Invariably Murphy’s law is always at work. A change of plan to continue the trip by 4×4 and spend an extra 1500 Euro, and drive an othwerwise unneeded 1000km, and most importantly changing completely the nature of the trip to comfort, space and air-conditioning, all caused by a short in the side stand. Could I have known? It took 5 minutes with the bloody BMW diagnostic system to find a short in the side-stand, causing the misfires. I cut the wires myself, and learn patience with the pace of things in Morocco. In total I spent at least 30 times the amount waiting than the total repair had taken. But it brings me to the principle of BMW to build complex machines but making the BMW diagnostic system available only to BMW service stations. A BMW is supposed to go beyond where the road ends. What do you do when you have a stupid short in the side stand on the other side of Timbaktu? There is a SA company that have hacked the BMW diagnostic system. I am buying it. However I would wish that BMW learns from Apple (ease of use) and open source software!

As said once before I am not into product placements, but since it is so good:

http://www.hexcode.co.za/products/gs-911

Available at: http://shop.touratech.ch/bundle-gs-911-notfalldiagnose-gerat-enthusiast-bluetooth-3pin-adapter.html

Morocco is a country of vast differences between rich and poor, the wealth of Mohammed VI is estimated according to Lonely Planet at between 4 and 20 billion USD. The English crown is also very rich, but in the UK there is a democratic electorate that tacitly approves the situation. Here there are many people living in abject poverty. Rise up, stand up, stand up for your rights – Bob Marley comes to mind. But perhaps like the reggae movement, Moroccans are too stoned to make for effective change.

Anyway, repair done and off we go. Two little wires cut and connected and the BMW performs like a dream. On my way south along the Atlantic coast, the temperature is for once bearable. Dusk is setting in, and as darkness approaches I am desperate to find a place to sleep. Just south of a large port (Port de Jorf-Lasfar) and (coal?) power plant I find my dilapidated prime Atlantic residential drive through motel, with a perfect view of the sea. Slightly elevated with beautiful rocks and beach below. OK, view marred to one side by the port and the power plant. Dinner tonight is a lush 3 course affair, orange for starter, bread and strawberry jam for mains, and haute cuisine Moroccan orange for desert. I spend my night here after a midnight clandestine investigation of a whiff of music, knife in trouser, assures me that there is nothing to worry about.