UK to Morocco and back in a week?

[JamesM]

Has anybody done UK to Morocco and back in 8 days? Allowing 4 to do the trip from Northern France to Algeciras and back would leave four days for the Moroccan part.

Has anyone done a trip like this before?

What sort of distance / destinations should we plan in Morocco?

What weather could we expect in late March?

Grateful if anyone can help.

Regards

James

 

[darkhorse]

easy

have a look here from a few years back

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93621&highlight=morocco

 

[JamesM]

That looks like a yes then!
Can you pick me six numbers for saturday whilst you're about it?
Cheers
James

 

[Greger]

A friend of mine as done a couple of trips but bypasses France on the ferry to cut out the shite bit.
Cheers

 

[simondippenhall]

Easy:

Easyjet to Marrakech: 1/2 day

Morocco 7 days (rent a bike from Marrakech)

Marrakech to London Easyjet: 1/2 day.

Total: 8 days

 

[Tim Cullis]

+1

I'm with Simon on this. Even with the cost of the bike hire it's an awful lot cheaper than the ferries (Channel, Straits of Gibraltar), petrol, tolls, tyre wear, percentage of servicing costs, and so on.

And on top of it you get much more time in the country.

But to answer your question (distance/destination in Morocco), if you still plan to ride down then I would limit my time to the north of the country and not go below Khenifra/Midelt sort of area. The eastern part of the Middle Atlas south of Taza is great riding, as is the western Middle Atlas south of Azrou. Check out the 'hidden routes' thread.

Apart from midsummer months, the weather in Morocco is as varied as anywhere else. March could be warm and sunny, on the other hand it could be freezing cold. Further south tends to be warmer.

 

[JamesM]

Renting is not an option we had considered and as we are short on time it makes great sense, we will look into that. Also for the advice on the destinations and weather. We'll have a think about what is the best option.
Thanks again
James

 

[bladerunner]

Have a word with Peter:
Greetings from Peter Zineb and Selma.

--

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Route du Zagora - Ouarzazate/Tajda - Morocco
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GPS-Waypoint N.30.53.864 W.006.54.083 WGS84
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Tel: GSM Zineb 00212676731376
Patent nr. 73206232

Lovely family and you could get yourself a little adventure for 6 days - I suspect it would be cheaper too.

 

[Dave Ett]

I rode from Taoz to the UK in three days. 1800 miles or so, and I wouldn't say it was fun! It's about 1300 from Caen to Algeciras if that helps...

 

[Wreford Miles]

Depending on routes it's 1800 miles UK to Ceuta so 2 days is a possibility.

So you'er now sat in Ceuta with 4 days if you want the desert you've 450-500 miles each way and a full days riding each way which would give you'd 2 days to play in the sand.

Is that worth it?... Only you can answer that.

I did it with Greg with only 7 days so we had 1 day to play in the sand and I have no regrets, I'd just never do it in that time again

For me the whole journey made a special trip I wanted to ride to the Sahara to see the giant dunes and only had 1 week

 

[JamesM]

Well we chaps have had a ponder and have decided to ride from the UK. No point having the bikes and not using them.

Easy for me to say though as Algeciras is only a hour and half away from home

We are going to look through the hidden routes links.

Thanks for all the advice

Cheers

James

 

[Steptoe]

I do a moroccan dash at easter ( do a search for moroccan dash), there and back and a quick toodle around all the sights in a week on a large figure of eight around morocco, going as far south as ouzazette and tiniher ( this year may do zagora)-

Done london to algerciras in two days many times. Leave London 6am, take the tunnel, arrive bayone or bordueax in the evening, up early ride through spain arrive algerciras in the evening.

Then catch the 9am ferry across to ceuta in the morning. At easter the moroccan time is two hours behind euro time, so you get to the moroccan border 8am
Total mileage london algerciras is around 1400 miles

I prefer riding across france and spain rather than sit on an overpriced boat. Plus if i were to go by boat to spain it still means riding to the port in the UK. Plus my fate is not in the hands of striking seaman or dockworkers

I've worked out it's actually cheaper riding than using the ferry to spain. It's 600 miles to the spanish border through spain, hardly going to wear your tyres out or ruin your bike. Plus it gets you into the groove.


Seeds have already been planted for next easter http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=206073

 

[Taff]

Depending on routes it's 1800 miles UK to Ceuta so 2 days is a possibility. I did it with Greg with only 7 days so we had 1 day to play in the sand and I have no regrets, I'd just never do it in that time again

That's averaging 900 miles a day for 4 days. I'm sure you could do it if you really wanted to. The key words are "if you really wanted to". That's assuming everything goes fine. You're obviously in a group - are all the others happy to do that sort of mileage? Don't forget if you stick together (and I assume you will) you'll be travelling at the speed of the slowest in the group. Are there smokers in the group? In my experience, they need regular fag-breaks and it's surprising how much time you lose when you have to stop for a fag every few hours.

 

[Lost John]

Lucky for us we dont have any slow riders do we James LOL.

The advice to fly/ride is sound I guess taking into account the mileage down to Gib but i think we see the excessive mileage down as part of the challange. Does anyone know of cheap hotel accommodation on route between France and Spain?

By the way have I told you I was in Ouzarate last year when I ran the MDS, no! sit down and pull a pint blah blah blah

 

[Tim Cullis]

Accommodation: Formula 1 for coming through France (search for 'formule 1' on a Garmin GPS).

In Spain any of the hostels in the services areas off the side of the Autovias on the way south, see post #19 on knowledgebase below.

 

[Zorro]

Lucky for us we dont have any slow riders do we James LOL.

The advice to fly/ride is sound I guess taking into account the mileage down to Gib but i think we see the excessive mileage down as part of the challange. Does anyone know of cheap hotel accommodation on route between France and Spain?

By the way have I told you I was in Ouzarate last year when I ran the MDS, no! sit down and pull a pint blah blah blah

Lost John - MdS 2008? Which tent? I was in 99. On for it again in 2010 but training not going as planned this year...

I agree with Tim - F1 is great for a quick stopover.

 

[Lost John]

Hugo

Tent nummber? blimey had to check my photos to remember my race number, which was 628 by the way.

Doing it again, you are a glutten for punishment, dont fret about your training, you know you can hang in there but i guess you want to do better than last year. Where did you come? my final result was 361 out of the 811 and i really only did 6 months serious training. However it is out of my system now and need to do something else in the next year or so but not sure what.

As you have read we have a blast down to Morocco in late March and then with different mates am going to Croatia and Italy in June.

What was wrong with your training?

 

[Greg Masters]

Depending on routes it's 1800 miles UK to Ceuta so 2 days is a possibility.

So you'er now sat in Ceuta with 4 days if you want the desert you've 450-500 miles each way and a full days riding each way which would give you'd 2 days to play in the sand.

Is that worth it?... Only you can answer that.

I did it with Greg with only 7 days so we had 1 day to play in the sand and I have no regrets, I'd just never do it in that time again

For me the whole journey made a special trip I wanted to ride to the Sahara to see the giant dunes and only had 1 week

It was a hard but great trip - I was talking about it over lunch today.

You've got to cut you cloth according to the resources you have. For Wreford and me the thing we lacked was time. We rode through France because it was quicker than the ferries but, at that time, there were no cheap flights into Morocco. Had there been, Tim's suggestion of renting a bike would probably have been a better option.

Greg

 

[WrongWayRound]

That's averaging 900 miles a day for 4 days. I'm sure you could do it if you really wanted to. The key words are "if you really wanted to". That's assuming everything goes fine. You're obviously in a group - are all the others happy to do that sort of mileage? Don't forget if you stick together (and I assume you will) you'll be travelling at the speed of the slowest in the group. Are there smokers in the group? In my experience, they need regular fag-breaks and it's surprising how much time you lose when you have to stop for a fag every few hours.

Did Fez and back in 8 days in November and thats from Manchester so 300 miles to the Channel Tunnel. 1st day only managed Rouen (460 mls) due to really bad weather and also not waking up in time.

Day 2 to San Sebastian (560 mls)

Day 3 to Torremolinos (630 mls)

Day 4 to Fez - via Algeciras/Ceuta (350 mls)

2 nights in Fez and then back via Santander/Plymouth crossing.

I also smoke a lot

I found it helpful to have the appropriate accessories for the trip such as rear-sets and a Yoshi system.

 

[Tim Cullis]

Welcome to the board.

My first biking trip to Morocco involved rear sets...