Three Amigos in Morocco

Betty Swollocks · Apr 8, 2010

Myself, Neil23 and MasterBaker (Colin) decided to head off to sample Morocco and 20th March was our departure date. Colin and I were travelling from Northern Ireland whilst Neil was leaving from Haydock. The plan was, we were taking separate ferries to Roscoff…

We left Belfast and headed for Cork, some 300 miles away…. Neil had a similar journey to the south of England. On the way to Cork, I was amazed at the improvement to the motorway network in South Of Ireland.. and we made very good time. So good was it, that we decided to go explore the mountains which were in the distance and ended up taking a cracking ride through parts of Tipperary, Waterford and eventually Cork.

Brittany Ferries provided an excellent boat in the Pont Aven… sailing was on time and it was a pleasant crossing. On Sunday morning we had breakfast in Roscoff, before heading down the road a bit to explore a bit of France…

Neil was due in Roscoff 3 hours behind us, so we sent him a text message of an RV point.

At 3pm, I can remember Colin asking if Neil had HID lights and looked round to have my retinas burnt from my eyes… but it was good to see a familiar old friend

We discussed our plan and decided to try to knock out France in a day, so headed as far south as we could. We stopped for the night in Biarritz…. Just shy of the Spanish border…. Very chic

Colin was chosen to lead on Monday morning as we left the hotel at 8am…. First roundabout and the traffic was mental…… Colin headed off down one road and Neil and I followed as we thought….. in true holiday mode we did our own thing and took different roads in the same general direction.

5 hours later and a bit of mountain road riding and we met up again. Colin’s bike had developed a recurring clutch fault, which has been previously attended to by BMW dealers in Germany and Northern Ireland…. It wasn’t terminal, but would need seeing to before we hit Morocco.

Whilst discussing this, I noticed some rough terrain, where a new road was being built, so decided it would make a good photo opportunity….. I stayed upright…. Colin, I believe, got a good photo, but it shook the life out of my Garmin Zumo which decided to play up after that. It was a battery off and on again event to re-set…. I didn’t have the tiny torx bit to remove the Battery and had a bodge job with a tiny screw driver. My fix worked, but only for a day and eventually the unit was packing in every other time I re-set it… I ended up giving up on it…. Although it appears to be working fine since I came home and don’t need it.

We rode on below Madrid and stopped in Santa Cruz… found a 4 star hotel and explored the town centre, got some cash, had a beer then a lovely meal.

Tuesday, Santa Cruz to Marbella.
We phoned ahead to Hana from http://www.motoadventours.com/ she had agreed to help us with our preparation and planning for the trip. She collected the 3 sets of Heidenau tyres Fanum had delivered to his mate in Malaga…. Booked Colin’s bike into the local Marbella BMW dealer for a check of the clutch under warranty and reserved us each a room in the 4 star Hotel Barcelo in Marbella at about a third of the price it should have been.

We were really looking forward to getting down there to feel a bit of heat and get things sorted for Morocco. Just outside Santa Cruz, Colin picked up a nail in the rear tyre….
Thanks to the tyre pressure warning system on the 1200, he knew immediately and we got stopped in a petrol station, beside an airline. The tyre plug system worked a treat and we were up and running in no time.

The ride down to Marbella was good, but the road was very busy with Guardia Civil…. So we were on our best behaviour.

Colin had forgotten his original V5 for getting his bike into Morocco, but in this day and age that needn’t be a problem………. Hana greeted us on our arrival with a pressie for him

We admired our new tyres, whilst Neil re-hydrated himself in preparation for a few drinks later on.

Colin’s bike was sorted at the local dealership, under warranty…. Alonso, the mechanic is a cracking bloke, who just happens to work for Hana in the evenings.

So we watched whilst he changed 3 sets of tyres on our 1200’s. We had a great Italian meal and pondered over the map with no particular plan in mind.
Hana’s partner David was already in Morocco leading a tour and had passed on weather updates etc which we factored into our plans.

Wednesday at 9am Hana collected us from the hotel and took us to their premises….. new tyres….. knobblie things, none of us were used to ….
And yes, it was raining.

We took the coastal route, off the motorway to Tarrifa, trying to scrub the tyres in a bit, where we caught the fast ferry (45 mins) at 1pm.

We landed in Tangier, took a time check as we left the ferry to see how long it would take to clear the customs.
The place was “MENTAL.” Armed with the advice Hana had given us, we decided we could do everything without the aid of a fixer……
Everyone here claims to be official, but it’s hard enough to spot who is and who isn’t.

We did the Police checks upstairs before getting the customs cleared with the bikes.
36 minutes from riding off the ferry to riding out the gate…… not bad we thought for a bunch of amateurs.

We headed out into Tangier and arrived at a crazy, giant roundabout, with absolutely no apparent rule for joining or exiting…
Neil’s quote, was that if he had have been shown a video of the crazed motorists negotiating it a week ago, he would have cancelled the trip.
We soon learnt what our horn was for… and forced our way through.

The plan was to ride to Tetouan and follow the coast to Oued Laou, then head inland to Chefchaouen.

Stage one was easy enough.. then came the coastal section.
It had been raining a lot that day and was still raining when we arrived. We had been told the road had suffered lots of landslides in the recent flooding, but were now clear.
Yes, they were mostly clear, but the rain had turned the road into about 26 miles of mud. In other circumstances, this would probably have been a beautiful road to ride.
Today, it was a nightmare.

I was amazed the all 3 of us made it through without a spill., but the bikes were now looking hardcore and number plates unreadable…. And we’d only been here a couple of hours.

The scariest bloke we’d ever seen, Rashiid, (recent scar the full width of his face, what teeth he still had were gold, mullet hairstyle and the darkest, evil eyes I care to remember) advised us not to go any further tonight as the road ahead was even worse…. Funny enough his brother owned a hotel where he could get us in.

I was going to put it to the vote with the guys, who were already on the bikes and turning to head up to Chefchaouen. Can’t say I disagreed with their decision.

The next section of road was not as bad as we had already ridden, although in some places the landslides were not even cleared.

One section of road was completely closed and an alternative by-pass was over a bit of un-paved piste. The Heidenau tyres really came into play then and were fantastic. We all felt like off-road Gods after that short, but very steep and slippy section.

We had decided not to ride at night and rode into Chefchaoen at dusk… (this would become a theme for the rest of the trip). It was dark by the time we found the Hotel Parador, which we were informed is the best hotel in town and better still, it had a bar.

For me it was a culture shock, not what I was expecting at all. We later learnt that some of the rooms were recently refurbished, but we got put up in the crappy end of the hotel…. Neil’s face says it all

Thursday we headed from Chefchaoen to Ifrane. We dropped down the main road to Bab-Taza, and onto the R419 to Ourtzarh.
We were told this was an all day ride, which indeed it was.

Maps can be deceptive and the road was much longer than we had anticipated. Much of the road had suffered the recent landslides, but thankfully today it was dry and sunny.

Some parts of the road had subsided

In other spots the road had just disappeared.

The riding was great, but then I started to notice that there was a person standing in every field, guarding crops or working the land.
Sheep were tended by shepherds and goats by their herders. Animals were not left alone, no matter how remote the area.
People didn’t seem to have jobs as such.... but they did have responsibility for watching over something or other.

It reminded us of Biblical times.
Women definitely seemed to work harder on the land than men…. Evident by the giant loads they carried on their backs as they climbed steep hills.
On many occasions I considered taking a sneaky photo of their routine, but considered it intrusive and disrespectful.

This place was starting to get to me and I was appreciating and missing my wife and kids.

I was beginning to doubt our map reading and navigational skills, when we hit the main road just outside Fes as I thought.
A brand new sign showed Meknes 66km left and Fes 75km to the right.
We discussed if the sign was wrong, because by triangulating our position from these two measurements, we were in the ass-hole of no-where. We bit the bullet and rode towards Fes.
A few miles down the road and it suddenly became 6km to Fes. Looks like the sign writers got it wrong.

Then we arrived in Fes around rush hour. We had stopped seconds when a fixer appeared, offering accommodation.
We opted for him to guide us to the Ifrane Road, to save us getting it wrong. His moped was no match for a GS in first gear, so he grabbed Colin’s pannier and got a tow round town, pointing us in the right direction.
We gave him 20 dirham and a couple of cigarettes, which he was happy with, but he saved us the trouble of getting lost at the wrong time of day.

We rode on to Ifrane, and I started to notice temps dropping as we headed up to the plush ski resort.
We again arrived at dusk and booked into the Gran Hotel after dark…
4 stars and more importantly, it had a bar.

Dinner was in Beethoven’s… an upmarket diner with no bar.... to Neil’s disappointment.
Colin opted for steak and chips whilst Neil and I got the mixed grill.

3 steak and chips appeared, but we were too tired and hungry to complain or wait for another order.
The food was good though.

Ifrane is unlike anything we had seen elsewhere in Morocco. We looked like the poor Europeans in comparison to some of the wealthy Moroccan and American students at the University I am told.

The snow had all gone, things were quiet when we were there, but we later learnt that things get busy at the weekends when the wealthy come up to play.

Friday, Ifrane to Erfoud.
We went for a walk after breakfast and they guys each got a haircut before hitting the road.

It didn’t feel like it, but we were heading quite high into the mountains.
I remember seeing 7200 feet on the sat-nav, before it packed in again.

We all spread out a little, with stopping to take pics and stuff.
I got a bit adventurous and headed up one of the mountain paths on loose gravel. Colin spied me from a distance and followed.

S’pose we should have told Neil, who doubled back looking for us and we ended up returning to the main road ahead of him.
I tried to race as hard as I could to catch him, but he was behind us all the time.

Near Timahdite, I saw a very strange looking tree and decided it would make a nice photo.
As I stopped and was getting my camera from the tank-bag, a pack of dogs appeared and decided to have a go at me.
I don’t mean in the angry "UK dog chases a person" sort of way.
This was hair standing up, frothing mouth "evil cartoon" sort of way.
I couldn’t help think the one with the frothing mouth was Rabid and therefore didn’t bother with the photo.
Had I have been on a mountain bike, there was enough eating in me for that pack of dogs for a whole month! Thankfully the GS started first time and I beat my retreat.

The 3 amigos met up again after Midelt, when I noticed the dress sense had changed in Morocco.
Men no longer wore the ‘wizard’ outfits of the north….. yes the heavy hessian cloth sacks with KKK style pointy hoods.
I’d now seen some men with the Touareg style headress.

After Ar-Rachidia the temperatures were on the up.
Skin colours changed and we started to see brown and black skin rather than just Arab.

The men were now wearing the typical lightweight African costumes and wizards were a thing of the past.

We rode on to Erfoud and into the sand…. Oh, even trying to turn the bike in the wrong place became a scary business.

Here the women here wore all black burkhas and covered their faces on our approach.
Same country, but things were a bit different here.

We opted for the Palms Hotel Club… it had a real pool and two great bars. Again it was dusk when we rode into town and dark by the time we found the hotel. I liked it here.

I made my first mistake with the money…. A large beer was 40 dirham and I got confused and handed over 400…. Thank goodness for an honest barman!

Saturday, packed and left at 8.30, heading for Erg Chebbi.
I stopped at the first petrol station and bought water, whilst the other 2 waited outside.
I rode out to find them speaking with some bloke who I had never met before, but recognized instantly

Tim Cullis offered to lead us to see the Erg … claiming to be able to get us to a better site than the usual tourist trap of Merzouga.

We rode through Rissani and then in the middle of no-where we turned left into the desert.
Apparently we rode 12kms before the soft sand took the three of us out…..

Yes I caught it on camera, but Tim’s photo was much better and he sums it up well here

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=224372

A local appeared from no-where on a moped, tried to help lift the bikes then laid out his wares for sale…..

We got our photo of the Erg, a BIG thank-you to Tim for his company and help.

Tim gave Neil’s sat nav the relevant update and route to Bikershome in Ouarzazate.
We said our goodbyes and hit the road ….. It was sandy in places

And we had to negotiate a bit of desert wildlife

We rode on and eventually had a whirlwind ride through Todra Gorge.

We rode into Ouarzazate at dusk and landed at Bikershome as it was just getting dark, not wanting to break the theme.

http://www.bikershome.net/

Peter and Zineb were fantastic hosts and shared a family style meal with us. They also run an honesty bar for guests.
The place is down a back street, but we were not disappointed with the friendliness, assistance and hospitality we were shown.

If I ever return to Morocco, I will definitely be returning to bikershome.

Sunday. Bikershome to Marrakesh.
Bikes were fettled, whilst Colin fettled his nails

We hit the road towards Marrakesh.
A short distance up the road we stopped for water, then turned right to follow the road to Ait-Benhaddou.

Colin and Neil reported back that the road was un-paved the rest of the way and not passable.

This is where my adventurous side kicked in and I decided to follow the track.
A couple of local kids stopped me and asked if I was going to Telouet…. They told me it was very dangerous and that I shouldn’t go.

For those that know me, this is the stage I would turn around, but not today. I decided to go it alone and try the pass on my fully laden 1200.

For about 20 or 25 miles I was on un-paved surface that got worse as I continued. Much of it was like this

I then encountered a road closed sign on a steep hill… too tight to turn.

I headed on through and ended up negotiating uphill hairpins through the dreaded sand….. prayer got me through, and it was as scary a ride as I had ever had.

I eventually reached a bit of a settlement and was greeted with this.

Some locals were rebuilding a retaining wall and re-instating the roadside… one of them was quite cocky and informed me they were the mountain Police.
I knew this was him building up to me paying money, which I was not intending to do.
A bit of banter and I think he took it thick, because he went back to his work and ignored me.

Thanks to Neil, who had left me a couple of Cigarettes in the last of a packet for bribes or gifts…… I produced a Marlboro pack and he suddenly became interested.

2 left, one for him and one for me I told him…..
He wanted both, but I held out and he got his mate to remove the blockage.

Funniest thing was when he asked me for a light for his one cigarette and I told him I didn’t have one because I don’t smoke!

I eventually made it to Telouet and then onto the Tizi-n-Tichka pass.

Colin & Neil were lunching at a new restaurant near the top, so I decided to carry on and enjoy the bends.
I stopped near the bottom for lunch alone and as I was finishing they guys appeared…….

Colin had picked up a hitch hiker…. No helmet and the kid had the biggest grin on his face.

We rode on to Marrakech. Stopped on the outskirts and as we were looking at a map, noticed a tattooed couple, who were obviously holidaying Brits.

They informed us they were staying in the 5 Star All Inclusive Riu Hotel resort next door……

In true adventure traveller style we headed in…. haggled a bit and got 3 large rooms, all-inclusive for a little over £80 each…….

Colin hit the pool and Neil and I headed straight for the bar and had 6 or so beers….

Still fully kitted up in the bike gear. It was hilarious…. Everyone else was on a package holiday and the three amigos ran into town….
We got some very strange looks and everyone wanted to talk to us!

Monday, the day we intended to return home. I didn’t sleep much at all….

Colin headed into Marrakech and explored a little and Neil just kept working off the wrong time zone, thanks to iPhones updating to UK time.
When we arrived in Morocco, it was on UK time.
Over the weekend the UK had reverted to Summertime, but Morocco didn’t….
Now there was a 2 hour difference to Spain. Neil got lots of extra sleeps that morning and eventually made it to the car park.

I lugged my gear across the pool area in soaring temps, whilst Neil phoned for the golf buggy to collect him and Colin.

As it arrived he told Colin to limp as it was only available for people with a disability or injury……

We made our way to the motorway and first toll road of the day.
We stopped after paying, just to consult a map and were joined by a couple on a 1200 GSA….

This happened to be Dazz, who we had never met before, but he had been due to do the Calum’s Road trip in January, like us and swapped it for a spring trip in March/April. Small world….

His wife had joined him rather than let him ride it alone.
He had left Ireland at the same time as us and was also on a two week trip…. He could easily have done the whole thing with us and left the wife in the comfort of her own home!

The rest of the day was horrible….. Motorway to Casablanca, past Rabat.
We were running out of Dirhams and asked if Euro were accepted at the next lot of toll booths….. the nice lady lied to us……..

We almost caused an international incident when they refused to open the gates, but thankfully some kind local exchanged a ten Euro note for some Dirhams to get us through.

So we left the motorway, found an ATM and were back in business. We continued on to Tangier…… kicked and fought our way around Neil’s favourite roundabout and onto the fast ferry to Spain.

Hana had booked us into the Gran Hotel Benahavis, where we arrived in the early hours, thanks to the dreaded "sat-nav versus roadworks" conflict.

Tuesday. Marbella to the Caceres.
Apparently it was a very nice hotel…. I don’t remember, because after 5 hours sleep I had to leave my bike down to Marbella BMW where it got it’s 24000 mile service.
I didn’t want to chance riding 1500 miles home and having a warranty problem.

The guys stayed in bed then used the hotel facilities whilst I wandered about Porta Banus in my bike gear, waiting for the bike to be serviced.
(No, they never offered to come and bring me back to our posh hotel)

We hit the road about lunchtime and rode the famous Ronda Road….

Cracking ride and even met Dazz again on the other side.

In the Ronda valley we were greeted with a spectacle like something from a wildlife program.
100 birds of prey that were giant, almost like turkeys, with eagles heads.
A local informed me they were vulchers.

Ronda is the most common place in Europe to see them apparently.
We counted 100 in a field and overhead and they were in a frenzy.
They had found a dead goat and were doing what they do to it.

Then one of the larger birds decided to fight for supremacy and showed the others who was daddy.

We rode on via Seville to Caceres and booked into a rather average golf hotel….
Dinner was ok and the surroundings a bit drab, but acceptable.
The place was packed that night though, because today was the start of Santa Semana… or Holy Week.
This is a big holiday in Spain and everyone seems to be travelling to go on holidays or visit family.

Wednesday. Caceres to Potes.
We headed on to the Picos. The weather turned very windy and wet. As we headed over the mountains, my pinlock gave up so I removed it….

By the time we hit the snow I was riding with the visor up….. oh how I wished I’d brought my new heated vest.

Neil and I booked into an old haunt of his in Potes and Colin had already set up in a different hotel.
Dinner was great and we enjoyed our last night together over a glass of wine or two.

Thursday was Neil’s return day, from Santander, whilst we were sailing from Roscoff on Friday.

We split up and headed North.
Colin and I planned to meet in La Rochelle.
I knocked out as much of France as I could that day. The prices of fuel were criminal and the tolls not far behind….
The tolls seemed to be every couple of miles. I reckon it cost me over £100 for a day’s riding.

Colin never made it to La Rochelle, so I picked a 3 star hotel right at the harbour. It was a very chic town and the restaurants were great.

Friday. Sat nav now working again I told it to avoid toll roads…
I did 2 hours on minor roads, but it was raining heavy and blowing a gale.

Then it was an hour’s motorway and an hour’s minor roads, just to break the monotony.

I ended up in Roscoff nice and early and was surprised that the ferry would not be delayed or cancelled…. It really was that windy.

So I went and bought a few pressies for the kids and found out that Roscoff did in fact have a troubled past

I met Colin later and we had a lovely meal and rode over to the ferry.

As we left Roscoff, I was glad to be going home, in fact after the ride through France, I was wishing I had have got the Santander Ferry with Neil, to get home a day earlier..

We hit the open sea and the boat began rolling.
It was so bad I stayed in my bunk all night and ignored the bar and entertainment upstairs. My cabin was right at the very front of the ship….. the pointy end ...... and correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that the end that bobs about most on a rough crossing?

I didn’t sleep at all from memory, I was afraid of falling out of bed.

Easter Saturday. Ferry docked around 10am in Cork

I stopped for fuel a short distance from the terminal…..
Thankfully I still had some cash on me, as someone had tried to steal the ATM during the night.
Welcome home to Ireland!

The next 300 miles I knocked out in 4 hours….
I had really enjoyed the trip….. I felt humbled by the lifestyles of many of the people I had seen and met, but I really was glad to be home with my wife, 6 year old son and 3 year old daughter.

The first thing she told me was “Daddy I missed you. Don’t go away on your motorbike again”

Racey · Apr 8, 2010

Great write up... Bravo for attempting sand on a laden GSA...

Glad you had a good time - thanks so much for sharing... :thumb2

yicker · Apr 8, 2010

good rr , true adventure welldone boys

DrFarkoff · Apr 8, 2010

Nice One Steve!

Good Report

Humour and scenery

Well balanced

davidgibson999 · Apr 8, 2010

good man.
great report - looks like you'd fun!
makes me want to go back :bounce1

bogman · Apr 8, 2010

Enjoyed reading that, thanks for sharing, great trip

freeloader · Apr 8, 2010

That kept me reading...

...still hoping to do something like that this year!

earthmover · Apr 8, 2010

Nice one!

Running out of dirham at the last toll seems to be popular. :augie

Mark

(RIP) petcul · Apr 8, 2010

Enjoyed the report and well done with the offroading and sand

Ash · Apr 8, 2010

great write up and piccies

Deleted account 211025001 · Apr 8, 2010

That 'muddy' track you ended up riding on your own looked like fun for an 'off road on a fully laden GS virgin'

- good on yer, that's the spirit :clap

Looks like you had top fun, this is the start of the wonderlust, you'll be back.........................

Andres

Oberon · Apr 8, 2010

Ash said:
great write up and piccies

+1

John

Loudpedal · Apr 8, 2010

Great report & pics
Well done.

Loudpedal

Aidan1150 · Apr 8, 2010

Nice one Steve, I enjoyed reading that. Thanks for posting. :clap

Now, about those Heidenaus. I have been reading up on them of late. What do you reckon? From your report, they did the job well off-road, but what are they like on the tarmac, as stable as the Tourances?

kayaker · Apr 8, 2010

top notch great pics :clap

shuck raider · Apr 8, 2010

Cracker, Steve :thumb2

Just think, exactly a year ago you couldn't even hold the bars of the bike at Kesh :augie

ChubbyThumper · Apr 9, 2010

Enjoyed that, well done

Toad · Apr 9, 2010

Nice one - must try that myself.....

Mike O'Fische · Apr 13, 2010

Looks like a great trip - well done and great reading

Betty Swollocks · Apr 17, 2010

A few more pics!

Folks, thanks for your kind comments, glad you enjoyed the report.

MasterBaker passed me a few of his images from the trip...... he was using the same camera as me, but it's funny how a different photographer captures a different type of image.................

Getting offroad and dusty in Spain..... the moment I killed my Garmin Zumo