Morocco Rocks!

Making the step from lurker to poster, so bear with me if I screw up!



Trip: 10 days in Morocco.
Who? 10 Irish guys on a variety of rides.
Why? Just survived the coldest winter in Ireland since records began (still not really winter compared to where some of you guys live I know). Recession, recession, depression! Need to escape all the blues floating around for the last couple of years.
When? It happened in April/May this year, yep I'm damn slow at getting this report up.

Brief outline of trip: ship bikes by truck to Malaga in Spain, fly out a week later collect said bikes and ride into North Africa during its newly founded revolutionary streak, what could go wrong?!

New rubbers! Anakee 2's front and rear.

Some new protection: barkbuster hanguards, givi crashbars, touratech sumpguard.

My bike, a blue Transalp XL700, the rest of the guys are riding a mix of ktm990, GSA, Africa Twins, Varaderos & VStrom.

Okay, pics seem to loading fine so far.

21 April 2011
So with all the preparation complete and the bikes loaded onto a truck we sit back and watch the clock slowly inch its way forward. At least I got a couple of days to kill in work to make the time go a bit quicker. The week is spent reviewing all the sites I can find with information on Morocco, routes, food, petrol prices, weather, anything and everything. All the time trying hard to ignore all the political unrest sweeping across North Africa, will it effect Morocco, Christ I hope not.



28 April, 2 days to departure.
My last shift in work for almost 3 weeks, can't wait to hit the road. My wife rings me as I leave work: "Hey have you seen the news?" she asks, "ehh No" I say "Why?". Check out Skynews she says, there's been a suicide bomb in Marrakesh, some tourists killed. Get outta here, you just winding me up. But no she wasn't, the dreaded bomb + tourist combination had struck again just 48 hours before I left for Morocco, what F**king luck!



29 April
Frantic texts and phone calls to see if anyone is backing out. All the forums I check are advising against any travel to anywhere in North Africa at this point. But the overwhelming opinion among us is, well we will just scoot round the troubled areas, this ain't going to spoil our damn holiday.
In the words of a wise man from Southpark, "Screw you guys!" The trip is on.

Saturday 30 April.

That is a great looking bike, I spent some time in Ireland a few years ago and I liked it a lot. I bet you guys will have a blast on your trip :) (no pun intended) Post lots of pics!

One of my favorite places...looking forward to pictures..

Saturday 30 April.
Arrive in Malaga and take a short taxi ride out to where the bikes have been unloaded awaiting our arrival.




It was great to arrive fresh and ready to get moving towards Africa within a couple of hours of landing in Spain. If time weren't a problem then it would have been lovely to ride the bikes down from Ireland through France and Spain. But vacation time is precious and the extra few days this allows us to spend in Morocco is well worth the effort.

So time to get going.



Waiting on the ferry in Algeciras and the short bumpy journey across the Straits of Gibraltar.


We arrived on the continent of Africa in the late evening and still had to clear customs and hit the road south to find somewhere to plonk our weary asses for night and track down some beers too (harder than we thought).



Getting through customs proved way easier than I had imagined and we were soon out onto the highway heading for the coastal town of Asilah. Darkness came quickly and we rode the last hour at night on a highway littered with stray dogs, a cow, some people and the odd clapped out car on the hard shoulder which would have no lights on of course.


We found a dodgy looking hotel down some alleyway that reminded me of a street in the movie from Black Hawk Down. I hope our bikes are still outside in the morning.
Once settled we went looking for food, and of course the usual "guide" would appear and tell us where the best food is and show us the sights along the way, how could we say no?





We were shown the old medina on the way to the restaurant by our dope smoking guide. I don't have any pics of the grub because it was too upsetting for us starving Irishmen to take pics and try to eat at the same time. Just go to your local pond, river, lake or sea and catch the skinniest, anorexic, boniest fish you can and fry the shit out of it, then do the same to its siblings and add some salad, that was supper!

Total mileage (KMs) for Day 1, 243km.

Day 2. 1st May.

Awoke after a a pretty good sleep considering we'd just spent the night in Fawlty Towers of Asilah. I mean this place was dire even by Moroccan standards, camping would have been a step up from this place.
The first room we were offered had parts of the plasterboard from the ceiling on the mattress and the leaky roof was still actively dripping onto the bed as we haggled over the rooms condition, it was actually funny that they thought nothing of offering us the deluxe room!!
No breakfast included but I think that was a good thing. To all of our surprise the bikes were untouched and as we left them on the street outside the hotel, some guys didn't bring any locks so I think a restless sleep was had by one or two.
We mounted up and hit the road, hoping to find breakfast in a garage or town within the hour. What were we thinking!





We spent a good four hours on the road before we found a place to get a coffee for breakfast which was now lunch.







After a brief stop in a town I can't remember the name of we started to gain height and climb into the mountains and with that the rain started. I mean we just left THE wettest place in northwest Europe for Africa and it bleeding raining, arrrgh.
The road deteriorated to gravel and mega potholes which kept me awake.











The rest of day 2 went by like: we rode higher, the rain fell heavier, the fog decended, we got lost, the gps got lost, the rain fell heavier, I cursed disconnecting my heated grips because I was going to Africa! Night time came and we still had nowhere to call home for the night. With tempers brewing and cold tired bodies we decided to plough on to Fes, another 100km through the night on unlit mountain roads. Rule number one of riding in Africa broken for the second night running.


By the end of day 2 we have covered the hardest 400km of my life yet on a bike, tired and hungry, lost for half of it, miserable with the cold and driving rain and exhausted from concentrating so hard riding in the dark on roads with monster holes in them, amazed no one came off that day.
We're getting our adventure the hard way.

Good stuff and the 'Alp looks great. I don't blame you for getting the bikes sent over; time is precious and there's things to see! Needless to say I'm subscribed.

Day 3, May 2nd.
340km from Fes to Er-rachidia.
Today we awoke to sunshine, but by the time I hopped into and out of the shower it was raining. Got dressed and went down for breakfast, it was sunny again. We all meet to discuss today's route to make sure we don't lose anyone and that we all agree we need to keep heading south and hopefully find a clear patch of atmosphere where some sun can fry our palefaces. I'm sorry to say I saw absolutely nothing of Fes except the road in during darkness and the road out during rain. But at least I have an excuse to return.
Today my GPS decided it didn't like working in Morocco, I think it was protesting against all the rain, damn you Zumo 550!




Having trouble with my givi tanklock tankbag which doesn't fit properly so I've had to use it as a tailpack on the rear seat. A real pain and a lesson to test out all equipment before a big trip, lesson learned.




We stopped here as the rain had decided to take a break as well so may as well set our times to our atmospheric buddy.


When we stopped we were surrounded by kids pestering us for cadeaux! One of our group (Mr. Vstrom) had brought pencils and pens to give the children, he had about 10, which of course means that 11 kids turn up. One of the teenager kids starts beating the head off one of the "littler" kids (about 5 or 6yr). Bloody hell there only poxy pens, what do ya do? Slap the bully, give the little kid extra money like compensation or something for getting beaten up? No worries, while we are discussing what to do an adult male steps in and beats the head off the bully, but he still gets away with the little kids pen, really annoyed me and turned me off the whole idea of hand outs for the rest of the trip.

We left this scene pretty quickly after all the hullabaloo.
From here on out we could feel the warm drier air from the desert blowing in our direction, and the skies were ever so slowly starting to clear, maybe we were in Morocco after all.



The first real landscape change, we are entering dry rocky mountains before dropping down to desert hopefully!

Looking forward to the rest

Day 4,

After three days of terrible weather we awoke to this:


About time, was beginning to think the Moroccan weather had gone native (Irish) on us and was just going to piss on our parade for the next fortnight. Still not convinced on the whole global warming debate, maybe global relocation of weather systems but not simply warming. But that debate is for another day.

Our hotel/auberge was basic but comfy and included a security guard for our bikes outside all night, dinner and brekkie and a pool which was nice to freshen up in before getting into our riding gear for the day.
Just then we saw this Moroccan ADVrider:





But before long it was time to load up and enjoy our first day under clear blue skies and empty roads, spirits were high and confidence even higher!


Today's ride is from Er-rachida to Merzouga and is the shortest one yet at only 136km.
I tried to stop more frequently today as everywhere I looked was amazing scenery, that's the only down side of riding with a group, you tend to push on full steam ahead even when there's no particular need.





We stopped at this spot which had an nice oasis feel about ( OK if you come from Manchester, the words nice and oasis never mix, ever! but here its fine )
We spotted a Portuguese couple on a Yamaha tenere XT660. As usual by now I've forgotten your names, but if your on here you may recognise your photo, hope your trip went well dudes.

After our stop we set off again at a moderate pace enjoying the stunning rocky dry desert landscape. Now if anyone had asked me what I imagined Morocco to be like before the trip I would have said its sandy of course. But how wrong was I and Morocco was going to teach me the hard way, its rocky, Morocco rocks, literally.
Some more road shots before our and my confidence got the better of me.




Lesson number X, um I forget. Riding in a group is great because there's always someone else who will capture a picture of you on your bike. Riding in a group can be shit coz when ya dump it, there's always someone there to take a picture of you and your bike with its trousers down!

Looking good even if I do say so myself!

Shit, where did that rock come from! Bonk and down I go.

And one broken pannier and bruised ego, not bad really. Thought I had done some damage to the tank but "tankfully" didn't. The lads were great, one of them took my broken pannier on his back seat for the remainder of the day, I inched my way back to tarmac to lick my wounds!


Managed to readjust my luggage and put the pannier on my backseat until we reach our auberge where I hope and pray to be able to sort it out, have another week to go and might have to abandon this pannier already, F**K plastic luggage!

Roadside discussion to decide who wants to take the offroad short cut to Merzouga? I'm too pissed at breaking my pannier that I choose the longer road option for now, I've nowhere else to strap my good pannier if that takes a fall too.


Our accommodation for tonight is Palais Des Dunes in Merzouga. First I got to try and fix my luggage and then out to the sand dunes of Erg Chebbi to watch the sunset beside a smelly camel.

What a fun RR!

The pics are great, and it looks like you guys are having the time of your lives. I am TOO jealous.

Speaking of jealous - something that occurred to me; you and your bikes LOOK too affluent. You have to be a crime magnet. Shiny, new, colorful, clean, etc. And you park them outside in an apparent ghetto, AND THEY ARE THERE UNTOUCHED IN THE MORNING! WTF?

Crap. If that were me, my bike would have been disappeared from a McDonald's parking lot faster than I could eat a cheeseburger.

Be careful, have fun, and keep posting!

Time for a more pics.

So after arriving at the Palais Des Dunes I set about trying to fix my broken pannier. The locking mechanism on the givi pannier had broken during the earlier fall. The box itself was still in good condition and the pannier rack was only slightly bent. I was able to refit it but it wasn't secure enough so I used two small nylon straps and a couple of large cable ties to secure it to the rack. It looks strong enough to hold but certainly won't take another hit!

Once happy with my work I grabbed a beer with the guys and looked forward to our camel ride out to the famous dunes.


The camel was as camels go, smelly and uncomfortable, give me my bike any day, no more complaining about numb bums after this and my bike doesn't have fleas!















After watching the sunset from the top of the dunes we headed back to the auberge to have a traditional meal which is just like Irish stew except it comes in a fancy bowl, and listen to some drumming.


Day 5.
Today we rode from the dunes at Erg Chebbi to Zagora, 336km on the desert highway.
But first we had to take some bike pics at the dunes.

And more.



Note the two straps holding my left pannier on!










After getting too hot and sweaty from the desert heat we had to get going towards Zagora and hopefully the wind might cool us slightly on the way.

All along the road in the middle of absolutely nowhere we would see little kids waving us down, hoping to sell us fossils or minerals or just to beg. It was amazing, you would stop in what looked like a landscape from Mars and admire the view, take some photos and then look around and some kids would be running towards you from behind a rock to sell you even smaller rocks! I used to wait and see what they were selling but after the zillionth time I would just time it nicely that as they just got up to me I'd open the throttle and be gone.













The roads in this part of Morocco are a dream come true for bikers, no traffic, spectacular views and no real hurry to get anywhere so just ride as you please all day. Feel like opening her up full throttle, go ahead, feel like slowing down to take some pictures on the go, no problem, want to wreck your bike going off road be my guest! The choice is yours.
It was a real gem of a day and we all cruised into Zagora at different times, met at a hotel and unloaded the beasts again.
Zagora is a bit of a landmark in this part of Morocco and was an important historical meeting point for camel trains and nomads crossing the Sahara desert, so like many such meeting points a town grew up around it it over the centuries.
And of course we had to get the obligatory photo beside the famous sign for Timbuktu.




Unfortunately the original sign is long gone, taken down by the authorities but later a replacement was re-installed by the local merchants looking to cash in on the tourists that it attracts.
Whilst at the sign on the following morning before we left Zagora a mechanic arrived up to us on his moped and invited us to come visit his dakar garage, and so we did.

After that all I can say about Zagora is that it is hot! And travel further south is not really necessary as within 90km you reach the dodgy border area with Algeria and it is heavily patrolled so not fun in my book.

So Day 6, Zagora to Boumalne Dades, 274km.
The group split again today with the more experienced riders taking a 100km off road route in the afternoon and the rest of us continuing by road to our destination.



My biking buddy for the trip, Michael. Its always good to stretch the legs whenever possible.







This is where the group split for the off road section. I was disappointed not to be going but I just don't have the skill to keep with the off-roaders, but I'll be back to tackle it in the future, promise


But I wasn't disappointed with the rest of the day's riding, we passed some stunning landscapes and high desert passes.






We arrived in a peach of a hotel in the late evening and decided that we'd spend two nights here to relax and do some riding tomorrow without luggage.






My room for the next two nights, I was impressed, it was like a mixed theme hotel, half Africa/half Flintstones!




And the view out my balcony the next morning was worth all the bad sleeps up to now.


More pics to post later

Great hope to get down there myself at the back end
Phil

Blue kazoo,

nice RR. considering this ride myself next year. looking back, can you tell us what you would do differently next time. lessons learned?

thx, j.

Subscribed and looking forward to more..apart from your lugguage how did the bikes do, any mechanical probs ?

Re the Garmin Zumo 550 throwing the towel in, I know what you mean... our third 550 in as many years left us relying on a good ol' compass and pace notes yet again last week.. about as much use as a chocolate fireguard.

How about showing us your best Transalp photo below.

Cheers
Potski

Thanks for the encouraging posts fellas.
Just to reply to some of your questions:

Purplesage: we didn't meet any undesirables in Asilah but I could see the potential was there and its not a place I'd be in a hurry to stay again. I guess the fact that we were a big group went in our favour in some places.

As an aside, we passed lots of police checkpoints and never had any trouble, in fact on all but one occasion we were waved through while cars were stopped for us to pass! I got stopped at one checkpoint in the mountains north of Fes but the policeman was only interested in where we were from and our route, our conversation consisted of a greeting in arabic, some poor french on my behalf and poor english on his while we tried to understand each other and a farewell in Gaelic, Slan! Tourism is a big deal for Morocco and as we were there just days after a suicide bomb in Marakesh I guess there was a genuine effort made by the authorities to welcome rather than impede tourists, my two cents anyway.

PHILinFRANCE: I hope you get the chance to visit Morocco, haven't come across anyone that's been and not enjoyed it.

PirateSeaCaptain: What would I do next time, lesson learned?

Ummm, I guess its a common finding when returning from any journey but here are my lessons learned.

Pack as light as you can. As usual I brought too many clothes that I never wore as you're in the bike gear all day and when you get to a hostel or auberge you just need one or two casual t-shirts and shorts or convertable pants.

I brought some camping supplies just in case we got stuck out but never needed any of it. Unless I specifically plan on wild camping the next time there is no need to bring that stuff.

I did however bring some cereal bars and energy food/powder drinks and I used them all, especially on the days when we had long distances between destinations. I had some bars stashed in my camelback pouch and would just nibble on them each time I stopped to take a pic or fuel up. Most garages also had places to eat but I was kinda sick of chicken and eggs and coffee.
The tankbag I used was a total disaster, it was too big and interfered with my steering lock so I used it mostly as a tailpack on the backseat tied down with rok straps.

My plastic luggage as you have seen was not up to taking a slow speed off and so my next upgrade for the bike will be alu luggage, start saving now! I think with some clever repacking I could have managed the trip with a topbox and a rollbag on the back seat as this was the configuration used by the guys in our group who had done a lot of trips before. It also keeps the bike narrow enough for off road sections, but I guess each option has its merits and problems.

My bike in general I am very happy with it. Plenty of comfort and well able to take the rough and tumble of a noob advrider like me!

I had no mechanical problems, was able to get approx. 300km from 17L tank and the seat was comfortable for both motorway slogs and broken up mountain roads. The only damage to the bike was to the givi crash bars and barkbuster handguards and that's what they are made for so no sleepless nights about that.

If I was going to do the same trip tomorrow I would try to get from the ferry port to the south as fast as possible and use the extra time in the exciting landscape of the desert/gorges/mountains either camping wild for a few nights or using a hotel as a base for a few days to explore off road without all the luggage on the bike. There really is so much to see and do that its almost a crime to blast through just for the sake of it.

I've got some more pics to upload and I'll try to finish the RR by tomorrow.

Thanks for reading.

Day 7, Todra Gorge. 300km, high point 2670m.

As most people are tired we decided that today would be a rest day, people could go off and explore on their own or in the group or whatever. So with the bikes unloaded of all but essential luggage we decided to ride up to the Todra gorge for lunch.

It was a great feeling to have all the weight off the bikes and to know we were returning to the same hotel later to relax for a while lightened the load mentally too.

Boulamine Dades


The trip out to the gorge was pretty uneventful, but as we started to climb into the mountains and follow the gorge walls watching as they slowly narrowed around each bend until we arrived at the gorge. Todra Gorge is well established on the tourist trail so we encountered more traffic than usual including some coaches and a group of BMW motorrad riders who happened to be at the same hotel as us the previous night.







Where there's water, there's gona be a water crossing right? Another popped cherry



Then me, nearly dropped it, thanks for the hand guys!
[/url] Morocco trip by gormedic, on Flickr[/IMG]


We had lunch here in this nice spot and then crossed the river again, this time I made it without assistance, quick learner!
One of the lads loved the river crossing so much that he put his varadero to the test numerous times with huge smiles until we spotted the tell tail sign of an oily water slick trailing his bike into and out of the water! The poor beast was leaking oil badly from the sump.:eek1
[/url] Morocco Bike Trip by gormedic, on Flickr[/IMG]

Luckily one of the group has the amazing instant chemical putty (quick aluminum epoxy) I'm never leaving home without this in the future, it set like a weld over the crack and held for the next 5 days over tough roads and motorways.
We had to send a rider back through the towns to get some engine oil which proved harder then expected as he was gone for almost 2 hours.
In the meantime we sourced some local transport for the bikeless rider! Almost crash proof, but no Jap reliability!

P.S. No animals hurt in the making of this RR.

So when the bike was ready to go we all split up again. Some guys went back to the hotel with the injured varadero to rest up. Two decided to tackle the "gorge to gorge" offroad route and the remainder decided to try ride to Lake isili.

We climbed high out of the Todra gorge heading towards Imichil. The scenery and roads were great and we crossed the highest point yet on our trip 2660m.




[/url] Morocco, the High point! by gormedic, on Flickr[/IMG]






After the high mountain we rode through some raised mountain plateaus with lots of mountain villages and tonnes of kids trying to stop us, some almost jumping out in front of us to get us to stop, others playing chicken and they really held their ground!


Eventually though we reached our turn around point, with no idea where the next petrol station was going to come out of in this high mountain environment and not having passed any since well before the gorge we decided to turn around. At least we had enough fuel to get back to the gorge and be within easy distance of a garage but continue on to the lakes without passing a garage and we'd be stranded. So another reason to return here in the future I guess.

Adding up the distance and comparing to our fuel gauges!



And so we retraced our route back to the gorge, not as boring as I had expected as we had to descend that big 2670m pass down into the gorge which was a fantastic ride. By the time we found a petrol station we were all on fumes.



So what was supposed to be a little 150km no luggage easy ride to the gorge and back turned into another 300km day on the bikes, but I really enjoyed every extra click and I got to get my bike to its highest point yet 2670m. Which when you consider the highest point in Ireland is only 1039m with the highest road only about 500m it was a great feeling.

Day 8. Boumalne Dades to Taliouine 320km, via Ait Ben Haddou.

This morning we left our flintstones hotel in Dades a bit fresher than usual thanks to a well need left breakfast. It was just after midday when we loaded up the bikes to get going again. The heat was pretty intense for us emerald isle palefaces but nobody dared complain about it for fear that the almighty would unleash a flash flood on us!

So long Dades: wave



We had to stop off and visit the town of Ait Ben Haddou, a UNESCO world heritage site and scene of numerous films like Gladiator, the Mummy, Jesus of Nazareth, Lawrence of Arabia, etc. And who would have guessed, they're still shooting films there as we arrive, looks like a period film again so no room for our beasts!




An up close of the actors, don't recognise anyone, although I think I've seen that horse before!














After failing to secure a cameo appearance for our bikes we resumed our journey with no particular destination in sight other than we wanted to be within striking distance of the famous Tizin'test mountain pass and then Marrakesh for tomorrow. We rode on for the remainder of the day and into the evening, chasing the sunset on some of the best roads of the trip yet (until tomorrow!). We rode over another 2000m pass which was all surfaced with a thick layer of hardcore gravel and made for some scary hairpin descents. We passed through a few small towns but they all felt a bit like "the hills have eyes" feel about them! :eek1 So we pushed on into the twilight and rode through some amazing scenery, farmers were working in the green fields, women carried heavy bails of crops back along empty roads, kids waved as the ran from herding goats to see us closer from the roadside, our shadows growing longer as the sun started to slip from our grasp and signal the end of another day in Morocco. After finding a quiet spot to rest up for the night we hit the sack early in expectation of a good mountain day to follow.