BMW R1200GSA vs Moto Guzzi Stelvio NTX

Thursday 28 February 2013

We're still in Marrakesh. 


Wednesday 20/2/13

The weather report for Marrakesh today is cold, and windy, while tomorrow looks perfect with mid twenties temperatures and little wind. These make perfect conditions for tackling the Tizi N' Tichka Pass. We'll cool our heels in Marrakesh for another night, at least it's not raining today.


We made another big dent in the breakfast buffet again today, then I did a quick run around to get some photos of the hotel in sun light.



This one of the five pools I found. There may be more.

Nice, peaceful garden areas everywhere.

Then it was time for a brisk walk around town. Marrakesh is much like most cities, but I did find a few thing that made me chuckle.



There was no chance of getting lost.
There were sign everywhere.

Moroccan safety. If a manhole cover is missing  put a couple of sticks over the hole, and a couple of rocks around it.
It works! I didn't fall in.

The thing that really confounded me was the enormous number of Motobecane mopeds running around the streets. These things were in Perth many years ago, in fact a friend of mine, Andrew, once rode one across Australia when he was young and silly. They didn't survive very well in Australian conditions. That's the polite way of saying they fell to bits. Here, the things are everywhere. They are ridden solo, two up, two up with a child in between, or solo carrying something huge on the back. I saw one guy ride past with a large jack hammer sitting on the back seat. It wasn't tied on, it was just sitting there. How do they not fall apart here? I just don't get it.

Mighty Motobecane moped.

The other thing I've noticed is that none of the scooters here are licensed, helmets aren't compulsory, and road rules obviously don't apply to two wheeled vehicles. (That's if they apply to any vehicles at all. I still haven't been able to work that one out.) There are literally thousands of mopeds and scooters everywhere. Riding through all this madness, we've only seen one woman being picked up off the road after a crash, and she looked fine. Everyone just works together instead of against each other and it all works.


Back in the hotel again we prepared for an early start in the morning. The weather forecast still looks good, so tomorrow should see us back on the road and riding in the High Atlas Mountains on some mind numbing roads.

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