Heading North

After our night in Algeciras we headed for the hills for some camping, super nice campsite with a 3km gravel road access. There was a load of schoolkids there which were noisy but were far enough away from us, the biggest issue was the cold, as soon as the sun went down it was cold, very cold!

We decided to hotel it the following day  and headed to Trujillio which is a really nice town, unknown to me I'd picked a hotel at the top of the hill which after a long day in the saddle was difficult , like a steep trials section on cobbled streets but we made it unscathed. That night having a beer the Dutch couple who were camping near us the previous night spotted us and came to say hello, almost 300 miles away and no conversation other than the normal niceties, how weird is that!

Yesterday we rode another almost 300 miles to Palencia which is where we are now. Friendly place but colder again. The have the 3rd largest Christ the redeemer statue overlooking the town which is quite impressive!  Heading for the ferry in a couple of days and then making our way to the Guzzi rally next weekend!  

Camping, cold

Trujillio Castle 

bikes at rest

storks at rest

man with funny  hat

Palencia, looks warm but it's not

town Square

police display, a Spanish made Sanglas

 

Lunch

impressive statue 

What can I say

Just landed back in Spain for a well deserved beer! No alcohol in Morocco on our trip and even food was almost impossible until 8pm, that's what happens when you don't check it's Ramadan! We saw sunrise in the Sahara, rode some amazing roads, saw some amazing things and even met our German friend Werner by chance on a dirt road in the High Atlas mountains. Its been hard but brilliant but I am looking forward to a beer. Not sure where we go now but we still have a few days to enjoy Spain. Oh and even managed to get a police motorbike escort to our hotel when we got lost. You'll get the full story when my brain has decoded it  , enjoy the photos

sunrise in the Sahara 

our own band in Merzouga 

love this photo

Merzouga 

the todra Gorge 

the dades gorge

the high Atlas

you meet the strangest people

werner arriving for dinner

back into Spainn

Morocco to Merzouga

It's been a busy few days, into Morocco and a nice border crossing, £120 for the two of us for insurance. The good news it's about £1 a litre for petrol which is great! We are getting 70mpg on the Guzzis and therefore the ability of 400 miles to a tank. 

We stopped at Chefchouen ( The blue city) the first night. Its Ramadan so no alcohol and no food till 8pm, never planned that one we'll. Some great roads over a host of mountains, the only issue is the local taxi drivers are crazy, plus as the day goes on the locals suffer because of hunger and thirst so after 1pm it can be dodgy.

Last night into Arzou and a great run into Merzouga in the Sahara tonight. Its been getting warmer, over 30 degrees this afternoon!  This is a quick write up as I'm pretty tired , every day a minimum of 6 hours in the saddle! A few photos, I'll write it up properly when I get home.

the blue city

night , waiting for food

sunset at Azrou 

the Ziz Gorge

almost at Merzouga 

Ferry and Spain

Well that few days have flown by, the ferry crossing wasn't too bad and went without incident. Strange coincidence was that I met a fellow Scot on a vfr750 in the queue who has lived in England most of his life but transpired had done his apprenticeship with my old friend Ian Murrie in Rosyth, Ian sadly passed away just over a year ago and Jim had been trying to find him somehow  but sadly to no avail. There were only half a dozen  motorcycles on board, the boat was quiet which meant we were through immigration as fast as we could get ourselves organised. 

We then had a wasted half hour being lost in Bilbao for which I blamed the satnav. It was quite cool, around 12 degrees and it took 200 miles before it started to heat up and by the time we had finished our day at Caceres we were quite toasty in 24 degrees and tired after our 400 mile day.

Today almost 300 miles and we are now in Algeciras waiting for a ferry for Morocco tomorrow! 

Let's see how that goes!

usual sandwiches at our fuel stops

the old town in Caceres

and the old tower ruined by TV aerials!

Fi posing in the park!

Bikes at rest

First leg done

We left on Easter Friday, not a clever time to leave, traffic was hellish busy going North but as we were heading South that was good! That was until we reached Glasgow then it was just busy until the Lake District then South it was OK but the Northbound traffic was terrible. We arrived at our campsite / pub in the Peak District in the sun and got the tent sorted. As soon as the sun went down it was freezing and obviously the energy crisis means the pub was freezing as well, normally the pub warms you up before you go to the tent but no, needless to say no sleep, up early to put the frozen tent away and found a cafe open at 7am where we got a heat and some breakfast. First time I'd seen the frost warning on the bike! The day was a struggle, no sleep, accidents with diversions and wrong turning with extra crazy traffic to contend with. Fortunately we had a nice hotel to look forward to, first a sleep for about 4 hours before Dinner!

Today we visited Stonehenge and managed a bit of off reading to avoid paying ! Today we also found some great and very quiet roads which was a bonus! At the docks now waiting on the boat for our next part of our adventure.

camping in the sun

and ice

Breakfast saviour 

bikes dirty

to see this !

Huntygowks

 So its that time of year again, the Tay Valley Norton Owners club April meeting. This meeting is seldom blessed with warm weather, this year was no exception but at least it was dry. I had the Fastback out but whilst waiting for Johnny T I noticed the fuel line was Bulging, some bodging by cutting out the bad bit and I was almost ready to go by the time John appeared. The curse of Ethanol continues, even though this bike has been rarely used over the last 3 years and it was emptied of fuel (I always run it on the best petrol)  it had still affected the fuel pipe. So far the Green Mafia and their green policies have cost me a new petrol tank and respray just for this bike alone! Thanks Greta and all the environmental idiots for making my hobby more expensive and technically more dangerous, I wonder if we can claim from these green Lobbyists to get our money back ? Maybe I should withhold some taxes from the cretins in power?

Anyhow, we had a braw run to Crieff and then to Comrie, tucking in behind Bill and Kat on the way there just outside Comrie. There were only 3 Nortons in attendance and they were almost outnumbered by classic Triumphs which was a poor show, a few other classics and modern bikes made up the crowd. The usual good crack made it a nice day. Hopefully all attendees made it home safety!

Summer is almost here so get out and enjoy these motorcycles but be aware the Gestapo have already stated they will have extra camera vans out to try to make our roads safer this summer! Nothing to do with more revenue and making peoples lives a misery so be aware and drive safe and quickly BUT within the speed limits (which can be as low as 20MPH on trunk roads)

There may be some jobs coming up for people carrying red flags in front of vehicles soon, back to 1895, progress! 

David looking cold after his trip over from Inverary

Wally on his Cagiva

Nice V11

Don made a welcome appearance

Bills Ducati looking braw

Alan's nice BSA, luckily Marian's T160 didn't start of we would have been outnumbered

Phils bike

Nice Triumph

And his pal, they sounded good when they left

This looks like fun

An old fastback hiding behind a branch , one day I'll sus this camera thing out!