Spain / Morocco

[c-m]

Who here has done the trip from Bilbao/Santander ferry etc.. to Morocco?

What were the highlights?

Any advice?

Is Morocco still worth a visit for a non-offroader?
____________________
Motorcycle headlight bulbs and HIDs
Blogging about my bike and trips
https://ridershandbook.com/

[tatters]

[c-m]

Yeah it'd be the ferry, the start in Spain and work my way down.

I've never taken a bike out of Europe so thought it might be nice just to pop across to Morocco. If I like what I see, I can always come back.
____________________
Motorcycle headlight bulbs and HIDs
Blogging about my bike and trips
https://ridershandbook.com/

[yen_powell]

I did the Bilbao option. Once out of Bilbao all you need for navigation to Algeciras (if you want to cross from there) is a list of about 5 cities. You follow the signs to the first and before you enter you'll start seeing signs to the next city on your list. Can't remember offhand my route, but I know we did stop in Seville for a tyre for my mate's bike.

It's very easy to ride through Spain, it's not as big as it looks on the map. Plenty of tarmac in Morocco, plus they were surfacing some of the unmetalled roads when I was there. Watch out for snow/ice if you ride through the Atlas passes. I had to do about 20 miles on ice on the same day I took the liner out of my jacket because of the hot sun at desert level.
____________________
Blackmail is a nasty word........but not as nasty as phlegm!
XT1200Z and a DR350 in bits

[Gerrard]

If you have the time call round my house and I'll put the kettle on or get a beer out of the fridge.. I live just outside of Malaga.
____________________
Honda Blackbird the great all rounder.
Chillin near Malaga.
Marco Simoncelli 58

[Billy Balthorpe]

We did Morocco in 2004, two of us who had met once before we went. We rode down thro France and all the way through Spain doing 660 miles in one day thro Spain. We did the trip on a £600 1985 FJ110 and a £700 VFR 750, both bikes bought for the trip. We did a bit of rough road riding no problem, the only other big bikes we saw were half a dozen identical 1150 Beemers with identical looking people on them, all line astern with identical helmets, we nearly fell off our scruffy mounts laughing.

If you are taking the crossing to Cueta (The Spanish enclave in Morocco) make sure you ride all the way up to the booths beofre accepting any help from anyone. The help will cost you (bout £15 each back then) but its worth it as they argure for you.

Make sure you have Morocco named on the list of covered countries on your insurance docs, it doesnt cost owt to get it put on, but it does save you about £40 in charges at the border.

Dont stop and buy anything from guys waving little bags of weed at the side of the road, some of them have a deal going on with the coppers at the next pull over point (of which there are a lot, about every 3 miles there is a copper pulling people over), you buy it, they pull you down the road, hand you an on the spot fine, take the hash from you send you on your way, gives the hash back to the guy who sold it to you, the copper keeps the fine and it all starts again.

Get used to people (even the coppers) waving at you.

If you go to Fez, stay a few miles away from the city and ride in, its MUCH cheaper.

Theres a lot more that i cant think of at the moment.
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M.O.B. Successfully taking the piss since 2014.

[yen_powell]

If chased by a persistent wheelchair using beggar in Fes, run up some stairs.

Don't buy bottles of coke and try and walk away from the place that sold it to you....they want the bottles back.

If you take a picture in Marakech, someone, somewhere will run up to you and try and charge you for the privilege.

Volubilis isn't finished yet.

Chicken Tajine is practically the same as a sunday dinner here.

Practice your schoolboy french, you're gonna need it.

When you get off the beaten track, ask before taking a picture of someone, some people don't like it.

Don't piddle up the wall of a mosque.
____________________
Blackmail is a nasty word........but not as nasty as phlegm!
XT1200Z and a DR350 in bits

[tatters]

[Gerrard]

Thats funny about trying to get money out you for photos..
I took some photos of some old boys tractor in our village two days ago and he came running out wanting to be payed..
I just walked off..
____________________
Honda Blackbird the great all rounder.
Chillin near Malaga.
Marco Simoncelli 58

[Billy Balthorpe]

[tatters]

I think it only opened last year as on my first trip in 2010 l did,nt hear of it i used Nador and Taingers that time.
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[c-m]

All valuable advice.

so are there actually any good points?

Can you leave kit on your bike without kids climbing all over it and nicking stuff?
____________________
Motorcycle headlight bulbs and HIDs
Blogging about my bike and trips
https://ridershandbook.com/

[Billy Balthorpe]

Beautiful scenery, cheap hotels, mountains, deserts, friendly people and the fact that you have actually rode your bike to North Africa.

We never left our bikes loaded and out of sight. We always locked them and chained them so something solid right outside the entrace to hotels, or in the bar in Bini Melal.
____________________
M.O.B. Successfully taking the piss since 2014.

[tatters]

[c-m]

How did you guys find;

a) The traffic riding into cities?

b) buying stuff and having to haggle in French?
____________________
Motorcycle headlight bulbs and HIDs
Blogging about my bike and trips
https://ridershandbook.com/

[yen_powell]

[Gerrard]

PS.. Dont forget to get insurance..
____________________
Honda Blackbird the great all rounder.
Chillin near Malaga.
Marco Simoncelli 58

[c-m]

[RideLimousin]

[Gerrard]