rory + stephs travels: Journey to Agadir

The next few days would bring us through the towns of Boujdour, Laayoune and Guelmin to Agadir where we planned to stay a couple nights.

On one of the usual police checks on entering the town of Boujdour we had a bit of craic with the police. The officers were interested in our journey and told us only a short while earlier a group of 4 bikers from France and Italy had passed through. While the officers were busy taking our details down a milk truck was stopped. The driver instantly handed us 2 chilled milk cartons as a gift - just like that.

Boujdour could easily win a tidy town contest. It's very neat and inviting. Looking for a place to eat it didn't take us long to bump into the group of bikers the police had told us about earlier. Kind of strange so far into the journey these were the first bikers we met. They were a nice bunch, all riding big 1200's and giving out about the weight of them as they normally are all light Enduro riders. One of the guys after inspecting our bikes turned to me asking "… and your bike? What was it before?". It got the group chuckling and I suppose it's a fair question (especially since Rory took Suzi for a wash in Dakar and accidentally got rid of all the stickers with the power hose). They eventually moved on, we had our meal and found ourselves a camping ground in the town near the ocean (and going by the occasional smell of death probably also near a dumpster). The camping place was very quiet with only a 74 year old French man perched in the corner with his very impressive kitted Land Rover Defender. We didn't get his name (shame on us) but we were quite entertained by his spirit and enthusiasm and the stories he had to tell. He was also eager to help us out with goods from his stash such as steel tent pegs and a tarp to provide more shelter from the wind.

Having proudly managed to pitch our tent on bed rock covered with a shaking of sand (thanks to the aid of the French man) and despite the usual relentless Atlantic breeze we cozied up in our sleeping bags. What promised to be a relaxing night was interrupted by the Portuguese 4x4 mafia and the endless chatter that followed at around 1 am. There was no sleeping for a while after that.

We met a pair of brothers from England - Simon and Adam Milward - who are promoting the use of solar power with a clever way of raising awareness of what is possible with renewable energy. One of the brothers - Simon - is riding a solar powered bike to Mauritania (or maybe to South Africa yet :) ) while the other is following in a van. They average up to 150 km/h per day. We are very impressed with their cause. Have a look at their website for more details: http://www.aktfoundation.org.

We were too tired to fully appreciate and report about Laayoune other than the usual gorging on Chawarma's and Rory's quest of hunting down the best Patisserie in town before hitting the sack. When packing the bikes the following morning we noticed my number plate had cracked into 2 halves from the vibrations and the winds. We slashed a bit of good old duct tape on and didn't pay any more attention to it. Having a coffee break in Tarfaya we then noticed I had lost one half of my number plate. Oops! Hopefully this will not cause us any hassle leaving Morocco.

We were supposed to have our next stop over in Tan-Tan. On arrival and riding through the town we got a very bad, almost hostile vibe about the place. To give you an example, while simply riding along the main road a group of 3 teenagers on the side walk instantly made angry gestures such as showing us the middle finger and spitting. Not a place we wanted to put our head down for the night. We trucked on to Guelmin instead which proved to be a much better choice.

The 200 km ride to Agadir the next day was by far the most unenjoyable of the entire trip. The winds were ruthless and so incredibly strong, there were many occasions where both our bikes were at a felt 60 degree angle to the road. We were constantly fighting the wind and because we were at 1200 meters altitude we were tense and freezing cold. It's a shame because we didn't get to enjoy the mountaineous roads and views fully.

Agadir on the other hand was a surprise. Although personally I would never want to go there at peak season I was surprised with the place. It's actually a nice spot and because it was relatively quiet in terms of tourism strolling through the streets was pleasant and none of the shop owners and handlers were hassling us to buy their stuff. We enjoyed being off the bikes for a couple days but equally enjoyed getting back on them feeling recharged.