Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB - First Moroccan tour, 10 day route suggestions

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First Moroccan tour, 10 day route suggestions

Hi all, just looking for suggested routes for a 10 day tour of Morocco, we would like to take in some mountain passes, novice off road for a 1200gs & any advice whatsoever, esp maps - look forward to being inspired, already very excited!:D

When are you thinking of going?

Hi Tim, many thanks for taking the time to help, we will be crossing into Morocco on the 9th of May or thereabouts.

My suggestion:
head from the port to chefchaouen, stay a night and proceed to the south, visit Merzouga, see the Dades Valley, go up north and take a look to the atlas.
The coastal road up north on the atlantic ist not very interesting, better go via the Atlas.
Have fun.
I´ll arrive on 16th May and be in Chefchaouen for a day or two, then head for the south.
Cheers !

With ten days you can cover quite a big area but it depends how hot you find it and just how many hours each day you want to ride. This coming week Marrakech, Ouarzazate, Merzouga and Zagora are forecast to have highs of 37-39ºC in the shade, in the sun it will feel MUCH hotter. Fortunately the overnight lows are below 20ºC so you will get some respite.

So you should be prepared to have different plans according to the heat. It should always be cooler in the mountains or next to the coast. The north of the country is normally a bit cooler in hot weather.

When it's really hot you need to hit the road as close to dawn as possible and to stop around 2pm, preferably somewhere with a swimming pool. The hottest part of the day is 3pm to 6pm.

My suggestions would be
- get Reise Knowhow map
- don't wear black !!
- try to keep off the National (N) main roads, instead go for R and P routes
- don't be too ambitious with distances
- only enter cities like Fez and Marrakech if you are going to sightsee

Chefchaouen is a great suggestion, maybe two nights stop
Azrou is a wonderland with lakes, volcanos and wild monkeys in the vicinity
Middle Atlas (Azrou... Ain Leuh... Source Oum er Rbia... Khenifra) makes a great ride

Thanks for the advice! We'll keep in touch once there, deserves a beer.

Once again many thanks. Following your advice we'll play it by ear & find our feet before making any ridiculous itineraries. We have ridden in Indo China in similar temps but only wearing shorts etc -helmets optional, missing skin & broken ribs almost mandatory, looks like we need to buy new trousers in any colour other than black. (will our bums look big in these)

It's jackets with black shoulders/backs that get the heat. And when you stop and take off the jacket you need a lighter colour (than black) underneath. Even in the winter months a black t-shirt is uncomfortable in the sun.

This is something I wrote earlier,

Quote:

Too much heat is dangerous and ultimately can kill you. To underline this point, in June 2012 two Portuguese moto riders died near Merzouga whilst ‘playing in the sand’ in a temperature of over 40ºC. Their friend noticed there was something seriously wrong, went to get help and whilst he was away the two brothers died, probably of heat exhaustion. This level of heat was not unusual in mid summer and one month later Marrakech gained a new official maximum temperature record of 49.6ºC. With that in mind, this is my simple guide to temperatures in 4ºC steps:

20ºC with the hot Moroccan sun this is equivalent to an English summer day of 25ºC
24ºC an English heatwave
28ºC lovely—warm enough to ride in just a T-shirt, drink frequently
32ºC about as hot as I like it, take lots of water, sugar and salt
36ºC getting silly, especially mid summer, so head for a swimming pool
40ºC TURN BACK—head for either the coast or the mountains

Once it's over 40ºC you can no longer raise your visor to get air flow over the face as it's like facing a hair dryer, so you have to ride with the visor closed. These are shade temperatures and you have to understand that 36ºC in October isn't the same as 36ºC in July when the effect of the sun is far more severe.

All the temperatures quoted above are from reliable sources, don’t take any notice whatsoever of the temperature gauges outside banks which have their sensors in the sun and read anything up to 10-15ºC higher than the actual temperature.

Sobering thoughts! Good advice, thanks again.

Morocco in September

Hi Tim I was reading your post on the temperature and also entering Morocco. We are heading there in September for a couple of weeks. Can you please run through that process of going through there customs process and getting proper stamps on the ferry and at the port of entry again? Also who to talk to and not?

Thank You