Peregr1n
Guest
Just got back from a trip to Morocco that didn't go quite as planned.
Morocco was fab once we got there, but on the second day in Spain we slid down the A4/E5 'Desfiladero de Despeñaperros' pass (south of Madrid, easy to see on the map, the motorway divides into separate north/south carriageways which look invitingly wiggly).
It's a beautiful pass and gorgeous road but it's still a motorway and still has lorry after lorry barrelling down it. The outside lane going south was slick with oil. And I mean slick - when we picked the bike up again, we literally couldn't push it to the side of the road, because our feet were sliding out from underneath us.
I had my girlfriend on the back of the bike and luggage, so I accept we were weighted high, but I was actually driving pretty bloody carefully - I reckon about 40kph around the bend we slid on.
Anyway, my girlfriend fractured her wrist and couldn't put leathers on for a week let alone be a happy pillion. We spent a week in Jaen and the Sierra Nevadas instead, then had a week visiting Chefchaouen and Fez - not quite the big loop of the Atlas mountains that we had planned
Bike was scratched up but fine, this sort of thing is exactly why I have foldy mirrors and pack spare levers under the seat
If I go again (which I probably will as I want to visit the desert and Atlas proper) I'm going to avoid that pass on the way down - really have a bad feeling about it. Does everyone else go that route with no problems?
Morocco was fab once we got there, but on the second day in Spain we slid down the A4/E5 'Desfiladero de Despeñaperros' pass (south of Madrid, easy to see on the map, the motorway divides into separate north/south carriageways which look invitingly wiggly).
It's a beautiful pass and gorgeous road but it's still a motorway and still has lorry after lorry barrelling down it. The outside lane going south was slick with oil. And I mean slick - when we picked the bike up again, we literally couldn't push it to the side of the road, because our feet were sliding out from underneath us.
I had my girlfriend on the back of the bike and luggage, so I accept we were weighted high, but I was actually driving pretty bloody carefully - I reckon about 40kph around the bend we slid on.
Anyway, my girlfriend fractured her wrist and couldn't put leathers on for a week let alone be a happy pillion. We spent a week in Jaen and the Sierra Nevadas instead, then had a week visiting Chefchaouen and Fez - not quite the big loop of the Atlas mountains that we had planned
Bike was scratched up but fine, this sort of thing is exactly why I have foldy mirrors and pack spare levers under the seat
If I go again (which I probably will as I want to visit the desert and Atlas proper) I'm going to avoid that pass on the way down - really have a bad feeling about it. Does everyone else go that route with no problems?
