“Guys, I’ve broken my arm!” Oh no! Two months before we planned to leave the UK for our trip to Morocco, Steve, one of our group of three, gave us the terrible news. Our trip could be over before it even started! Steve had taken a tumble on his mountain … [Read more]
Arrival & Transfer – UK to Marrakesh to Imilchil
Touchdown! Blimey, we are actually in Morocco! My first time in Africa. After a lengthy wait in the endless queues at immigration we meet our drivers: we are in one vehicle and our hefty, boxed bicycles in a small truck. French is the second language in Morocco, as much of … [Read more]
Day 1 – Imilchil to Anergui
We’re pedalling – wow, this is really happening! As we ride clear of Imilchil, climbing steadily towards Lake Tislit on a paved road, the landscape opens up, feeling remote and empty straightaway, with steep, scrubby slopes teetering up to sizeable mountains either side of us. We are in the Haut … [Read more]
Day 2 – Anergui to Zawyat Ahansal
Despite our comfortable room we awake early, not feeling that well rested, knowing we have a big and particularly remote day ahead. Having checked with José on arrival, we’d determined that the Assif Melloul river gorge was passable, just! The word ‘river’ in Berber, the local first language of the … [Read more]
Day 3 – Zawyat Ahansal to Agouti
“I almost sat on a scorpion!” exclaims Steve, a little shaken. We’ve just reached the top of the day’s first pass (over 8,500 feet) and stop to feast on tinned sardines, bread and dates, our staple food. The day began less eventfully, with a seemingly endless 6-hour climb up to … [Read more]
Day 4 – Agouti to near Ichbbakene
It’s an early start, for this is going to be a big day. After a few miles, we leave tarmac and navigation is initially tricky – back in the UK I’d been forced to use satellite imagery to plan a route through the scrub, because there are no tracks on … [Read more]
Day 5 – Near Ichbbakene to Toufghine
As day dawns I’m struck by just how magical a place this is: the valley is wild and spectacular, with towering peaks either side and no other dwellings. There’s a stream running over the bare earth, just a couple of feet from the house, where we all washed our socks … [Read more]
Day 6 – Toufghine to Anguelz
The big one. Wow, this was a hard day, one that almost broke the trip. At 8am it is already hot and windless, the sun blazing down from a cloudless sky. We climb for a few miles up a road, accompanied by a friendly dog that appears from the undergrowth … [Read more]
Rest Day & Transfer – Anguelz to Aghbalou
When I wake I feel quite weak still but am ready to eat. Hussein rustles up some pancakes, which taste a-ma-zing! Shaun and Steve are also feeling the effects of yesterday – even though they could probably have ridden today, we decide it would do us all good to have … [Read more]
Day 7 – Aghbalou to Oukaïmeden
Shaun’s birthday. Yay! Being both a keen mountain and road cyclist, he is especially excited at the prospect of what lies ahead because it’s a real bucket-list item if you’re a roadie. Normally, I’d be excited too, but after a dodgy tummy all night I’m back in survival mode. Straight … [Read more]
Rest Day – Oukaïmeden
Shaun and Steve go for a hike up the nearby peak, Jbel Oukaïmeden, while I sleep for the morning – despite feeling better, yesterday had still been tough day when I wasn’t feeling great to start with. The tiny town of Oukaïmeden is very quiet, it being off-season after all … [Read more]
Day 8 – Oukaïmeden to Imlil
We’re on the road at 8:30am, after I lose the key to the bike locks for half an hour – doh! Everyone is pretty annoyed, me included. Despite the rest days, this has been a very testing trip to say the least, and occasional frayed tempers, while rare, are inevitable … [Read more]
Day 9 – Imlil to Marrakesh
Our last day of riding. All smooth tarmac and almost all downhill. It starts off warm and just keeps getting hotter and hotter. We make good time and push on to try to finish before the hottest part of the day. We look for shade when we stop for food … [Read more]
Gear
This is a post about the gear I took on our Morocco High Atlas Traverse by MTB trip – further down is a list of the gear. All three of us were on 26″ full-suspension MTBs, and used various bits of bikepacking gear. All in all this meant we were … [Read more]
About this Trip
“Well I think I’d quite like it if he marched past me with no clothes on!” exclaimed Myfanwy, the village matriarch, much to mine and Paul’s amusement! It’s the second day of a week long mountain biking trip that friend Paul and I are undertaking and we’re sitting in a … [Read more]
Day 1 – Conwy to Penmachno
Our trip began on a sunny Saturday in May 2014 in the town of Conwy after a lengthy railway journey with our mountain bikes and kit, the latter being contained entirely in our 20 litre backpacks. Our rail journey hadn’t started well after we were told “No bikes on this … [Read more]
Day 2 – Penmachno to Coed-y-Brenin
Rain, rain and more rain. It barely stopped raining today. From the moment we left Penmachno the heavens opened. At first we tried to ride up the loose quarry slate which festooned the path up the back of Cwm Penmachno toward the Manod Mawr quarries, but, it was in vain … [Read more]
Day 3 – Coed-y-Brenin to Machynlleth
That morning we load up on extra toast from breakfast, spreading it with a healthy dollop of jam and squirrelling it away under the table ready for lunch later. There was no shop nearby – not being too enamoured with the prospect of just cold toast for lunch, once under … [Read more]
Day 4 – Machynlleth to Devil’s Bridge
After a lovely cooked breakfast with home-made bread we set off along the Afon Dulas valley, climbing gently on tarmac. It’s not long before we’re climbing more sharply, on gravel and then grass and finally more gravel toward the top of Foel Fadian. The climb is monumentally steep in places … [Read more]
Day 5 – Devil’s Bridge to Elan Village
With no shop in the Devil’s Bridge village, and, faced with a particularly remote day where we couldn’t see any obvious food shops en route not to mention that we were starting to get a bit tired of cold toast half-inched from breakfast we ask if the proprietor of the … [Read more]
Day 6 – Elan Village to Brecon
Unbelievably, we’re the only people staying in what is a moderately sized hotel (in the Elan Village). I’m struck once again by the remoteness of central Wales, travelling as we are out of prime holiday season and mostly mid-week. How do hotels and B&Bs keep going year-round? It must be … [Read more]
Day 7 – Brecon to Cardiff Bay
And so we come to the final day of our (mainly) off-road trip from the north coast to the south coast of Wales. Our fantastic accommodation for the night (possibly topping the Elan Valley Hotel for me) left us nicely rested, if still somewhat weary after 6 days of hard … [Read more]
About this Trip
Hi there, my name is Jon (Slade). Despite being old enough to, I’m sure, ‘know better’ I’m heading to Alaska with my bicycle ‘Charles’ to attempt to ride solo and self-supported from the northern Arctic coast at Prudhoe Bay, south and then, well, ’see how it goes’… Why? As big a … [Read more]
Part 1 – Prudhoe Bay to Fairbanks, Alaska, USA
496 miles, 49,840 feet of climbing, 14 days. Route map So, the 27th of May 2009, a hotel room in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, USA on the Arctic Ocean Coast, 250 miles INSIDE the Arctic Circle, 240 miles south by mostly dirt road to the next Service Station (Coldfoot) and potential … [Read more]
Side Trip – Southern Alaska, USA
With my legs somewhat rested, bike (Charles) stored in Fairbanks (thanks John) I set off in the middle of June for a 2 week driving tour of Southern Alaska a friend from Liverpool / New Jersey, Lee. A CAR! NO PEDALLING! To give you an idea of the sheer vastness … [Read more]
Part 2 – Fairbanks, Alaska, USA to Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada
591 miles, 25,920 feet of climbing, 11 days. Route map Firstly, an overlooked incident from the time of my last missive, whilst on mountaineering “manoeuvres” (no Jon, you are not and never have been in the army, Cub Scouts yes) in the Peruvian Andes. We’d been warned about thefts in our … [Read more]
Part 3 – Whitehorse, Yukon to Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Canada
869 miles, 42,660 feet of climbing, 14 days. Route map PING! PING! WTF! No, I’m not trying for the UK table tennis team at the next Olympics, nor am I breaking the strings on a guitar (which is sort of like the sound…) but the spokes are breaking on my … [Read more]
Part 4 – Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Canada to Helena, Montana, USA
976 miles, 43,580 feet of climbing, 17 days. Route map “What do you mean you ‘don’t take tents’? You’re advertised as a campsite and the road signs show a picture of A TENT!!!” say I, incredulous in the least. “I’m sorry but we don’t take tents, we’ve had some trouble with … [Read more]
Part 5 – Helena, Montana to Denver, Colorado, USA
891 miles, 34,160 feet of climbing, 17 days. Route map I value the top of my bonce, my head, my noggin, my tête, my skull, my scalp. So, why is it that I stabbed a broken, dagger-like tree branch (still attached to pine in question) into the top of it? … [Read more]
Sidetrip – Los Angeles, California & Denver, Colorado, USA
“Where’s my gin!” we’d mockingly imagine her adding after she’d ordered us to “Keep left on highway 270” in her slurred, robotised voice. I’m driving, near Denver with Jeff, a long time friend from Milwaukee and we’ve just switched on the GPS unit that came with his hire car – … [Read more]
Part 6 – Denver, Colorado, USA via New Mexico & Texas to Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico
1,280 miles, 28,370 feet of climbing, 24 days. Route map “Wait here while I get the spear I used to kill him!” he says, running off to his van. Its almost pitch black, its below zero, I’m at the otherwise deserted far-end of a campsite in a remote Colorado valley … [Read more]
Epilogue – Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico & Maldon, Essex, UK
Home time. I’ve spent a couple of months thinking about it. And now, I’m back in the UK, with my bike(Charles). For now at least I feel like I’ve done enough. I set out alone from the Arctic Ocean coast ofAlaska at the end of May 2009, 250 milesinside the … [Read more]
Gear
BIKE: Orange 2009 P7 Pro (modified) 21″ with Tange steel frame in matt black – chose steel due to ease of repair (weld) & the ‘give’ of the ride for a heavy ‘passenger’ when compared to that of aluminium; had a very difficult job to find a steel mountain bike … [Read more]
FAQ
Here are some answers to a few FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS: Q: How far did you cycle every day? A: Average 50-80 miles per day with a minimum of 20 miles and a maximum of 115 miles with maybe 5 days of 100+ miles with one or two of those on … [Read more]
Thanks
Whilst I’m wasn’t sponsored for this trip (I think that makes me a ‘privateer’, or is it a ‘buccaneer’?) there are many people who have either generally helped me get through life to this point (and I don’t quite know how I’ve managed it most of the time) or given … [Read more]