North East Morocco?

Sounds like a good plan. I presume we are talking P.M? and not having a breakfast meeting.

I will be bringing some maps along to have a look at and yes, wifi would help. Looking forward to it! Great way to start the year, planning a great trip...

James

Tembo wrote:

Sounds like a good plan. I presume we are talking P.M?

You mean to tell me there are two 7.30's in the day?

Many moons ago I used to have a job which meant rising at 6.30am to head across London south to north, to open a building up by 8am. Did that every working day for four years. Not surprisingly, ever since then I've had an adversion about rising early.

On the other hand, I can quite readily work though the night and go to bed at 7.30am ... weird eh?

Yes, I'm definitely talking about meeting up "Post Meridiem".

Great, looking forward to it. See everyone then. For now, enjoy the holidays!

Hope everyone is still a go for the 19th. I spent a good chunk of the holidays looking at maps, sat images and general plonking around the internet looking for info. Found at least one abandoned foreign legion fort in the region so far and some info about weather, routes etc. Also got a copy of Tom Sheppards 'Quiet for a Tuesday' for xmas. Just finished it and gave me some good ideas. If anyone hasn't read it and wants to have a go, I will bring it along.

Just to get us all thinking in the same direction, I figure that at minimum we will need to:

- decide on exact dates for the trip so we can each book it off
- I have done some thinking about routes and general itineraries but as a group we should come up with a general plan. My thinking was to establish the general route and then divide it up into 'legs' so that each of us is responsible for researching and planning one leg.
- Get an idea of the capabilities of each of our vehicles and our 'travelling styles.'

My general thinking in proposing this trip was to explore some areas of Morocco that are off the beaten tourist and overland paths. From studying maps and sat images there is some very interesting and challenging terrain out there. Combination of the Atlas mountains, dry and dusty sahara plateau, river crossings and exploring some areas with no roads at all.

Anyway, see you all in a couple of weeks!

James

Sounds great. Like the idea of allocating legs to individuals, makes good sense.

As mentioned in the Main Chat section, I've decided to attend the “Active Travel Show” and "Outdoor Show" at ExCel in London on the 18th and 19th, so will definitely do Banbury on the way back.

That sounds great James. Really looking forward to meeting everyone and start the planning.
The 19th is still good for me

Developments my end. A couple of friends, Jason & his wife Patsy (Jason incidentally ran the main gate at ADVENTURE OVERLAND 2012), were wondering if they could attend the meet on the 19th as they would dearly love to join us in October. Although they own a beautiful 1979 2 1/4 petrol Series 3 LWB 109 Land Rover Station Wagon (professionally converted by Warwick 4x4 back in the early 1980's it boasts coil springs and a galvanised chassis), unfortunately they wouldn't take that but their modern LWB Pajero - not half so interesting, but for some reason they don't want the Landy sand-blasted!

What say you, space for another vehicle? If they joined us that would make five motors, with Tuggy (if he can make it) making it six. He's never said he's a definite because of his business commitments down in Spain, but if he did it would be a real bonus ... it's as simple as that.

Also, my daughter Bonnie loves the idea of Morocco too as my co-driver, so is planning to make it on the 19th as well. Strewth, it's all happening!!!

Jason/Patsy's 109 Station Wagon, rather nice eh?

Didn't we see that 109 parked at the Overland Adventure show? I remember drooling over one that looked exactly like that. So, yes, they can come but only if they bring that Landy!....(just kidding).

I am fine if they come along for the planning. As these things go, someone may have to drop out by October for whatever reason, so I don't see it as a problem. Even if we did end up with five or six vehicles I think that would be manageable. If necessary, we could move in two groups if the dust got bad or anything. Given that we are essentially recceing a new area, the more eyes the better...and hands to get us unstuck if we get the route wrong.

I have e-copies of all the old colonial maps for Morocco (the same ones Tom Sheppard used in Algeria). So far have been working from these and comparing with Google earth images. If everyone coming brings a memory stick I can copy the maps to everyone. Should help everyone with planning their legs.

Look forward to meeting everyone...October can't come too soon!

James

Good stuff. All going according to plan, memory stick already packed!

Tom Mc wrote:

Good stuff. All going according to plan, memory stick already packed!

Ah ! yes memory stick, I better put a reminder on my phone as I'll forget else.

Looking forward to meeting everyone.

Are we still on for tonight??

yes im in you bunch of tarts.......


ok im going across in a few weeks time i am doing the moroc challenge. but as you can see the trouble in ALGERIA and MALI security in morroco has been beefed up and everybody is getting a little bit jumpy i will know more when i go over but i am keeping my ear to the ground and talking to my moroccan friends......how long will you be in morocco for ?
dont try and do everything...it wont happen and you will be on the road all of the time.....if you need any info ..ferry tickets ect just let me know....

ok what you waiting for get planning....

Tembo wrote:

Hi All,

I was wondering if anyone has travelled through NE Morocco? I am thinking of a Morocco trip for next October-ish period and am wieghing either striking off on my own to explore something new or signing up for an organized tour. My inclination is always to try the more challenging option. Especially since Tembo with his 2.5 NA diesel would inevitably slow down all the modern Defenders, Toyotas and the rest on an organized tour. I know they all say that they travel as fast as the slowest vehicle but hate the idea of slowing everyone down on the tarmac transits.

Was pondering the Malaga-Melilla ferry and then heading down to what looks like a largely uninhabited area south of Oujda. There is a pretty big triangular area between the northern end of the Atlas's and the Algerian border and as far south at Figuig. I can't see any organized tours in this region and Chris Scott only mentions the southern boundary. Just from google maps, there looks like lots of plains but some fairly interesting river valleys and hill ranges. And if nothing else, may have the advantage of being off the well beaten path.

So, in the early research stage if anyone has any info. Thanks!

theres a hight altitude road up there that has 7 major river crossings....i want to go and explore them,,,,,,,,

Yep I'm all good for tonight theres no snow on the main routes so I may leave early and try and find a less direct route through some small villages etc, just to check my 4 wheel drive system is working properly lol

I will be leaving Milton Keynes in about an hour (5pm-ish) and take my time getting there. Hopefully everyone makes it. Roads are not too bad today

Tuggy,

Good to hear that you are in. And yep, will have to see how things play out in Mali and Algeria. But we can stay flexible and as you say, don't try to do everything. Really interested in this high mountain route you mentioned with the seven river crossings. Sounds like a challenge!

Will send you a report after our meeting on what we all discussed. Lots of time to make some rough plans and then adapt as the situation changes (but hopefully not).

ok have a good meeting...i fly in tomorrow shame im missing it,,,,,

Sods law Tuggy thats the story of my life a day late

I see from your signature you've got a P38 Iv'e been looking at a few Diesels one's are they as bad as people say.
Or is it just the 4.4s that have the bad reputation.

wideformat4x4 wrote:

Sods law Tuggy thats the story of my life a day late

I see from your signature you've got a P38 Iv'e been looking at a few Diesels one's are they as bad as people say.
Or is it just the 4.4s that have the bad reputation.

no they are as bad as people say everything electronic.....

tuggy wrote:

wideformat4x4 wrote:

Sods law Tuggy thats the story of my life a day late

I see from your signature you've got a P38 Iv'e been looking at a few Diesels one's are they as bad as people say.
Or is it just the 4.4s that have the bad reputation.

no they are as bad as people say everything electronic.....

Thanks for that a wide berth will be given

It was good to meet everyone tonight, time to get planning for the trip

I have checked out the resolution of the maps and they are only 72 dpi when I get into work Monday I will get our studio guys to see if we can size them up to a decent extent and print them out if anybody wants a hard copies I will try and enlarge them to around 1000mm square hopefully they will be readable at that size.

If all is ok I will get everyone to PM me their postal address and I will post them out.

Rgds Gary

Yes, great to meet everyone...too bad Tuggy couldn't make it. Hope everyone had a safe trip home.

Gary, that would be great if you could get something useful out of those maps. If not 1000mm to a side then maybe even 500mm. If there is any cost let me know, I would love to have a printed copy of each since I am not as comfortable with GPS and nav systems as most.

Really looking forward to it already!

Likewise good to meet everyone and put names to faces.

So, to the nitty gritty. Who has done a calculation of the cost of getting from the UK to Melilla return. The way I see it, there are four lots of costings to calculate - all depending on time. Leaving aside where one lives to a UK ferry terminal, they are either:-

1. Dover-Calais ferry, fuel though France & Spain motorways with tolls, ferry Malaga-Melilla.
2. Dover-Calais ferry, fuel though France & Spain motorways/A roads avoiding tolls, ferry Malaga-Melilla.

3. Portsmouth-Bilbao ferry, fuel though Spain motorways with tolls, ferry Malaga-Melilla.
4. Portsmouth-Bilbao ferry, fuel though Spain motorways/A roads avoiding tolls, ferry Malaga-Melilla.

Yes I could calculate them myself, but if you've already done it ...

I worked out the cost of my travel from home to Dover then to my friends in France then travelling down through France Andorra and Spain to Malaga and returning back to Santander including ferries and fuel at 25mpg to be £1060 that's uk fuel at 1.40 pl and european fuel around 1.25 pl except Andorra where I guestamated fuel to be 85p a litre
That's unleaded for the Frontera.
The above does not include fuel, food, ferry (I figure I eat at home or away ) or camping in Marocco.

One other expense I only allowed a nominal amount for was tolls as I'm hoping to keep of toll roads as much as possible to see more of the countryside