The Road To Morocco - Rally Tuareg 06

Another

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 22:14:00 +0100

Phil Gunn on his HP2

Bit of helmet cam action

Fri, 31 Mar 2006 15:35:00 +0100

As promised here is a bit of helmet cam footage. It was taken on day 5 by Geoff as he zoomed about and ended up in a washout.

Click on the picture above and a new window should appear with the video in, you will need Flash 8 to see it, grab it here if nothing happens.

Let me know in the comments if you have problems or it's too slow etc.

They think it's all over.... It is now

Thu, 30 Mar 2006 10:27:00 +0100

The Brown Service team have made it back after a long eventful drive home. We left the Hotel on Sunday and headed for Sevillie to see Emma and Simon. Five hours later we arrived in the city of Barbers, it's an old city with very small streets and a lot of cars. Not the sort of place you want to be driving a trailer around. We met up with Emma and her mum and tried to find some secure parking. We had no luck with that so cut our losses and headed for the hospital to see Simon.

He's in a trauma ward and visiting is restricted to two twenty minute slots a day. I popped in with Emma for a couple of minutes and said hi to the old fellow and then we had a quick trip around the city looking for something to eat. We ended up at a fish tapas bar and had a nice (if not odd) bit of food and a chat.

As we couldn't find any secure parking for the trailer we had to cut our trip shorter than we would have liked and off we headed for home. Almost straight away we were stopped by the cops and searched a bit, then Spain decided to close a main road at 4am. We ended up in all sorts of crazy small villages with itty bitty roads. After a bit of kip on we went through Bilbao with a side trip to the Goggenheim museum. Eventualy we ended up in France and found that the French had closed most of the periferique around Paris, cue small roads and loads of traffic. We got the ferry port at 4am and were on the ferry at 5.30am.

9.30am and we were back in Oxford, now thats what I call a drive. Thanks to Grodon and his TomTom gps thingy for taking us via all the closed roads but doing a fine job of re-routing to open ones.

So there we go, a groovy trip with a bunch of great people doing some fun things in a very interesting country, thanks to every one for making it an adventure.

Long Long Road

Tue, 28 Mar 2006 16:11:00 +0100

Well I just spoke to the Brown Service team and they are still driving. They popped in to see Emma in Sevillia yesterday afternoon. We are all thinking about Simon and wish him a speedy and full recovery. Doug was able to pop in and see him whilst Phil guarded the truck. They also went out for some food with Emma.

This afternoon they had a brief stop in Bilbio to look at the Gugenhiem Museum. When i spoke to them at about 3.30 they were in france around about Bordeux. They may stop for another Kip but expect to make the ferry for the morning. Their crossing is booked for 7am.

I will post some Photos and a report when I have recovered. Today I think I may have a cracked rib or 2. Dont know how that happened!!

Day9 "and I'm like that"....

Sun, 26 Mar 2006 21:02:00 +0100

That's it, all done and dusted. Were packed up and ready to head back after a long hard adventure, the presentation party is in full swing and after a particularly drunken ferry crossing last night I wonder how many will be standing tomorrow.

The riders had a shortish but technical navigation section today on the ride back from the ferry to the hotel, sounds like plenty of people went the wrong way, lost time and generally pulled wheelies and did burn outs. Stan the man got a kick for his burn out efforts on the road and everyone seemed pleased to get off their bikes at the finish.

Brown service finished up packing all the bikes and were ready to head off in the morning to Seville to see Simon and his girl friend Emma. Simon is still stable but unconscious so were hoping he'll wake up soon, that or well write Doug and Phil were here on his arm in marker pen.

Well done everyone for getting to the end and a special congratulations to Liz for winning fastest lady, nice one.

So thanks to Reiner and his team for organising it all, a fine job all round. We all had a great adventure, met a bunch of new people and made some new friends. It doesn't get much better that that.

Day 8 Almost Spain again

Sat, 25 Mar 2006 20:38:00 +0100

Second day on the long way home, very quiet for the service truck, just 310Km to the ferry in Nador. We hung out in the sun for an hour or so showing Johnny Italian how the Brits do a cup of tea and wathced the world go by with mountains in the distance and Moroccan life idly walking by in the foreground. Got a bit lost in Nador, finding some interesting side streets to get a hoofing great trailer down but all ended well when we got to the port.

Reuban apparently thought it would be a goos idea to have lunch some where completely different and thought he was the first in. Sadly not and when he had figured it out, sorted the red tape and got to the right place it was a tad later than everyone else.

As special guest writer today for the smelly rider types we have Tamsin to fill us in, so here goes.

Hiya everyone. Well what an adventure we,ve all had. Can't quite believe were back at the dock ready to board the ferry.

The Sand dunes we rode 2 days ago were mental. Managed to go over the bars a couple of times and whack me chin on the handlebars but all in all they were fantastic. We had lots of rocky river (Qued) going today with a few secret check points hidden inside them. If you miss them they add 6 hours to your time. Unluckily me and Geoff missed one of them so our times with be Crap.. Nay mind. Don't really know what day or date it is (nothing new there then) but we should be back in a couple of days providing we all survive our last days riding tommorow and the party tommorow night, i expect it'll be carnage, YIPEE!!! Liz and me have done a good job for the British ladies, come on lads!!!! T Take it easy all of ya!! Tams xxx

Stop press i'm told the brits have one the day today, Stan the man came in first on the bikes and Derrick and Alan in the ralley raid car. Nice one guys.

Day 7 The Long Way Home

Sat, 25 Mar 2006 19:51:00 +0100

Today we packed up everything after our stay on the Tuareg Hotel, no sign of a BMW anywhere. What a great place to be based, right on the edge of the dunes and really great locals who were super friendly. Phil and I were whisked off to one of the guys family co-operative for a class in nice guy rug salesmanship. We had the full hit of music, tea, rug tutorial and general chatter. I walked out with a rug and a couple of turbans but try as he might the host could only get Phil to leave with a turban.

We also rigged Geoff up with a bit of helmet cam action, more on that later with any luck. Today was a long ride back to Missour, full of rocky roads and deep washouts, the service truck had an easy day trundling straight back to the hotel, but as soon as we got there Stan the man turned up being first to finish. So much for a quiet afternoon.

Doug has run out of stuff to say so I am going to have a go (anthony)

From a riders perspective the days are getting harder now and fatigue is starting to set in. I was very pleased to see the end of the special today! Geoff (or Gay off) as the Germans call him had a couple of moments today riding a bit quicker than he should. The days have been very different, the last two days in the sand have been very hard and pysical, but today has been more about relentless rocky roads and a long timed special test.
Today we are back to more navigation on the road and moving away from using the GPS which is good for the guys who have been having GPS problems, but bad for those who have broken their roadbook holders.

The last two days promise to be hard as ever. Tomorrow the roadbook looks to be quite technical and there are some rivers and small trails thrown in. All is going well in the service team no one has fallen out yet and Doug and Phil seem to be bonding ready for the journey home.

Dave and Neil have been having a great time in the landrover supporting the Car of Derek and alan. Today they swapped co-drivers and Neil (who has been on the spanners) took a ride in the passangers seat. I dont know wether Alan got much of a rest as the service crew job for the cars looks pretty full on to me! Any way all the british cars are still running although it seems to me they have to spend a long time fettling them.

I spent most of the time today riding with Mr Webster who is recovering quickly from his broken collarbone and by the end of the day seemed to be back to his pace from a few days ago!

Off back to Nador tomorrow and an evening on the ferry, seems like a while ago since we were on it.

Day 6 Come on big boy

Thu, 23 Mar 2006 19:28:00 +0100

The big dune was the name of the game today, our last day in the Urg Chevi. Four laps round the dune the stright up it finishing reasonably early to get sorted out for the return journey north.

Five minutes after Geoff left he was back again with start button trouble, fixed that and sent him on his way. We sorted out the truck and one of the guys from the hotel decided to clean it with WD-40 which was nice while having Ant's American road trip cd blasting out the car park. Anyway set off to zoom about in the dunes just in time to get a text from Jeff wanting to get back in the hotel. Seems a quick go in the dunes with his broken collar bone led to a swift trip over the bars on the second one. Home for tea and medals on this occasion.

Once we had found our way through the dunes in the truck and had a good 4x4 seeion in the sand we got to the check point. It's a big dune thats for sure, Geoff's bike was red hot after the first lap so he called it a day, other Jeff walked over from the hotel to hand out and Phil was feeling a bit dickie with some undefined Moroccon belly issues.

Gordon manged to fill his engine with oil after landing upside down some where, one lap and two thirds up the dune. Stan was zooming about with no clutch and half power whilst other Gordon was having GPS trouble. Tamsin managed to get four laps in and then about a quarter way up the dune (a long walk to the check). Tone managed three laps and then about half way up the dune. Ruben did four laps and got the furthest up the dune, Liz did four laps and took the road back to the hotel. Stuart, Gordon and Stan were 10 minutes over time and only Stan tried the dune, about half was all his bike could manage. Jeff is preparing the amateur route for tomorrow so lets hope he stays on the thing this time.

The rally raid guys had fun and did well, Paul Round managed to bend his hydraulic lifter on top of the dune, so Derek drove out with a generater and an angle grinder to cut it off. Expensive business these cars.

So an inccident free day for us and it looks like everyone had fun. The bikes are beginning to look lived in and the field mechanics is getting better each time.

Right time to pack up and start heading home.

Day 5 The main event

Thu, 23 Mar 2006 08:52:00 +0100

The whole rally is based around todays activities, we are right on the edge of the Urg Chevi and the riders spent all day riding through it's sand dunes.

The course was 4 laps with harder and harder time checks each lap. The lap was about 60km, 10 riders managed to complete the whole thing. Gordon managed to have his carb apart to fix a fuel leak as every one else ran to their bike in a le Mans style start. Stan, Stu and Gorgon zoomed about together and were doing well, they managed two laps but were stopped before the third just on the time limit. Reuban and Gordon were stopped at a check on the secnd lap out of time while Liz started a second lap but had an electical fault. She was rescued by Phil, Jeff and the rally raid support guys.

Ant was undecided about starting a second lap and eventualy tried it but came back after throwing himeslef roughly to the ground siz times and being sand blind. Tamsin finished one lap well over time and Geoff's (Dougs) bike was drinking water, getting hot and having to be kick started. We got a call from him saying i'm stuck in the dunes, so we got his GPS position and Alex, one of the organisers, rode out to get him.
He was back in half an hour.

Phil even manged to throw himself roughly to the ground on Ants bike riding it back to the hotel, pesky sand dunes. Ant and I went to get some fuel for tomorrow and ended up having a spot of mint tea and learning some more school boy french and berber with a valeting guy at the garage.

A short day tomorrow and then we start our journey home. We had an update from Simons girl friend Emma who is now in Spain with him. He's still unconscious but is stable and only needs surgery on a broken arm. Fingers crossed for a quick recovery.

Day 4 The sand at last

Wed, 22 Mar 2006 19:50:00 +0100

Having a couple of problems connecting to a reliable network from our luxury hotel in the middle of the desert. Hopefully will be able to post a bit more soon.

Had a quieter day today, the course was around the hotel with small dunes in the morning and an afternoon of big dunes. We headed to the start to get some documents and a lighter to Tamsin and got to takea bunch of pictures. The it was off to the re-fueling check point tto annoy the Rally Raid guys and watch a bit of mayhem in the dunes through binoculars. Jeff (tough as nails) Webster was with us again in the Brown Service truck, nursing his broken collar bone. Gordon seemsto have managed to break the electrics in his shiny new KTM and was running very late due to blown fuses. Stan the man was up there again with the first bikes in, Ant came in next followed by a dazed Stu who had managed to inspect the bars a bit too closely and had paid the price.

Everyone finished today though which was a relief, we heard word that Simon is still unconsciouse but stable in Spain so we hope all is going well there. His bike turned up today on the sweeper truck that had spent the night in the desert upside down, after righting it and pulling the top off the massive engine to get the oil out they made it back this afternoon with hardly a dent in it.

Tomorrow is the big day in the dunes that this rally is famous for, hopefully everyone will make it through with no problems. It's a big loop with upto 4 laps that only about 5% manage to do apparently. Sounds like fun...

Go Neil, there gonna get ya.....

Day 3 - Too much excitement and a bit of sadness

Wed, 22 Mar 2006 19:44:00 +0100

Day 3 led us south from Missour down to the sand dunes in Merzouger through the Ziz gorge which is amazing. We'll be down here for three days and then back the way we came.

After a fairly relaxed start to the day we headed off to meet everyone at the first check point, a few herds of goats and a bunch of camels were part of the scenery of this crazy country on the way. First through was Stan the man just behind the Tom Cat (leading car), next up were the scotts Stuart and Gordon but they had some bad news, Simon had dropped into a wash out at speed and was in a bad way, they had stayed with him until Liz and Gordon stopped to help. The Rally Raid car of Paul Round had caught the edge of the same wash out and was still there to help as well. Simons been flown to Spain now and has been looked after well.

Jeff (hard as nails) Webster also threw himself to the ground after clipping a rock and broke his collar bone. A 60km river bed ride full of boulders later, Jeff and Anthony made it to the Brown Service area. After a bit of gentle persuasion we loaded Jeffs bike in the trailer and he is now part of the service crew. Reuban also came through with a bent back end a scuffed helmet after cart wheeling his bike, not too much damage done though.

Phil managed to give himself sun stroke but should make a full recovery very soon. So all in all a bit too much excitement for one day. We ended up getting a bit lost finding the hotel and got in amongst it with the locals to get directions which ended up with us giving a ride to a random guy on the side board of the truck with the phrase "it's ok this is Africa". We arrived a the start of a sand storm which made sorting the bikes out fun but boy it's amazing to be in the middle of a mini desert with a small oasis of calm at it's center.

So a big thanks to Stuart, Gordon, Liz, (other) Gordon and the Rally Raid car of Paul Round for helping Simon out and the prompt response of the organization in getting him to a specialist facility.

Get well soon Simon were all thinking of you.

Day 2 on day 3 from the desert

Mon, 20 Mar 2006 09:45:00 +0100

Day 2 our first in Morocco, and it feels like weve been away for a month already. The ferry trip was packed but uneventful, the morning brought a

beautiful sunny day to arrive in Africa. Some slight cock ups on the customs front which seemed to involve mainly our team meant we stood about in the shade for quite a while.

Nador gave us our first impressions of Morocco, infact at our very first turn a nice police man had to point us in the right direction. I thought Spain
was unfinished, Morocco just seems to have been abandoned. The streets are filled with rubbish and the buildings range from ramshackle to palatial in no
particular order. A few goats scattered about the place lent an air of authenticity. Very different from Europe immediately.

The Brown Service Team had agreed to rendezvous with Neil, Dave and Miles who are Servicing Dereck Edmonsnon in the Rally Raid bowler type thingy. We
turned up first broke out the kettle and were happily sorting out the trailer when they turned up in the middle of no where. A bunch of locals also
turned up to see what was going on which seems traditional in these parts.

Stan the man and Derek were first through, Stans an Irish guy on a Honda we are also servicing and infact first man in today. So a good show from our lot all in all. Highlights were Geoff loosing his boots and having to ride in my clown boots, Antony throwing himself roughly to the ground in a dry river bed, cracking his helmet and busting up the bespoke road book bracket. We found Tamsin unable to start her bike and after failing to fix it gave her a lift back. Apparently some guy managed to break a collar bone and most people seemed to be fixing something or other this evening.

So a great second day all round, i'm told we get to some sand tomorrow afternoon so that should be interesting. I'll try and get a good donkey picture too

Live from the scene of the crime... Just about

Sat, 18 Mar 2006 19:34:00 +0100

It's already been a groovy trip, hooked up the airport with a nice guy named Miles who took us to his appartment by the beach where we met up with Phil and Ant. They had a nice zoom about on the bikes in the morning with Stan and Phil had a big smile on his face after riding Stans CRF 450. Anyway everything worked like clockwork, flights, hotels all fell in to place nicely.

A good nights sleep in the hotel sorted everyone out, in the morning a quick trip down to the port of Almeria for me and Phil with the riders doing the first road book section. Pretty much everyone went wrong on the easy bit so good to get the initial cock ups over with on the first day.

Everyone signed in ok at the port so were ready to go, an over night ferry to Nador and on to the first real leg. should be fun :)