Medieval cities of Morocco

Hello from Fez! Yes, it is as amazing as the guidebooks say! We decided to travel by bus for a few days while waiting for our spare parts to arrive. An Capall is back at the campsite in Chefchaouen. Took a nice 6 hour bus journey to Meknes, weaving through green valleys that have seen plenty of rain this past while. Parts of it reminded us of Ireland, except they make much greater use of donkeys and horses in the fields than we do! We found a hotel near the medina and explored the streets of Meknes, and ate in a lovely restaurant in the Place el-Hedim (large open square). From here, you see this incredible monumental gateway; which was the main entrance to the imperial city. The old city lies within these incredible walls that have obviously stood the test of time. Just like Chefchaouen the medina is full of twists and turns (though not hilly, so you can walk further). The markets (souqs) are fantastic, with vivid colour and examples of craftsmanship at every turn. Glorious smells follow you and in the air - fruit, spices, musk, perfumes. There's this beautiful sense of purpose, of artisans creating goods that are bought and used by Moroccan people everyday.

We really feel like we've stepped back in time these past few days (save for the presence of internet cafes, of course!) Little cubby-hole shops are run by proud owners - you see them make tiles, dye the textiles, sew the garments, weave the rugs in their own little shop. And this isn't for tourists. Most of the shop-owners take no notice of us - except for the polite offer to visit their shop, or welcome us to Morocco. There are tiled water fountains, archways, cobbled streets, people attending mosque, making things, mending things and you get this sense that it hasn't changed that much in 100 years.

We are both really enjoying all the culinary experiences, especially the pastries and freshly-squeezed orange juice (Linda)! In a strange turn-around, Mike has discovered that he loves tea!! Well, Moroccan tea, which is minty and laced with sugar. Meanwhile, coffee-phobic Linda has taken to drinking cafe au lait. Isn't it interesting how travelling changes you!

So, we just arrived in Fez a few hours ago and we are already suitably impressed and looking forward to exploring tomorrow.

Photos

We found an internet cafe with USB so here are some random pictures of the trip thus far!

Setting off from Limerick - 16th January.

Linda at a French toll booth, (wearing 9 layers). It's not as warm as it looks!!!!!

First night in AFRICA!!!! Looking out on Tetouan from our balcony!

REALLY enjoying a Moroccan pastry!

Typical Chefchaouen doorway.

More steps......

At least these go down.............

Moroccan men chatting outside the Kasbah.

Chefchaouen

Hello from the Rif Mountains

Bonjour tout les amis!

Well, we're now fully immersed in Moroccon culture - know some very basic Arabic phrases, eat tagines, and converse with locals in the medina (town centre). We're in Chefchaouen (meaning "Look at the Peaks"), which is a beautiful town in the Rif mountains in the north of the country. It's an amazing little town with a fascinating history. The Jews and Muslims were expelled from Granada in 1471, and settled here. Most of the town is painted in blue and white; apparently to reflect its Jewish heritage, and gives it a beautiful feel.

Yesterday we enjoyed wandering the narrow streets, meeting Berbers (native people from this region), watching an old Moroccon man cook our lunch and have a local ask us "What's the craic?" when he realised we were Irish. I think this town sees many tourists in the summer, but it's completely hassle-free. People like to talk to us and a woman came right up to me (Linda) to tell me her name and shake my hand. The old people here must be fit as there are so many steps to climb and the children play easily in the natural playground of narrow streets. Many men wear long coats with pointed hoods called djellabas. They have a distinctly "Lord of the Rings" look about them, but also look very warm!

We're set up in a fully-equipped campsite above the town. It's surprising how many people choose to holiday at this time of the year. There's only one other tent here, but LOTS of camper vans driven by mature European couples. I can think of a few people who should plan their next campervan holiday here! You know who you are! We have all the tips for you now!!! There are quite a few converted vans too.......

It looks like we'll be staying here a ltttle longer than anticipated, but it's a lovely place to be "stuck" in! Our poor "Capall Mor" has been so loyal, hard-working and compliant for the past 1900 miles that she finally decided she needed a rest and a slight upgrade. Over to Mike now for all the technical details.....

Hi,

Well we expected that something would need to be fixed on the bike during the trip but we also thought that we'd get further than our first full day in Africa! Ha!

We pulled into Chefchaouen on the day before yesterday only to notice that the rear tyre was coated in oil.

This looked all too familiar as being symptoms of a wheel bearing failure.

It's a weak point on these bikes.

(Technical bit - The rear bevel has a single point contact ball bearing which takes radial loads only. It is held between the machined gear and the cast housing and the bearing is shimmed accordingly on each individual bike.

If the shim size is wrong, it puts axial loads on the bearing and the bearing eats itself)

Here's the rub; I 'fixed' this bearing and shim back in October when it failed on me then. Obviously, a quality piece of engineering on my part!!! The Ford lads got a detailed account at the time - I blame Carl's vernier caliper!

So the bike is now propped up on some concrete blocks with the rear wheel off and a complicated bungee cord strapping system holding it up.

A new bearing and seal are winging their way to this camp-site and all we've got to do is wait.

Thanks to Dad for help with the shipping.

We'll keep you updated (but without the techie bits, I promise)

INTO AFRICA!

We're here!
We've made it out of Europe and into Africa!
1900 miles from home and we're in the Moroccan cafè we expected in our second post.

But first, some backdating.

We love Spain. The country and the people really appealled to us. Girona, Valencia and Granada each struck a chord in different ways and as always with travelling, it's the people you meet and notice that stand out.
-In Girona we had to load the bike at the side of a narrow cobbled street. Not a single horn was beeped, no complaints were heard from passer-bys; people simply manouevred around us with smiles.

-We got a bit lost in Valencia and asked directions from a guy filling his 1993 FIAT Uno.
It turned out that Lucas spent three summers in Donegal and loved it. He offered to lead us directly to the hostel and following a Spanish-style chase through the old beautiful marble streets and alleyways, he dropped us at the door with a wave.

- We struck gold in Marbella.
After a 6 year break we met Mike's old old friend Kevin and his friends Jose Luis, Andrew, Anna and Maria.
Jose Luis and Maria, so kindly, gave us free reign of their apartment. Saturday surprised us with torrential rain and thunder and it gave us the perfect excuse to spend an extra day and night chilling out, being taxied around, chatting and filling up on delicious home-cooked meals!
A1 hospitality Kev!
The night was rounded off with some embarrasing karaoke renditions of David Bowie and Queen. :^/

So finally we decided to leave the familiarity of Europe.
At 3pm the ferry left Algerciras for the Spanish enclave of Ceuta.
I'd love to say we watched Gibraltar rock disappear into the distance but the crossing was extremely rough so all we saw was the floor we were lying on.

Despite being prepared for an onslaught of hassle and hustlers, the Moroccan border crossing was pretty straightforward and 30 mintues saw us officially cleared to enter...AFRICA!

So we're here in Tetouan, about 50 kms south. The driving so far has been as easy with nothing crazier than would be experienced in west Limerick
We've eaten proper Moroccan kebab, had a stroll in the medina and are ready to face our first full day in a new continent.

We're back to speaking French, we're back to the Irish time zone and should have no problems since Linda discovered she can unplug her intercom lead when she needs to sing.

A bientot!

PS. We can't upload any photos as there's no USB connection here.
PPS. Thanks to everyone for the comments on the blog!

Viva L'Espagna

Just a quick one, as we are almost out credit in the internet cafe. We are here in Girona, Spain after a lovely day of touring through French countryside on windy roads and windy conditons! A specila thank you to the parents of our good friend Axel, whom we stayed with outside Toulouse last night. They welcomed a pair of cold, tired, smelly bikers at almost midnight, cooked up a meal and provided all our creature comforts! So, Linda is very glad she chose to wear 9 top layers and 5 bottom layers. It does mean that she is very restricted in trying to actually climb on and off An Capall Mor, and there is a distinctly "Michelin man" look about her, but she is warm and happy!

Adios

We're on the move!

16th January: Limerick to Rosslare, Ireland. 146 miles.
17th January: Cherbourg to Rennes, France. 179 miles

Highlights: No snow, no ice, no rain. Grandparents waving us off. 15 hours sleep on the boat. Blues skies in France. Everything has stayed attached to An Capall Mor.
Lowerlights: France closes on Sundays.

Well, we're full of excitement and woeful French phrases and a non QWERTY keyboard! We're in Rennes in the west of France.
We aim to get up early (!!!!) and head for Toulouse tomorrow.

A bientot......

We're almost on our way!

The second post - unfortunately this isn't being posted from a Moroccon internet cafe, but from the comfort of an Irish broadband connection! Yes, the worst weather to have hit Irish shores in 30 years has delayed our plans slightly. But, really, it's all part of the adventure, so we're not complaining. Funnily, we've spent months planning for the heat extremes of the Sahara (Factor 60 suncream, light coloured biking gear, open-face helmets), without once considering that we wouldn't be able to drive up our sloped driveway due to the sheets of ice covering it! So, two ferry postponements later, the new date of departure is Saturday 16th January. We've opted to take a ferry direct to Cherbourg in France and skip the UK leg, saving many miles, and the banality of the M4 - no offence to any of our UK friends!

Still finding plenty of jobs to do these past few months. We needed lots of passport photos for the many visas we need over the coming months. We found a professional photographer who did a really good deal for us.(Check out PJ at www.corbettphotography.ie). He's definitely a good photographer as we seem to look reasonably presentable in the finished photos. Unfortunately, our water pipes froze the morning we were getting the photos taken, so we arrived in a pretty dishevelled, unwashed and sleepy state! (Good practice for camping in the water-deprived desert perhaps?)

So, we're filling up on home-cooked meals, culling unnecessary items - how many Allen keys do we really need, 3 pairs of socks is surely a luxury?! I'm sure we'll forget something, but all the experts tell us there's nothing you "really" have to bring - besides the passports and carnet I think! A big thank you must go to Mike's dad for all his sound advice and help with the last-minute jobs. I think if it wasn't for him, it might be February before we leave! So, hopefully the next update will be from foreign shores! France, here we come! Now, where's that French phrasebook......