Hi,

I will be travelling through morocco in my defender in about 10 days, i was wondering if anyone undertaking a similar trip would like to meet up to facilitate some desert driving or just for a bit of comany though different areas. i only have a very loose plan and will be roughly taking myself where the wind blows. please email rossrheinbach -at- gmail -dot- com if anyone is interested..

regards
ross

Hi Ross,

Welcome to the HUBB.

Good to hear that you're off to Morocco soon. If you've not been there before you'll have a fantastic time as it's such a diverse and friendly country. If you have been there before you'll have a fantastic time as it's constantly changing and there are always new tracks to drive and new regions to explore.

You're taking the best approach - stay flexible.

Just a word of advice - you may want to edit your post as the naughty bots might pick up your email address. ross rheinbach at gmail dot com should work.

__________________
Atlas Overland - Specialist adventure tour company providing off-road holidays for 4x4 enthusiasts in Europe and North Africa.
Tours to Morocco, Iceland, Arctic Circle, Portugal, Alps, Pyrenees, Eastern Europe, Corsica, and UK weekend tours.

done

Departing tomorrow to Genoa ... Tangier Med. Three bikes: 2x 1200 GsA + Ktm 990 Adv. Plane is:

20.06. from Taza - Tizi n'Zabel - Midelt
21.06. MH1 (Cirque de Jaffar, Agoudal, Tizi n'Ouano, Dades)
22.06. reverse MH5 - before Rissani heading south to M' Harec
23.06. reverse MS6 - M' Hamid
24.06. reverse MS8 - if enough time extend it for another 100 desert km's and approach to Tata from the south
25.06. MA3 - MA1 - Amtoudi
26.06. MA2 - Tafroute - Taroudant
27.06. Tizi n'Test - Asni - Tim Cullis (short off-road) - Imlil
28.06. Oukaimeden - Jebel Ouhatar - Marakesh
29.06. Tizi n'Tichka - gravel road to Ait Benhadou - MH7
30.06. MS9 - Bikers home
01.07. Demnate - towards Cathedral - Dar Ahansal
02.07. canyon to Anergui - over the tarmac pass - Khenifra
Last two days easy to Tangier Med.

If any is interested we should ride a part or whole stage togeter, any evening meeting, ...

Thomas

21.06 watch out for 'bad guys' at the southern end of Cirque de Jaffar.

22/23/24 you may want to rethink the southern sandy bits if it's still hot.

25.06 take the time to visit the agadir at Amtoudi

02.07 piste is still cut (I was in Anergui a few days ago), so go via Ouaouizirthe instead.

__________________
"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)

Ah yes, the Jaffar Cake nasty thieving scum. If they speak to you in French beware, if in Arabic, you should be ok. Or even better don't stop so you won't know what language they speak and are less likely to be robbed/ pick-pocketed.

My mate had his panniers unzipped while riding, as kids ran next to him (if you see anyone wearing/selling very very very smelly seal skin socks, they were his...) . A turd was trying to unzip my bike jacket pocket while I was speaking to his mate getting directions.

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CURRENT RR WITH REGULAR UPDATES: The Wife Takes on Chlamydia: A South American Retrospective

After travelling around 27Km along the piste to Tata (from MS8 turn off to N12) and going through a couple of check points without any problems, I was stopped by the Army and told the piste was closed.

Speaking to a couple of Germans on KTM's a few days later, it seems it's only open to those with tobacco or whiskey to offer.

Not seen the naughty boys at the end of Cirque Jaffar for a while now. I reckon since the main piste has been tarmac that drivers/riders aren't slowing down/stopping at the junction so less of a target.

Also I think the little tykes have grown up and b*ggered off. First met them as cheeky kids when a wagging finger was enough to discourage them. Latterly they would runn up and jump onto the vehicles and the wagging finger was replaced by a wagging jack handle...

22.06 Lots of construction traffic around M'Harec in April and piste chewed up. You might be better dodging SSE and hugging the western side of Oued Rheris.

__________________
Atlas Overland - Specialist adventure tour company providing off-road holidays for 4x4 enthusiasts in Europe and North Africa.
Tours to Morocco, Iceland, Arctic Circle, Portugal, Alps, Pyrenees, Eastern Europe, Corsica, and UK weekend tours.

Hi friends Tim, Chris, Peter, 24-7. Today safely back home. We made app. 70% off-road pistes. After we came into Alnif started extreme high temperatures with daily sand storms. When I was in Mauritania sand storms last max. 2 days. Conclusion was avoid Draa for safety reasons and in case of reasonable well forecast try to do MS-7 instead of 8. We did it at 46 degr. But in last few km's companion had high speed crash on soft gravel. Luckley no broken bones. So next day no off-road from Tata to Id Aissa. We took time at Amtoudi as Tim adviced. I am dissapointed on new MA-2 situation. Road workers destroyed it with new wide gravel road, most romantic part from Igmir down to next village. We had no problems on MH-1. After passing critical parts in Jaafar we spot stucked Unimog short downhill from the pass near that rock. I do not know what happen later. After Melloul pass on MH-7 we came just 400m before Tleta. There was two piste cut. I also noticed that no 4x4 passing here for a long time. Because we were late we decided turn back towards Ouarzazate. From Demnate direction Agouti we were surprised with new wide gravel road from Achaoukh instead of piste. Towards Cathedral also big road works. Seams that in mind is new main, maybe tarmac road, from Ahansal to Azilal will be constructed. On both new roads on bottom could be very slippery when wet on reddish soil. I have many piste/road condition pictures and if Peter allow me, I can publish few of them.

I hope my bad English could be understand.

Thomas