5 days in Morocco, great roads, great food and 1 epic 12 hour off road ride from hell

Urban Rider

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The plan was conceived at the beginning of the year when a colleague from work asked if i was interested in a trip to Morocco. It was a simple plan, leave on the 4th May with a ride down to Plymouth. Jump on the ferry to Santander ride through Spain in 2 days and cross from Algeciras to Ceuta. Then have 5 days playing in Morocco before the journey back. It started off with 4 of us agreeing on the trip which soon grew to 7. The bikes for the trip were to be x2 1150 GSAs, x2 660 Teneres, x1 1200 GS, x1 800 GS and a Triumph Adventure thingy....:D 2 of the bikes had been bought specifically for this trip. The 1200 GS and the other 1150 GSA, this bike was an absolute minter. Only 8K on the clock and looked like it had just come out of the showroom and never ridden in the wet.. If any of you frequent Vines in Guildford you'd have seen this in the showroom a few months back.....
Any way as the day of departure grew closer we arranged to join Bakes on his Hot Cross Bun run as some of the guys had never been off road before. All went well with no dramas and we had a great days riding. However it soon became apparent that not all the riders would be joining us and 7 became 5 and then 5 became 4......
So, the day of departure arrived and we met at Chez Festers place for 0700 for the ride down to Plymouth. The weather was great, clear sky we soon found ourselves on the road...
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A quick stop at Exeter services for a well earned lunch, tosser style:D

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After lunch we arrived at Plymouth docs to see the arrival of our steed for the next 18 hours..
The bikes were parked up while we waited for the call to board and the sticker bombing started.....:D
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It was an uneventful crossing, very smooth waters and plenty of opportunity for photos...

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In no time at all we were all getting ready to disembark and we then realised how many bikes were with us...:eek:

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On leaving the ferry all liners were removed, vents opened and bladders filled. The temp was in the high 20s to early 30s and was to stay like this for the duration. We found some amazing roads just south of Santander an made good progress towards our overnight accommodation in Toledo...

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One of the team had booked hostels for the 2 nights in Spain. They were ok but not an option I would choose again. Just trying to find the one in Toledo was a bloody nightmare. We didn't arrive until after 2130 and wearing a dark visor, in the dark in Toledo with its cobbled streets and narrow paths was challenging to say the least...

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The following morning more sticker bombing ensued and the 2 Yams got a makeover.....:D

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We set off the following morning with more great roads on the way down to Estapona for our final night on Spanish soil...

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We arrived at the hostel which was better than the previous nights, chained the bikes up together - all 4 chained to each other through the front wheels and i also fitted my monster chain through the rear wheel and frame for additional security.. It was then time for a quick shower followed by an evening in Puerto Banus...:D

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When I was first told we would be staying Estapona I had my reservations. A few years ago my sister lived in Sotogrande for a while and it was a lovely area. Estapona on the other hand did not have a very good reputation so i was glad I took the additional chain with me.....

The following morning we came down to the bikes to prepare for the short ride down to Algeciras. As I was removing the monster lock and chain Mark gasped and shouted to us all that the chain used to secure all the front wheels together had been cut...:eek: That could have been the end of the trip......

More to follow:thumb
 
Didn't know you were back already Chris...:eek:

Nice pics so far mate; brings back my memories of my Maroc trip via Espana 2 years ago....:D :D :D

Keep it a coming mate....
 
We had decided to go via Ceuta rather than Tanger Med as we thought it would be a quicker crossing and less hassle at the border. The ride down to Algeciras was uneventful and we arrived at the ferry port with 10 minutes to buy tickets and get on board. The team down there were very efficient and after paying around €63 the bikes were being tied down and we went off for drinks...

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We met another group of riders on the same crossing who had more time in Maroc and were planning on heading further south than us. As we were on the boat filling out our customs cards and checking all our documents for the border the chaps in the other group asked if they could tag along with us. We had no problem with this and we all carried on checking our documents. It was at this point it became apparent that Mark in our team had neglected to bring his V5 registration document:blast. This could be a game changer and may stop us getting across the border. It was decided that Mark and Ian should attempt to cross first and if successful the rest would follow....

An hour later (at least) both Mark and Ian came back advising that the officials would not accept it and they would head off to an internet cafe to print off a copy of his V5 and try to make it as original as possible. We advised the other group that they should head through and not wait for us as we had no idea how long it would take... Anyway, to cut a very long story short we did all, eventually, get through. The time change made things easier and we were soon on the coast road from Ceuta to Tetouan and then on to Chefchouan. En route we decided to stop at a roadside cafe and take in some of the local gastronomy, we'd been told to be aware of the salads (as it's washed in water) but all decided to take a chance...

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We ordered a kilo of bar-be-que'd lamb and it was delicious and none of us suffered any stomach related problems as a result of eating it:D.

We were soon back on the road and after an hour or so arrived at our destination for the next few nights. The Atlas Hotel was recommend to us (cheers Bakes:thumb2) and at a cost of roughly £20 pppn bed and breakfast was perfect for us.

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We checked in, got to our rooms which had fantastic views over the town below us, quick shower and change then headed into Chefchouan for an evening of local food and entertainment....

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First order of the evening, a shave and hair cut from the local barber. A colleague of his came in who spoke good English, Mustapha owned an antique shop next door and agreed to take us to an authentic Moroccan restaurant ...The food was fantastic, I'd never eaten goat before but having it cooked in a tagine was great, very tender and worth a try..

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The rest of the night was a mixture of walking round the old city, drinking mint tea and hearing stories from Mustapha about the city. At the ed of the night we headed back to the hotel, we offered Mustapha 100 Ds for his help but he didn't accept it. He joined us for dinner and felt that was sufficient for his help. We arranged to meet him the following evening after our day of off-roading, we didn't know it at the time but this plan was not to come to fruition....

The following morning breakfast in the hotel was lovely and the view over the town stunning...

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We filled our water bladders and headed out to the bikes to remove the panniers and prepare for our off road venture. We had been given a route and told it was about a 25 km ride and would take roughly 3-4 hours. Baring in mind none of us are experienced off roaders, green laners and the only experience we've had has been a few rides on Salisbury Plain. We all expected to be back in the hotel for lunch sipping a cold beer by the pool. I had uploaded the route to my 550 and it started with a gentle piste to the crooked mosque. All started off well and it was a good run for us to get used to the loose stuff...

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After the visit to the crooked mosque we headed back to the start of the ride and took a piste off the main road which climbed off into the hills of the Riff. It was a good ride which climbed considerably and provided us with some amazing views across the surrounding valleys and mountains of the Riff....

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It was around this point when we suffered our first off, Adrian on his mint 1150 GSA was climbing up a piste when it started to get soft underground on the corners. It was challenging for everyone but Adrian was the first to fall, no major damage to the bike other than a couple of scratches on the crash bars and unfortunately because i was giving him space i didn't manage to capture it on film.... However I did get the recovery...:D

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From here on in the terrain became more challenging, we all suffered from dropped bikes and fatigue. The temperature was in the high 30s, we all had water but it was clear that the rate we were going through it wouldn't last all day. However we were still under the impression that this route would only be 3-4 hours long.....

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An hour or so later we suffered our second off, this time 3 bikes and riders were down at the same time. I was very lucky things didn't go worse than they did. In the photos below you'll see the 2 GSAs in the foreground and if you look closely one of the Teneres is on it's side in the back ground. The road surface was getting worse with slight rutting and much looser gravel. I came round the corner started to loose it and headed off to the wrong side of the road. Fortunately the design of the boxer engine stopped me and the bike going over the edge and head first into a rock followed by a 5-6 ft drop....:eek:

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At this point we'd now been riding for around 4-5 hours, progress was slow and the heat stifling. We were all running low on water and the riding conditions deteriorated around every corner. We were surrounded by cannabis farms and all the farmers we met wanted us to stop for a "smoke"... We'd all come off at some point but as yet the damage was minimal other than a few scratched bars and dented egos...However, the views were still stunning...

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It was shortly after this that we suffered the worse damage as a result of the mint GSA going down again. We'd lost count of the drops by this time and we were all getting p****d off that we hadn't found tarmac by now. The damage wasn't terminal but it did result in a significant dent to the right side of the tank, along with a broken spot light hanger, a crack to the beak and bent crash bars...
The photo below shows exactly where the incident happened, there was loads of trash on the track and when going down the track (it was quite steep) Adrian completely lost the front end and it went down hard and fast. The track was narrow and he was lucky nothing worse happened.

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We were now completely out of water and had been riding for nearly 8 hours. There was still no sign of tarmac and we had no idea how long this was going to continue for. Adrian was gutted about his bike and we all felt for him, we'd all had enough and were seriously p****d off that this route had been given to us knowing we were all complete novices. There are elements of this route that i wouldn't have attempted on a mountain bike let alone a motorbike. I certainly wouldn't choose an 1150 GSA to do this route on, too bike and heavy and a bitch to pick up.. I had suffered scratches to my crash bars and head protectors and cracked the screen which we later "stitched" back at the hotel...

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We all resigned our self to the possibility of spending a night in the mountains, we had no idea how long we needed to go to find tarmac and the sun was starting to make it's way to the horizon. We only had a few hours of light left and the thought of trying to negotiate these paths in the dark was a non starter.
After another hours riding we found ourselves in the forest of Tazaout. It gave us a bit of a boost as we figured there must be a road nearby and we'd soon be sipping a cold one in the hotel bar...

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As you can see from the clips above the terrain was awful and not ideal for GSAs, the lack of vehicles we saw during the day suggest they are not used that often. The last clip shows the end of the ride where we popped out at the side of someones garden but finally found tarmac... We headed straight to the shop some 50 feet down the road and re-hydrated on water and fruit juice before taking to road back to the hotel. In total the route we took ended up being 57kms all of which was off road. We were told the route was a loop that took us back to Chefchouan but we ended up some 25kms away and by the time we got back we'd been out for 12 hours and the sun had set....

That's all for tonight, i'll carry on updating the thread during the week:thumb2
 
Nice write up there Chris.

I'll never forget my first experience of Morocco, I couldn't wait to get out of the place and get back into Europe.... but once back, I had this burning desire to return. I've been back 7 times since :thumb
 
Keep posting please

Really good to hear about your trip & contrast with mine in April.
I also had a few offs & 1200GS is F heavy to pick up.
Tell us more please
 
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That looks a bit tough

Both bikes having a lie-down

I did most of the Stella last year on my 1150 GSA & it was tough in places - more so coming down

Big bikes when it goes wrong

I would have happier on a 650cc or a 250/400 cc
 
Thanks for the report - keep it comming.

In a few months you will laugh about it and enjoy the war wounds on the bikes. You were lucky though - one fractured femur and the day would have turned out different.

FWIW - The 1150GSA was used at Pavey's course and is easily capable of those routes - but I agree they are heavy and once you have had an off you get frit - especially looking at some of those views down into the valley.

One question - did you turn off the ABS? You need to once off road - it is one of the first things they demonstrate on the BMW course.
 
Thanks for the report - keep it comming.

In a few months you will laugh about it and enjoy the war wounds on the bikes. You were lucky though - one fractured femur and the day would have turned out different.

FWIW - The 1150GSA was used at Pavey's course and is easily capable of those routes - but I agree they are heavy and once you have had an off you get frit - especially looking at some of those views down into the valley.

One question - did you turn off the ABS? You need to once off road - it is one of the first things they demonstrate on the BMW course.

Yep, ABS switched off every time we hit the loose stuff. Learned that a few years back on Salisbury Plain..
 
n
Nearly every trip yer go on has its moments
Thats what makes an Adventure
You will soon forget the scary bits and remember all the fantastic bits
Then yer want to do it again - but better - then the cycle starts again
I think you will think it was fab in 3 months
I enjoyed yer posting - makes me feel normal now :thumby:
 


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