Eastern coast road

[Gregorius]

Hi all... just a quickie, has anyone any info on the eastern coast road from Tetouan to El Jabha (the N16?) to cross the N2 then south to Taza ?

Cheers

Greg

[Gregorius]

Surely someone must have done it...?




It's the road or track that hugs the coast between Tetouan and El Jabha..

Cheers!

Greg

[mikerixom]

Hi

It's a lovely route I did it a few months ago in my Land Rover. It's not for the faint hearted as you get pestered to death by drug sellers but it's worth the hassle as the scenery is stunning and traffic light and safe enough as long as you stand up to the locals. Mind you I did have my dog with me as I always do.............

Mike in Sunny Spain

[Gregorius]

Hoorahh!!

Thanks for the reply Mike - I was beginning to wonder if I'd used the special forces 'invisible' font for a second there..

I'd heard words such as 'lawless' and 'dangerous' used in other reports, but first hand reports are worth a bit more than heresay!

Thanks again -

Greg

[dommiek]

Hi Greg
I rode this road in December 2005, I didn't experience any problems but it is quite a slow route; the scenery is not up to much but if you're not in a hurry.....enjoy

Kev

[Edith Kohlbach]

I did this road several times. There is no drug trafic on this road, just near Ketama on the N2. I found the scenery very nice. One side the high mountain full of flowers in april, the other side the dark blue ocean. It was wonderful and quiet, no tourists there.

[TonyTea]

Hi

The Eastern Coast Rd is great - green hills to the sea, little villages & river beds up between the mountain spurs to park up in overnight.
BUT - if you drive through the Rif to get there it's incredible how much hassle you get - every single male is convinced that you have driven there just to buy hash from them! We had cars swerve in front of us trying to get us to stop so the driver could sell us hash, people waving madly as they overtake on blind corners on the mountain roads - I thought that sort of thing stopped in the 1970s... Happily we were in our Landy and we just didn't show any signs of stopping - the ones who pulled over in front got out of the way when they saw 3 tonnes of loaded car coming at them!

There are police checkpoints all the way, but they just waved us through, and after Ketama it got easier. (Ketama is, by the way, a town which looks just like a heavy smoker's bedsit, but expanded into an entire town - the place really could feature as an anti-drugs poster! I'm as happy to share a spliff as anyone, but this place really is depressing...

However, get past that and onto the mountains leading down to the coast and it's great. The coast road is a really good winding sealed route with great views, and the people on the coast are friendly and unused to tourists (see above for the explanation why most folk don't make it out there!)

Interestingly Lonely Planet says of Ketama "nowadays the dealers are more low-key" - don't know what they must have been like before!

It's probably a good idea to try to look a bit respectable up there, in an obviously tourist Landy we were waved through without stopping at the checkpoints, but on an overloaded bike towards the end of a month on the piste it might have led to lots of unpacking luggage...

Tony

[Gregorius]

Thanks Tony - great information...

Greg