Hello there
I have tracked a route from a post of Tim Cullis ( Tim you are quite remarkable! Thank you so much for your pati nice and advice for all)
If you read this I would like to ask about a route from Erg Chebbi to Zagora
Are there options? With small roads?
Then once in Agdz would it be best to go via Ouarzazate or Tazenakht to Ait Benhadeen?

We would like to then drive to Marrakech via Telouet and Tizi-n-( we are in an old Defender)
Any thoughts and advice on this would b most welcome!
With thanks
Jill

The cross-country route from Erg Chebbi to Zagora typically goes via Ramlia where it crosses the wide debris-strewn flood plain of the Oued Rheris. This crossing can be really difficult with deep sand and rocks and it's impossible to give guidance as the condition changes with every heavy rainfall. So I'd suggest you avoid it.



Instead I will offer two routes as a compromise, these are dirt roads and shouldn't cause too much difficulty. The first (in red above) is a circular day trip from Erg Chebbi, out as far as Ramlia, then north to Hassi Bahallou, and back to Erg Chebbi.

See the text here for an explanation. Scroll further down for text on the second route.

The second is the green route which first of all goes to explore the film set of 'The Mummy' then heads south on a piste used by the Dakar Rally in 2006 to Auberge M'harech. From Tafraoute Sidi Ali basically head due west to Oumjrane then south west and you'll come out by Zagora.

Some photos of the route from Ait Benhaddou to Telouet Kasbah, then over the Tizi n'Tichka.

__________________
"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)

Very helpful Tim!!! You've got a gpx file for the routes? Cheers, Christian


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Thank you Tim
read through plus all your links! Really like the washing drying! We do our washing daily when on the road in a 15 liter sealed plastic container. Add water , soap powder and washing all in the morning. By the end of the day it only needs to be rinsed

Hello everyone and Tim
Please could you help with the following:
The routes described I think are mostly for bikes
Would the majority be doable with a Land Rover?

I read somewhere your colour coded system for degree of difficulty, Tim.I cannot seem to fund where I read this, the blue, green red and black degree of difficulty?
Please could someone direct me to this?
Is this for bikes and 4x4 ?
Where does one find this system? On which map?

With thanks!
Jill

Most pistes I ride on are constructed and maintained for 4-wheeled vehicles. If there are recent 4-wheel tyre tracks it gives you an indication the route is passable.

My home-brewed colour coding system is based on French ski piste colours, but intended for bikers riding a typical 180-220kg 'adventure' bike such as a BMW 1200GS or BMW 800GS.

Green is a graded track using ballast material trucked in from elsewhere and properly levelled and beaten down. Suitable for Honda Gold Wings, two-up, towing a trailer.

Blue is an easy track that is constructed using on-site materials so varies along the route, might be gritty sand, then stones, then blasted out of rock, then beaten earth. But it's easy enough for a novice who has no off-road training.

Red is a track that has tricky sections, so off-road training is recommended, but if there's several of you together you could help novices by offloading luggage on tricky sections and manhandling the bikes.

Black is something that an average off-road rider shouldn't do on their own, or with luggage. Unfortunately whenever I find these I seem to be alone with full luggage!

If you are an off-road god on a much lighter bike you may wonder what the fuss of the 'black route' was all about. Conversely these ratings get thrown out of the window after heavy rain, a good example being the E33 Gorge Link route which can take two hours, but once took 14 hours, the last six by moonlight.

__________________
"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)