Why Morocco and NW Africa

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Please don’t consider this anything other than someone kicking round a few ideas.

I’m hoping in the latter half of 2018 to take a sabbatical, for possibly 3 months and one of the things I will do will be a for me, a major ride. Having not ridden outside of the EU it could be Morrocco ish or possibly the polar opposite of Sweden/Norway.

It would be two up and I envisage it being on my 1200GSA, but that’s flexible.

The balance of the time left will be a road trip in the campervan to Italy.

What I hoping to learn from this post is what draws people to Morocco ?

I know why I would go to Sweden/Norway.

TIA
 
Please don’t consider this anything other than someone kicking round a few ideas.>....>......................................................

I’m hoping in the latter half of 2018 to take a sabbatical, for possibly 3 months and one of the things I will do will be a for me, a major ride. Having not ridden outside of the EU it could be Morrocco ish or possibly the polar opposite of Sweden/Norway.

It would be two up and I envisage it being on my 1200GSA, but that’s flexible.

The balance of the time left will be a road trip in the campervan to Italy.

What I hoping to learn from this post is what draws people to Morocco ?

I know why I would go to Sweden/Norway.

TIA
have a look at the photos and videos at www.moroccanmotorcycletours.co.uk or their Facebook page.....says it all really....
 
I've lead 16 trips on a variety of bikes in Morocco, the attraction for me is the variety of riding surfaces.
With a little research you'll find plenty of enjoyable roads, places and sights :)
 
I think the great thing with Morocco, is that it is easy to get to, no special paperwork is required, as Tim says there are a good variety of road surfaces and places to see and is a culture change, it was cheap when I went and the people very friendly. you can also ride through Spain or France on the way down...That being said one of my fave places is Norway.
 
I've lead 16 trips on a variety of bikes in Morocco, the attraction for me is the variety of riding surfaces.
With a little research you'll find plenty of enjoyable roads, places and sights :)

For me while I agree with all you say, but it's also that being that little bit out of your comfort zone.
 
I've been giving talks on Morocco at Horizons Unlimited meetings for many years with the subtitle 'safe, exciting and inexpensive', and that sums it up for me. Oh, plus brilliant weather most of the time. I enjoy the remote areas riding on pistes (tracks) but there's tens of thousands of miles of tarmac roads with fabulous scenery.

Assuming you take the ferry from the UK to northern Spain, you need a day each way on the ferry plus two easy days each way of riding to get you to Tanger. So you need to allow six days from Salisbury to northern Morocco and back. The rest is the fun riding.

The advice I normally give is (a) don't be too ambitious with distances, especially if you have a partner on the back, stop often for coffee and an explore, (b) get off the main N (national) roads where possible and instead travel on the quieter and often more scenic R (regional) and P (provincial) roads.

My favourite tarmac areas in Morocco are (1) Azrou (80 km south of Fes) which is the major market town of the Middle Atlas and is surrounded by cedar and holm oak forests, volcanoes, wild monkeys, springs and lakes and (2) Tafraoute in the Anti Atlas where I get a shiver down my spine each time I approach and see the pink quartzite mountains.
 
I've been giving talks on Morocco at Horizons Unlimited meetings for many years with the subtitle 'safe, exciting and inexpensive', and that sums it up for me. Oh, plus brilliant weather most of the time. I enjoy the remote areas riding on pistes (tracks) but there's tens of thousands of miles of tarmac roads with fabulous scenery.

Assuming you take the ferry from the UK to northern Spain, you need a day each way on the ferry plus two easy days each way of riding to get you to Tanger. So you need to allow six days from Salisbury to northern Morocco and back. The rest is the fun riding.

The advice I normally give is (a) don't be too ambitious with distances, especially if you have a partner on the back, stop often for coffee and an explore, (b) get off the main N (national) roads where possible and instead travel on the quieter and often more scenic R (regional) and P (provincial) roads.

My favourite tarmac areas in Morocco are (1) Azrou (80 km south of Fes) which is the major market town of the Middle Atlas and is surrounded by cedar and holm oak forests, volcanoes, wild monkeys, springs and lakes and (2) Tafraoute in the Anti Atlas where I get a shiver down my spine each time I approach and see the pink quartzite mountains.
Tizi n test has a lot going for it too.......
 
Stay clear of the Tizi & tikna crap tarmac, roadworks & HGVs Leaving their own smokescreen.
 
We went to Morocco in 2007 & 2010. We went to Scandinavia this year. The only common thing was that we didn't drink alcohol in either place.

Morocco is soooo different to Europe. Its a real culture shock from as soon as you get off the ferry across the Straits go Gibraltar - you will be out of your comfort zone for a few days but will soon settle into it. Go to Morocco to experience that let alone the hospitality, friendliness, change of food, to experience the desert and more. I followed Tim Cullis's advice back then and went to the places he recommended - as per his post above. He knows his stuff so listen to him. If you are on your own the pistes are intimidating and I decided to let discretion be the better part of valour after following a piste into the mountains for about 20 miles and realising how much trouble I would be in if just a tiny thing went a bit wrong. At times its sweaty, dusty, dirty, noisy, smelly, in your face, scary, at others its warm comforting, and embracing. Its great. Only westernised hotels sell alcohol and as we didn't stay anywhere like that we never bought any.

We did an anticlockwise lap of the Baltic this year after first diving south into Eastern Europe for a bit to let summer get a hold in the far north. We ended up not turning a wheel in Sweden though. The travel season in the far north of Finland and Norway is very short - Late June, July & August really. Lots of roads in Norway will be closed by now. Up north has a real frontier feel to it and the culture is dominated by Samis/Lapps, although Western Europe is strongly there too. At the end of June there was loads of snow still, right down to sea-level. Temperatures can be very low to the mid twenties in summer. I felt quite emotional when we got to Nordkapp as it felt like I had really achieved something. Scenery in Finland, the Baltic States and Poland was rather unremarkable by and large, although parts of the Baltic coast in northern Finland was amazing. Norway was dealt the winning hand in scenery game. It is is just stunning, almost everywhere. It just keeps on giving and giving. However it is all very, ummm Scandinavian. You know stripped pine, Ikea, and Volvo. Clean, hygienic a bit antiseptic, and I hope Scandinavians don't take this the wrong way it felt a bit unwelcoming. It could have been us or its just the Scandinavian way (faces seem to remain expressionless all the time), but that's how we felt. Finland and especially Norway were very expensive to travel round. I believe Sweden is the same. We didn't buy alcohol as it is so stupendously expensive its just not worth bothering with.

In short go to Morocco for the culture shock and to get out your comfort zone. Go to Scandinavia for the scenery and to experience the arctic north. Go to either to manage your alcohol intake.
 
In short go to Morocco for the culture shock and to get out your comfort zone. Go to Scandinavia for the scenery and to experience the arctic north. Go to either to manage your alcohol intake.[/QUOTE]

Beer was easy to get in Morocco, as you say hotels or we went to bars, they tend not to have signs and it seem all a bit behind closed doors, but we had a good few nights on beer.

When we went to Norway, get yourself on a campsite and the locals like to practice their English so ply you with their homebrew or back then it was £7 for guinness, I heard the otherday it was £15. just make sure you dont buy the very low alcohol stuff you get same as Iceland.

Spot on both Tim's know their stuff.
 
Cheers guys, looks like Morocco wins, no problem with or without booze. I have been to Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Poland for work so familiar with cost. The two draws for Scandinavia would be the Nordkapp and a chance to visit friends who live in Helsingborg.

Many years ago I went on a package holiday to Tunisia and so don’t really know N. Africa, what was putting me off before this thread was the thought of off roading two up on a GSA. This thread has put that fear to bed.
 
We went to Morocco in late April and early May this year. After getting loads of advice on here from the likes of Tim Cullis and Timolgra we decided to do our own thing. I was then lucky enough to hear that Gaz Pitchford (Skygod) was organising an off-road trip and had room for one other bike in his van. Gaz shipped the bikes down to southern Spain in his van and we flew into Malaga and met the rest of the group in Mijas. We headed off to Algeciras and ferried across to Morocco - customs ad immigration is a bit of a ball-ache but Gaz had already briefed us on what to expect so we just kept smiling and remained patient. After immigration we then bought insurance at a portakabin at the border.

We stuck to tarmac whilst Gaz led his group on the off-road tour. As a group we met up in Chefchouhan for the first night, in Merzouga in the Sahara after a week and in Tetouan for our last night before leaving the next day. The culture shock is exactly that but just be relaxed and go with the ebb and flow, the people are very warm and welcoming - Alena often went for walks into the towns on her own and was never hassled in any way. Although we stuck to tarmac there were occasions when some roads were just gravel and the P roads can suffer bad deterioration. The morning after we left Azrou we took a P road over a mounttain and it was in such poor condition -mud, gravel, pot holes - that it took us over 3 hours to do 60 miles, but hey, it was all part of the experience. Do it and you won't regret it.
 
Only westernised hotels sell alcohol and as we didn't stay anywhere like that we never bought any.

Beer was easy to get in Morocco, as you say hotels or we went to bars, they tend not to have signs and it seem all a bit behind closed doors, but we had a good few nights on beer.

Never had any problem obtaining alcohol in Morocco, even in the most remote of places, as you say, knock on the right door or hatch in the wall and your every need will be fulfilled.

Morocco, a cold country with a hot climate... i once got stuck in the desert on a sunday night and then stuck in snow on the tuesday morning.

And one of the most epic off road experiences i've ever had, in a Land Rover on an 8 hour, 4pm to midnight drive to cover just 40km.
:D
 
Given that you have two itches to scratch would you consider doing your big trip to Scandanavia on your own bike and also doing a fly-drive to Morocco?

Myself, Jaws100 and Trick of this parish flew to Marrakesh this time last year and had a great week with hired BMW 650 Sertaos - we flew in on a Wed and back home the following Wed with six full days of great riding. We had the whole thing for about 1050 euro - flights, bikehire, accommodation, food, fuel - everything!

From Marrakesh we crossed the Atlas, Dades gorge, Todra down to Zagora, over to Taroudant and back across the Atlas to Marrakesh. No problems, no hassle everything was super.

Jaws100 made a little video which gives a flavour for what can be done in a week:


The main thing is GO!
 


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