How NOT to cross a side river



Those who know the Todra area will realise this video starts high up by the marabout of Sidi Mohamed T'massint (the tomb on the left across the river).

This is an object lesson in the dangers of over confidence. I had already crossed more than 50 fords that day, mostly fairly deep and fast running, so I was a bit gung-ho on this one. In retrospect I should have started more centrally and aimed diagonally to the right (and probably given it a bit more power as well).

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"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)

Least you got across and didn't go over the edge

Have you seen it as wet before in your travels to Morocco Tim?

I was caught in a flash flood when trekking with mules. Quick frightening, I was video filming the next valley saying on camera that I could hear a rumbling and that I thought it was a flash flood, then I heard my guide shout at me to run.

I kept the video running as the waters arrived. It was about 10-12 years ago now, so probably on Hi-8, might see if I can get it on to digital.

But generally, despite spending three years out of the last 40 in Morocco, I've always seemed to miss the excitement until now.

__________________
"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)

I rode up the gorge today to Tamtatouchte and its ok; some evidence of recent damage but open to all traffic

Tried to do MA8 today but the piste is closed past KM58 through to KM88 with damage, a group of guys were working on it but confirmed no way through. This will also apply to MA3 KM70 upto the mine piste on the plateau

MA2 has been graded certainly all the way from Tafroute to the junction with MA1 and probably on further, bit weird driving piste with road signs and a speed limit guess the tar in coming soon.

MA1 is ok the route gets a bit vague in places but I got through fine. Met a French couple heading south (I was heading north) who advised against going any further no piste they said and lots of gullies. Must have missed these I had no trouble except taking a wrong turn at KM61.5 and taking the mine piste down the next canyon (maybe that's why I didn't see the bad section the French had told me about) ended up rejoining at KM48.

There seems to be a lot of improvements to the pistes around Tafroute in general.

The piste to the old mine in Aouli has been severely damaged by the recent floods. Still passable by moto and 4x4 but another period of heavy rain may finish it off. As it's not a major route it's unlikely to be a priority for a proper repair.

Coming through TangerMed was much easier last week - didn't even have t
O get out of the car with passports and D16 processed at the same booth. Done and dusted in 15 mins from getting off the boat. Unfortunately folks on their first visit to Morocco had to wait for 90 minutes while the police in the passport composting booth had their lunch. Plus ca change plus c'est la meme chose...

Now in Zagora. 38C and sunny but could be cloudy, rainy, windy tomorrow.
Happy trails,

Peter

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Atlas Overland - Specialist adventure tour company providing off-road holidays for 4x4 enthusiasts in Europe and North Africa.
Tours to Morocco, Iceland, Arctic Circle, Portugal, Alps, Pyrenees, Eastern Europe, Corsica, and UK weekend tours.

Hi, I was wondering what the weather is like in general in October in the mountains. We are going to be there from Oct 17 to Oct 26, doing a round trip from Marrakech, roughly MA6, MA7, MS8, MS6, MS12, MH14 and MH12.

I am not sure what clothes to take. The options are offroad mesh trousers + body armour and cross shirt (plus rain jacket) or Klim Traverse suit (light offorad goretex suit) with body armour. Is the mesh/shirt/rain jacket combo going to be too cold for the mountains (we will go up to around 2000 m I think) or the suit too hot for the desert?

Weather is never particularly predictable. For the next few days Marrakech is forecast to be around 30ºC shade maximum coupled with hot direct sun. If you climb 1500m to 2000m you would normally expect the maximum shade temperature to drop to 22.5ºC.

But often with mountains comes cloud and lower temperatures. The answer is layers you can combine.

__________________
"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)

Some More Updates

MA6 Tried to pick up MA6 on Saturday from the south then up over onto the Issil Plain. There is now tarmac up to KM79 so from there into Tata, some of the old piste remains how much I cant be sure in was getting late, there was a thunder storm, a dust storm on the horizon and I needed a

More important is I got to within 9km of the summit to find I could get no further, if heading north it was the last river crossing before the ascent and the first if you're heading south. On my own I could find a way into the river but not out and the way in was not possible to get out of again. With more time/people scouting there may be a way though or it may be passable on a bike. With the rain we had overnight and during the day I didn't fancy get stuck in a river bed or trying to do the ascent in the wet. Approx position KM66.

MA8 again the rain seem to be causing so lasting trouble. I got to KM109 when two very jovial soldiers came tearing upto me in a landcruiser and advised the piste to Foum Zguid was not passable to water/damage in the river. Not entirely sure as we didn't have enough language in common.

And an update on the enticing looking piste from Tagounite that ties in with MS6 at KM50. Well another very nice soldier tried his best to get me permission from his CO to do the route but the request was declined. Theres another post at the other end so I guess the answer will be the same

PeerG

I've tried MA6 and M8 in the last few days and could not get through in a 4x4, more detail here

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...7-8#post482955

Ha well they are back to normal at tangier med , basically you now all wait around until someone comes to you , still gets you in the swing of things

Took me 30minutes from docking to driving out on the 5th

Lac Iriki was dry yesterday, still a bit of water in Lac Maider this morning. Best to take the perimeter route to the south rather than straight across.
OilLibya rally last week, some smaller rallies this week and next between Chegaga and Chebbi ergs.
Wind and rain have now abated.

Happy trails,

Peter

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Atlas Overland - Specialist adventure tour company providing off-road holidays for 4x4 enthusiasts in Europe and North Africa.
Tours to Morocco, Iceland, Arctic Circle, Portugal, Alps, Pyrenees, Eastern Europe, Corsica, and UK weekend tours.

Thanks for the updates. Looks like you're having a good old nose around.

Do you mean MA9 to FZ which was almost a road but often gets washed out? MA8 seems miles away. Or maybe you didn't mean FZ?

Ch

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Adventure Motorcycling Handbook 8 • Morocco Overland 3 • Overlanders Handbook 2 • Twit

Can someone let me know what the roads around zagora are like , will be coming across from ouzarette sometime next week