A day in Agadir

 www.london-motorcycle-museum.org

Just back from a winter holiday in Morocco to get some badly needed sun. As soon as all the bikes are ready I get out to club meetings again. Wednesday was the AJS and Matchless Owners Club at the Black Horse in Greenford to hand out the new fliers that have £1 off for a Monday visit that is valid until the end of June this year. Not bad food at the pub as I will be there  on Sunday with the 2CV club after a visit to the museum. Thursday out again in the pouring rain on the Buell, first ride out with the new drive belt  and go to,  another AJS and Matchless owners club meeting in Thames Ditton. They remember me from the presentation I did for them from last November. A quick stop only to leave fliers and remind them of the value of BMCT (British Motorcycle Charitable Trust) membership. Only one had taken it up. The gentleman whose MSS is now in the museum requested that someone should turn the engine over peridically and leave it on compression. I said I would get thet done. Leaving this jovial crowd I go on to my next meeting. It was my first for the Surrey Triumph Owners Club that meet at the Sadlers Arms, Send near Woking. Most of these guys know me from my visits to Jack Lilys in Ashford. I handed out more fliers and BMCT application forms. They were most interested in getting into Brooklands on the membership. The converation strayed to Triumph engined service trolly that I have yet to write about then on to my trip around Morocco making everyone envious of  my suntan and laughing at me being called Ali Baba. One kind person said it was a term of respect for a man who has a white beard, however later on I here that it refers to an old geezer in a big hat having a white beard. I prefered the first comment. As you may guess with  my enthusiasm for the museum I did take some fliers with me and left them at the hotel where I stayed. I'm not sure that will be successful. When I was there I did have a trip out on a Kymco Dink 125cc scooter and this is my experiece of riding around Agadir.

When I am away from my motorcycles I have this need to ride one. Anything that has an engine and will take me somewhere. Gita and I had been on a scenic trip around Agadir driven around in a minibus to some beautiful locations along with the usual visits to the brothers, sisters, cousins gift shop that sells everything that you don’t  want to buy, but are obliged to anyway because of the effort everyone goes through to get you there. After we had returned on this Saturday of our holiday in Morocco, wined, dined and brushed up for the evening stroll I made the effort to enquire about hiring something. The first hire place was a hire shop and had only 50cc scooters and thought that two-up it would be slow going. A 125 would be better but none were available at that shop. The next day I found one near the sea front and bartered for a deal as there was no fuel in the tank. After the paperwork was done it was mid-day and we would need to return the scooter by mid-day tomorrow. Initially the scooter would not start on the button and needed to be kick started but as the day went on and the battery was charged it did start. With Gita on the back we headed off to the nearest petrol station using the instructions from the man. We didn’t find it, people, when they know where something is frequently miss vital pieces of information. I have found this in the UK too! I knew where there was a station so we found our way to the Boulevard Mohammed V, went past our hotel then turned left towards the main market area that we had walked another day.  This little trip was successful and we made it to the station without running out of fuel. The gauge was well below reserve! I put in 50 Dirham that was about 4 litres of fuel. The fuel station was just off a roundabout and was easy to get into but much more difficult to get out of. I waited for a break in the traffic that eventually came, to be able to head in the opposite direction. Yesterday’s excursion had given me the opportunity to study the traffic to see what people did. The most interesting was at traffic light controlled roundabouts. In the UK there are lights at every junction but in Morocco there are only lights on the approach roads so the traffic that crosses the flow has to stop and wait. There are no lights to control them. On uncontrolled roundabouts give way to the left applies. The other interesting bit was cycle lanes on wide roads that are used by bikes, mopeds and bicycles. You are expected to use them. In practice they are frequently filled with parked cars and that causes problems for the main flow of traffic as they slow to manoeuvre around the mopeds and bicycles that come into their lane. The general driving is more aggressive but the speeds are much slower than the UK and is more accommodating for people trying to manoeuvre. We managed the roundabout and headed off with the traffic to the Monoprix. This is a fixed price market for the traders and a bench mark for other prices in the city. From there we climbed the hill to the derelict fort making what seemed a perpetual right turn.

 There was more bartering about fees for parking and we took pictures of the view before returning to the sea front for lunch. After luch we explored the south end of Agadir 5km away, did a bit of sunbathing and then returned to the hotel to get brushed up for the evening. Out again on "Dinky" dressed to the nines for another evening of live entertainment. Back to the hotel at 11pm and Dinky is parked up on the pavement near the hotel entrance. Gita decides to leave her helmet in the box under the seat. I warn her it will be cold in the morning. 

Safely tucked up in bed it rains heavily overnight with the noise of the rain and the cars splashing down the roads keeps me awake. I do, finally, get back to sleep and by the time we breakfast at 8am the roads are dry with only a few remaining puddles as evidence of the downpour. Gita retrieves her helmet from the box only to find the exposed foam has got damp as the rain had got into the box. By 8:45 we are on our way to the Souk, the big one, Al Hadid. When we get there it is closed so we go for a ride up the coast. Through the back of the port and pick up the main road. We have joined the main road and as we pass a slip road coming in from the right a white car tries to pass us on the nearside. I could see him approaching in my mirror. There was no way he was going to get through and he decides better of it and passes us on the left giving us a beep of his horn as he goes by. Beeping of the horn on an overtake is normal for Morocco. He turned off shortly afterwards. We went on to the next town, Aourir, and reminded me of the “Dash to Marrakesh” I did in 2004 with the rural villages looking so poor and primitive. At the beginning of the next town there was a view point over a beach. We go into the town to find a place where I can turn around and go back to the view point. We stop and take pictures of the view, us and a camel. There are dark clouds in the distance and it looks like rain is coming. It feels like it. 

We head back to Agadir and as we go through Aourir again it starts to rain lightly. As we climb up out of the town it rains more heavily. The rain does not last long or is heavy enough to get you wet. We go the most direct route back to the hotel, expecting to have to change out of wet clothes. The roads are only damp but I still corner gingerly as I’m not confident of the handling of Dinky or the grippiness of the tyres. The rear tyre feels a little soft today, two up. On the last bit of the dual carriageway I get Dinky up to 110kph. I have wraparound sunglasses and am not affected by the speed. Gita can’t see a thing as her eyes are watering so much and doesn’t know how fast we were going. We passed steadily through Agadir negotiating the roundabouts and avoiding taxis just pulling away from the side of the road, or people just stopping for parking places. The no signalling rule applied here. We are back at the hotel, dry, so no need to change, after our 40km trip about 10am. We have a trip to a western style supermarket following the instruction from the man at the hotel desk as the Souk is closed on Mondays.We get back to the hotel, see a well looked after bronze Citroen Dyanne and stop next to it. We have a pigeon French-English conversation about the car and I take some photos of it for the 2CV club. We go into the hotel to pick up our hats and then on to return Dinky. It is just mid-day and the guy is all smiles at our safe return. I tell him about the soft rear tyre when carrying two people. I feel a little sad about giving Dinky back. It was  fun, invigorating to have that freedom, tee shirt and shorts in the sun, I just wanted to keep riding it.