Dave Shephard's trip to Morocco
I hope this account may be of interest to anyone thinking of taking their
C15 further afield.
I've owned my bike FOP 924D for 25years. It was bought for a couple of
pounds as an engineless frame in poor condition. After finding an engine
and restoring the bike, I set about making improvements I hoped would make
the bike more suitable for longer trips. These included 12 volt electrics,
a full flow oil filter and minor changes to carb and air filter.
The first longer trip was to the West coast of Ireland with Marion my wife
as pillion, we followed the coast up to N. Ireland and returned South to
the ferry via Dublin.
Our next trip was to Belgium and Northern France.
Gradually
the idea for a much longer journey started to form. As a young soldier
stationed at Gibraltar, I had often looked across the straits to the Rif
Mountains of Morocco, but apart from a short visit to Tangier had got no
further South. I saw no reason why with
careful planning and preparation my old bike shouldn't take me to N.
Africa. On the way South I went through France and Spain, with a short
visit to Portugal, then onto Gibraltar. From Algeciras I took the ferry to
Tangier.
1. My first sight of Gibraltar for twenty years ( five
days out from England ).
2. Gibraltar
airport.
3. The bike well loaded - no room for a pillion on this trip.
4. An isolated walled farm on the way to Marrakesh.
5. The camels were behind the farm, note the local
asleep.
6. The desert scene was on the road to Kenifra ( the
usual pile of luggage left at the campsite ) Large
Photo
I stopped at each of the Moroccan Imperial cities -Rabat, Meknes, Fez, and
Marrakech. Parts of the route were abit off the beaten track, some small
out of the way towns were quite devoid of Europeans. To make reasonable
progress long hours in the saddle were needed, I often covered over 300
miles in a day - a fair distance on a C15. The possibility of a breakdown
was ever present, but the only problem was the coil ( a new item ) which
failed on the way back up through Southern Spain, within walking distance
of an auto shop where I bought and fitted a car type coil.
I returned via Ceuta to Almeria, through Barcelona onto Perpignan with a
brief stop in Italy. Riding Northwards through France I met with other
Brits on large touring bikes who had come up from Madrid at speeds not
possible on a C15, the mention of N. Africa was met with some doubt.
Slower travel, never above 50mph, gave me plenty of time to see the
landscape I was passing through.
The journey lasted 28 days, I covered 4751 miles and went as far South as
Marrakech.
Although the bike is little used these days, it is carefully maintained
and always taxed and insured, ready for that next travel idea.
Dave Shephard.
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