Some preliminary notes. Roads are mostly dark yellow in colour, pistes are normally cyan.

To locate these routes on the map, activate the 'tracks' tab in Mapsource and double click on the route name to open the route up, then click on 'show on map'.

A1 motorway. I've included the new section of the A1 motorway (coloured dark blue) linking Tanger to Ksar Seghir. This then joins up with a four-lane highway to Fnediq/Ceuta. So it's an easy way to link the two main entry ports into Morocco.

R410. This is a pretty route through a mix of scenery. The western end of this road follows the northern bank of the Oued Loukos that was once the border between Spanish Morocco and French Morocco. The eastern end steadily climbs towards the Rif near Chefchaouen.

R419. The R419 is a great alternative to the N13 main road heading south. Beni Ahmed is a friendly little town and there are two petrol stations on the route. The area south of the reservoir is scenic with many choices of minor roads leading to Fes.

UPDATED 17Mar09 - P4103. Another great alternative to the N13. The Michelin map shows this as a difficult or dangerous section of road, but it was resurfaced a couple of years ago. Ride through Mokrisset to Zouni, continue on through Teroual, then take the R408/R501 into Fes. Whilst the R419 is a good route heading south, the P4103 can be a great farewell route on the way back north rather than sticking to the N roads.

R504. Leaving Fes towards Sefrou, take the R504 to the Gorge of El Menzel. Continue on the R504 with its stunning views as far as the R507 which is coming in from the north east. (The final couple of miles on the R504 is an easy track.)

P5109. Heading north from Ifkern, when I travelled the route in May08 it turned into a track (marked cyan) but this was being surfaced and is likely to be a good riding route now. You could link this through Tazouta, then take the P5106 piste all the way through to Immouzer du Khandar.

Forest of Maamora. From Kenitra on the coast, take the N4 to Sidi-Yahya-du-Rharb where you turn south on a narrow road that you are sure will be a mistake. But carry on as the R411 turns east through the forest as far as the R409. Turn south here to Khemisset at which point you could either head south west into the Jbel Mouchchene mountains on the R404, or take the R402 to El Hajeb and on to Azrou.

P7307. This part of the Middle Atlas is a limestone scenery with Cedar, Holm Oak and Cork Oak forests. Turn off the N8 between Azrou and Khénifra at Mrirt heading east towards Sources Oued Oum Er Rbia. It's great scenery though the road surface sometimes isn't brilliant. The Sources (springs) are the start of the Oum Er Rbia river and it's worthwhile parking up and walking to the springs. From there you can head north towards Lac Ouiouane and then on to Ain Leuh and Azrou.

UPDATED 17Mar09 - Middle Atlas pistes. Three routes are included in this file. The green route heading east out of Khénifra starts off as tarmac then becomes a lovely beaten earth road. Green is my colour code for absolute novice, and as long as it hasn't rained in a while you should be able to do this route on almost any bike. The other two cyan routes don't require any technical offroad skills though you may wonder in a couple of places.

Tim

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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)

Great job, Tim! I am sure thousands of people will find it extremely helpful.

I've got the Olaf map and have been using it a lot on my last trip in Feb, and was wondering why some roads including the new A1 were not there. In fact I got off A1 on the way up to Ceuta, somewhere near El Arba I suppose, to continue to Tetouan by N2 and then on to Ceuta by motorway (also new, but I knew about that one) as I wasn't sure where I would end up if I stayed on A1. If only I had your track.

Btw, the .gpx file imports into the basic free version of Google Earth now - handy for those who don't have Garmin-and-PC-friendly software.

Peter

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https://famous-walker.dreamwidth.org - in Russian but with lots of photos

Hi Tim

Thanks a lot, you rode a lot in the northern

I've opened wiht TTQV, unfortunately all tracks are blue. it doesn't matter, I don't know when I could get back in Morocco.

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Eric
http://two400xrinmorocco.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CJbEWCb_wk

Does this mean that the cyan routes are only for offroad bikes? We're planning a trip with 7 bikes. Some are BMW GS, but I'm on a 'riding couch'...a BMW RT. I guess we can take the occasional dirt road, but would the cyan route be feasable on those bikes?

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Short Way Down 2009