We've choosen the fast ferry from Tarifa to Tangier City against all odds. Apparently the Customs in the Tangier City port would try to extort some money on the arrival and we were told that the procedure would take anything from 2 to 4 hours, deppending on the "bakschich" given.
Strong winds let the waves rise up to 2 Metres in the Street of Gibraltar and, both of us, didn't like the idea much of travelling 3 hours on a slow boat to morocco considering the weather conditions.
Great surprise, Tangier port is a clean place and the procedures are very straight forward! No payments whatsoever and 30 minutes later we're able to ride through the Customs gate. Very easy border crossing in fact!

Jane with our hosts at the Aicha Hotel in the Todra Gorge

our first steps in morocco leading us to the market

Asilah

As there is no visa for Mauretania at the border, we need to ride to the Capital Rabat first. It only takes 1 day to obtain the visa at the Mauretanian Embassy. The stupid thing is that the validity of the visa begins with the application date. That gives us no option but to get a 50 Euro 2 Months visa to be able to travel through Morocco without a rush.

yummy snails at the market in Rabat

even better: mutton heads...

in the mighty Sahara

Dades Gorge at its best!

its really hard to concentrate on the riding with THIS views over the High Atlas mountains

Marrakesh and its Jemna el Fna is becoming quite a tourist trap for us... wherever you look, only aggressive and unfriendly locals... what a pitty

Leaving Morocco isn't pleasant and very time consuming. Even we were able to move to the first car in the long cue, still it took us 3 hours to clear the Customs and stamp our passports on the Moroccan side.
Then comes the nomansland. Well, having the coordinates of the Mauretanian Immigration, I felt safe enough to find my way through the 5km dirt. Instead of following the track to the East, I decided to take the direct route to the waypoint... and got stuck in deep sand not very much later. Luckily we could make it to the Mauretanian side without any help!!!! yuhuhhuuuu!!!