CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
343 km from Marrakesh to Marrakesh, about 6 h 41 of riding. On the way it passes Ksar of Ait-Ben-Haddou and back through Ksar of Ait-Ben-Haddou. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,800 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 1 km this is Morocco Tizi n Tichka, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Marrakech announces itself with a smell before it shows its face: woodsmoke, orange blossom, leather, grilled meat, with mint and diesel in the mix. The city, founded in the later eleventh century by the Almoravids, grew from a camp of tents at the edge of the Haouz plain into the capital of a series of Berber dynasties. Its walls and many of its buildings are built of local red clay, giving it the nickname of the red city, and behind them sits the old medina, a maze of lanes where mopeds, donkey carts and tourists push through together. The Koutoubia mosque, whose minaret rises about seventy metres above the roofs and dates from the twelfth century, is the landmark you steer by.
Read the complete Marrakech write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Marrakech is where the day begins. Next is Ksar of Ait-Ben-Haddou.
Ait Ben Haddou rises from a hillside above the Ounila river like a sandcastle built by a giant, with towers and walls the colour of toasted bread. It is a ksar, a fortified village of rammed earth, and it stood on the old caravan route between the Sahara and Marrakech, where traders carried salt, gold and slaves over the Atlas. UNESCO listed it in 1987 as an outstanding example of southern Moroccan earthen architecture.
Read the complete Ksar of Ait-Ben-Haddou write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ksar of Ait-Ben-Haddou comes up 71 km in. Next is Ksar of Ait-Ben-Haddou.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ksar of Ait-Ben-Haddou write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
141 km in you reach Ksar of Ait-Ben-Haddou. Next is back through Ksar of Ait-Ben-Haddou.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ksar of Ait-Ben-Haddou write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Ksar of Ait-Ben-Haddou, late in the day. Next is Marrakech.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Marrakech write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Marrakech. That is the ride.
Marrakech → Ksar of Ait-Ben-Haddou is 141 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Ksar of Ait-Ben-Haddou → Marrakech is 141 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.