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Morocco

Warm, Sunny and Good roads

Date:2008-04-29 16:48:45

Author:Roddy

Roddy Warriner and Andy Massey representing James Cargo together with Craig Carey Clinch and Barbara representing Globebusters James Cargo objective. To establish all the facts relating to the trip and shipping bikes to/from Malaga and to/from Dakar. Thus done, secure all future shipping on this route from Globebusters and their expeditions. To establish same and offer various North African options and information to private individuals and other groups planning their own tours in North Africa See Excel file with costs See Formalities sheet with border, carnet and agency formalities. 16/1/08 truck bike to Malaga (Day 1 – 50 Miles) Fly to Malaga – get an early flight to allow enough time to unpack the bike and drive the 50 miles to Tangiers. On the way there will be many ferry touts but ignore them. There are a number of services from Tangiers to Ceuta and all have their own ticket offices in the terminal at Tangiers. We selected Acciona who operated a fast ferry and the cost was €26 each Stayed at Hotel Ulises in Ceuto – recommend booking in advance. Probably the only advance booking that you have to make. There are many hotels but some look quite downbeat. This one was top class €60 for a decent single room. Was it our imagination or does their patronage consist mainly of same sex couples? The best hotels are in a pedestrian zone but there is a large, secure car park very close. 17/1/08 (Day 2 - Ceuta to Rabat – 290 miles) Left Ceuta and headed for Rabat. At the border post into Morocco the form filling is fairly quick and easy but if in doubt there are “fixers” who will take you through the process for a small fee (€10 should cover it) We followed the road direct south rather than take the coastal motorway. The inland route takes you through the mountains and the more cultural villages. Stopped in Tetouan for lunch. A street café with a BBQ. Smell really good, so, the first Moroccan meal was the one that everyone warns against. Meat cooked on the pavement by a vendor. It was well cooked, tasted great and --- No bad stomach afterwards). Continued via Chefchaouen, Ouzzane to Meknes. Missed Fez. Arrived Meknes 5pm. Our time was limited so we pushed big miles every day but to anyone with more time or just doing Morocco I would recommend staying over in either Fez or Meknes and enjoying the culture. We pressed on to Rabat 18/1/08 (Day 3 – Rabat to Marrakech – 273 miles) Followed “white” signs (non – motorway) to Casablanca which takes you right next to the Atlantic coast. Both Rabat and Casablanca are quite big cities, very commercial/industrial. From Casablanca we took the Motorway to Marrakech. Brand new Motorway with very little traffic. The Traffic in Marrakech is chaotic at first appearance. You do eventually get used to the way the chaos is organised and it all falls into place. On entering the town we were heralded by a moped rider (fixer) offering to guide us to a hotel. The first one that he showed us wasn’t that great so he took us to an Auberge in the Medina (Old City) called Riad El Sagaya. Fantastic place and very cheap. We paid the fixer roughly the equivalent of a fiver. Money well spent. 19/1/08 (Day 4 – A day off with a 90 mile round trip into the mountains) Marrakech is either a love it or hate it city. The heart if Marrakech is the Medina which is the original walled city. Although permanently bustling it is full of culture with something always happening in the Market Square. Keep a step back from the Snake Charmers if you don’t like snakes. They will drape one around your neck for a photo before you even realise what they are doing. The snow capped Atlas Mountains form a fantastic back drop to Marrakech and well worth the ride out. The road at the top of the mountains allows only access to the Ski resort and hotel while the road is snowed or iced over. The road to the top is cleared on snow every day. Lovely mountain villages on the way up and very friendly people. From Marrakech to the top of the Atlas is just over an hours riding, a drop in temperature of over 25 degrees and an increase in altitude of over 5000 feet. The event of the day – Andy opened his pannier at the top of the Atlas. When we got back into Marrakech the change in pressure sealed it tight. We prised it open with a screwdriver eventually 20/1/08 (Day 5 – Marrakech to Agadir – 154 miles) Avoided the main roads and drove through farmlands to pick up the coastal road. Good road but narrow in parts. In a few parts if there was an oncoming truck then one of you had to pass with 2 wheels off the road. If it was the biker then that tells its own story. Fantastic drive, long bends coming out of the mountains. Where Casablanca and Rabat are industrial coastal towns, Agadir is nothing like them at all. A beautiful seaside resort. With long white sandy beaches, lots of hotels ranging from 3 star upwards, plenty of places to eat good food, lots of pubs and nightclubs and good looking girls. Hotels very cheap from 250 Dirhams (£18) to 900 for 4 star and between 1500 and 2000 (£145) for pure luxury 21/1/08 (Day 6 – Agadir to Laayoune – 481 miles) From Morocco into Western Sahara. No border crossing but now many checkpoints. Every checkpoint notes name, registration and asks the same question, they are effectively following you down, mostly for your own good. Police in Tan Tan wanted bribes “present” for him and his friend and took a while to accept that we were happy to give him one but not our fault that they didn’t accept credit cards. Too bad. Now leaving behind any vegetation. What had been various scrub in places and rocky outcrops with Rock roses and other cacti now becoming sandier. Road still good but lots of place with sand on the road. And… camels, camels, camels. Camels on the road (don’t drive at night) Herds of around 500 camels in places. Lunch in Tan Tan. Lucky to get food as everything closed at 2pm. Had an omelette in a café where they were watching the foot ball. Morocco v Namibia 22/1/08 (Day 7 – Laayoune to Dahkla – 343 miles) Sand storm. Electric shocks from the static generated by the sand brushing clothes. Had to sit sidesaddle to keep the bike upright. Very uncomfortable. Sun looked like the moon behind the clouds. Quite an experience. Started the day riding fast but didn’t know how far to next petrol so slowed to 50mph. made quite a difference to the consumption More camels – lots and lots. The road was straight and flat We stayed at the Sahara Regency which was a good choice. The owner is half Irish(Mother) and Half Arab. Great guy spend his day at the bar on the roof. Good food, drink The last Unleaded fuel was in Laayoune, we are now running on leaded. The owner had a mate coming down from Laayoune so got him to bring 2 x 25 litre jerry cans for us. Good trade, he added the price of the petrol onto the costs of our rooms and took it off his mates. Met a Belgium biker on his way north. His dealer had modified his exhaust to run on leaded fuel. (at apparently great expense) He rang his dealer in Belgium to give us advice on running our bikes on leaded. The dealer said just 1 litre will kill our engines so don’t do it. He was adamant that if we put any in at all we would be going nowhere. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that we had done almost 300 miles already on leaded and the bikes appeared to be quite happy. 23/1/08 (Day 8 – 0 Miles) Took the day off. The Hotel owners mate was bringing petrol for us so we opted to take a day off. The next day was more big miles so was nice to have a break. The owner had his driver take us for a Sahara Tour for a nominal but very reasonable fee. Leisurely time, on the beach, White dune, interesting, saw fiddler crab, Natural hot water spring and the hotel has a “tea room” (tent and sit on the floor while drinking mint tea) in the desert. All in all a great day an recommended to anyone passing through. 24/1/08 (Day 9 – Dahkla (Western Sahara) to Nouakchott (Mauritania) 481 miles) Left early to make the border crossing and to cover the distance. We had the option of stopping at Nouadhibou but had heard that it’s not the cleanest place (But apparently the next town is clean) and we preferred to carry on straight through. Nouadhibou is slightly off the beaten track down a peninsula. So it would be great for anyone not wanting to cover big miles but we were happy to press on. Long day, got in 9pm The biggest delay was the border crossing. We did the Police, Emigration and passport control within about half an hour but then had a “vehicle checkpoint” which was a joke. A queue of people to see a policeman at a desk under a tree. He didn’t compare the paperwork with the numbers on the vehicles so a waste of time in all. Standing in the sun with kit on was a bit warm. Total border crossing time from entering the border post in Western Sahara to crossing and exiting in Mauritania was 4 hours. But, I have heard of a lot worse and I expected that there would be at least one or 2 long ones. The really interesting part was the stretch of No Mans Land between the two. Each border post ha star leading into the respective country but the 5km between is rugged rock and sand. There are “wanderers” in between countries wandering the stretch of no mans land, deliberately making false tracks and then offering services as a guide and selling forex while they are at it. Not a bad idea though as it turned out our guide did actually offer a better exchange rate than the office at the border on the other side. (Yes, embarrassingly we hired a guide after both falling off in the sand and decided that a local may know a harder route) Nouakchott is a fairly large commercial town and a number of hotels in the airport region on a par with Travelodge type places. More research will uncover more cultural accommodation. Note** Mauritania requires a visa. 3 day transit visas are bought at the border but you must be out within 3 days. I believe that the French embassy in either Paris or Rabat will issue longer visas. Personally, 2 days in Mauri is enough. Looking forward to being in Senegal tomorrow. 25/1/08 (Day 10 – Nouakchott – Zebrabar (St. Louis, Senegal) – 258 miles Started with a full tank and drove all the way without filling, quite doable on the Adventure. Started with a flat tyre so a slight delay as it was a bank holiday and no one to repair a puncture. Andy pumped it up and we set off taking a gamble. 3 months later it still has the same air in it so either a bump broke the seal or someone played with the valve. The road blocks now don’t look like proper roadblocks. Hand painted cardboard “stop signs” At first I thought that they may be hoaxes but the policemen had guns so I called them “Sir”. Missed 2 altogether and ran a third but the cop ran out of his hut. I saw him in the mirror and stopped. Exchanged a few words and notice that he couldn’t keep his eyes off my reflective belt. Gave it to him in exchange for not shooting me. Fair deal! After that he didn’t even ask for any paperwork or to see our passports and took great pride in quickly stopping the next car while wearing my reflective gear. A big smile and we drove off. The smile was mainly because I didn’t have any bullet holes in me. Almost missed the turn off for the Diama Piste. We took the Piste as an alternative to crossing at Rosso The Piste starts as a tiny track next to a building as you come into Rosso. The piste was an experience and more. Longer than anticipated, approx 60km and we were running late for the border crossing due to the late getaway. All off road. Most hard packed but plenty of holes and cracks. Hit some soft deep sand, accelerated to lift the frond wheel but it just buried itself solidly and the bike flipped head over heels. I landed on the soft sand just in time to use my body to cushion the landing of the bike. Rode the rest of the way with what turned out to be 3 breaks in 2 ribs. Was the quickest border crossing from Mauritania to Senegal but the most expensive in “tips”. Had to pay a “Game Warden” in the reserve (Piste) and even a “Boom Lifting” tax to be allowed into the border area. One kid tried to convince Andy that he was with the police so should be paid. Andy saw warthogs on the Piste and we saw a baby Jackal and some ground squirrels on the way down. Good to be out of Mauritania. Arrived in Zebrabar. A fantastic change in atmosphere and people attitude. Asked “is this reception?” The answer It is “Reception, restaurant, anything you want.” “Do you have accommodation”? The answer “First a beer” and an enormous, ice cold beer put into both of our hands. We were at home and relaxed. 26/1/08 (Day 11 – stayed put and enjoyed Zebrabar) It’s a great resort, swimmable lake, good food. Good beer. Met and socialised with an Irish biker on his way home and the Plymouth – Banjul ralliers. Taxi tour through St Louis. Overall a great place 27/1/08 (Day12 – St Louis – Dakar 183 miles) Great ride. No rush. Interior Senegal very colourful and people friendly. Lots of big Baobab trees but 55 miles from St Louis there is a enormous hollow one, see pic on web. Had a great lunch at a colourful restaurant in Thies. Run by your girls, always smiling and dancing. Good ride all the way and arrived in Dakar at dusk. Would have been good but we had booked into an Auberge which had been recommended. The roads around that area were all under construction and lots of detours without signs. As it got darker we realised that we were just going round in circles so enlisted a cab to guide us. We followed the cab through heavy traffic while he dropped his current fare. Unfortunately the route he chose was all deep sand and we dropped our bikes repeatedly. The last 100 meters we were helped by one of the staff from the Auberge. Arrived, showered and dinner (which they held for us) (the dinner that is) Auberge Keur Diame run by Swiss Ruth who also works for the Swiss Embassy. Flight home was comfortable, very chatty teenager next to us with her mom in front to keep us entertained. Many would have said quite an eventful flight but after the ride down it wasn’t too bad. The eventful being:- Transit at Casablanca 4 hours of waiting. Shops at the airport will only accept Euros but give change in Durham’s. – We didn’t have any Euro’s Smooth flight until approach at Heathrow. Almost on the ground and the pilot revved the engines, aborted the landing and took off again. Very scary. Once smoothly back into the flight path he came on the air and explained that as well us having clearance to land, another plane had been given clearance to taxi across the runway. (You never hear of these things on the news). Luggage wasn’t on board the plane. We filled out relevant forms and hoped that we’d see it again. It arrived the next day. I’d do it again anytime. Next time I might not stop. Total mileage from collecting bikes in Malaga to handing them over in Dakar 2486.