Morocco for a mini LWD.

Devon · Nov 24, 2007

I was lucky enough to join up with Tim Cullis in October to travel Morocco for the second time in 12 months. What a fantastic country. IMHO it offers enough drama and adventure with reasonable levels of comfort available for weary old bones like mine.

I took the ferry from Plymouth to Santander, crossed Spain and took the boat from Tarifa to Tanger. I met up with Tim in Tanger and I was then lucky enough to benifit fom Tim's knowledge and passion for Morocco: Tim's visited the country nearly 30 times now.

There are so many great threads available here for anyone wanting information to plan a trip. The info. Tim and Fanum provide in the sticky is enough to plan a trip

Pics 1-3: Middle Atlas south of Azrou
Pics 4-5: Cirque de Jaffar between Midelt and Imilchil

Devon · Nov 24, 2007

Pics 6-9: Cirque de Jaffar
Pic 10: between Midelt and Imilchil

Devon · Nov 24, 2007

Pics 11-13: between Midelt and Imilchil
Pic 14: between Agoudal and Msemrir
Pic 15: Cascades Tissint

Devon · Nov 24, 2007

and a final couple of pics.

Couple of bits of info for anyone contemplating their first foray ino Morocco: the Sahara isn't the be all and end all of m/c adventure, The volcanic regions around Arzou were some of the finest roads I have had the pleasure to ride.
Morocco is great for the people and scenary but take care, it's easy to get heat exaustion (I did first time round and it's not funny). Drive carefully through the villages and towns, there are a lot of excitable kids and livestock on the roads.

All in all, Morocco is easily do-able by anyone whose ventured into Europe but if you can travel with someone who knows their way around (I was lucky enough to travel on the maiden 'MotoMorocco' tour and with Tim this time) grab the opportunity with both hands :thumb2

'course the best bit about going away is getting home as my last pic shows.

Pic 16: between Ouarzazate and Tazenakht
Pics 17-18: Ait Benhaddou

squid · Nov 24, 2007

So what was the verdict on the two bikes - overall, which one coped the best? Dakar or GS

rc mad · Nov 24, 2007

i'd be interested to know that to. I'd guess the 1200 was better on road and the 650 was better off road, i think :nenau

Devon · Nov 24, 2007

squid said:
So what was the verdict on the two bikes - overall, which one coped the best? Dakar or GS

They both coped superbly really. I took the 650 Dakar because it was less of a handful offroad, but not by a huge amount IMHO. The 1200 is a lot better and more comfortable on the tarmac. Doing some off road training is probably more important than which GS I Guess.

Tim Cullis · Nov 24, 2007

You can just make out Andy in the pic, standing one third of the way down one of the volcanic vents.

Tim Cullis · Nov 24, 2007

There was no great advantage having the GSA rather than a standard 1200GS, and weight is always the enemy.

We came to a gully on the piste from Midelt to Imilchil (the last pic on post 2) where the slope down was 45 degrees and the slope up was 45 degrees. As you can see from the pic below it was quite deep and the cumulative effect of the two slopes would have been like hitting a brick wall. I felt the GSA wouldn't manage it (without a degree of momentum that I wasn't prepared to give it!), whereas the Dakar with bigger front wheel, conventional suspension and 60 kilos less weight possible would have been OK.

So we back-tracked 100m and rode down through the stream again. We must have crossed that stream 60 times, as well as riding down it for considerable periods.

mike wright · Nov 24, 2007

Fantastic!..great pics and write up.. Thanks for sharing them :thumb2

(RIP) petcul · Nov 24, 2007

Great stuff. Enjoyed the read and pics :thumb2

Ash · Nov 24, 2007

Fantastico!..great pictures and write up.. :clap

Geoff B · Nov 25, 2007

Great Post

You just got me even more hooked on trying to set up a trip. would be really interested if you have any route information. The pics are great just the type of ride im looking to do

Tim Cullis · Nov 25, 2007

I've edited Andy's posts to describe where the photos were taken. Most of the pistes in Morocco are now on the Marokko Topo GPS map (see knowledebase).

The route from Midelt to Imilchil is 32 miles of red (sometimes technical) piste followed by a rough road and tarmac section of 27 miles, then another 33 miles of red piste. There were four auberges along the route.

Devon · Nov 25, 2007

Tim Cullis said:
I've edited Andy's posts to describe where the photos were taken. Most of the pistes in Morocco are now on the Marokko Topo GPS map (see knowledebase).

The route from Midelt to Imilchil is 32 miles of red (sometimes technical) piste followed by a rough road and tarmac section of 27 miles, then another 33 miles of red piste. There were four auberges along the route.

Thank's Tim :thumb2

When I started this thread I thought I would keep the words to a minimum and let the pics tell the story. But, thinking about it, that doesn't help anyone wanting to plan for Morocco.
IMHO so many people don't realise that only 2 days away from Blighty lies fantastic people/culture and magnificent scenary which is the equal (again IMHO) of almost anywhere in the world: hence the thread title 'Mini LWD'

Uinneag · Nov 25, 2007

great report and pics lads :clap

snoopy · Nov 25, 2007

Some of this looks so good I'm editing my route to encompass them. Thanks!!!

davidgibson999 · Apr 29, 2008

Strange now looking at this thread and recognising where the pictures were taken! I've some identical photos to these. Wish I'd some pictures of me tackling the water crossings - they'd be entertaining!

Morocco for a mini LWD.

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