodfellas on netflix. I really didn’t anticipate this stay. Apparently I needed some down time. I first thought I’d only spend one night. Today Tuesday however it rained here (the only day in the year!) and I decided that I’d recharge a bit longer – advocate of two day weekends that I am.

Dakhla is an interesting place. Renowned for kite surfing (apparently ;) there are heaps of tourists and the locals price accordingly. I wasn’t ready for getting ripped off and overpaid for both laundry service and motorcycle repairs. Big difference here compared to Akhfenir. It’s really a bit surreal to be in such a place after riding about 800 km along the coast and seeing absolutely nothing but desert, the ocean and the occasional small village. 

Today 15. October 2019 I met Christian – a very pleasant German gentleman from Lörrach (so I got to speak Swiss German :). He’s a lone rider as well and cruises on his KTM 690 dirt bike at an average speed doubling King Kong’s XD. We’ve been sharing stories over coffee for most of the day. 

I’m looking forward to the road ahead and Mauretania. I feel like I’m leaving my comfort zone and am finally starting into West Africa.

Peace, love and blüemlis to everyone

Chris

PS

Add me on polar steps :)

PPS

Sorry for the pictures not being aligned in the text. Grant the Webmaster and I are trying to figure out the issue.