September 9th, 2011
Nice Moroccan breakfast, french bread, jam, laughing red cow cheese (La vache qui rit) and the usual strong milky coffee. Decide leaving early is a good idea as getting out of the Medina, let alone getting out of Fes back onto the highway could eat up some time. So make it onto the highway by 11.30pm and should be in Rabat at 2p or so. all going smoothly so far.
Heading west we reach Meknes after about 50km and roll on past making good time. Suddenly there’s a crunch and the bike looses power, followed seconds later by the sound of something coming off. The engine dies and we simply coast onto the hard shoulder. I take a look back and sure enough there’s the bike chain lying about 50 yards back on the road. Walk back to pick it up and one of the links has snapped. Well so much for my high speed sprocket idea, although in saying that the chain had seen a lot of service. Fortunately I have the replacement lower geared back sprocket with me as well as a brand new chain. Only one problem – I don’t have the small tool required to rivet the connecting link in place and we’re roadside in the middle of the searing hot plain. This also means that we can kiss goodbye to getting visas today and are going to loose another two days in Rabat waiting until Monday when the embassy opens again. Shit!
So, what to do! Fortunately we’re only about 15km west of Meknes so cross the road and within seconds have thumbed a lift in a nice black mercedes which drops us off at the exit as the driver is going on. the driver says there’s a motorbike shop near the railway station in Meknes. We get an instantaneous second lift at the exit from another kindly Moroccan gent and he takes us into Meknes. Eventually find the motorcycle repair shop, but it’s closed! Well it’s not actually – it’s simply that the owner is across the street having his lunch and one of his boys runs over to check with him …. but apparently he will not be “Ferme” in about a half hour. So time for a coke at the same cafe – it was very hot out on the road! A half hour later the bike guy tells us that he can fix the bike if we bring it to him, and fortunately thanks to the magic of blackberry I managed to find the telephone number for roadside assistance in this part of Morocco. Get a taxi round to this place and a half hour later we’re headed out in a pick up truck to grab the bike!
Fortunately she’s still roadside and it’s hoisted unceremoniously onto the back of the truck, truly very embarrassing! Back at the motorcycle repair shop pull the front sprocket cover off to find that the chain, on it’s way off the sprocket has managed to slice all the wires into the stator – this is also not brilliant. within a half hour, new lower geared back sprocket and brand new chain are on and all the wiring has been reconnected again all for a total cost of €75. I doubt that this could have been done with the same speed and efficiency in Europe or North America. While things are less formal here there is a certain efficiency to overcoming problems that doesn’t really exist in more developed parts of the world I think.
So back to Rabat and back to the same cheap hotel in the centre of town. Very frustrating and decided that a nice dinner back at Le Grand Comptoir is in order. As I’m sitting there a guy walks in, I could swear that it is Amine Laghadi, a Moroccan guy that worked in HR in Maersk Nigeria when I was there. He walks past and then turns around and looks at me, and despite having the shortest haircut I’ve ever had he recognizes me. Joins us for dinner and much chat of the past in Nigeria and the storytelling goes on late into the night. Still, have nothing to do but do a repack again and wait for Monday.
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