In 2002, Mike Reggler came out to play.  He too, didn't just want to get back into motorcycling.  He had a journey planned . . . 

"The trip went well, although we ran into some bad weather in both Spain and Morocco, probably because we had to go rather later in the year than would have been ideal.   The run down through Spain was largely uneventful, although we were up on the snow line shortly after leaving Bilbao, which made me yearn for handlebar heating!   We then had some rain, which didn't matter until we reached Ronda in the south.   Unfortunately its streets are steep and cobbled and one of us managed to fall off  -  not me this time!

"The ferry from Algeciras to Ceuta was not running due to high winds, so we had to take the larger one to Tangier instead.   The plan was then to ride down the east coast to Casablanca and then on to Marrakech.   We made about 30 miles, but the crosswind was so strong that we were struggling to keep the bikes upright.   We therefore went inland and into the Rif Mountains.   There we found ourselves in the clouds for long periods, when about 15 mph in second gear was the only option.   When we eventually rode into the sunshine, we had problems with the locals who would insist on standing in the road waving their arms.   It finally dawned on us that we were in the main hash-growing area of Morocco, and they obviously thought bikers would be good customers!

"We had been on a fairly tight schedule anyway, and our change of plan meant that we could not even reach Marrakech, let alone go over the Atlas and down to the Sahara as we had intended.   We therefore had to make do with exploring the Middle Atlas before setting out on the return journey  -  which was also very enjoyable, because we took a different route back through Spain.   Interestingly, the roads in Spain and Morocco were very good on the whole, and it was noticeable that road maintenance and surfacing seemed to be better than in UK.

"Although we only did about 2,300 miles instead of the intended 3000, we all thoroughly enjoyed the trip.   We are now investigating the possibility of taking a ferry down to Casablanca, which would be an ideal starting point for a ride around the High Atlas and into the northern Sahara  -  so watch this space!"

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