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I'm off to Morocco next month to do a week's riding. I'm looking at this route, riding with a pal-
https://www.atlasmountaintrails.com/round-tour-wild-west.html
A lot of the nights we'll need to stay with local families, which will be a bit difficult to plan. Anyone any ideas of who to approach in the villages for accommodation?
Also, I'm not sure which bike to bring - is it big bike territory (160mm, 30lb) or XC/trail bike (130/120mm, 24lb)?
I'm also assuming the roads to the start point will be a bit rowdy so was going to hire a 4x4 - is that worth it, or would a van do just fine?
It's a bit of a last minute thing so I've not done huge amounts of research yet but will be doing. Any general tips and pointers would be really appreciated.
I did a charity trip years ago. It was (supported) wild camping, so I can't help with your accommodation question.
I can say it was fabulous - scenery that's almost alien sometimes, and the people were unwaveringly friendly.
Your xc bike will be fine - the weight saving will outweigh the occasional desire for more travel.
Have a great time!
Its definitely big bike territory. Think Southern Spain but wilder, steeper, dryer and with cobras hiding in the undergrowth.
People are amazing, though there are areas (more towards the Sahara) where it is dodgy.
Food is superb, but only drink bottled water. We tended to avoid salad or any fruit you didn't have to peel.
Any water running out of a village, downstream should be avoided.
Marco from Ciclo Montana fixed everything for us as he has local guides he knows. At the time they were from atlas sport in Marrakesh. I'm still in touch with Redouan who still guides out there.
I remember my mate telling me that when he went one of the guide's prior instructions was "bring a spare mech hanger"!
That made me wonder just how rocky and slippy it could be.
I remember my mate telling me that when he went one of the guide's prior instructions was "bring a spare mech hanger"!
That made me wonder just how rocky and slippy it could be.
That's pretty standard advice for... anywhere, though? I carry one basically whenever I'm on a mountain bike, and a lot of the time on a road bike, too.
Lovely stuff, thanks folks.
My big bike has an AXS groupset so I might stick a cable one on - I'm assuming in the villages high up electricity isn't as common as I'm used to.
I rode the Exodus Holidays High Atlas route in 2000 and loved it. (Sadly, so long ago that I can't remember the route itself.) Nowadays, I'm sure there's far more techy riding than we were offered but I didn't need any more than the 76mm travel and 1.95" tyres on my Klein hardtail! 😀 It's a gorgeous country. I've been three times, and would like to return.
Somebody above said about drinking water - very simply don't touch any food or drink that has had water on it. You WILL be ill, and it will be completely debilitating for days. Try to only eat hot food.
The food and water bit might be a struggle - we'll be hopping from village to village for 7 days, and some days we won't come across a village between setting off for the day and arriving for the night. I can manage sterilisation tablets for the water but foodwise, if we're out in the middle of nowhere we might not have much choice other than to take what we're offered by locals. Is it worth taking some dehydrated meals with us for breakfast and lunch?
I did the High Atlas tour with Exodus around 2008/9ish. More cycle touring on mountain bikes than proper gnarly stuff. Cooked food was great as long as you like chicken or lamb tagine. Our guide hammered into us though that we had to wash any fruit with bottled water. I think a couple of folk in the 12-14 strong group went "yeah, yeah" amd they were ill for a day or two. The rest were fine.
Did a high atlas traverse with KE along with a few other tamer trips. The Marco / Ciclo enduro version was by far the toughest technically.
Rode an IBIS Mojo and it did pretty well. It was tubeless and had no problems but carried tubes and a repair kit. Very rocky, very dusty and on the wet days, very sticky mud. The deraillieur hanger was a good tip, the mud cleaned mine off sharpish.
Fabulous culture experience. I wrote a Singletrack story "Kindness of Strangers about one trip. How is your French? Be prepared for some nights in beds, some wrapped up in carpets and possibly bed bugs... you'll love it.
How is your French?
The last time I was in Marrakech I was politely told off for using French, and told that they'd prefer if you mangle their own language. It's easy enough to pick up the obvious words - thanks, please, hello, etc.
In Morocco (well, Western Sahara but sort of Morocco) I always say "shukran" for thank you. It goes down well.
That not the High Atlas , the high Atlas is east and south of Marrakesh. Further east is almost 3000 m at the passes. A better tour would be in the Anti Atlas , much more relaxed as it's not as developed and the locals are brilliant. We were up in Paradise valley at the end of a tour killing time after cyclin inthe eastern High Atlas and an Exodus group arrived the Hotel. 2 of us for about £90 and we looked up the tour details ,big shock about £200 a day for each cyclist. Why don't you try going independently and try everything from nice Riads to old kabahs turned into accommodation and Berber houses. If not camping .
@sajama55 - we are going independently. The link is to a self supported route, they're not a tour provider. Hence the questions.
Is the Anti Atlas an MTB or gravel route? I'm really aftwr something technical. And I agree that some more wild accommodation like people's houses is what we're after. No camping though - I'll be taking a full suspension bike and don't have room for a pannier or bike packing bags, but also want to ride technical stuff properly rather than being weighed down with a tent etc.
Petor’s feature in Issue 160 suggests that checking it’s not part of the religious calendar where everyone is fasting would be good. Also, that the 2023 earthquake might mean bits of the route have changed a lot since pre-earthquake times. That said, Issue 112 has a glorious feature by Carlos Blanchard on the Atlas Mountains. Both are in pdf downloads in the ‘my account’ section if you’ve not got a full paper archive!
I did a supported Atlas trip with exodus, many, many years ago, mainly enjoyed it, dropped off in morning picked up in evening sort of thing, with lunch stop, deffo bottled water only, if it’s like it was then if you can get any really cheap small pens take lots, as in the very remote villages the children would run along beside you shouting style, (or sometimes throw stones). Best and worst memory was right out in the boondooks on a remote track, I was in the lead, I shot down a hill and round a corner and a local young couple, him carrying the baby and holding her hand , her head bare, both smiling and laughing, went into total panic mode, they transferred the baby to her and she covered her head and he went about 3 steps in front of her, absolutely not smiling or laughing, everybody else in group saw them like that.
Travelled extensively in Morocco over the last couple of years and thought I’d add a couple of comments.
English is more commonly spoken amongst the younger generation, French with the older one. I’d still recommend downloading Arabic to your phone translation app. Once you’re away from civilisation that’s what you’ll need.
I never had a problem with any of the food but only drank bottled water. Readily available everywhere.
Keep an eye on the rain forecast when you’re in the mountains. We found Meteoblue to be the most accurate site. They’ve had a wet start to the year which has been much needed!
Get an unlimited Inwi data SIM. Worked well everywhere we went and better value than the Maroc Telecom deal.
Dogs; lots of strays everywhere that are a very friendly when you’re not on a bike… Pretending to pick up a stone will scare them off. In our experience they’re all bark, no bite.
People are very friendly and will help you if you need it.
Its a great country, shame about the litter…
Sorry, my post above should say stylo, not style
I don't have much to add other than enjoy, the trails are superb. I'd bet that even the 'gravel' routes would be better with a MTB, it's rough out there. I'm pretty sure that readin reports of the Atlas race that there's plenty regret at not taking a chunkier bike / tyres.
I was lucky enough to be one of the Ciclo MAroc guinea pigs back in the day, I have great memories of a truly fantastic trip. I took my fatbike, and it was great on the many miles of very loose off camber trails.
May be worth an email to Marco for contacts, although he's out of the game now. Even better maybe, Jose was the main go between for Ciclo and the Berber guys who organised transpost, accommodation, mules etc. He lived out there for years. TEAM - Costablanca Enduro Land
As alluded to above, witnessing the hatred of women on a day to day basis is grating enough to put me off going back.
Spent a week riding motorbikes around Atlas in February. Tagines get a bit dull after a few days but the food is fine, we were able to buy bottles water everywhere. On a bike I would take a filter for emergencies though. Finding accomodation was easy enough, lots of places are online even the very basic. If not just ask a few people, older men are the ones to approach, they may not speak your language but they will find someone who does. It was ****ing freezing in the atlas in February!!
If I was on a bike I'd be tempted to taxi it about 20 or 30km out of Marrakech the traffic there was bad enough on a motorbike. No idea about route but whatever bike you take you will see grandad on 50cc Peds tearing about on it with their wife and 3 goats on the back!!
Chris Scotts Morocco Overland book may help with trails. Most tracks we did were between villeges and would be doable on gravel bikes but better on xc bikes.
Are you staring in Ijoukak? We stayed here:
GITE AUBERGE :TIGMMI N'TMAZIRTE
Basic clean and fed us well.
The main road from Marrakech was being dug up for resurfacing in Feb but would be fine in a normal van
Views from Gite, wouldn't fancy that tent!!
