Thursday 10 Jan (mileage 35 piste, 113 roads, total 1166)
We extract our bikes from the ‘garage’ at Dar Raha and mount the luggage.
Getting the bike out over the step is difficult
On the way north from Zagora, Steve befriends a donkey owner and is soon admiring his panniers made from recycled tyres. You can see his Steve’s train of thought—cheap to produce, weather-proof, practically crash-proof, with the added advantage of catapulting the bike upright again in the event of a spill.
The 2008 GS product of the year?
We leave the donkey derby behind, and from Tansikht take the piste heading north west towards Adgz.
I had done this piste before, but in the Navara Outlaw 4×4 coming in the other direction, so it is still fairly new to me. There are many villages on this route and we come across road building equipment at the end of the piste, so it may soon become tarmac.
After lunch at Agdz we head north on another piste. Initially this is another smooth beaten-earth surface with swooping berm-lined bends, but turns into loose stone sections, then eventually the piste takes us down some hair-raising stony harpin bends into the sand and fine grit of the Draa river bed. A real ‘something for everyone’ piste. After passing the cascades, the piste back to the main Agdz-Ouarzazate road is very easy.
On the Tizi between Agdz and Ouarzazate
Bikershome at Ouarzazate has a full house with our arrival, with two couples driving 4x4s and an Australian who has hired an XR250 bike from Peter. Peter is away guiding a group, but Zineb soon has a massive spread ready for the hungry hoards. Over dinner Annette, an experienced 4×4 racer, opined that next year’s rally might be in Libya. That would be interesting.
I went through all my luggage working out what I could leave behind and pick up on the return through Morocco. Obviously much of the cold weather gear, some of the food packs and gas cylinders for the Jetboil. I also took off the handlebar muffs and gouchos that had been so essential further north.
Tim
There and Back Again 