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river , crossing via the steppingstones to enter the old Kasbah . Luckily , most of the tourists were up on the peak of the hill so they could look down on the area where they built the arena for Gladiator .
I had taken a photo during my last visit which led to detective work to find the exact location and , maybe even the same storeowner . Asking around we found the location and showed a couple of shop owners the photo , amazingly they recognised the Berber man in the photo . His name was Braheim , he was now living in Marrakesh , but his brother-in-law was now looking after the shop .
The first day of the ride saw us leave at 9am to ride through Ouarzazate past the massive fortified old town ( kasbah ) and then quickly on to the dirt trails starting alongside a military base .
Eventually the trail turned off toward the west and we spotted several old tanks on the side of a hill . These were used for target practice by the military but luckily not today .
We rode along several dried riverbeds with the back end of my bike squirming all over the place . I have ridden dried riverbeds before but never two up , so it was challenging to say the least but holding the throttle fully open , in second gear , I managed to get Julie and I through to the other side . Some of the other riders were soaked in sweat having gotten stuck or falling off and we had to wait several times for them to catch up . This was not an ‘ easy ’ trail .
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