Long ferry to Morocco

ThreeDawg

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In the early stages of planning a wee trip to Morocco from mid March next year (all things being well by then, no means a given I know) Looking to cut miles ridden (already have to ride Inverness to Pompey) by 'enjoying' Brittany Ferries' hospitality (if you can call it that) to Santander then crossing to Barcelona to take another long boat trip (about 30hrs) to Morocco - thinking maybe Nador as we plan to do a roughly clockwise circuit down to Merzouga then west to Ouarzazate etc.

Anyone done something similar, or should I just grit my teeth and ride all the way across Spain? We would get a short crossing back second week of April and ride up through Spain as the weather would be warming up nicely by then.
 
Have you considered getting the bike trucked to Malaga? A friend told me the costs he was paying IRL to Malaga, seemed a sensible option.
I crossed Nador to Almeria some years ago. Long ferry crossing but tolerable. Ferry was very basic. Maybe they've improved since then.
Ferries from Barcelona and Sth France to Nador also available.
 
Hi ThreeDawg,

I've found that if you can get a ferry from the UK that arrives in Spain early in the morning, you can be having dinner in Morocco by the evening of the following day, via the short ferry trip from Algeciras to Morocco. This does mean covering over 1000km in 2 days.

Compare with the distance from Santander or Bilbao to Barcelona, and the cost and duration of the ferry trip from Barcelona to Morocco.

It's worth buying a copy of Morocco Overland if you haven't already: https://sahara-overland.com

I hope that helps.

Kind regards,

Ian.
 
Aye, have the book(s). 😆 It's something of a mission to get from these here Highlands to Morocco in a reasonable time frame, so I'm exploring as many options as I can. Mrs Three Dawg isn't too keen on what she would consider to be massive days, especially if it gonna be fairly cool, hence looking at the ferry.

I'm finding this trickier than shipping the bike to the other side of the world, that just involves a quick couple of emails to Motofreight!
 
Another option is truck the bikes and gear down to Eastgate Freights (Gibraltar) Ltd's Algeciras warehouse, which is 10 minuets from the ferry port, then fly from Manchester direct to Gibraltar, then a 15 minuets taxi ride to pick your bikes up. The trucking cost is about £380 iirc , if you decide to go down that route, get it invoiced from the Gib office, as there is no VAT in Gib.

ps Eastgate have their UK warehousing in Worstershire.
 
why no fly to morocco hire bikes do your touring and fly back simple . the cost will be about the same ,
 
Don't much like hiring, prefer my own bike, luggage and tyre choice. Much less stressful if I bin it too. Need a big adv bike which can't be less than a hundred quid a day to rent, that's two grand for three weeks, so less than shipping or ferries. Probably.
 
if you are looking to save time for morocco just ride spain in a day simple . you can do it easy catch a ferry to morocco next morning . big bikes cover distance its part of the trip so ride it . you can only save time or money not both . you wont need a big bike in morocco small and simple will do .
 
If you ride from the early landing ferry in Bilbao, you can make Almeria that evening. There's an overnight ferry to Nador. So, you save a night's accommodation and you are in Africa 24 hours after getting off the Brittany ferry.

Long day, but did it no probs two up on R1100GS.
 
Ride down solo and pick up the wife at Marrakesh airport :nenau
 
. you can only save time or money not both .

Ain't that the truth.

@PaulG, Mrs 3D has very strong opinions on what constitutes a long day on the bike...

I am going to see what they can offer. Have other options too - can ship to Barcelona from Manchester with Eurotrans and then take ferry - Morocco in under two days from Inverness maybe if everything joins up? I nearly always send it off in a van anyway when we take it abroad long haul in our winter time (most recently to South America, a brilliant place to ride BTW) so I don't need to worry about getting it to a UK depot down south.
 
Seems a shame to rush through Spain on the motorway though. Rushing through France, not so much
I was idly looking-up the Barcelona/Deta ferry costs. Surprising cheap - compared to IRL- France - and considering duration.
Barcelona - Nador, 26hrs, one way with cabin 190€. Sete - Nador: 38hr 220€

PS Who did you use to transport the bike to Sth America?
 
Yeah, ferries seem pretty reasonable don't they? Would ride down a bit later in the year taking my time if work didn't get in the way, but then I've been to France and Spain many times so not terribly bothered, the mission is Morocco!

Plan thus far is ship bike to Barcelona and ferry from there (2 days travel) or ship bike to Gib (poss only 1 day travelling) if that's still an option - enquired today, waiting for a reply.

Used Motofreight to ship (well, fly actually) to Santiago, Chile. They are very attentive and easy to deal with - we've used them twice now, highly recommended. https://motorcycles.motofreight.com/
 
I have done it from Inverness: Rode to Dover, ferry to Calais, did Spain in a day and took the Algeciras to Ceuta ferry. Similar route to your plan as far down as Merzouga with all the usual bits in-between. For the return i rode from Lille to Dunkerque, ferry to dover and back to Inverness in a day.

It all depends on how much time you have, I was forced to do Spain in a day as I had planned to take a leisurely route through the Pyrenees via the tunnel, but halfway up the road was closed due to snow which only got worse, so had to turn round and ride around the Pyrenees losing almost a day from my schedule, so the race across Spain was simply to catch up on my itinerary.

This was back in 2004 and no doubt things have changed but the border crossing at Ceuta was a nightmare with corrupt officials, they forced you to use a fixer who of course charged you for the process, your documents were processed based on how much cash was in them, the fixer would set the rate depending on how busy they were, so for example 10 euro in your passport and it would go to the bottom of the pile, 50 would put it to the top, that could mean the difference between a one or five hour wait. After that and the import paperwork for the bike (make sure you have your V5) you were then made to buy insurance (that you don't need) as you no doubt have your own and finally the last hurdle was the policeman who opened the barrier to let you in, he wouldn't unless you gave him something.

Be interested to know if its still the same?

Everywhere I went I was constantly pestered by scammers and robbers, threats to your bike and luggage when parked unless you paid someone to mind them, if you take a picture in public anyone who thinks they may have been in it will demand money. I remember sat on top of a sand dune in Merzouga to watch the sun go down, two figures appeared in the distance and about 40 mins later they struggled up the dune, they then put their hands out demanding money, I ask why and was told it was because they had made the effort to come and speak to me and I should be grateful for that.

In Marrakesh they tried to snatch anything off you as they walk past as they can then disappear into the crowd, so keep a grip of bags etc.

I got chased in the Rif mountains by drug dealers who try and sell you hash wether you want it or not.

Don't let the above put you off as things may have changed since then and no doubt someone with recent experience will be along and after all its all part of the adventure.
 
Sounds like you had a, er, 'stimulating' trip there.😂

I understand things are a little more relaxed now, hopefully I can project an aura of 'experienced traveller' and not be bothered too much.

I remember staying in one place in Harare, Zimbabwe, where the gardener washed 10000km of accumulated grime off my bike while I wasn't looking. I was appalled as I would then be approaching my next border looking like a complete noob on my now shiny bike. Poor bloke only wanted a small tip, but I struggled to smile and thank him.
 
I’ve been 3 times with Chris Scott on his guided trips using hired bikes from these guys.
http://www.loc2roues.com/en/parc/Motos/2

Last 2 trips were on a 1200GS. About £700 for 6 days hire, in 2019.

Bikes were pretty well maintained, with good crash bars and standard road orientated tyres.
 


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