UPDATES
Latest: September 2010
Your feedback and updates always welcome ~ Contact me
Latest fuel prices and border info here
Recommended accommodation
You'll find an thread for recommended accommodation in Morocco here, including mine. Your own contributions are welcome.
Updates from Ceuta and Route MH3 (Gorge to Gorge)
Tim G. in a 200LC reports that using the Algeciras-Ceuta crossing outbound very early (7am CET) and returning in the evening 6pm Moroccan time) was very hassle free [tho this may have been due to Ramadan].
The péage now runs from Tanger Med all the way to Agadir. The road from Marrakech to Ouazarzate is in good condition but still all single carriageway, while the road from Marrakech to Essaouira is being expanded to dual carriageway. So it’s now easily possible to reach any of Morocco’s cities in the first day’s drive after an early border crossing.
They are working on MH3 (click for sat image) at the Msemrir end which means the start of the described route is currently closed. The workmen claimed the piste was therefore impassable but Tim's guide was able to ask others and find us a detour about a mile north of the original start, that looped across the valley and around the works back into the gorge.
On the eastern side the piste is much rougher. Floods have undercut the track where it runs through the narrower sections. On a MTB, moto or perhaps in a narrower vehicle you may get through mainly on the track, but in anything bigger (like a 200 Landcruiser) you’ll need to climb in and out of the river bed many times. This is strewn with rocks and braided channels and is not consistently passable as an alternative to the track. As it has 18” banks, if you’re not willing to build ramps to get in and out, and if it’s not definitely the dry season, don’t try the route at all.
From the point where the piste leaves the floor of the eastern gorge for the last time, they are doing further road works. It appears the intention is to lay tarmac from here to Tamtatouche for some reason, perhaps preparatory to sealing the whole route. At present it is just widened and graded from this point, but in consequence you no longer really need a LR box on any of this route if you’ve enough torque in HR to climb out of the river bed up your ramps. So I’d expect experienced drivers and marshals could get a 2WD with decent ground clearance across the route in the dry season if they were willing to move a lot of rocks (and knew it would cope with the heat). If anyone wants to try this, it would be easier west-to-east as the hairpins on the eastern side of the col are tight and eroded by run-off, so much better taken downhill in a 2WD. In the wet, it remains 4WD only or impassable. Even then, it only took Tim 2.5 hours in the big Toyota.
Fuel in Tiglite on MW3
To clarify, 'possibly available' means asking a local for a jerrican, but can meet without success. Best to fill up in Assa to get you to 230-kms to Tan-Tan.
New ferry port for Tangiers
More news here
For motor insurance in Beni Enzar if you need it, get it in the port facilty (or elsewhere in Morocco), not the AXA by the roundabout as suggested in the book - this office does not do it. See link below also.
Motor insurance
Useful information on this thread on the forum
Updates on MH1, MH2 and MH4
On the forum I read "...the piste from Midelt to Imilchil [MH1] is now virtually all tarmac..." but it's unlikely to include the Cirque du Jaffar at the start. The often-troublesome wooded gorge around KM120 however has been bypassed by a new and scenic sealed road.
The poster also adds: "...Imilchil to Tamtattouchte is mostly tarmac with only the top of the Tizi Tinerhouzine [MH2, KM63] still gravel. They've chopped out the top hairpins and the descent is now direct..."
On MH4 it also looks like preparations are being made for tarmac 20km out of Tinerhir and there is a new campsite opposite the Ziz at Nekob.
Leaving a vehicle in Morocco, short term
Not mentioned in the book but not as complicated as it used to be, at least from Marrakech Airport. More here
The eternal question: can a big BMW hack it?
I got this email from a reader with a 1200GS Adv and thought my answer might help clear up a few doubts...
So today when your book arrived I took as an example MA7 which sounds very interesting. Unfortunately I don't find any information about the difficulty. But you write ".. a great route on lighter bikes".
Please excuse me, but I just don't get the point. Does this mean it will just be a handful with a more heavy bike like mine? Or even dangerous? Not recommended at all? Or only for experienced offroaders?
The problem with writing guidebooks is finding new ways of saying the same thing over and over - maybe this time I was a little too cryptic!
I write that you will go as slow as a donkey, you may destroy a 2WD car, terrain is 'gnarly', you are 'inching around hairpins' and to watch out for tyres and rims on a bike - which all adds up to a tough, rocky route.
Lighter bikes means not big bikes like a GS12 unless you go very very slowly so that you can fall over slowly without great damage.
Your GS-A has I think the lower 1st gear which will make it easier to manage on the tight hairpins but it is also heavier than a GS. And if you have luggage it is even more heavy.
MA is a very nice area. After doing MA11 to get a feel for this great area, for a first piste on a big bike I think MA9 would be good, but with the easy start and easy end as described. The washed out bridges should be either repaired or the new route well flattened to be easy. And as with all these routes, if it gets too hard or looks a lot worse than the book because of flood damage, you can turn back.
So actually I would like to get a hint: how can I determine which routes in your book I can drive with my skills and my bike? Is there no rating (of course I know that pistes can change and the weather might change the situation completely).
You have to read the full book and then use a little telepathy! 'Read between the lines' as they say in English.
The big difference, even with a heavy BM, is not having any luggage. This is why I suggest the day loops for motos on p92. Do a few of the great road routes and then the very short pistes like MW4 and MW5, then MA9 and even try MA7 - see how it looks. If you think the suspension can manage and you feel confident, keep going very slowly and carefully. And if you get to KM78.5 send me a picture!
T
he great thing with Morocco is you can do some great riding without having to break anything!
P&O Portsmouth-Bilbao ferry service ends Sept 2010
... but it seems the better Brittany Ferries are increasing sailings to up to 4 a week from Portsmouth and Plymouth. More news here.
Route MO1.gpx download typo
Thanks to Ashley C for pointing out a missed out minus symbol on the longitudes of KM168 and KM194 of the mo1g.gpx download, making them 'E' - miles away in Algeria - not an 'W' as they should be. The two way points are correct in the book as is the corrected download file in the link above and on the MO Routes page.
If you see this obvious error on other longitudes in the downloads, please let me know. To fix it just add a minus before the waypoint - it translates to 'West of the Meridian', no minus symbol equals ' East'.
UK motorcycle insurance
This got hard to acquire lately but click this for some prices and ideas.
Fuel prices
Every month the AA in the UK 
updates European fuel prices for everywhere except Andorra which is about the same as Spain. Spain is itself by far the cheapest in western Europe. For Morocco see p16 or p61 in the book or click this
Moroccan telephone codes
Have changed from early March 2009. An extra digit is to be added to fixed and mobile numbers. Full explanation click this or work this out:
Land lines:
+212 2X XX XX XX XX becomes +212 5 2X XX XX XX XX
+212 3X XX XX XX XX becomes +212 5 3X XX XX XX XX
Mobiles:
+212 1X XX XX XX XX becomes +212 6 1X XX XX XX XX
+212 4X XX XX XX XX becomes +212 6 4X XX XX XX XX
+212 5X XX XX XX XX ..... and so on
