Morocco to Dakar, Travel Time?
 

I am looking into a trip from Paris to Dakar in early spring '11. I am figuring that ten days is a good amount of time to get from Paris to Gibraltar, and that is my kind of riding/site seeing pace. I know I could spend weeks in Morocco enjoying the sights, but I have no idea what roads and travel times would be like getting through Western Sahara, Mauritania, and then Senegal. I would probably stick to the coast and plan to move right along. Is two weeks enough time to make the Africa section of the trip? I want to see a few sights and not get burned out by riding, but at the same rate I am not sure how much time I can take. I think 3-4 weeks total.

Thoughts and inputs are welcome.

Cheers
BFM

You obviously like to bumble along, stopping and seeing things. There's lots to see in Morocco, but once you get below Tan Tan there's not a lot going on. Reckon on 8 days once you get to Tan Tan, maybe a couple more with your pace, so yes, 14 days is OK.

Roads in Morocco are brilliant, Western Sahara you are limited to the main tarmac coast road. Mauri has a new tarmac road from WS border to the Senegal River. The only major piste is the 60km to Diamma (to avoid the Rosso river crossing). Many of Senegal's smaller roads/streets are sand but main roads are tarmac.

Trip report from a couple of years ago: There and Back Again

Well yes and no. I am planning the trip with my brother and his wife, so for the Paris to Gibraltar part we are planing a few days in paris and a few more days in Spain just doing Tourist stuff. The Europe leg will be longer than it has to be just for that reason. I believe we are going to send his wife home in Spain and it will be just me and my brother in Africa. So, we will probably pick up the pace of riding. Of course we will still want to stop and see things, but that section will be more about riding and less about stopping ;-}

Thanks for the post though, you answered my question. Having never been to that region before I just wanted to make sure that we would have extra time if we needed it. I don't want to feel too rushed and I don't want to stuck truly unable to make a flight out of Dakar.

Cheers
BFM