Thoughts

Hello all Sorry for the radio silence over the last few days. I had something bad happen to me a couple of weeks ago and it's been tough to deal with. Spending the week with Rach was a wonderful distraction, but now I'm solo again, it's been a lot. Essaouira is a wonderful place, but I can't seem to get my head back in the game. I made the decision that it's time to head out of Morocco as quickly as possible. So starting tomorrow, I'm heading home. Soph x

Advice that Rachel gave me right at the start of the trip

Most of the ride yesterday was motorways. Before I left, however, I got lost in the medina for half an hour. For context these are tight alleyways and markets, sometimes barely bigger than the bike rammed with people and local mopeds. By the time I found the hotel to load up, my clutch hand was aching. Not much to report from the motorway ride apart from another electrical failure on the bike. I think I'm aiming for a full bingo card of warning lights by the time I get home. I saw a dam and a large reservoir which was quite cool, but the most interesting thing on the motorway was when it cut through the mountains (in a man made pass) and began to descend relatively quickly, the flat plane of the valley floor appeared to be at 90 degrees to me. It was like that visual in the movie Inception*. After a few moments of staring at in, my brain software began to rectify the optical illusion and the receded back into place. After the mountains, I turned west towards the sea. My first fleeting glimpse of the atlantic was exciting. Then the road came closer and followed the coast north. The buildings were really modern and it felt like being in California or an affluent part part of southern spain with fancy, large modern houses nestled in the hills. A strange contrast to the mud houses of the villages of the south. I rode through the place I thought I was staying, into the hills above. And my "beachfront" property turned out to be 2km from the sea. It is a large, very modern building with very stark furnishing. It feels a little like a Scandinavian prison. The man welcomed me in a very kind way. But I was tired, missing Rachel, the hotel was like a morgue and the room amplified the sense of loneliness. I asked where the restaurants were and he indicated that they were a ride away. I went out and two places declined to serve me (for unspecified reasons). I felt dejected and too tired to continue to invest in the evening. I returned to the hotel, stopping at the little shop in the suburb and bought some pringles and chocolate and went to bed with an episode of TV. I woke twelve and a half hours later (with my laptop on top of me) and am now having breakfast in the sun. The sea is indeed visible (as a small triangle in the distance between two buildings). That's marketing I suppose. Last night I had resolved to move, but this morning I think I will stay as I have not done enough work hours while Rachel is here and this place has really fast internet and is free of distractions. *I'll put a picture of the thing I mean from the movie in case you haven't seen it. I could pull a pic off the GoPro, but I think it was an optical illusion created by the software in my brain rather than the hardware of my eyes.

I just said goodbye to Rachel, my traveling companion for the last week. I had a wonderful time adventuring with her for the last week. Our last 48 hours in Marrakech have been brilliant. Yesterday was a day of contrasts. We spent the morning getting oily and dirty servicing Gertie. On the way out of the garage, I saw a wheel hanging on the wall. I asked the owner what bike it was for. Unfortunately not mine. We talked about my wheel issues.And I showed him the new spokes. They were super loose now, which was a little shocking. He offered a cast wheel for 150eur. I said no as I want a spoked one. Then as I was riding away, I thought "this wheel could disintegrate at any time". 150 EUR on the 3000 km trip home is 5c per mile for safety. My kids deserve me not to take that risk. So I went back and asked them to fit the new wheel. Next we went for a Hammam. This was a private one and so quite different to the public Hammam that I went to last time. We both left glowing. And in the evening we went to a rooftop bar with cocktails, great food and brilliant music. We danced like idiots. Now I'm back to riding solo. Next stop, the coast (I hope).