Morocco on a budget

[fs996]

Hi all

A couple of mates and I did a budget jaunt over to Morocco in late May, as much of a recce trip as anything else. Knowing very little about the place I pieced together what appears to be a well-trodden route from reading posts here and on other groups. The trip cost about £1k including spends, flight, hotels and bike hire - not helped by one of our crew being ex-RAF and refusing to stay at the 90p-per-night hotel I found for one stop (seriously!). Anyway, I thought I'd post a few photos and details up here in case it helps anyone.

After landing late in the evening we had a free day to explore Marrakesh. The Souk was interesting, not dissimilar to the Medinas I've been to in Tunisia before except with 50% less hassle. A labyrinth that would take many hours to fully explore. Mainly hammered metal goods, jewellery, leather goods and a smattering of fake/knockoff gear. Old blokes snake-charming cobras outside and others with performing monkeys. With the temperatures rocketing we ducked out for an early Casablanca.

 

[fs996]

The next morning we taxi'd across to Tenere Riders where we'd planned to hire the bikes. In the spirit of 'less is more', and in keeping the budget down, we'd gone with RE Himalayan 411s. The bikes seemed fine although well used, with the odd twisted footpeg here and there, but basically fine. There were various other machines on hand, along with spare & donated kit including helmets should you need one. Aissam was great to deal with all along and didn't try any funny business. Mine was the blue Himmie, I have to admit I was tempted by the CFMoto and a couple of others though. Allow about an hour to get the paperwork all sorted.

 

[Tinytim]

Great photos. Now crack on with it, I'm in.

 

[fs996]

Once loaded up we made our way out of Marrakesh, which is somewhat crazy but you soon get used to it. The riding slowly improved and before you know it we were building altitude. Our plan was to head over the Tizi N'Test to our overnight stay in Taroudant. Stopped at the top of the Test for some lunch (a lovely lamb tagine) before cracking on. What we didn't know was that great swathes of that route are being rebuilt, so around 80km was unsurfaced. One of our group was a bit rusty off tarmac but soon got used to it again. A nice day's intro to Morocco with some excellent views and good riding.

 

[Tinytim]

More great pics thanks. Chez Mustapha sounds interesting.

 

[fs996]

After this we slowly wound our way down to Taroudant, anaged to find our stop for the night (known as a Riad with a central courtyard). Despite the abject chaos going on in the streets all around it, this was an oasis of calm. A word of warning though, no alcohol available in most of Taroudant. Fortunately we'd brought some gin with us, and we had on hand an ex-RAF'er who could locate an ice cube in the desert if there was alcohol involved. We jaunted over to a place he'd found 2 miles away via google's best 'stabby' route, fully regretting our decision to wear shorts, but spurred on by the prospect of a beer or two.

 

[fs996]

Kicking off with a nice breakfast it was easy enough to get out of Taroudant. Our plan today was to cut across east for around 300km to Skoura. Once on the right track there wasn't much navigation involved. We stopped in a village for a quick coffee mid morning then headed out into 100km through mainly desert that increasingly resembled something out of a western, or a Road Runner cartoon. Most of this was on arrow-straight roads with almost no traffic, other than a big coach that Bryan made it his life's mission to overtake. At this point with 3 of us spread out over a distance of about 5km it was increasingly obvious that the bikes were quite different in terms of top speed. Mine would crack 130kmh, Bryan's about 120, and Phil's about 90kmh so he was getting dropped. It took me 15 mins with the poor RE pinned to the stop, to catch Bryan up and slow him down for Phil to catch up. This was at the hottest time of the day with my dash clock saying it was 43C. I fully expected the poor little Himmie to expire but it took it in its stride.

 

[fs996]

After that we stopped in a town called Tazenakht for some lunch. It appears Mr Sanders had stopped there at some point. Next stint would be head north up to Ouarzazate but we had an interesting and unusual stop planned along the way.

 

[fs996]

Leaving Tazenakht and taking the N10 north, around 10km from the end you'll find this old US gas station which was used in the 1977 film The Hills Have Eyes. Not sure if it was built specifically for the movie but I assume so. Those dummies on the porch were originally zombies. Not what you'd expect to find in the middle of the desert in Morocco!

 

[fs996]

Some randoms from Day 2. The bright tower is known as the second sun, it's actually the Noor 3 solar station and can be seen from 30km away. Continuing the movie theme, the Medina was built for the film Kingdom of Heaven, and the scaffolding is the outside of Atlas film studios where such classics as Gladiator, Lawrence of Arabia, The Mummy, Game of Thrones, and Star Wars have been filmed. Speedo photo shows the temps at 5pm. I had a good half hour following the trails around here, and no one bats an eyelid just go wherever you like.

 

[fs996]

Some photos of the evening's accommodation in Skoura. Absolutely nothing at all nearby to do so next time we'd maybe stay in Ouarzazate. The food, as always, was tagine and by this point I was starting to have issues with the meat always being on the bone. First world problems I know, but I just don't like meat on the bone and ended up confining myself to the veg, and Gin. The hotel had a rather grandiose and ornate series of towers around it. On going up on the roof they were all made of straw and mud. I love that in Morocco you can just decide you want to convert your 3 bed semi into a castle and go at it. Elf n Safety be damned.

 

[fs996]

Leaving Skoura the next day we tracked further east to Boumalne Dades, which is the southern point of Dades Gorge. We'd decided to take it fairly easy today and get to the hotel early for beers and medals. So, a quick stop at the Pattes des Singes (monkey fingers - rock formations) and some lunch then on we went. At this point my Macna cooling vest decided to just leak everywhere so that was that. On to the hotel.

 

[fs996]

Obligatory hotel shots. We stayed on the single road that goes all the way up through the gorge and the mountains beyond it. They served beer here and the food was great.

 

[fs996]

Got a great nights' sleep after too many drinks, and after a sturdy breakfast we continued north up through Dades Gorges proper. Up the Melvio pass, photos at the balcony at Hotel Timzzillite, then on as far as we had time for. We planned on spending a couple of hours on this road before doubling back since we were stopping at Skoura again tonight. The scenery was majestic, You'd stop and take photos (which don't do it justice anyway), then carry on only for an even better scene around the next bend. At some stage you have to ride past epic photos in the interests of timekeeping. The narrow part of the gorge is only a few hundred metres long but trucks struggle to get under the rock face that overhangs the road.

 

[simondippenhall]

Nice report, great photos...thanks for sharing.

 

[fs996]

From there we carried on north up to the sedimented landscape at Kefroun (Turtle's Back) and Msemrir. The road tracks around a huge rock basin with Turtles Back being at the centre. Just staggering. Our intention was to crack on further north up to Agoudal, time permitting, but photo stops soon added up and we had to make the call to turn back for our stay at Skoura. Unsurprisingly it was bloody hot by midday too which spurred us on. We retraced our steps south to Boumalne Dades before picking up the route to Skoura.

 

[fs996]

Day 5, heading back from Skoura to Marrakesh. We stopped for a couple of hours at Ait Benhaddou, which is an old mud-brick citadel (or Ksar - fortified village) and has been used in films/shows such as Gladiator, Ben Hur, Lawrence of Arabia and Game of Thrones to name a few. Fantastic place. It's not really possible to ride to it, you have to park a few hundred yards away on the other side of the village which sits at the other side of the bridge. We stopped for 20 mins to have a coffee and fruit juice, and the cafe owner was kind enough to let us leave our bike kit there while we walked around We did try to ride through but it really is a rabbits warren maze of tiny mud baked walkways and streets. After u-turning the Himmie for the 5th time, practically in someone's front room, we decided to just park and walk. The Ksar itself, once over the bridge, has many streets that are home to market sellers, but it's not crammed at all so we were left to amble through the place and explore.

 

[fs996]

Some more from Aït Benhaddou...

 

[fs996]

From there we picked up the main route back to Marrakesh, the Tizi N'Tichka. The weather closed in on us as we gained altitude. When we stopped for a few minutes near the top, a full-on lightning storm came over and we got soaked. Rain drops so big I could see them coming, and wearing mesh jackets (in my case a Klim Marrakesh!) they just went straight through. However, since it was 42C at the time we didn't bother putting rain gear on, it was the most muggy and humid I've ever experienced. We actually had a great ride on the endless mountain sweepers, tarmac fairly decent and grippy, and we kept up a lot of momentum even passing a bunch of KTMs along the way. The storm clouds seemed to follow us all the way back to Marrakesh where we would drop the bikes off. The last couple of miles were as chaotic as I've ever rode in, with some creative filtering needed to get the job done!

Once back safely at Tenere Riders, the bikes were given a customary squeeze of the clutch and declared all ok. Thorough. No hassles, paid up and done. Trip over, until the next one.

 

[Steptoe]

Leaving Tazenakht and taking the N10 north, around 10km from the end you'll find this old US gas station which was used in the 1977 film The Hills Have Eyes. Not sure if it was built specifically for the movie but I assume so. Those dummies on the porch were originally zombies. Not what you'd expect to find in the middle of the desert in Morocco!

The film was made in 2005 and released in 2006.
I came across that same film set in January 2006 ..