Just a few pictures of a trip I'm just back from. 10 days on TTRs in Morocco. Me on my 325 and my mate on his 350.
I transported the bikes down to Malaga in my van, collected Giles at the airport and continued south. We decided to keep vanning rather than leaving the van in Spain, and it was a good choice. On entering Morocco at Tanger Med port, the heavens opened and it rained, more or less solidly, for the next 24 hours. Riding the motorway down to Marrakech would have been utter torture, and dangerous with such poor visibility.
Leaving the van at Camping Relais de Marrakech, we hopped on the bikes and rode over the Atlas mountains via the high pass of Tizi 'n' Tichka, where the rain took the form of snow, and down the "dry side" to a small town called Skoura. The planned off-tar route was abandoned as it was unlikely to be clear of snow, but the tar road trip is spectacular enough.
Using routes created by Chris Scott ("Morocco Overland", highly recommended) the next 9 days took in high mountain trails, stony desert pistes, a bit of sand, and a day on tar only, unintentionally, as I missed a turn and we went way too far to turn round before I realised, and a section of off-tar trail was so badly washed out from the rains (the worst in 12 years) that the river bed it followed was unrideable!
Atlas mountains from Kasbah in Skoura:
Mountains of the Anti-Atlas between Skoura and Nekob:
On an old Paris-Dakar piste in the far south below Zagora:
A night under the stars in Erg Cheggaga (the less famous of the dune areas on Morocco, but more extensive and no tourists on hired quad bikes thrashing around!)
Not for vertigo sufferers! Heading back over the Anti-Atlas mountains on the way back to Marrakech:
Giles likes to use all the available life in his tyres!
Wow, what a trip! The photo from the anti atlas mountains is my favourite! You guys got so unlucky with the rain, such a shame but these things happen! Did you decide to use your cushdrive hub? Will you two return any time soon?
Small-time compared with your trip Dan! 1382 miles in 10 days. Packs in a lot of spectacular scenery though.
Apart from the 8 hour drive from the port to Marrakech, we didn't get rained on, but the effects were visible everywhere.
Cush drive lives permanently on my 325. I didn't lube the chain on the trip and didn't need to adjust it either. Ally rear sprocket is getting hooked though. (It wasn't fresh for this trip though, and I would have preferred a steel or composite cog but couldn't get the size I wanted at the time)
For 10 days riding, add at least 6 - 7 more to get there/back from UK. It actually took me more than that, with ferry departures to synchronise and collecting/dropping Giles at Malaga airport to save him sitting bored in the van!
Again? Maybe in the autumn, but a TET Portugal trip is also being planned around that time...
