Mororcycle - First trip!: UK > France > Spain > Morocco > Portugal > UK
 

Hi everyone, this is my first post and would like to ask some questions that could help me on my first ever motorcyle adventure!

A bit about me: I'm 20, live in Cornwall, England. Had a bike for 3 years(ish) CG125 then an XL125 now an XR400. Been Chefing for a few years and am joining the Household Cavalry in February. Me and my friend plan to ride to Morocco and back in January, me on my XR400 and him on his XT350. I have been all over the world but always by plane or driving holidays with my father, and this will be my first trip without my dad (who has always payed and planned lol) Last time I was abroad was when I was 15 to the States. At 16 my father said I now need to pay for myself so England I have stayed since then!!! haha.

Our plan so far has been to ride to Portsmouth, get the ferry to St Malo, France. then ride down the East coast of Spain to Almeria where we will cross to Melilla explore Morocco, then head to Ceuta to cross to Algeciras. Source a new rear tyre then head up through Portugal cross back into France and then Ferry back! This is over about 4 weeks.

As far as luggage and packing, we have that sorted. There is plenty of information that we have found to cover that. Both bikes are mechanically sound and will have consumables replaced. We will fit Maxxis Desert IT PRO tyre for the rear, regular for front as they seem to last for ever (well, ages for a knobby) and we plan on a reasonable amount of dirt riding. We will be 90% camping and wild camping as much as we can to keep costs down, as well as cooking most of our meals on camp stoves. Both our bikes carry about 9 Liters of Petrol and we both have 4, 2 Liter mini jerry cans (fuel friends) giving us a range of about 200 miles.

My main concern at the moment is riding through France and crossing the mountains in January, is it best to stick to a coastal pass? Any tips or information would be great! I'm not to sure what to expect from the trip, but we both want to see some great sights, experience a different culture and gets some good off road riding in.

Hope anyone can give us some good information!

Edward. :scooter:

Hey Edward, welcome to the forum.

I don't know much about this area, but since no one else has chimed in, thought I'd at least try to help: I would plan on avoiding mountains in January, but if you get there and they are clear, go ahead and scoot on through. I guess you are talking about the Pyrenees? I would expect snow there in January but don't have first hand experience there, so hopefully someone else will respond.

A couple more things...I was in the smallish mountains outside of Marbella in southern spain in january a few years ago, and caught some snow; it wasn't enough to keep me from riding, but it was sticking to the road and I wouldn't have cared to have kept riding if it got much worse.

Also, it snows in the mountains in Morocco in the winter, so don't assume that you'll be snow free down there--there are stories of tourists freezing to death after getting stuck in the snow in the mountains, so keep your wits about you down there.

Have fun and safe travels!

Welcome to the forum Edward.

If you haven't already looked at it, check out the Morocco Knowledgebase put together by Tim Cullis
here> Morocco Knowledgebase

If camping in January be sure not to under estimate just how cold it can get overnight in places you might consider warm during the day. :freezing:

january
 

Hi i go sking in the Pyrenees in January, the roads are kept open very well and you should be ok. BUT you may be riding on a thin layer of snow if it has snowed that day. IF snow is forecast avoid the mountains as it can put a metre down in one hour and visibility can be virtually zero in blizzard conditions. Temperatures in good weather in the mountains are usualy around -5 to - 10deg c. during the day. Look out for frozen wet patches in the shaded areas and keep speeds low.

I have had to turn back because of 4-6 foot of snow on the road from Spain to France in May. The bigger roads are kept open more often than the smaller ones.

Thanks everybody for that good advice, I would have been easy for me to underestimate how cold it can get at night in Morocco, I knew it got cold but after hearing about people freezing now I really know to take it seriously.

Thanks all! More advice or any must see/good routes welcome! :mchappy:

Hey guys wanted to ask if you thought this was an ok toolkit? What you cant see is spare valve cores, tube repair stuff a bead buddy and some tape. Oh and copper wire for bodging stuff...

http://i.imgur.com/Fvs6JQy.jpg


We have also now booked ferries to santander instead of driving through France in the rain lol.

Pity I didn't see the thread earlier, you could have used my Club Voyage discount on Brittany Ferries...

Tools: don't rely on mending tubes on the side of the road, carry spare tubes and have the puncture properly vulcanised later. I would carry a tiny electric pump rather than the hand one.

Your trip is certainly doable, with some suggestions. I've toured in Morocco using an XR400R and it's a great bike so long as you have enough fuel range. Be aware that the main drawback of the bike is that it's close to impossible to kick start it if you drop it when the engine is hot which is why I eventually sold mine.

Almería is close to our base in the Spanish mountains so I've done the Almería to Melilla night time crossing several times. If you have a sleeping mat you can sleep on the floor in the ferry lounge. The border crossing from Melilla into Morocco is a real pain and for once I would advocate using a fixer to help you.

I have wild camped in Morocco in January but that wasn't planned—I didn't even have a tent or sleeping bag :(

Personally I wouldn't camp in January, it's an awful long time dark at that time of year. Even if using Moroccan hotels you would be well advised to pack a fleece-covered hot water bottle to help with the cold as cheaper hotels often aren't heated. The coldest I've experienced in Morocco in winter is -10ºC at Azrou (80km south of Fez).

Central Spain can also be bitterly cold in the winter with overnight temperatures below freezing and not warming up (on sunny days) until 11am or so. A good place to check for temperatures is Valladolid and you can see that even in early December it's only just above freezing overnight. January will be worse.

For central Spain and Morocco I would strongly suggest getting a Gerbing heated jacket and temperature controller, this will enable you to ride with just four layers rather than six or more (wicking long-sleeved T-shirt, then the heated jacket, then your motorbike jacket, then a very large wind/waterproof shell jacket to go over the top). Also wind/waterproof over trousers such as Weiss which are less than £15.

I also never ride in Spain/Morocco in winter without handlebar muffs then I can use lightweight gloves and still be warm.

So far my post has been all gloom and doom, but if the weather gods look favourably on you then you will have a great time. Read my (unfinished) report of a similar trip to yours last Jan/Feb.

Hi,

I'm sitting in Motril at the moment, waiting to get the ferry on Monday. I've just cycled down from Edinburgh. Southern France was freezing and I did have one day of snow (light, but snow all the same) in the Massif Central in late October.

Spain has been pretty warm during the day, but around the south near Granada it's been freezing at night (frost in the mornings) at about 1000m. Obviously by the coast it's a bit warmer. There's only a little snow on the Sierra Nevada, but I'd expect more to come sometime soon.

On the motorbike I've ridden the east coast (via Valencia) and the central route down to Morocco. If it was this Jan I'd probably take the coast as it'll be a bit warmer and it's a nicer ride.

France is always a slog in the winter, so good you're bypassing it.

cheers,

Tim that was a very interesting read, thanks for the information! Dougie, as for cycling you are a harder man than me! I have been finding many GPX files on wikiloc.com and have now many sections marked up, depending on time we might have to miss some of the routes and take quicker routes... But we will see what happens!

http://i.snag.gy/I9Ybt.jpg

Hello Edward, welcome to HorizonsUnlimited forum. Traveling to Spain and so many other places via bike is nothing less than a big adventure. :scooter: I hope you will be safe. Plan your journey very wisely. Keep all your food items and water bottles in your back pack. Carry first aid too. Get your bike checked properly for that long road trip. I would also like to suggest to carry road maps of all the places you have been planning to visit. All the BEST! :thumbup1:

Thank you GreatJourneys. I have a first aid kit to take and also road maps. When I said both bikes were mechanically sound I lied a little as my XR was burning lots of oil, but as I was going to do a top end rebuild I didn't mention it. Thank god I did do it though (rather than just topping with oil) as although the oil burning was coming from a leaking intake valve seal, the piston had a crack in the skirt!!! Anyway it runs like a dream now and burns NO oil.

Please could someone have a look at my kit list and see if I'm missing anything please? Thanks!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...it?usp=sharing

Hi Ed
Take a look at my blog. My GF and I did a three month trip through Europe and Morocco last year August through to October. Amazing trip. There may be some ideas for you.

Rogue Adventures

Mororcycle - First trip!: UK > France > Spain > Morocco > Portugal > UK
 

I'm envious you've managed to explore Europe whilst serving, as for the XR burning oil? I'm surprised as they're usually bulletproof.

How many in the party? Civvies & serving ?


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Hi Ed, curious to know how your trip went- highs and lows? I'm looking to do a similar trip on my own on my husqvarna te450 also looking to do as much off road as possible but probably in the summer months. Cheers Andrew


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earlorange - I am not serving yet, I am joining on the 11th of April. Thats why I wanted to squeeze this trip in!!!

Andrew, the trip was fantastic. Our first low was 5 mins before we were going to leave from my house when I got a phone call saying the ferry was cancelled, Spur of the moment we swapped the ferry for a St Malo crossing which added another 700 miles to our journey. I realized I had no French maps on my Etrex 20x and sat in a McDonalds for an hour downloading them with my phone! France sucked but we did it in 3 days and was in Barcelona on the 5th day. My god damn cam chain snapped on the 6th and also bent my exhaust valve. Luckily I had a good network of buddys that shipped out parts and even paid for them within 4 days!!! From then on it was wicked but we were 7 days behind with the ferry and breakdown! We got down to Valencia and from there got to Alicante mostly offroad. From Alicante we did more offroading to a destination called "Pue" but had to cut it short after a demon mountain that my friend could not climb, where I had to do a short climb, find a flat bit then go back and ride his bike up, what should have taken 30 mins took about 5 hours! We pulled off the trails found a town and splashed out on a hotel (We had been wild camping up to then to keep the cost down). We got the Almeria and booked a ferry that night to Mellila, it cost about £50 or 70eur. It was overnight and we saved some money by just sleeping in the bench seats in the canteen.

Morocco - I had set up off road routes leading almost all the way from Mellila to Fes, then Fes to Ceuta but we had no time. We tried a day but only did about 15 miles and then turned back as my buddy was not confident enough off road (thought he was a little better than he was). Stayed the night near about 15km south of Nador. The next day we just gunned it all the way to Fes where we found a secure guesthouse mainly for the bikes and basically did the tourist thing for 2 days. It was nice to sleep in a bed and see the old city, first time in North Africa since about the age of 10 where we went to some holiday camp place so this was quite an experience for me, you certainly knew you were in a different continent, even more so when you wake up to gunfire in the morning (Could not find anything in the news). We then rode to Ceuta in one go again and I got a bloody puncher on a tight bend, nearly stacked it...

The boarder crossing was hectic people everywhere, about 20 people swamping us trying to be our fixers but we were pretty sure we didn't need one coming back into the Spanish territory, after 15 mins telling them to go away I lost my temper and told them to "F**k off before I get the police over to give you lot a beating", I assume they bad mouthed us in Arabic as they wondered off. This guy huffing glue wouldn't leave us alone though until some Moroccans in a car next to us told his something in Arabic and then he left. Got closer to the boarder a Moroccan got robbed in front of us so we gunned it right to the front of the line as we were feeling a bit twitchy, an armed Spanish policeman saw us and guarded us until we were through the boarder. We got through and saw Moroccans on the Spanish side tooling up and putting balaclavas on so we did 100km through the 40km limit until we were well into Ceuta! Got a ferry that night into Algacerous and found an abandoned garage to sleep in at about 1am!

Spent two days getting to Portugal, met a Scottish guy on the way up who bought us coffee and had a nice little stop! Just did a whistle stop tour of Portugal and rode up through Spain, we started staying in hostels when it got colder. We got within 100 miles of Bilbao and had the Ferry the next day, of course my bike would not start for 2 hours that morning! It had been fine until then, all was good though we got there about 15 mins before it left mind! Super rough crossing!!!

Got back to Portsmouth, stayed at my mates and drunk way too much. It took 10 hours to get back to Penzance the next day because we were stopping to warm our hands so often, I also got another rear puncture coming onto the M5 in Exeter where I nearly lost it again and thank god I did not as it was during rush hour. It was gutting to be so wet and cold and 100 miles from home and spend an hour or more on the side of the M5. I stuffed a 21 inch tube in the rear wheel and then rode that sucker home! got home gone 10PM which concluded the trip! We did just over 4500 miles in total.

Was not going to write a full report but oh well! Hope that gives you some information or at least a semi interesting read. I'm happy to share where I got my GPX routes from if you PM me.

Here are a few photos, going to make a video soon if anyone is interested! If anyone is really interested in more photos pm me and add me on FaceBook

Hubb Morocco - Album on Imgur

Killerbanjo, oh ok understood.

Don't forget a lot of units have motorcycle clubs also, HCR have one I know.

Good luck with your trip, I hope to get away somewhere myself in between leave.


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