Liberia to France by motorbike via the coast

[ddziewan]

Hi all,

I am planning on making a motorbike trip, with a friend of mine, from Monrovia, Liberia to Europe (probably to Paris, France). The plan is ride along the coast, through: Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Gambia, Senegal, Mauritania, Morocco, Spain, and France. The trip would happen August 2011, so we’re in the very preliminary stages of planning right now – i.e., totally uninformed banter over s, of how glorious this trip would be. To start off with, I have a few questions:

1) Do you see any problems with our route? In particular, I know very little about Mauritanian and Western Sahara. How safe is it to ride through these countries.

2) Any estimates re: how long the trip would take? We are thinking of doing it in about a month to 1.5 months, trying to balance, as much as possible, riding and enjoying the places we are riding through.

3) We’d be riding through rainy season. We’re both constrained by professional commitments, and this can’t be helped. Is this trip doable in rainy season?

4) Will we have problems getting our bikes into Europe from Africa? Both will be purchased in Liberia, were we live.

5) Please feel free to raise any other important points of interest that you think I’ve missed.

Well, that’s it, for starters. No doubt there will be plenty of questions to come. Many thanks in advance.

D.

[CaBRita]

I rode in a group of 11 bikes from Portugal to Guiné-Bissau, 5th to 16th February, so a good part of the journey is the same as your plan.


1) Do you see any problems with our route? In particular, I know very little about Mauritanian and Western Sahara. How safe is it to ride through these countries.

Western Sahara - No problem at all. Have some 25 fiches to deliver in the police controls and speed the process. The policemen are communicating with each other and knew how many we were and to where we were heading. Very safe but beware of fuel autonomy as not all fuel stations have fuel, or electricity or indeed someone there.

Mauritania - Cannot guarantee on the safety side. Don't recall seeing any tourist beside us during our two days there. We just rode through Mauri, one night in NDB, one night in NKC. We rode as a group within the sight of each other, in the rest of the trip it was free schedule, so to say.

2) Any estimates re: how long the trip would take? We are thinking of doing it in about a month to 1.5 months, trying to balance, as much as possible, riding and enjoying the places we are riding through.

It took us 14 days for the 5'500km from Lisbon to Bissau. Only two days rest - Saint Louis and Cap Skiring.


3) We’d be riding through rainy season. We’re both constrained by professional commitments, and this can’t be helped. Is this trip doable in rainy season?

No ideia, but I heard it can be tough. And hot. Maybe someone else can comment on this.


4) Will we have problems getting our bikes into Europe from Africa? Both will be purchased in Liberia, were we live.

No ideia, we made the trip the other way - North South.


5) Please feel free to raise any other important points of interest that you think I’ve missed.

I have GPS track, waypoints, photos and a pdf report (in Portuguese). If you think that this can be handy send me a PM with you email.

BR,
Luis Cabrita