Friday 25th October

Today marks the first day of our second week on the road. Two weeks today we are scheduled to be in Bansang and there’s a hell of a long way to go yet ! Our second day of riding in Africa has gone really well, if a little slowly, but we have got to where we should be so that is a huge plus point. The team are working reasonably well together, whilst occasionally knocking the rough coners of each other if you get my drift… No dummies have been spit too far and all’s right with the world.

One of our Coffee Stops... Contrary to popular belief I do let them stop occasionally

Today has been a fairly low mileage day but with the route taking in the infamous road through Zoumi it has been anything but easy riding. A very special mention must go to Chris who lost his off road virginity with a long section of loose soft gravel where the road has just been regarded, and handled it magnificently. However the surface was a thousand times better than when we road it on the Scoots trip when it was nothing but a lattice work of tamac with huge potholes everywhere, give me the gravel anytime. At the moment I’m sitting outside Volubilis whilst the team do the sightseeing bit. As I’ve seen it several times before I volunteered to stay with the bikes so that they could leave there jackets and helmets on them with confidence that they will still be here when they return in an hour or so.

The camp site at Moulay Idriss is only about 5 miles away so we should be set up nicely before dark ready for another treat from Andy the Chef! As most of us had something of a disturbed night last night with a disco or something of that ilk going until 3am then the 4am call to prayer, a very noisy cockerel and some equally noise bikers starting the bike about ½ an hour before they actually left the camp, I don’t thing anybody will be staying up very late tonight. Tomorrow is something of a longer day mileagewise as we head down to Midelt and a camp I haven’t used before, so it also has something of the unknown about it as the only time I have run over the route I was on my good old airhead… but I finished up in Marrakesh that time. A trip that will take us at least two days…More pics to come once Ive recharged computer....

Africa Day One!

Goodbye Gibraltar!

Our first days riding in Africa also saw our first puncture of the trip. Andy (The Chef) managed to collect a flat rear but stopped without further incident. The resulting inner tube change wouldn’t have won and prizes for speed, but Joe and John got stuck in and sorted the problem, which was the important thing ! As is also often the case in such situations, someone wasn’t watching their mirrors very often and consequently 4 of us road on for some mile until I spotted something wrong on a bit of a loop in the road which enabled me to see back further than I had previously been able to. By the time we rejoined the group the wheel was off and the punctured tube already removed.

Little and Large at Chefchaouen Camp site.

I think everyone enjoy4ed their first days riding in Africa, except for poor old Steve who was the subject of a most unfortunate incident in the Supermarket car park. I was trying to make some room in the back of the truck for the water,beer and other supplies I had just bought, when on passing a bag to Steve, something in his arm gave way, leaving him in agony for the rest of the day. Thankfully, tonight, he seems a little better and has stated his intention to ride tomorrow. Hopefully a nights rest and a few more pills will see him OK come morning, if still a littler sore.

Tonight we are at the usual first night in Africa haunt of Chefchaouen’s Camp Asilan, grateful for the warm, dry ride we have had and the reasonable ride down through Spain. Tomorrow we head south once more and inspite of some reservations I have decided that we will run across the road to Zoumi. My misgivings are due to the state of the road when we last ventured over it in March 1012 when the tarmac had all but disappeared, leaving us with a very slow and tortuous ride. But I still think that overall it is worth the hassle. I just hope we don’t get too many punctures.  By nightfall we should be at our other regular campsite in north Morocco; Moulay Idriss. Whether we will visit Volubilis remains to be seen. That really depends on the group and whether Roman ruins float their boat or not.

It has cooled off somewhat, but we are camped at a little over 700 metres so it is to be expected. With a perfectly clear starry night sky above us I think we should all sleep well in out little tents full off anticipation of the day to come. 

That's Spain done and dusted !

Tonight we are camped at La Casita about 20km from Algeciras and the ferry ! We had an interesting ride down through Ronda this morning, having spent the night at a rather pleasant hotel a few clicks north of the town. We opted for the hotel rather than camp as the weather had been awful for the last couple of hours of our ride and we were soaked. This morning the weather had improved although the clouds were hanging rather low.

We stopped at Ronda for the obligatory photo shoot after which the the weather deteriorated once more so we spent the first hour or so riding through very heavy mist and cloud but as we slowly dropped altitude we came out into clearer skyie and by the time we had lost a few hundred feet of altitude we were running in nice dry air although there were still many damp spots on the road to keep our enthusiasm under control!

We've spent the rest of the day trying to find Peter a new bike but with no success. So we'll have another look once we get to Morocco which I think will be more fruitful. We may even end up getting as chinese C90 look alike which I spotted earlier in the year and which looked to be somewhat tougher than the offerings we purchased last year. but only time will prove whether that is actually the case or not.

The plan is to get on the road fairly early in the morning, pick up our ferry tickets on the way to Algeciras and be in either Chefchaouen or Tetoan for tomorrow night.

Day one in Spain went like a dream. A beautiful ride though the mountains of about 50 miles To the Casa Zalama where our hosts Graham and Mari Cruz have looked after us Regally. Everybodies down for breakfast on time so hopefully my plan of a 9am departure looks promising.... Destination for today is Madrid if we're lucky or at least a camp site about 25km north of it!

And that was just Day 1!

You're putting how much luggage on that poor little C90???

Day one was as incident packed to a degree I hope we don’t see for the rest of this trip. I was up at about 6.30am and with most of the packing done and dusted had a leisurely breakfast whilst being amazed that the forecast of bad weather had been completely wrong… Now there’s a surprise. Andy from AP Motorcycles in Carmarthen, past Scoots participant and very good friend, having rescued me by sorting my broken exhaust stud yesterday had said he would run me and the Scoot down to meet with the guys at Chieveley Services, a run of about 150 miles. In view of the forecast I had readily agreed as I though it would save me a soaking. However with clear skies and a mild temperature, 8am, the arranged collection time came and went with no sign of Andy! As always at the start of a trip I was already stressing about… well about everything really! At 10 past the hour I phoned Andy’s workshop and spoke to his father who told me Andy had left well over half and hour previous and should be with me any minute. I waited with rising blood pressure for another 10 minutes and decided I simply couldn’t afford to wait any longer. So bags were strapped to the bike, kit donned and off I set to refuel at my local garage hoping that I might meet Andy along the way… Lo and behold just as I approached the fuel stop along he came. He’d been caught behind just about every tractor in Carmarthenshire it seems. Swinging onto the forecourt, the Scoot was quickly loaded and strapped down on the back of his pickup truck and off we went to Chieveley to meet up with 5 riders heading down from up North. 

We made good time through the A40 and M4 arriving at just after 11.30; we had arranged to meet at about 12, so time for a coffee and pasty before the others turned up. It was really nice to have Andy and Mike there to see us off as otherwise it  would have been a bit of a solitary departure for me from Pumpsaint and I was really chuffed that Andy offered his services so willingly. I’m also hoping he will be on the next Scoots trip in 2015…

Once the others arrived it was clear that we already had something of a problem, with Peter’s bike using a lot of fuel and generally underperforming. Something which it seems had been the case ever since he left Edinburgh and something that should have been sorted weeks ago. Although to be fair to Peter the “fettling” of his bike had been done by a third party who assured him that all was well and ready to go! I guess the moral of the story is that if the “fettler” is of unknown provenance make sure you also check it yourself….

Coffees downed we set of for Portsmouth with Joe leading down the A34 which was very busy, then onto M3 and M27. As we approached Portsmouth Peter stopped on a slip road to refuel, not really a good idea and in view of how close we were to the ferry not really necessary either. However  a litre of fuel tipped into the tank and off we went once more. Approaching the junction for the ferry terminal, I overtook the group and led them into a service station to top up our tanks so as to minimise time lost on disembarkation at Santander…. Peter’s bike never ran again. In spite of riding it into the station by the time he had come out from paying for the fuel, his engine had seized solid!!!

We managed to locate another engine only about a mile from the port, but with only 25 minutes left before we really had to board there was simply not enough time to remove the new engine from it’s frame and to remove Peter’s engine as an exchange unit… One would have just about been possible two, just a little too much of an ask. So the bike was abandoned to Chas, Jill’s other half, to take away on the trailer he had fortuitously brought along and Peter boarded the ship on the back of Joe’s bike… with the plan being to travel with Jon in the Pajaero until we could source another suitable machine, possibly in Madrid.

Our evening on board passed pleasantly enough, being only slightly marred by an inferior and vastly overpriced meal in the A La Carte restaurant… Shan’t be doing that one again. A couple of beers and off for an early night. Oh well! Best laid plans and all that… I then get a text from a friend saying that she has collapsed and was laying on the floor of her flat, cold, hurt and very scared, to say nothing of being very confused. After about an hour of garbles texts I bit the bullet and made a phone call that sent an ambulance rushing to the rescue…. I didn’t expect (or get !!!) any thanks for it, but what else was I to do from the middle of the Bay of Biscay for someone who could easily have had or been having a stroke ???

Anyway, alls well that ends well and it appears that she has sustained nothing worse that a bit of concussion, a very large bruise and a headache. Why did I get the text for help ? Not a clue, but glad I was able to sort a things little for her. So after a couple of large Whiskies I finally made it to my bed at about 1.45am…. and slept like a log right through until nearly 8; that must be something of a record for me!

Today, as always is passing rather slowly, the team has yet to meld properly which wont start to happen I think until we get to the camp site at Chefchaouen ,although the visa and bike search in Madrid may expedite it a little. Tonight, against mt better judgement, we head for a rather expensive hotel ( our one and only! ) known and chosen by the two Andy’s; so I just hope it’s a good one! It’s about 50 mile from Santander so should be a fairly easy ride assuming that nothing else bites us. With another 4 hours of purgatory on board the ship left I think I’ll lay my grumpy head down for a snooze……  

Just when you though you had it cracked!

Tonight sees Peter and Andrew safely down as far as Leicester and staying with another of the team, Steve. Whilst I sit at home relaxing with a wee dram to sooth my nerves after a somewhat stress filled day.

It started well enough, most of my packing was already done before I went to bed last night. A couple of almost insignificant bits of paperwork remained then it was off to Lampeter on my Scoot to the bank before popping in at Motorworld for a coffee and to say good bye Paul and Damien. So far so good!

However as I started the bike to leave Motorworld, Paul noticed that the exhaust was blowing slightly and saw that one of the nuts to the manifold had fallen off.... well actually not quite! In fact the stud had sheared off which saw me dashing down to AP motorcycles in Carmarthen where Andy being his usual helpful and amazing self. drilled it out inserted a helecoil and put it all back together again. So hopefully no more exhaust problems for me on this trip.

One bonus from the drama  is that Andy has volunteered to drive me and the scoot down to Chieveley in the morning and see the 6 of us on the final part of the journey to the Portsmouth Ferry. Whilst it feels a little like cheating, in view of the weather forecast and the fact that I seem to have picked up a slight chest infection/cold, I am extremely grateful for the lift.... Andy is also vey hopeful that he will be joining me for a return trip to Bansang on the next Scoots outing in March 2015..... Oh no! did I really just type that????????????? Got to get this one sorted first though! 

Dont Panic Mr Mannering !!!!

And so it begins…. As Peter prepares to leave his home in Edinburgh for the long run south to Portsmouth, the rest of us scurry around like demented things trying to desperately remember if we’ve forgotten anything !!! Thursday will then see Peter and Andrew, riding down to join up with Steve, Chris & Joe in Leicester, the five of whom will thy hopefully rendezvous with me at Chieively  Services on the A34/M4 junction. The aim is then for us to meet with Andy, Jill and Jon at Portsmouth as they are coming from the south west area. 

With departure of the ferry scheduled for 1700 hours and arrival in Spain at 17.30 on Saturday it promises to be an action packed start to the trip. Hopefully we can get a fairly quick exit from Santander to allow us to at least put in a few miles before the sun sets… Nothing booked for the first night ( or for the rest of the trip for that matter) as you can’t easily make up time on a C90, so it just depends on how the bikes are running. My plan (such as it is) is to try to clear the urban surroundings of Santander, possibly putting in around 50 miles before we look for a place in which to spend the night, be that a layby, a camp site or heaven forbid a reasonably priced hotel…. Whatever we find I’m sure the fact that we are at last up and running on our 4 week adventure trip will still bring a grin to most if not all the teams faces,

We have a small (9 people) team this years due to a few unfortunate withdrawals; 3 due to business commitments and a further 2 due to motorcycle accidents. So what could have been a team to equal last years fantastic trip, at least in numbers, is in fact something a little more modest. However I still have high hopes for the fundraising efforts of the team with father and son duo, Steve and Chris getting things off to a magnificent start. Only time will tell how the group will shape up, but they will have to go some to top last years lot, which on a personal level hit an all time high….. Watch this space! 

So as I sit here with my head exploding with the stress of the last minute preparation my campervan decides to spit the dummy and conk out halfway down my drive... It seems that the something has failed on the gas conversion, however I managed to get oit started again on petrol and it is now parked up outside the house once more. I had managed to escape to a little sanity (?) last weekend as I was just about Scoot tripped out. I'm sure few of the participants ever realize just how much organization and preparation goes into these trips. It feels as though I have lived this trip for the last 6 months... OK, it's not full time, but it damn well feels like it. Now all I want is to get on the road and start riding, which is what it's all about.

From here on in, it's not about me, its' about the team and just how well they work (or not!) together. If I've chosen the participants well, I'm in for a nice easy ride; if not....... Hmm, that doesn't really bear thinking about.... Oh well! I'll soon know, by the time we get to Algeciras Heaven or Hell will have been settled......