Well I had read and looked at lots of reports and photos of many tips to morocco,
Even have a French friend that spends his winters down at Sidi Ifni that keeps saying come on down.
So due to the bad weather in the UK over the lead up to Christmas I decided to head south .(was doing Christmas in the UK ).
So I ordered TCK80 on 24 hour delivery !! they should have arrived on the 21st .
They arrive late on the 23rd ,I rush off and get them fitted and I am all set to leave on the 24th .
So get up and off I head . Well I haven’t used these type of rubber for some 29 years ,roads are wet just above 0 c and new rubber , well it made for a few tentative 30 miles to the motorway. Well I get as far as la Carolina and call it a day only 250 miles to get to the port. Get up nice and early to find there is no hot water ,Christmas day and no hot water , the guy on reception then tells me that no one has hot water its Christmas and they cant get any one in to fix it !! so I pay for the meal and drinks that I had the night before and agree too pay €20 to wards the room . And of I go to the port . When I get to the port I can not find my passport , it then sinks in that in my hast to leave the hotel I had left it on the counter at reception. Arrh well just have to go back and get it.!!
So by 6pm and 750 miles on Christmas day I am back at the port in a hostel .
Day 3 get up and arrive at the port , not to long to wait , get on the boat get the police card filed out and passport stamped .get through customs quite quickly and I am off , well until the first roundabout when the cops pull me .All he wants is to talk about the bike , well its at this point after walking around the bike that he starts to talk French at 100mph , he has seen the French number plate on the bike and thinks I am French. Well far from it I may have lived in France for six years but my French is practically none existent .
So I then have to get all my papers out as he can not get his head around it . Twenty minutes later he says I can go !!. The rest of the day was spent getting to Casablanca.
Day 4 I set of with the intension of heading to Sidi Ifni and spending time around there , but after an hour of ridding I stop for nicotine and coffee fix .
I meet four Irish guys in two 4x4s that are heading for a music festival at Timbuktu and they tell me about the roads and tracks in and around Ouarzazate. So I sit and have coffee with my Morocco overland book and decide to head in that direction .
Get Marrakech out the way and tings start to get better
Some ware not far from Ouarzazate I see a track heading of the road to the left and decide to see how far it goes
I then end up back on the Marrakech to Ouarzazate road and head of to Ouarzazate for the night .
Day 5 I decide to take the N9 down to Zagora and on to M’hamid
And then back to Zagora for the night
Day 6 I decide to head out of Zagora east and onto Tafraoute , well that was the plan
Until I came to this
Its all going to well at this point and then I get to a fork in the track and at that point
Do not have any idea that I have just turned south and am now heading right towards Algeria
About 20 miles on I come to a military check point and after checking all paper work I am told to head back the way I came or north east !!
Some 30 odd miles later I see the first bike I had seen on the whole of the trip ,
It was a Spanish guy on a DR 650 who had friends flowing in a 4x4
We sat and had a chat exchanged photos and he told me that there was lots of soft sand in the direction I was headed and that he had fallen of several times ,
It was about from hear on that there started to be lots of sort sand , but all was going fantastic , spotting the sand and just banging the throttle open and the big beast was just
Floating over it all until the front dug in up to the top of the disks and I was off !!
I try and lift the bike up and immediately no there is no way !. so I off load one pannier and the pack from the back and it still will not stand up .So at this point I am thinking I am fkd . I then get the stove out and brew some coffee and sit and think about it .
I end up spinning the bike around on the cylinder head once I had dug the front and back wheels out ,then dig the sand out from under the wheels and manage to lift it.With a lot of effort I eventually get it to harder ground
So I just keep heading towards Tafraout
From Tafraout I head up a new graded track north to the N12 and then north to the N10 and Tomboctou and the night was spent in Tinerhir.
Day 7 It was time to head for home so did Ouarzazate to Marrakech to Casablanca.
Day 8 Casablanca to Garnada
As good as the new Tangier med port is its not so good when its hissing it down and the wind is blowing , the only shelter is under the café stand and with the wind blowing most of that gets wet
Day 9 new years day Granada to SW France and home .
All in all about 4500 miles . Would I do it again dam right I would , maybe not the sand part on my own , or would love to get a smaller bike to do it
Even have a French friend that spends his winters down at Sidi Ifni that keeps saying come on down.
So due to the bad weather in the UK over the lead up to Christmas I decided to head south .(was doing Christmas in the UK ).
So I ordered TCK80 on 24 hour delivery !! they should have arrived on the 21st .
They arrive late on the 23rd ,I rush off and get them fitted and I am all set to leave on the 24th .
So get up and off I head . Well I haven’t used these type of rubber for some 29 years ,roads are wet just above 0 c and new rubber , well it made for a few tentative 30 miles to the motorway. Well I get as far as la Carolina and call it a day only 250 miles to get to the port. Get up nice and early to find there is no hot water ,Christmas day and no hot water , the guy on reception then tells me that no one has hot water its Christmas and they cant get any one in to fix it !! so I pay for the meal and drinks that I had the night before and agree too pay €20 to wards the room . And of I go to the port . When I get to the port I can not find my passport , it then sinks in that in my hast to leave the hotel I had left it on the counter at reception. Arrh well just have to go back and get it.!!
So by 6pm and 750 miles on Christmas day I am back at the port in a hostel .
Day 3 get up and arrive at the port , not to long to wait , get on the boat get the police card filed out and passport stamped .get through customs quite quickly and I am off , well until the first roundabout when the cops pull me .All he wants is to talk about the bike , well its at this point after walking around the bike that he starts to talk French at 100mph , he has seen the French number plate on the bike and thinks I am French. Well far from it I may have lived in France for six years but my French is practically none existent .
So I then have to get all my papers out as he can not get his head around it . Twenty minutes later he says I can go !!. The rest of the day was spent getting to Casablanca.
Day 4 I set of with the intension of heading to Sidi Ifni and spending time around there , but after an hour of ridding I stop for nicotine and coffee fix .
I meet four Irish guys in two 4x4s that are heading for a music festival at Timbuktu and they tell me about the roads and tracks in and around Ouarzazate. So I sit and have coffee with my Morocco overland book and decide to head in that direction .
Get Marrakech out the way and tings start to get better
Some ware not far from Ouarzazate I see a track heading of the road to the left and decide to see how far it goes
I then end up back on the Marrakech to Ouarzazate road and head of to Ouarzazate for the night .
Day 5 I decide to take the N9 down to Zagora and on to M’hamid
And then back to Zagora for the night
Day 6 I decide to head out of Zagora east and onto Tafraoute , well that was the plan
Until I came to this
Its all going to well at this point and then I get to a fork in the track and at that point
Do not have any idea that I have just turned south and am now heading right towards Algeria
About 20 miles on I come to a military check point and after checking all paper work I am told to head back the way I came or north east !!
Some 30 odd miles later I see the first bike I had seen on the whole of the trip ,
It was a Spanish guy on a DR 650 who had friends flowing in a 4x4
We sat and had a chat exchanged photos and he told me that there was lots of soft sand in the direction I was headed and that he had fallen of several times ,
It was about from hear on that there started to be lots of sort sand , but all was going fantastic , spotting the sand and just banging the throttle open and the big beast was just
Floating over it all until the front dug in up to the top of the disks and I was off !!
I try and lift the bike up and immediately no there is no way !. so I off load one pannier and the pack from the back and it still will not stand up .So at this point I am thinking I am fkd . I then get the stove out and brew some coffee and sit and think about it .
I end up spinning the bike around on the cylinder head once I had dug the front and back wheels out ,then dig the sand out from under the wheels and manage to lift it.With a lot of effort I eventually get it to harder ground
So I just keep heading towards Tafraout
From Tafraout I head up a new graded track north to the N12 and then north to the N10 and Tomboctou and the night was spent in Tinerhir.
Day 7 It was time to head for home so did Ouarzazate to Marrakech to Casablanca.
Day 8 Casablanca to Garnada
As good as the new Tangier med port is its not so good when its hissing it down and the wind is blowing , the only shelter is under the café stand and with the wind blowing most of that gets wet
Day 9 new years day Granada to SW France and home .
All in all about 4500 miles . Would I do it again dam right I would , maybe not the sand part on my own , or would love to get a smaller bike to do it
