Where did you ride, Chris?

I'm hoping to sneak out of London for a long weekend. LoC, Atlantic Moto and Palm Road all look good.

__________________
Two Wheels Two Continents

In a long w/end with let's say 3 days riding I would go:

Marra > Test > overnight Taliouine
Tali > MH7 > overnight Ozt (snows on Sirwa permitting)
Last day Ozt > Tichka back to Marra (~4hrs) for the 5pm plane

All up a great little ride

Thanks, Chris - I'll get the map out and do some plotting. If I was to extend it for another day, where would you suggest?

Also, how long would the days in the saddle be? I'm content with long days, but the pillion girlfriend might not be! Also, the same applies to the road conditions - would this be Tarmac, or off-road too? Must admit I'd prefer some of the latter... I miss being off-road in South America. I may need to do 2 trips - one that's girlfriend friendly and one that's solo overland biker friendly!

Edit - I might just buy your book, Chris!

Edit edit - having watching a video of someone riding MH7, it looks perfect for me, perhaps not for the girlfriend riding pillion...!

__________________
Two Wheels Two Continents

Well pillion changes things a bit. The pistes want to be easy.
MH7 is piste from Askaoun (KM65) to junction at KM104 or maybe sooner. It's all doable in a normal car with care but right now may be snowy (2500m) or slushy. She'd have to walk some bits and maybe push.

Extra day I would start slow and ride to the hotel 110km up the Test (30-odd km before the pass).
Gives time to faff about with rental business in Marrakech and generally acclimatise without big miles.

Then early start, over pass, lunch in Tali and then 200+ km to Foum Zguid.
All tarmac but a great ride on empty desert roads
http://goo.gl/maps/olTM9

Piste version starting from Akka Ighern halfway is easy enough
http://goo.gl/maps/o7pCo
- a couple of damaged fords, but prob a bit much for an afternoon.
Better to tick off if you stay in Tali. In that case head up to Tazenacht (not down to FZ) - another great ride and nicer hotels.

Then TAZ / FZ to OZT:
1. From FZ nip across east to Zagora along MS5 (nearly all sealed I believe) then north - brilliant Valley of the Kasbahs road
or
2. TAZ or FZ take the Adgz road east then north, more brill riding (some hardback) and a stonking pass just before Ozt.
3. or the newish back road from just before Tazenacht to Ozt - looks fun if they've filled in the missing bits.

Then Ozt to Marra. Job done √

(November ride report)

I think this week's new Bike magazine may have a feature on riding an MT-07 in Morocco. That would be a great road bike and an even better XT700Z.

Attached Thumbnails

 

Cheers for the guidance! Having shown the girlfriend some more footage, she's quite content for me to ride alone and her to forgo the trip, citing that it all looks "a bit barren". Inexplicably she doesn't like the wilderness mountainy/desert elements! I'll keep the route in reserve for the future though.

So it looks I'll revert back to your original plan:-

Marra > Test > overnight Taliouine
Tali > MH7 > overnight Ozt (snows on Sirwa permitting)
Last day Ozt > Tichka back to Marra (~4hrs) for the 5pm plane

Any suggestions for extending it by 1 day now it's just one-up, albeit ridden by a very average off-road rider?

Really appreciate the help - your book is winging its way in the post to me right now!

__________________
Two Wheels Two Continents

In that case I'd rent an XR250 - great on road and track.

Marra - Tali is actually 240km with as many mountain bends so will be too long a long day once you have to factor in rental office business, filling up and getting out of town.

There are auberges on or around the test pass. Maybe aim for those. Or Aoulouz has a Hotel Sahara.

Then head up to Askaoun along the whole of MH7 (description by the book) and down to Tazenacht - that will be a full day out. If it all takes longer (as it can do) come down from Askaoun down to Tali - another great ride.

From Tali or Tazenacht you could take your pick of the MA routes and roads to the south while recognising that MA6 beyond KM51 will be hard work and possible a but risky alone. Still, the ride up to the Timouka Pass at KM48 is well worth it and easy.

Realistically though, fitting in another full dirt day is a bit of a gamble if you don't know the area so well. Better just to enjoy the rides in the earlier post to get you to OZT for the ride back next day.