Drag Your Loved One To Morocco

[WorkyTicket]

Excellent report. I must say you are really quite brave having SWMBO on board in that terrain.
Really enjoyed reading this, it's given me the taste for foreign adventure again as I wasn't going to go abroad this year due to financial reasons however now I think I'll just sell a kidney or something.

 

[wideparting]

brilliant,felt like i was there. makes you want to sell the house and take off,thanks again. j

 

[Garry H]

Thanks for all the comments

I wanted to get to to Tinerhir then on to Boulane Dades
to have a look at the Dades Gorge...
So i tried the road from Amellago to Goulmima

There were a few river crossings but nothing too bad

Kay was impressed with the warning piles of stones on the road to mark out most of the hazzards
But was horrified when we came across this big hole with no warning

So she took it upon herself to put the piles of stones in place

We carried on for a few more miles then came to this crossing

At first i didn't look too bad

But on closer inspection the concrete slabs that made the floor of the ford up had been washed away leaving over 1 foot steps in the riverbed...You can see the slabs in the river on the next pic

Time to turn around
Looks like we are going to Tinerhir via Rich and a long ride

 

[Garry H]

Back to Rich and on to Errachidia on the main road

Still pleanty to see mind you...How many camels

Pleanty of spare bikes on route

And nice places to stop

It took us a while to get to Tinerhir
I rode up to see what the road looked like from the other end but was soon forced to turn around...You can see the remains of the road in the background

It must have been terrifying when the floods came down....
Just look at the silt it left behind

Nice clean river to wash you kit in

We stayed the night in the hotel i was trying to get to a couple of days before
Then the next day we were off to see what had happened to the Dades Gorge

 

[Garry H]

The next day we went to check out the Dades Gorge..
We were told it had not suffered too badly

I do like some of these shots from the bike

I have seen this road in pics in the past and was not dissapointed with it in the flesh

There was still pleanty of small rocks and gravel on the road...But at least the road was still there

There were some pretty big rocks too

You could see the road had only just been cleared in places...
Then we discoved how they did it

Time was now running out
So a few more pics...

So we turned around and headed to Quarzazarte and stayed at the Hotel Flint to treat ourselfs

 

[Garry H]

The next day it was time to start heading back
Due to the floods we had spent longer in Southern Morocco
than planned...But well worth it for the adventure

We headed back via the Tizi N Tichka Pass..
It was i bit misty at the top so heres a pic from a couple of years ago

We just had time to have another run through the Cedar forests on the way back...
If you get time this area is well worth a look
Theres no place like home

We were riding down the road when we saw this

Just a few hundred meters further on there was a troupe of monkeys

So we parked up and Kay and i set off with the cameras to test our wildlife photography skills...
We must have been there half an hour sneaking through the trees snapping away...Great fun

Not the easiest things to photograph...They were pretty timid

Then it was off to catch the ferry back to Spain

But Morocco had one last surprise for us
A very stormy sea when we arrived at Ceuta
Most of the beach was on the road

We went down to the port to check in....
Only to be told all the ferries had been cancelled
Come back later on this evening we were told there might be a ferry then..
Luckly the ferry sailed ( the only one of the day we later found out )...
I have never seen so many straps holding my bike down..
And was still surprised to see it upright when we arrived back in Spain

 

[MattW]

Brilliant report

Inspirational, makes me want to pack the bike and go!

Thanks for taking the time.

cheers
Matt

 

[Guriek-GSA]

Great Adventure

Ole!!!!

That's a ride, love the pics. Great report and big smiles

 

[Garry H]

So we are back in Europe
We rode the scenic route back up through Spain
Nice and sunny with nobody about
Great place for lunch

Quiet enough to see some of the wildlife

We came across this interesting old dam

I decided to walk along the narrow path to have a closer look...Kay declined and stayed with the bike for a bite to eat

Was a bit hairy in places

But well worth a look

This is the first time i have walked over a dam with no water in...Surprisingly narrow

And a long way down

We were not in that much of a rush...Still time for the odd track...I just can't resist them

Another picturesque lake...What a place to be buried

We had a day left before the ferry back home so we spent it in the Picos...Checking out some of the trails i had rode 10 years ago...Most of them were now shut
But not this one

Kays last shot from the bike

Thats it back to the port and the ferry back home
It was a rough crossing back and that was the only bit Kay didn't like

Fiar play to Kay she didn't complain ( much )
And enjoyed the Moroccan adventure ( I think )
Kay and I are now planning this years adventure


And this is roughly what i got in mind

Hope you enjoyed the report
And if you want to go somewhere

GO FOR IT

 

[Aidan1150]

Thoroughly enjoyable Garry. Thank-you for the time and effort taken.

 

[Guriek-GSA]

Really good report!!

Enjoyed every bit, thanks for sharing it!

 

[Timolgra]

A very good one Garry, you seem to pick the rainy season when you're in Morocco, i remember your previous trip

 

[MattW]

What a great trip report

As I said before - inspirational.

 

[David Nimrod]

Thanks for the Report...

& like others have said:-

Inspirational

 

[tinatrim]

Very much enjoyed that. Fantastic. Thanks for posting it

 

[Garry H]

A very good one Garry, you seem to pick the rainy season when you're in Morocco, i remember your previous trip

All the damage was caused by one massive storm the one night
We were lucky and had less than half a days rain in 3 weeks

Thanks everyone for the comments... It makes the effort of doing the report worthwhile

 

[earthmover]

Excellent.
Mark

 

[MiGSel]

Great report indeed, thanks for taking the time. I rarely read more than one page of these reports, but this one sucked me in right away

You have one very courageous wife
Plus excellent riding skills to make it through all that two-up without any damage.

Cheers,
Michel

 

[Decster]

Great Ride Report Gary.


Looking through the pics of the lakes in Spain, there are gonna be some serious droughts this year if the levels are that low now....

 

[Sgt Bilco]

Garry

Great report and do you have any details of the tracks in Spain/Portugal?

Going out there next week and woudln`t mind having a rough idea of your route from Santander/Algeciras/Santander.