A 10-day adventure in another country has to be prepared. Our preparation, it consisted in fitting a hitch for the trailer. And that’s almost all.
The big difference with the Icelandic trip is that we did it:
– At the last minute
– To improvise as much as possible
– And to leave as light as possible, and frankly, we should have left a lot of things and taken others.
Emotional roller coaster
First, I was unprepared for the emotional roller coaster I would experience. As you imagine, we went to Morroco for the adventure and will be well served. However, I wanted to do all 10 days of riding off-road. Unfortunately, I have put VERY HIGH expectations.
Morroco is changing rapidly, and the number of off-roads is reducing rapidly. There are plenty of them if you explore one specific region and always return to the same place for the night. Or if you are hard enduro and want to discover some singles or open new paths.
However, the number of off-road tracks is reducing for our Big Trails, fully loaded with equipment. Many tracks we had planned either in advance or the day before were transformed to the tarmac, worst in some cases to 4 lines roads.
This really frustrated me in the first couple of days of this trip. It was so bad that I couldn’t enjoy the time, and I have probably “missed” plenty of extraordinary moments simply because of my state of mind. This makes me think and tell that Morroco is starting to be a paradise for the average BMW GS rider. Do not get me wrong, I have nothing against BMW GS bikes or riders.
Luckily, I’m not that stupid, and as soon as I changed my expectations, I started enjoying the trip. You can add to that couple of issues we experienced, and this trip started rally to look like an adventure.
Morroco is incredible!
So, when you are in the right mood, you know what to expect and do not have issues with the bike; Morroco it’s incredible!
While we were there in Nov. 2022, there was no rain for more than 2 years. The landscape was obviously heavily impacted, but there is a significant difference between North Morroco, High Atlas, and the Sahara desert.
The landscapes it’s like something you have never seen and are changing all the time. This is visually quite amazing as the change is never tiny or straightforward. EVERYTHING changes, the landscape, the ground colours, the vegetation, and obviously the temperatures.
Small problems can become big
You need to know that Morroco has plenty of small motorcycles and mechanics. However, there are not so many big bikes owned by locals, which will create a big challenge for us.
Indeed, we went on this trip without spare inner tubes and only patches to repair them in case anything happened. What we didn’t plan is the possibility of ripping the valve. The repair kit doesn’t work in that case, and you look like a lost child.
Obviously, this happened to us in the middle of nowhere, and I needed to do more than 250km to find one.
So, you can debate the best solution, tubeless or inner-tube. Whichever you choose, you need to be prepared and almost over-prepared because the craziest can happen when you are in the middle of nowhere.
We learned that “hard” way, but to be honest, I loved that. For me, that is the adventure: facing the unexpected.
Video link
I invite you to check my video of this first part of the 10 days adventure!
RIDE FOR ADVENTURE 