Morocco for Christmas??

[wheatwhacker]

Crazy or not.
With no real desire to spend Christmas in Ireland and work being seasonally quiet, it’s the perfect time for me to take an extended holiday, not a rushed 2 week one.
Plan is cork to Spain ferry and battle the elements for two days till I get far enough south.
I’m hoping that when I land on African soil, things may warm up.
I’m ready for short and rainy days, all I worry about is temps staying up enough to enjoy riding.
Any experience??

[IanC]

Did it a few years ago from Portsmouth, left on Boxing Day.

Great trip, but a couple of torrential days coming back through Spain. Morocco great around middle of day, but I remember being very cold at night! Probably warmer than England or Ireland though :-D

[TheWarden]

Just turning my wheels north after 2.5 months out here. Last week around Guelmim/ TanTan it was around 28 degrees during the day.

Today near Safi it’s 25. Overnight temps around 12. Temps are still reasonable inland but dropping down to 5 or so overnight. Obviously cooler in the mountains.

Last December was much cooler with highs around 20 but down to 0 overnight.

Still better than the UK


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Tim Cullis]

Did it several years running when the Dakar Rally was still in Africa. Spain is always a problem as you are at altitude for so long and it is f-f-f-freezing. Check out the overnight temperature at Valladolid, see https://weather.com/en-GB/weather/te...cb227a66bbc471

As you can see they are already showing below zero and this is the temperature that you will be starting at in the next morning. On one trip seven guys were riding through Spain, six of us had electrically heated Gerbing jackets. The seventh guy messaged his wife and had her get a Gerbing jacket for him and send it to southern Spain for the ride back.

You'll need a really big waterproof jacket to go over the top of everything when you have to wear six layers.

I always ride with handlebar muffs, then I only need lightweight gloves.

You'll need a buff, thermal underwear for day and night, silk sleeping bag liner.

Basic instructions: head south and keep going until the temperatures get better.

Good news is that Morocco stayed on summertime, so sunset is an hour later than previous years. Sunrise and sunset times for Marrakech: https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/morocco/marrakech

[IanC]

Originally Posted by Tim Cullis

Did it several years running when the Dakar Rally was still in Africa. Spain is always a problem as you are at altitude for so long and it is f-f-f-freezing. Check out the overnight temperature at Valladolid, see https://weather.com/en-GB/weather/te...cb227a66bbc471

As you can see they are already showing below zero and this is the temperature that you will be starting at in the next morning. On one trip seven guys were riding through Spain, six of us had electrically heated Gerbing jackets. The seventh guy messaged his wife and had her get a Gerbing jacket for him and send it to southern Spain for the ride back.

You'll need a really big waterproof jacket to go over the top of everything when you have to wear six layers.

I always ride with handlebar muffs, then I only need lightweight gloves.

You'll need a buff, thermal underwear for day and night, silk sleeping bag liner.

Basic instructions: head south and keep going until the temperatures get better.

Good news is that Morocco stayed on summertime, so sunset is an hour later than previous years. Sunrise and sunset times for Marrakech: https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/morocco/marrakech

I've been to Prudhoe Bay, Inuvik, and Nordkapp - none in mid summer.

But the coldest I've ever been on a bike was in northern Spain in March 2010. Temperature dropped to 5.5ºC below and I was riding in jeans only, not carrying any warm gear as I was starting a trans-Africa trip. Couldn't even delay as I had to make the Oran ferry. Only thing I found to wrap my legs under my jeans was some of that 5mm polythene-like foam they wrap electronics etc in. Certainly helped, but I wasn't exactly hot!

[wheatwhacker]

Seems that Spain is the tricky one.
Portugal along the coast might be longer but better riding, i'm thinking.
i Just want to find a warm beach in southern morocco and veg for a month, or fly down and veg but no riding.
first world problems

[gord-el-tafrawti]

Originally Posted by IanC

Only thing I found to wrap my legs under my jeans was some of that 5mm polythene-like foam they wrap electronics etc in. Certainly helped, but I wasn't exactly hot!

i met a guy who swears by cling film/Saran wrap *over* summer clothing for occasional high altitude or bad weather days, though he warned about it melting on various hot parts and was very careful to say you shouldn't wrap it too tight.
Technique he showed me (in the pub) was to sit on a chair then wrap thighs first, then very loosely over the knees, down to the ankles, tighter down there.
Then a run of sellotape up the front, over the sitting knee, up to mid-thigh, then another run either side of your shinbone.

He was adamant he wasn't taking the p1ss and claims that you can get both clingfilm and sellotape in most small towns as long as you ask around. Post offices or business offices can help you find sellotape, cafe's can help you find clingfilm (even if they don't use it themselves). He suggested carrying a picture of each on your phone to help language problems - fair enough.

I wasn't convinced he was sane until he produced a grainy pic on his fone at the top of Tizi-n-Tichka in an icy snowstorm next to a snowplow truck in the early 2000s. I was suitably impressed, recognizing exactly where he was.

Not being a biker myself* I'm unsure how practical, if at all, this clingfilm malarky would be, though in an emergency you'll try anything I guess.

This conversation then prompted one of his mates to say that he'd seen some locals riding with "cowboy chaps" made from heavy plastic bags and handstitched (knicker-) elastic bands in the Andes, to protect the front of the legs on the high passes. This sounded more sane than the clingfilm and a lot trendier.

* dedicated pister in Moroccan hire cars - Duster 2WD all the way nowadays

[Tim Cullis]

Bubblewrap might be better than clingfilm?

A less chilly though much longer route through Spain would be to head south east down the Ebro Valley to the coast then follow the coast to Almeria and cross to Melilla, see map at Wild Nature of the Cantabrian Mountains (Spain): Geographic Location

In our cave in the Spanish mountains it is currently 8ºC in the middle of the day, minus 4ºC overnight. On the coast it's 17ºC day, 7ºC overnight.

You could also take a ferry from Barcelona to Tanger Med.

[uknomad]

Thanks for the link Tim, love the Spanish mountain ranges, always varied and different. Most people have heard of the picos, but the whole Cantabrian range is a trip in itself, which I still mean to do.