18th December : A slow boat to Bilbao

Two nights on the boat passed quite pleasantly, although I did not speak to anyone. There were not that many people on board and virtuall no one younger than about late 40s.

I spent a good 6 hours pouring over the map and Morocco Overland and marked out a provisional route to get me where I want to go. Everything else is negotiable but what I really want to do is ride Chris’s route MW6 from Assa to Smara in Western Sahara. A large part of the route was used in the Paris-Dakar rally and is clearly marked, but which passes through all manner of terrain including rocks, sand, water crossings… and Smara will be the southern most point I have ridden (above the equator).

There are plenty of quite stunning routes down through the country and many more to try besides but Chris’s book covers. In any event, the book will be invaluable for landmarks and GPS co-ords if I get lost or need to find wells for drinking water or fuel stops.

I realise that I forgot a few things in my haste to leave Bristol, namely my spare inner tubes (but I have the levers and the puncture repair kits) and some top up oil- all of which I can buy in Spain- plus my large supply of batteries for the camera and the MP3 player (which is hard wired to the bike via the Starcom through to speakers in the helmet.)

The weather in N Spain down to Madrid is forecast to be 4 degrees with a chance of snow above 250m. At least it will be daylight when we arrive at 8am on Friday. And thank God for bar muffs!