Morocco cycling tour - update and thank you!

msmancunia

Just wanted to say a huge thanks to all the guys who posted a couple of weeks back when I had a minor flip out ahead of my cycle tour to Morocco. All the advice was invaluable - I got back earlier this evening (after seven hours hanging around in Marrakech airport and then a sprint through Heathrow to catch the last flight back to Manc.

Am proud to report that I WTF'ed up and cycled every single hilly mile (around 250 miles in 6 days) and didn't get into the broom wagon once. I was one of only two girls who completed the whole thing, so I'm very happy. Huge ascents, amazing fast descents, breathtaking landscapes, not too much traffic, decent roads, and good weather most of the time. I only fell off twice - once when I stopped to blow my nose and forgot to unclip, and the other when I went too fast through a ford. I even got chatted up by a Berber shepherd on a squeaky bike! Not easy riding downwind from him though....

So thanks again, and if you get the chance to do it - Do!

dhope

Sounds awesome, glad you enjoyed it.
I'm jealous, think I may have to sign up for something similar.

aeon

congrats! sounds awesome do you have any pics of the landscape?

msmancunia wrote:

and then a sprint through Heathrow

er... did you win?

veronese68

Excellent, glad you enjoyed it. Yes, pics would be nice.

Cafewanda

Glad to hear you had a good time.

mudcow007

Veronese68 wrote:

Excellent, glad you enjoyed it. Yes, pics would be nice.

+1

sounds like you had a giggle

welcome back to blighty!

Twostage

Sounds like an adventure, I'm jealous.

Cleat Eastwood

did you get sand in your lipstick, hehe. well done - its amazing what the mind and body can do when faced with a challenge - now go and do something much harder and commute through mosside.

msmancunia

Cleat Eastwood wrote:

did you get sand in your lipstick, hehe. well done - its amazing what the mind and body can do when faced with a challenge - now go and do something much harder and commute through mosside.

Oi Cleat - you should know from our "debates" on that Girls in... topic a few weeks ago that I'm not a lipstick girl. It's ultra-feminist-sensible-shoes-short-hair-no-make-up-feminist look all the way for me!

Anyway, at the risk of going all girlie, happy to post a few pics, but don't know how and can't find a thread with instructions. Any advice?

Had day off work today because 1) had to wait for lost luggage to turn up (including seat and shoes) and 2) am shattered after all those mountains. Went for a "bit of a nap" around 3pm and have only just woken up....

Cleat Eastwood

msmancunia wrote:

I'm not a lipstick girl. It's ultra-feminist-sensible-shoes-short-hair-no-make-up-feminist look all the way for me!

Snap - thats all I wear. For photos its rather long winded - you need to upload them to photobucket or flickr or some image hosting site. From there your pic will have an address, so you either copy the tag in full, it will look like or you can just copy the pics address, click the 'Img' button up there and paste the address . There is a sticky in the FAQ's I think.

theres a guide here

viewtopic.php?t=12572310

ANyway you were looky with the berber - I've a friend who's dad is moroccan, and mum irish, she said her dad was so impressed with the blond green eyed look of the westerners that within a month they were married....now that would have been an adventure, hehe.

msmancunia

Well he started talking to me at the bottom of the hill and by the top he was asking me if I had a boyfriend and would I go to his house! I'm blonde hair/blue eyes so sounds like I had a lucky escape

Cheers for the photo tips - will have a play around with them tomorrow. The frustrating thing is that I took two cameras - a DSLR and a compact. Obviously I couldn't take the DSLR on the bike, but the compact just doesn't do the landscape any justice.

msmancunia

UndercoverElephant

Close, but no cigar. It has to be a link to the actual JPG image, rather than to the web page. Like this:



Beautiful shot, by the way.

veronese68

Looks good, I do like seeing mountains. I'd love to do something like that, think it'll be a very long time before I manage to get time away without the family.

msmancunia

Thanks for posting pic UE. So how do I get a link to the Jpeg image on flickr? I had a look last night but I'm still really knackered and just couldn't get my head around it.

msmancunia

Oh bother - I can't do it!

rick_chasey

msmancunia wrote:

Thanks for posting pic UE. So how do I get a link to the Jpeg image on flickr? I had a look last night but I'm still really knackered and just couldn't get my head around it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/77410537@N ... hotostream

Go to the link.

Click on it.

Hit 'view all sizes' in the top right hand corner.

Then you get all the pictures in their different sizes. On google chrome you just right click and hit 'copy url' which gives you this:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7255/7091 ... c27e_z.jpg

A .jpg file - which usually works on the forum.

If you don't have google chrome, open the 'view all sizes' image in another tab and the url there should be a .jpg file.

jonginge

msmancunia wrote:

Thanks for posting pic UE. So how do I get a link to the Jpeg image on flickr? I had a look last night but I'm still really knackered and just couldn't get my head around it.

Select your photo in flickr. There should be a share button above it. Click it and select the HTML/BBCode option, then click the bbcode radio button. Cut 'n' paste the displayed text into a post here. HTH

msmancunia

Thanks guys. Sorry - II'm not exactly David Bailey....

*grits teeth and goes back to Flickr*

jonginge

Also, sounds like a great trip! The photo posted above looks stunning

msmancunia

Have I done it?

Edit: Obviously not....

jonny_trousers

Looks amazing and congratulations on doing it! Are you aware that we can see your entire album, though? Just in case you wanted to be a little more private.

Would love to do a long cycle road trip one day, but not sure I could do it somewhere so arid.

msmancunia

Lol - no, wasn't aware (I think that's probably obvious given my poor attempts at this!). Not particularly bothered - apart from the fact I'm definitely not looking my best after a 28km ascent! No bikini shots in there, so no panic on my part.

But you should do it - in a week I had moonscape, landscape, oasis valley - April is a good time to visit as it's not too hot.

davis

Looks incredible. I think I would have been happy enough in the riads!