26 replies to this topic

[James]

Many moons ago (1980 in fact) a mate and I did north Africa on our bikes. I was on a new Suzuki GS1000S and he was on a new Honda CB900F. We took the ferry from Hull to Zeebruges, rode down through France and Spain, ferry to Morrocco and then rode through Fez, Oran, Constantine, Algiers, and Tunis (not necessarily in that order!). Then from Tunis to Marsailles (sp), back up through Europe and back to the ferry to Hull.
 
My memory of the trip is fading a bit now but the thing that sticks in my mind was the bloody temperature which was like having a hair dryer blowing at you all the time We actually have to do some of the riding at night when it was cooler. Also the borders in north Africa took around 4 hours to get through. However on the plus side it was the most amazing adventure which happily went very well  -  just as well because unlike McGregor and Boreman we had no backup, no plan B, and in those days no mobile phones - oh and we didn't speak French.
 
But for two young blokes it was the trip of a lifetime - we did 5000 miles in three weeks and apart from a bit of battery trouble the bikes behaved perfectly (boring!) As I remember it cost us about £3000 each including the new bikes which we'd bought with bank loans and left us both in debt for about 5 years. When my mate took his bike in for its first service it had 5250 miles on the clock!
 
Here are a few piccies....
 
08.JPG
 
19.JPG
 
20.JPG
 
Happy days!
 
Riggers.

Wow, that’s some trip Riggers. I guess it’d be unwise if not impossible to bike in Algeria at the moment! How about a belated ride report?

[Riggers]

Wow, that’s some trip Riggers. I guess it’d be unwise if not impossible to bike in Algeria at the moment! How about a belated ride report?

 

Thanks Jim, and I guess you are right - that particular ride would not be possible in today's climate. 

 

As for a belated ride report unfortunately during the 'holiday' I never kept a diary, because to us, at the time, it was just another extended tour. And as it's now almost 40 years ago much of the finer details have been lost from memory.

 

I'll have to have a chat with Colin (the other guy in the pictures), who I still go for a pint with, and see if we can muster up some sort of an account.

 

Cheers

 

Riggers.

[Riggers]

 

Forty years ago that would have been a dream for me.   Well done !    

Look at the memories you have now...

 

It's only in the past couple of years that I've realised that motorcycling can actually be bloody hot work !  All my life, up till then, was trying to stay warm and dry, not always successfully.

 

Picture of me tackling the Corrieairack Pass on Midsummer Day.   We did have to struggle through snow at the top !

 

Since you posted this mate I've taken a look at the Corrieairack Pass (only on utube and the like) and what bloody road that looks! Don't think I'd like to tackle that these days on anything but a pair of walking boots.

 

Anyway, well done!

 

Riggers.

[curlylegend]

 

Since you posted this mate I've taken a look at the Corrieairack Pass (only on utube and the like) and what bloody road that looks! Don't think I'd like to tackle that these days on anything but a pair of walking boots.

 

Anyway, well done!

 

Riggers.

 

It's actually deteriorated quite a lot since I last rode it.  In the late fifties, my pal's father used to drive it in a Mk1 Landrover.  

The last time I rode it was on a BMW R80 G/S in 1983 and it was a lot more work than the wee Honda or the Kawasaki I'd used previously.  I worked for a BMW dealer then and got a choice of using whatever demonstrators they had at the time, bikes or cars. I got absolute hell when I came in on the Monday, it took the cleaners 2 full days to get it back to showroom condition..... the joys of running an off-road bike in Scotland !

[GeneralBozo]

 

Many moons ago (1980 in fact) a mate and I did north Africa on our bikes. I was on a new Suzuki GS1000S and he was on a new Honda CB900F. We took the ferry from Hull to Zeebruges, rode down through France and Spain, ferry to Morrocco and then rode through Fez, Oran, Constantine, Algiers, and Tunis (not necessarily in that order!). Then from Tunis to Marsailles (sp), back up through Europe and back to the ferry to Hull.

 

My memory of the trip is fading a bit now but the thing that sticks in my mind was the bloody temperature which was like having a hair dryer blowing at you all the time We actually have to do some of the riding at night when it was cooler. Also the borders in north Africa took around 4 hours to get through. However on the plus side it was the most amazing adventure which happily went very well  -  just as well because unlike McGregor and Boreman we had no backup, no plan B, and in those days no mobile phones - oh and we didn't speak French.

 

But for two young blokes it was the trip of a lifetime - we did 5000 miles in three weeks and apart from a bit of battery trouble the bikes behaved perfectly (boring!) As I remember it cost us about £3000 each including the new bikes which we'd bought with bank loans and left us both in debt for about 5 years. When my mate took his bike in for its first service it had 5250 miles on the clock!

 

Here are a few piccies....

 

08.JPG

 

19.JPG

 

20.JPG

 

Happy days!

 

Riggers.

 

this is great! this and another post about morocco is giving me ideas...

[AliG]

Thought those were the prerequisites for joining Carpe!

That's what we told you!!

[SeizedBalt]

If you havent already, check out Horizons Unlimited .

They have a FB page but I recommend the forums for sheer info.

The forum section is called the Horizons Unlimited Bulletin Board.

 

 

Addendum:

Having seen the ride report is already up leads me to think I might have been a bit late suggesting the above....

Edited by SeizedBalt, 04 August 2021 - 03:05 pm.