recommendations for 40th Birthday !

[simong]

It's sad.... but next year I am 40 years old and to celebrate I want to take a motorbike to the desert ! So i've planned 7 weeks leave from work from November 2004. I've travelled a lot, done 18 months of various European trips on a Tenere, learnt to ride it off road in the mountains of the Pyrenees.... so I'm ready.

What I want is a wilderness desert experience that is remote(ish) plenty of off-road but not too scary (I donlt want to feel like I'm going to be kidknapped every day...). Ideally I want to ride from Europe and then fly me and the bike back to London at the edn of the trip... As I'm 40 I'm not skint, but I'm not rolling in it either !

Where should I go and what should I do ?

cheers'

Simon

[Robbert]

There're some options.
1. Marokko and Mauritanië (Atar)
2. Aleria. But you should follow-up on the situation closely, and be prepared to change plans when it's not according your liking.
3. Libia

[rocket ron]

Have you considered Baja California? Cheap and safe. I can help you with it.

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Rocket

[ctc]

I would recommend an extended tour of Morocco. Seven weeks gives you plenty of time for a leisurely ride off the motorway through the roads of France, Spain and Portugal before taking the ferry across to Ceuta.

Huge variety in Morocco (scenery / culture)with various pistes / trails providing varying degrees of difficulty. Seven weeks will enable you to see the best of it (mountains, gorges, desert, palmeries, antiquities, medieval cities etc)without having to clock watch.

Its also very accessible with minimal documentation requirments and its got a lot to offer from challenging pistes to decent roads. Accomodation on offer is also superb from bush camping to five star luxury in old estates / palaces in breathtaking settings.

If you have not done so already I'd read CS's book. Rough guide (or equivalent) will provide you with the rest. 7 weeks lucky man!

[simong]

Hi,
thanks for your replies team.... I've done a little bit in Morocco before in an old Landrover but never been down to Mauritania. Do you reckon seven weeks would be enough time to getg across Morocco and the around Mauritania and say riding on to Dakar and shipping / flying abck frm there ? Is the Atar in Mauri good ?

Baja California is Mexico isn't it ? That sounds like a good bet too. Is really expensive to ship a bike out there from Europe ? What kind of riding is there there ?

thanks for your help everybody,

Simon

[dwair]

7 weeks – following on from Robert’s suggestion, how about what I consider to be the best bits of both of Morocco and Mauritania? If you got your Mauritanian visa in London you could get the Almeria or Malaga ferry (would need to check its still running) to Melilla/Nador in Morocco then drive south to Errachidia and then Erfoud. Follow the routes described in Chris Scots book East to the coast and then drive down to Mauritania through Western Sahara. Get the train from Nouadhibou to Choum (I wouldn’t recommend the piste on a bike on your own) and then Attar and Chinguetti ect before driving to Nouakchott and reversing the Atlantic route back to Morocco or if you can get the bike into Senegal now and fly/ship the bike home from Dakar. In my opinion Morocco and Mauritania are safe and very friendly and the only boring bit of the ride would be Europe and a couple of days down through Western Sahara.

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http://www.saharanexploration.co.uk

[rocket ron]

Simong,

I have never looked into the cost for shipping. Ensanada is the port you would want to ship to in Baja. (Yes, Baja is part of Mexico.) You could also ship t L.A or Long beach. It is only about a 2 hour ride to the border. San Diego is another port. It is 20 munuts from the border. If you wanted t cross into Tijuna.You may want to cross at Tecate depending on your route or if you fly to the us. Tijuana has an international airport and can be alot cheaper to fly into!

The riding in Baja can be as technical as you want it to be off road. Most of the roads in Baja are dirt roads There is one paved highway to the end of the peninsula you will cross it several time on the way down. It is possible to make it to Cabo San Lucas with out ever using the tarmac if you don't mind using one of the Baja 1000 courses.

The Scenery can be some of the most spectacular anywhere! The geography is is always changing from costal desert to rugged a landscape. Lava formatons, the ground is constantly changing colors. You can even find indian paintings on the rocks if you know where to look.

Somthing for you to think about. If you want to contact me for more info you can e-mail me.

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Rocket

[ctc]

Another idea. if you are feeling more adventurous, is to ship your bike to West africa and either accompany it or fly out and join it. Having cleared customs you will then have dealt with potentially the most difficult bureaucratic piece of your trip, which if you ended up in West Africa may tarnish the end of your trip were you to confront this with time running out on you.

You can then go choose you're way North -personally I rate Mali highly and Mauritania is fantastic especially round Atar.

The difficulty you face for your trip North (as already mentioned by others) is lack of support. It would really be a lot easier if you teamed up with some others.

[This message has been edited by ctc (edited 09 September 2003).]

[simong]

Dwair and co,
this is great. What a lot of advice !

Is it a problem getting in to Senegal from Mauritania then ? I guess riding back north is an option but I knid of fancied really taking my time heading south and then just zipping home by plane.... but I could ride back.

As for support, yes I think I will try and find others to ride with. What I want to do is planned an itinerary and try to get some others (from the HUBB I guess) to come along too....

Baja sounds good though. I hadn;t thought of a place like that but I just got a quote of $4500 to fly my bike to LA. Not sure what i think about that. Sounds like a lot ! BUT I don't really know about Baja so I'[m going to go and look it up on a map NOW !

cheers guys,

Simon

[IanC]

I shall be going round the States sooner or later, and thought about shipping my bike, but when you look at the cost of shipping, would you lose as much if you bought a s/h bike over there and sold it when you've finished? Might be a bit of hassle, but then shipping must be as well. Plus of course there's no wear and tear on your own.

Having said that, I'm sure there's everything you could wish for in Morocco and further south. And it is _almost_ on our doorstep!

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ichapp.users.btopenworld.com

[simong]

Yes, I thought about that too. For $4500 it must be possible to buy or rent a bike. But could you rent the kind of machine you'd need to somewhere ilke Baja California which looks pretty wild really (now I even know where it is !).

I guess it would be more practical to ship the bike if one was going for a six month trip or something though. I've got about 7 weeks. Maybe I could do Baja and something else in seven weeks ?

Simon

[rocket ron]

You might try shipping to Tiajuna or Ensanada and flying into Tiajuna. Many times it is cheaper to fly from Tiajuna then San Diego or LA. If want to look int buying a bike in the us you might try cycle trader.com

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Rocket

[Jose Brito]

Hi Simong,

I'm going to Mauritania in November for a 30 day trip with 2 4WD cars.

Maybe we can be of some assistance.

E-mail me directly (see profile).

Cheers,
José

[simong]

Hi Jose,
thanks for your posting on the HUBB.... are you planning on going to Mauri this November 2003 ? I'm planning trip way way way in advance fro Octoebr 2004 (mad but true..).... if that's what you;re doing to it would great to plan together.... Let me know.

If you're going in November 2003 though I'd love to hear how you get on and what you found , what routes you did etc.

cheers,

Simon

[Jose Brito]

Yeap, its November 2003.
I'll drop a line after returning.

Cheers,
José