hello

Hi everyone

Well I'm am going to try and keep some brief notes on the trip, to keep people updated, for my own memory, and to not flood fb with random photos of scenery and my bike (which you will see much of here)

I wouldn't expect correct spelling, grammar or imaginative vocab as im typing this on a 7 inch tablet and im not trying to become a "blogger"

so, time to start.  couple day in KL were good, 5 days in london with bevs, auds, paddy and aimee were great. had fantastic weather in london. awesome bikes n beers day with the boys riding up the canals on the city bikes, dropping by various pubs. thanks again bevans for giving me your living room floor!

im going to throw in an email id already sent below and some photos

ok, so where do i start. its been tough, but still have been lucky in many ways.

5 days seeing friends in london (despite it actually being fantastic weather for london) left me with a nasty cold i took to marrakech. being solo in africa can be fairly testing but feeling like shit doesnt help. i had 3 nights in marrakech and just wanted to finally get on the bike so left as soon as i felt good enough to go. 12 days later, ive done and seen many things but unfortunately have been battling with a problem with my right knee the whole time. i had the same problem in asia but found what was causing it and some simple leg muscle stretches fixed it immediately.

 unfortunately the stretches havent been as effective this time round. im carrying more gear than asia, plus maybe a kilo or two on the body (maybe more :) , or maybe just my knee is another 5 years older? still trying to work it out, but its led to many short days on the bike, having to fall back on some (grossly overloaded) taxis, buses, and the odd hitch hiking. theres been various mechanical problems with the bike also but ive managed (with alot of gestures and sign language) to get them solved, thanks to some help by locals and sometimes not so helpful locals. ive inevitably gotten a stomach bug which kept me in bed\bathroom for 24 hours. the language  also continually changes from arabic, french, berber and spanish now i am in the north. just as you start getting the basics, it changes again. 

whatever the language, the moroccans are always looking to over-charge you for everything.

once i get this knee issue sorted things will get better. im going to spend the next 5 days or so making the last 100km to the ferry to cross to spain. so focusing on some short days on bike, some extended strengthening\stretching training for my knee. i need to be able to hit spain with 100km days due to the EU travel visa. if not ready at least will have a chance to try and find an english speaking doctor\physio in spain. just have to keep going.

i did ask for a challenge after all so thats exactly what im getting!

the scenery here is so amazing and diverse, especially on the southern side of the atlas mountains. its basically mars over there. no way photos can do justice. i met Greg the american who was an awesome guy with lots of stories. he had hired a car so we drove out to the edge of the saharah and spent a night in a desert bivouac via 4wd amongst the dunes which was cool.

not so much "things to do" in morocco, more so experience the culture. not anywhere near the amount of tourists i expected, however i havent got to the coast which i think is more popular.

anyway, wish my knee good luck!