Cycling UK Forum

I am considering going to Morocco for 4-6 weeks in Jan/Feb next year and was just looking for anyone that may have done a trip over there.
I am mainly concerned at this point in the practicalities of wild camping (I fancy Dades Gorge etc) and the general security of cycle touring, gear wise. I would be aiming to fly to Spain somewhere and go over on the ferry.
I went surfing there many years ago so have a bit of an idea about being in the country, just not getting about on a bike.

Thanks
Gari

I have wild-camped in Morocco with no problems. However, this was, hmm, somewhere around 1973, so it may be totally different now.

I’ve just been in Morocco in Jan-Feb. I didn’t wild camp, but it didn’t look very promising; at least not if, like me, you like to do invisible wild camping: in the countryside, there seemed to be little cover, and you’re rarely out of sight of a shepherd and his flock. Which of course may well lead to interesting and hospitable encounters. Also, it looked pretty wet underfoot. In other parts of the country, it may be quite different – it’s a big place, and if you asked what wild camping’s like in the UK, we might ask, do you mean Caithness, or Surrey? (I don’t know which of those you’d compare Dades to).
Security-wise, I had no problems; I guess it’s like anywhere – everything’s fine until it isn’t.
If you’re flying to southern Spain, be aware that 1. The ferry is exhorbitant – fifty quid one way for me and a bike (it’s only ten miles), and 2. The only road from Malaga to Algeciras is a hundred miles of fast dual carriageway. The easy bits are like riding on the hard shoulder of a motorway, and there often isn’t a shoulder. Mostly there’s no back road.

If you're going to cycle from Malaga to Algeciras avoid the coast road and go inland. There are some gorgeous routes although they are accompanied by big hills. Going via Ronda would be nice. That said, January and February (and March) on the Costa del Sol can be hit and miss. This winter it has been consistently nice and fairly dry (well, in the part I was in) whereas winter 2009-10 it more or less rained solidly for three months. And when it rains in Spain, it really rains. None of your English drizzle. But if you get lucky with the weather you'll see some nice stuff.

To get to the Dades Gorge you will have to cross at least one major Atlas mountain pass ie 2000m plus, there could well be snow on the roads that time of year, it gets jolly cold at night, well below freezing.
At lower levels it's probably doable but you are going to need to be flexible, camping may not always work out.There is no cover near the coast.
I suspect the roads from the coast south will be pretty unpleasant for cycling lots of trucks and not much room.Why not fly to Marrakech?
Atlas Mountains roads are fine though, in fact they are amazing (apart from the ice).
March/April would be better.
I was at the Dades Gorge a couple of years ago and the road had been washed out for a short lenght, could get through on a bike though.

We were in Morocco in February 2 years ago and crossed the Tizi n Test pass at 2200 mtrs in the High Atlas. There was some snow near the top of the pass but we got through fine. Temperatures in general were good; Marrakech 23 degrees c, lower in the mountains and higher in the valleys. That said, one good February obviously doesn't guarantee another.

Re: wild camping, we didn't do any although we considered it and were told a couple of times that the mountains are dangerous at night and also, in contrast, that it would be fine. We tended to opt for the cheapest hotel in town (about £7 for a room) or campsites when we got to the coast (about £5).

We experienced no issues with security.

Thanks for the responses. The camping thing was to give me the flexibility of not having to make a distance 'cos I need accomadation really, the plan isn't to camp everynight, I am more than happy to use hostels/hotels etc. The security thing is good news, I plan to carry a netbook or iPad for blogging and sorting pics etc.(I appreciate that wifi will be limited to a very few places)
I live in Scotland so flights direct could be a problem, hence the idea of Spain with Easyjet et al, not as practical as I first thought by the look of it.

The plan was to do a shortish trip this winter, then do 3 months in NZ the following year, however circumstances have changed to mean that I may be able to do the NZ trip this year. So I shall be looking into both options for a while.
Who said men can't multi-task!!

Thanks so far

Gari

hi,

wifi/internet is quite easy to find in morroco. you might want to take a usb stick though. they weigh nothing, and you can use them to transfer files (photo's or pre-written blog entries) to an Internet cafes PCs in the event that they have internet but not wifi.

cheers

Hi, Easy Jet Flights go from Manchester to Marrakech, in March anyway..........BOB.J.

High passes in Morocco are not closed for months on end due to snow, rather blockages are temporary after recent snow. Public transport services are scheduled to run. I've been on a road pass at 2600m in midwinter in Morocco, measured 20C and seen not a patch of snow within sight. No doubt I was lucky, but it makes the point that it is not persistently freezing up there. We went up the Dades, over the unpaved connecting pass, and down the Todghra (or was it the other way around), and it was very nice, apart from the persistent begging. The beggars also managed to remove articles zipped into bags on the bicycle while we cycled uphill, though they may have been disappointed with the puncture repair sundries they obtained.

I would not advice wild camping in the touristical areas of the atlas, which is anywhere near these places. You would get too much attention from the locals. Even if you just stop to eat your packed lunch on a deserted stretch of road, people appear from out of sheer cliffs and from hiding places behind small stones and tufts of vegetation, and try their hardest to blag it off you. Even in the desolate Jbel Sarho, which one would imagine close to the back of beyond, the density of population along the road was surprising and annoyance-level of the pen-dirham-bonbon-allyourbelongings beggars was beyond belief.

But people tell me if you get further SW into less visited areas of the Antiatlas, the begging persistence reduces and wild-camping becomes a plausible possibility.