Sleeping beside the bike in a Moroccan river bed

Discussion in 'Ride Reports - Epic Rides' started by Tim Cullis, Jan 29, 2007.

  1. Bonnie Abbzug

    Bonnie Abbzug Property of Hayduke

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    :lurk
    #21
  2. Wenduro

    Wenduro Agenda 21 Refugee

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    Fascinating ! :lurk
    #22
  3. Jawdropper

    Jawdropper Ca y'est, On y go!

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    The "funnest" part of driving a 78 jeep CJ7 was I didn't know what was going to break next and where. The whole fun of it was making do. Man...you must be having fun!!!

    Nice bike, gorgeous desert, terrific report! Thanks
    #23
  4. kktos

    kktos on a bright side of life

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    Master Tim,
    you're mad !
    :clap
    Morocco with a 12GSA fully loaded.......
    Last May, I successfully broke my fork with a 12GS with paniers and topcase. too heavy to handle.
    So a 12GSA !!!!

    And alone !

    keep the picts coming !

    hum.... afterthoughts...
    you werent alone, were you ? I mean deep in troubles as you were, you took some time to take shots.... and I guess you were thinking about the great ride report you'll be able to write.....

    cheers to you :1drink

    /tm
    #24
  5. Lobby

    Lobby Viel Spass, Vato!

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    :lol3

    That's EXACTLY what I was thinking.

    :lurk
    #25
  6. GalacticGS

    GalacticGS Motorcyclist Supporter

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    The pics and story are great Tim.

    Anxiously awaiting Part 2...
    #26
  7. GB

    GB . Administrator Super Moderator Super Supporter

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    Keep the mistakes coming!! What a great adventure!! :lurk
    #27
  8. Hair

    Hair On time and on budget. Supporter

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    Honestly I thought that the Long Way Around proved to us just how dumb it is to take the big bikes into the backcountry.

    Looking at your photos the spots that totally stopped you could have been easily ridden by a smaller bike.
    #28
  9. Scribe

    Scribe £Bob£

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    Dammit! Only two pages. I knew you were going to leave me hanging.
    #29
  10. OldBMWMaster

    OldBMWMaster Banned

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    Be sure to check out the area between Kenitra and Rabat. Teh Sabu river bed is incredible and the beaches incredible and uncrowded. Stay away from the Beaches in Rabat; but be sure to make a visit to the nightclubs. Very French and a lot of fun.
    #30
  11. CBejbl

    CBejbl Long timer

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    Stories like these make my "adventures" look pale by comparison.

    Very cool report. Waiting for more. :thumb
    #31
  12. richc

    richc Long timer

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    Nice report. It's incredible that you took pictures, looks like the surface of Mars.
    #32
  13. Tim Cullis

    Tim Cullis Partially heighted

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    Location:
    London, Granada Altiplano and Morocco
    [​IMG]
    This was an ancient graveyard I had passed a short while earlier

    Some hobbled camels were grazing nearby as the sun dipped below the horizon at half five, and Sirus appeared shortly afterwards. With the sun gone it got cold quickly, though the bike's onboard computer showed the temperature was still around 8C. By just gone six it was totally dark with a wonderful canopy of stars overhead. I lay for a while slowly eating the bread, watching for satellites and saw a couple, then a couple of meteors. Orion was to my right and by coincidence I had lain down with Polaris between my feet, so during the course of the night the sky revolved around me.

    My hands, head and feet were getting very cold, so I dug out my thermal waterproof socks for my feet, wore my 'buff' as a head scarf and put my gloves on. Pulling the plastic over my head I went to sleep.

    The next time I awoke, the moon had risen, and the landscape was no longer so hostile. I could see literally for miles. Throughout the night I woke sporadically with the cold, and could judge from Orion's progression across the sky how long it had been since I last fell asleep. Ever so often I would walk up and down the piste to get the blood flowing and some heat in my body, and a couple of times I ran the bike engine and plugged in my electric jacket, switched on the grip warmers and heated my gloves up on the cylinder head. The temperature gradually dropped to 5C, then 3C.

    First light was at half six, with dawn at just gone seven. I was very cold and walked over to the bike to run the engine and plug in my electric jacket. The onboard computer confirmed the temperature was now at just 1C. After gaining a bit of heat I went back to my pit and slept some more, finally getting up about nine by which time the sun had started to warm things up a bit.

    [​IMG]
    Happy campers

    Overnight the bruise on my side had developed into something 25cm in width and 10cm high, running across my left kidney. I took a couple more codine. Generally, though, I was feeling much refreshed, though a bit jumpy with all the Red Bull, and I set to work planning my escape. Whilst still wearing my trainers I walked up the river bed for a couple of kilometers to check conditions.

    [​IMG]
    Bits of tyre tracks everywhere, but no defined piste

    The major problem was the lack of a defined piste and the endless possibilities, none of which were easy. I walked up and down, working out a route, and laying out marker cairns.

    Then I constructed an on-ramp to get me onto a higher section of the river bed out of the grit. And an off-ramp and another on-ramp further on, then spent half an hour moving some of the worst stones. I then walked my planned route backwards to the bike, trying to memorise the route by the stones.

    [​IMG]
    Mark it with cairns

    All of this was delaying the fact that eventually I needed to move. According to the SatNav I had just 18 km to go, and there was no more delaying. So I packed the bike up, walked the escape route one more time, then started off. I made the first obstacle and was out of the gritty river bed.

    [​IMG]
    Decide your own route

    I bounced across a plateau and descended once more into the bed, the back out. One more crossing to make, this time of about 300 metres and mainly large rocks. I walked the route through the last obstacle, rested a while to compose myself, then launched the bike into the river bed. And then finally, I was through, on to a decent track again with just 12 km to go. As I feached the village a few locals gave me puzzled looks.

    Although the night on the piste was uncomfortable, I think I made the right decision to stop. Whilst the bike's headlights and auxilliary lights were good enough to continue in the dark, I was so tired that I think if I had continued I might very well have made some bad mistakes. And in reality the 15-16 hours I spent beside the bike went very quickly.

    What it did was to give me a new perspective on some of the ordeals faced night-after-night by soldiers of all nationalities fighting winter campaigns. Look on the bright side--I only had one night rough, it didn't rain or snow, I saved the money on hotel bill and didn't have to pay for the camp site. Oh, and nobody was shooting at me (and the camels weren't rutting).

    Tim
    #33
  14. Tim Cullis

    Tim Cullis Partially heighted

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    Location:
    London, Granada Altiplano and Morocco
    [​IMG]

    It could have been much worse. This was a couple of days ago, -5C at midday riding across the Middle Atlas.
    #34
  15. T125

    T125 Slightly Overdressed

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    Fantastic!

    You may have made some mistakes in the initial "prep" phase, but your clear, rational work laying out the escape on the morning of Day 2 was inspiring!

    GREAT report, Tim!
    #35
  16. kktos

    kktos on a bright side of life

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    Tim, where is it btw ?
    between midelt and beni mellal ?
    /tm
    #36
  17. BigDogAdventures

    BigDogAdventures Fart Letter Supporter

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    Yeh--I hate when that happens too !!!! :huh :huh :huh :huh
    #37
  18. Tim Cullis

    Tim Cullis Partially heighted

    Joined:
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    Location:
    London, Granada Altiplano and Morocco
    It's a piste running east from Zagora area to near Taouz, it runs roughly parallel to Chris Scott's M6 piste.

    So far I've done about 1200km offroad on this trip, in all different areas of Morocco. Mostly the weather has been excellent with deep blue skies, and I have more than 600 photos.

    I'm planning to visit the Rif on the way home if I can outrun the drug barons.

    Tim
    #38
  19. GalacticGS

    GalacticGS Motorcyclist Supporter

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    Great story :thumb

    Sounds like your adventures will continue, so keep us posted...
    #39
  20. tv guy

    tv guy Commuter

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    Wonderful pictures, thanks for taking us along :thumb
    #40