A couple of months ago I was looking through old photos from our honeymoon trip in 1974 and I thought I recognised the Taourirt Kasbah in Ouarzazate which was built by the Glaoui family. I tried to remember the position the photo was taken from and on my trip last month took another from roughly the same position.


July 1974: At the time Ouarzazarte was tiny, comprising mainly the garrison around the central hilly area plus a Club Med vacation village, since closed.


Feb 2010: now quite a major city

Todra and Tinerhir pics


1974: Triumph Vitesse convertible in the Todra Gorge


April 2005: note the bushes in the two photos


1974: the Tinerhir oasis


2005: oasis plus new housing


1974: This I think was the piste between Tinerhir and the Todra, or maybe the Dades

The Vitesse had the 1600cc straight six engine which was really lovely. I'd put a sports exhaust on it which was a bit of a mistake for Morocco as it got knocked off twice on the rough pistes.

The sun was too strong to drive with the hood (canvas top) down and just before leaving we'd fitted a new hood that had a clear plastic section in the top, a bit like a non-opening sun roof. That was a real stupid thing to do as the sun streamed through and made the car far too hot , so we had to stuff a towel through the roof hoops to block the sun.

On the road to Ouarzazate I found the clutch was getting iffy--apparently the bolts holding the clutch housing to the engine had given way and every time I depress the clutch, the engine and clutch moved apart. But this was quickly fixed by the excellent Moroccan mechanics.


1974: Another inside the Todra narrow section


1974: Djemma El Fna water seller


1974: Djemma El Fna gnaoua musicians


1974: Some handsome hippy

OK, I'm on a roll now. These are some pics from my first ever trip in May 1972 in a short-wheelbase 1949 Series I Landy that did 25 mpg on petrol and 50 mpg on oil.

I thought I had no more comparatives then when scanning realised I recognised the scene below.


May 1972: Test Pass when it was piste all the way


Feb 2010: Nearly the same spot looking north towards Ijoukak from the photo spot near the radio masts


May 1972: Test foothills


May 1972: Looking south from the Tizi n'Test


1972: In the near-desert close to Goulamine. With four of us in the Landy things were a bit tight.


1972: The Ktoubia mosque in Marrakech


1972: Never did pay this guy for the photo


1972: In the cloth dying part of the souk

And finally some pics of the bike I took on my 1973 trip, a TriBSA 750 (650cc bored out) with close ratio RRT2 gearbox, rear sets and clip ons.
Whilst I was in Morocco the air force tried to assassinate King Hassan II by shooting down his jet, so things were a bit fraught.

The third pic is in Spain, unfortunately I can't find any pics of the bike actually in Morocco.




Note the security device on the handlebars!



Finally... how did herself do?

Like a good wine she improves with age, this was September 2006 above the Dades Gorge



Tim

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"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)

speechless tim.. fantastic work.. wish you could post all the old pictures.

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ozhan u.
website under construction

Great pics Tim, thanks for sharing.
Was good to meet you and put a face to the name at last, hope the rest of you trip went well. We had an 'interesting' southern run, but made it from Smara to Chebbi all in one piece in the end!

Ride safe
Sam

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http://capetocapeblog.wordpress.com/

Bravo Tim thanks for sharing with us

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You can't describe great cosmic significance to a simple earthly event. It just happens to be a coincidence, that's all anything ever is, nothing more than coincidenc

Fantastic shots there.Thanks for sharing them

HI Tim,

What great pictures .... lovely memories.....

Thanks for posting them



Kind regards

Thanks m8! Lovely photos.
Romance and Morocco.
I first visited in 1981 and swore never to return....kept that promise for 27 years.

Wow, this is wonderful, thanks for sharing!!!

I'll ride Morocco next August and I look forward to to being there.

Your pics of now and then keep on making me more and more impatient...


Great job!!!

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Nick and his 2010 Yamaha XT1200Z Super Ténéré

Tim, beat you by two years. Below is pic of me in Camping Miramonte, Tangiers in Aug 1970 writing a postcard (remember those!) home.



Bike is a Yamaha YDS6 250 belonging to a friend (the person who took the picture) and we were two up with a mountain of luggage held on the rear rack with his mum's washing line. Our tent was the small green one just behind the bike, not the posh blue ones.
I remember being really worried that my hair would be too long to get through the Moroccan border (no long haired, drug crazed hippies welcome in those days) and did all the paperwork with my crash helmet on!

The next few years had us going to the opposite end of the Med and I wasn't back in Morocco until 1978 ( The Todra Gorge on a Gold Wing).

I started a website a couple of years ago to document some of our early trips (the Pisquick tours one below) and have some contributions from others that went on them that I'm now incorporating into the site.

great stuff Tim ....Many Thanks

Thanks for taking the trouble to post those pics. Fantastic.

Love the Vitesse too - I had one!

Clive

Thanks Tim, very interesting.

Nice pics Tim, i love looking back during the winter months at past times, i attend a lot of rallys and one of the editors of BSH said always take pics of everthing and everyone and look back the following year to see whats gone and whos missing.

Any hows just bought a new gsa and was going to ask your advice on road based tyres for now as this year will mainly down to spain portugal and paved roads in maroc, this is my first trail type bike and need to relearn.
cheers
steve and thanks for sharing some great pics and memories.

Thank you for sharing this pieces of history with us!

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Nicky
LR Disco1
http://www.race-to-bamako.com

Thanks. Very very nice to see your photos. But don´t you have any more then/now pics?