Moroccan Roll
Well, prompted by jibes of "we are still talking about stuff from 40 years ago - edale camping weekend etc - Dave and I decided to go to Morocco. We asked around if there were any other takers, both within the club and outside but the general consensus was too far, too much time. Probably right. It was 3200 miles for me and 2600 for Dave - he lives next door to the Santander ferry...
Anyway, I went on 1100GS with factory panniers, heated grips, handguards, higher screen and foot warming cylinders with Dave taking X Country 650 single BM with none of the previous.
Our route through Spain was to the east of Madrid and then down to the Med. It was shockingly cold with parts of route being above the snow line - Dave was a hero. This return to the Med mirrored our adventures in the boat we built together 30 years ago so we were still able to wallow in nostalgia, through our blue tinted glasses

If ever you are in the Granada area then take the green wiggly road down to the coast to the west of the motorway - stunning.
We spent a couple of nights near Malaga at a friend's hotel where we had the best Moroccon meal of the trip, before going over to Tangier Med from Algeciras.
Moroccan immigration was as pathetic as people had warned us - talk about power mad. They had us walking backwards and forwards to un signed offices for meaningless activities. What on earth would people want to take into the country, and why is the exit process a million times easier when leaving the region that supplies 40% of the worlds dope?
Anyway...riding in Morocco is like wrestling - hard on the arms and body as you negotiate almost continuos bends, broken road surfaces and slow moving traffic. Everything takes twice as long and uses up double the energy but it was great. Right time of year with lots of colour, green trees and not too much dust or heat. Also the time when holiday makers drop off as they fear the oncoming heat of summer. This meant plenty of hotel choice and less of a feeling of being part of a tourist invasion.
We went through Chefchouen and Fez and on to Azzrou in the middle Atlas. Quite high and therfore cool at night but with plenty of fire trails to follow on day trips. We went as far South as Medelt to feel what the desert was like but quickly returned North to the mountains.

We spent 9 days and 7 nights in Morocco before blasting up the west of Spain to the Picos de Europa.
Dave agreed to camping there and we had 3 fine days on the most fantastic roads before returning to Plymouth.

We got lost a few times on the trip choosing not to use GPS, but without arming ourselves with better scale and current  maps - no, its not good for you to get out of the comfort zone in the middle of nowhere, without obvious roads, no water and running low on fuel...
The bikes ran faultlessly and neither of us got ill or injured - just a bit tired in my case.
So, something to talk about at future meetings!
Anybody fancy the Elephant Rally in Feb 2014?