Morocco 23
Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2023 5:42 pm
I recentley returned from almost 3 months in Morocco, the vast majority of the time being spent south of the High Atlas. The origanal plan had been to spend two months there, landing In Marrakesh, following the Atlas Mountain Race route down towards Tiznit and then taking the Route of Caravans from Bikepacking.com back up to the Atlas before following my own route to Fez, Tangier and the boat to Spain.
Things turned out somewhat different almost from the off. I'd hardly ridden in the previous 2 months due to a knee injury in the New Year so the whole trip was a bit of a risk which thankfully paid off.
I intended to take the first day easy but ended up doing about 100km and totally exhausted, pushing up tarmac climbs I should have ridden easily. On the second day snow blocked the pass to Telouet requiring a back track. A couple of days later I couldn't cross the waist deep, swift flowing, snow-melt swollen Dades river and (too quickly really) abandoned following the route, opting to take mostly paved roads to Tiznit.
The route of caravans was excellent, although several sections have been paved or are in the process of being upgraded/paved but it detracts little from the experience as the traffic density is often no more than a handfull of vehicles / hour.
From Boumalne-du-Dades I took a week long loop down to Merzouga and some great desert riding including a pretty full-on sandstorm. Back in Boumalne again and after a week off with the worst bout of the Flu I've had in years the route I wanted to follow was experiencing a lot of rain and 4x4 drivers I met told of deep mud and swollen streams. Sod that. So I headed back towards the desert , crossing Djebel Sarhro a second time, this time on the previously aborted AMR route. A second crossing of the 100 mile desert section from Foum Zguid to Mhammid was far tougher and far hotter than the first time exactly a month earlier and 12 litres of water was barely enough for the day and a half in 40 degree heat.
From Imilchil I followed my own route but by the time I reached Midelt the cough I'd being suffering since the flu seemed to be worsening and after 4500 km and 50,000 m of elevation gain I was feeling pretty burnt out. 10 days of being a tourist in Fez, Meknes and Marrakesh ended the trip. Quite opportune as my aged mum fell and broke her colar bone the weekend I returned.
Its an amazing country, amazingly friendly people, great food, still very cheap, stunning scenery, epic riding. Just don't go during Ramadan if you can avoid it. It adds another level of difficulty that you just don't need.
Photo dump here https://photos.app.goo.gl/92Yy1dtFxntET9z76
rather than clogging up Stu's bandwidth.
Things turned out somewhat different almost from the off. I'd hardly ridden in the previous 2 months due to a knee injury in the New Year so the whole trip was a bit of a risk which thankfully paid off.
I intended to take the first day easy but ended up doing about 100km and totally exhausted, pushing up tarmac climbs I should have ridden easily. On the second day snow blocked the pass to Telouet requiring a back track. A couple of days later I couldn't cross the waist deep, swift flowing, snow-melt swollen Dades river and (too quickly really) abandoned following the route, opting to take mostly paved roads to Tiznit.
The route of caravans was excellent, although several sections have been paved or are in the process of being upgraded/paved but it detracts little from the experience as the traffic density is often no more than a handfull of vehicles / hour.
From Boumalne-du-Dades I took a week long loop down to Merzouga and some great desert riding including a pretty full-on sandstorm. Back in Boumalne again and after a week off with the worst bout of the Flu I've had in years the route I wanted to follow was experiencing a lot of rain and 4x4 drivers I met told of deep mud and swollen streams. Sod that. So I headed back towards the desert , crossing Djebel Sarhro a second time, this time on the previously aborted AMR route. A second crossing of the 100 mile desert section from Foum Zguid to Mhammid was far tougher and far hotter than the first time exactly a month earlier and 12 litres of water was barely enough for the day and a half in 40 degree heat.
From Imilchil I followed my own route but by the time I reached Midelt the cough I'd being suffering since the flu seemed to be worsening and after 4500 km and 50,000 m of elevation gain I was feeling pretty burnt out. 10 days of being a tourist in Fez, Meknes and Marrakesh ended the trip. Quite opportune as my aged mum fell and broke her colar bone the weekend I returned.
Its an amazing country, amazingly friendly people, great food, still very cheap, stunning scenery, epic riding. Just don't go during Ramadan if you can avoid it. It adds another level of difficulty that you just don't need.
Photo dump here https://photos.app.goo.gl/92Yy1dtFxntET9z76
rather than clogging up Stu's bandwidth.