Stage 4: M'Hamid-Tata
Riding alone...
This was the stage I was most looking forward to. I did it with Albert three years ago and I was impressed and exhausted ... It was incredible.
That year Albert with his SuperEnduro and me with a BMW GSA we find dunes, and a terrible rocky ground since the Sacred Oasis, the last water point before crossing the huge Erg Chegaga with its never ending dunes. We took direction to the Algeria border on the forbidden track, so named because if you can’t avoid a military checkpoint without being seen, they stop you and make you go back.
At this stage I really felt the loneliness of the desert, in many hours we saw absolutely no one. This is unusual in Morocco where people comes when you least expect it. I remember the relief I felt when I saw a trace of tires showing us there is a track.
It look as if it was impossible to surround the dunes ... at times I was really afraid, I was too exhausted to turn back and retrace our steps back but had no idea either what lay ahead ... once we finished after ten hours riding non stop it was great... truly adventure!!.
The track also crosses Lake Iriki, a vast plain usually dry, but sometimes if it rains it can be a mud trap ...
So… many reasons to be excited looking for this stage.. I didn’t expect I could not do this track this time…
After a good breakfast as early as usual me start the engines. We filled the tanks because there are many km without refuelling, I had doubts whether the Super Ténéré have sufficient autonomy because the stage is about 350 km... In M'Hamid there is no gas station so we refuel in a small shop using bottles of water…. Lets see how the injection works with this petrol with “strange” colour…
A man appears in a 4x4. He tells us that we will suffer a lot with these bikes crossing the sand. It offers (paying, of course) to take the luggage and follow us in the car because otherwise we are going to have troubles... this guy does not know who he’s talking with!! We are the Transiberics!!, we don’t need help ... LOL. We declined politely the offer saying that we've been there before and we did cross the dunes ... Was it a premonition?.
We went into the dunes and begin to stuck, helping us to get off, the full tanks doesn’t help, we still moving but we're slow, too slow to complete this hard and long track ... and there is the Chegaga deep sand in the middle …
But I felt quite confident in the sand, much more than in the previous days… I was having fun. Perhaps I was overconfident so I didn’t see a root hidden in the sand just before climbing a dune. At full throttle the rear wheel hits the root, slides and makes me hit the dune bike quite fast, I get fired and the bike falls sideways. It looks nothing has happened since the sand is soft. I pull back and meet with the others who are laughing… I had a nice fly in the sand… bastards... Before me, David did a superman in his GSA, Joan was tunnelling a dune and Enric made a geyser of sand. While Albert and his KTM progresses slowly but surely thanks to its six feet and long legs ... lucky him!
Suddenly I saw a red light on the dashboard, the temperature! Immediately I stop the bike and see the steam coming from the engine ... I suspect the problem. In this bike the radiator is on one side and if it falls to the left you can bend the fan bracket leaving him trapped against the radiator, so the fan engine burns. I don’t understand why there isn’t a fuse or something to stop the fan before that happens. So, here I am, with a broken fan in the middle of the dunes!!
There is nothing to do, just look for help. Luckily we still are near M'Hamid and there are a lot 4x4 crossing the dunes. If that had happened in the Chegaga: big problem!
Here it comes a Toyota with a lot of girls in it. They are going to M’Hamid. Soon there are plenty of volunteers to go in it to search some help... Joan and Enric are the lucky ones who are going in it while David, Albert and I stay there waiting them... Our question is whether those two are going to come again or stay with the girls ...
I am devastated and angry with myself ... how have I not checked that the fan was clogged?, this happened to me once, I unblocked the fan and everything was ok!
I phoned my dealer, he quickly starts to look if he can find a fan in this part of the world ... not easy, I am assuming that my trip ends here ...
After a while Joan and Enric arrive in a pickup ... we put the bike in the truck and I say goodbye to my colleagues that follow the route. The driver takes me to a small workshop in Oulad Driss, near M'hamid: Garage Dakar, remember this name if you have a trouble in this area….
I was amazed by how easily they took of the truck the big cow…. While haggling with the driver who wants to fleece me, I explain the problem to the mechanic with no hope it gets a solution. We reached an agreement with the guy from the pickup and I focus on the bike. Suddenly appears the mechanic with an old fan in his hand. He said it is a Polaris fan and he thinks it will be fine….
My strategy to not to pay a fortune was to show him I don’t have lot of money (true) and I’m not desperate (false). I said to him my bike already works in tarmac and the pickup driver took all my money so if he ask for too much money I can drive to the next village (Zagora) to a bank, and there’s plenty of mechanics… He thinks… and ask for 800 dirham (about 80 euros). I said this is a lot but ok if the bike is on the road in less than one our.
He opens big eyes, does a big smile and run to work immediately… I knew he was expected lot less money but if you think a Yamaha fan is about 400 euros and perhaps I can finish my trip… is a bargain.
He quickly replaces the fan and we turn on the bike… at 105 degrees the fan must run:
100, 101, ... 104, 105 ... IT WORKS! We hugged, and we have a celebration tea, he has plenty of time to win the 800 dirham!!!
I call the dealer Ausió, he is happy to hear I’m on again. He started an operation to send me a fan but would have cost me at least a day trip ... and a lot of money!! But I know he tried hard to help, good guy.
With the bike fixed I’m going again, I’m so happy!!. Logically I will not follow my colleagues, there is a road option to reach Tata but there is much longer than the off road track so I must move quick or I must drive by night. From M'Hamid to Zagora (100km), Zagora to Foum Zguid ( 125km) and then to Tata (140km).
I enjoy the scenery but I must be very alert to the road, a narrow strip of asphalt in the centre and sand on both sides, when a car or a truck is coming in the opposite way is always dangerous.
I reach Zagora, took money from bank. Soon I'm surrounded by people, my bike gets a lot of attention, certainly is not a discreet bike…. A young guy said this is a Dakar bike and asked me to go with him to his mechanic workshop to show the bike to his colleagues and take a picture of it. I agreed as I want some information about the route I need to do to reach Tata where I have the hotel and my colleagues.
For the first time during the trip I feel I am not in hurry, I can get into the country, talking to people, live the trip otherwise…. We arrived at the shop and everybody stop his work to see the bike and talk to me. They offer me a tea, food, water ... in Morocco are always so hospitable ... I asked them what is the fastest way to get to Tata. There are two forms: an enormous roundabout thru mountain roads -and that means to do many miles at night-, or a dirt track, which I thought it was the road to Foum Zguid. Then there is a road to Tata. They said the track is under construction to build a road and there are some bad sections and a river full of stones I need to cross several times.
I choose to go down the track, I don’t like the idea to drive by night. They put a sticker on the bike with their phone in case I need help ... mmm … what does it means?...
I put gas in and out of Zagora. The track begins ... fantastic, quick and tidy ... the miles go by ... but the track narrows ... starts to be worse… stones… larger stones... huge stones! The dry river… Suddenly I get a flash that leaves me frozen: I don’t have any tools to replace a puncture!!
To avoid lot of weight we distribute the tools in the 5 bikes and I forgot to ask for the levers. I always have more tools that I need but now here I am, alone in the middle of nowhere and I can’t mend a simple puncture!! How stupid…
I started again but what before were simple stones now they seem like cutting blades looking my tires...
The incredible scenery make me forget the problem, I need to stop to take pictures, I’ve got nobody ask me to be in hurry, the evening light is amazing, the feeling of loneliness is complete, I never felt like this before, this is new to me… and I like it!!
After a long bad track and crossing the dry stony river several times, the asphalt starts again, is the first time in my life I’m happy to change dirt track for tarmac!!. Stop to take some pictures with camels and reached Foum Zguid. I enjoy the sunset. Here at night you have to drive very carefully, you find people and cyclists without lights everywhere ...
I arrive at the hotel in Tata: I had been here before, is a beautifully restored old house by some French. My fellows just arrived, when they see me and I’d explain the bike works perfect they can’t believe it, they thought my trip was finished in M’Hamid. Hugs, cheers and dinner.
Because of my problem they have not been able to do all the track, and they avoid the Erg Chegaga but they been able to cross the beautiful dry lake Iriki and most of the track. But we are together again and tomorrow we start the track in the Atlas, unknown to most of us.
I go to sleep with one idea over my head: I love going with my friends, I laugh with them, enjoying giving full throttle at his side, the conversations and jokes at dinner. They give me security and confidence to get to impossible places without them ... but I also liked this day alone, at my own pace, go quick or stop when I like without thinking that I’m annoying to the rest of the group. Today I missed the most expecting stage but I don’t mind, I liked to talk with the locals, the adventure of the mechanic, negotiate with those masters of haggle and eventually agree with them (even if I know they always win...).
I’m getting old and start to look for something else that going full throttle on the roads. I want to learn more about this amazing country and its people, not pass go as I did... next time I may come alone ...