North East Morocco?

My thinking was option 3 or 4 Tom. I would rather pay the ferry cost than drive through France. Did that last year so, will go with the ferry. My thought was to probably do the quicker(?) toll roads on the way down and then avoid the tolls after coming back from Morocco to enjoy the scenery a bit.

ok i can do uk - algercerus with one toll...thats 6eros past sevilla,,,,,ferry algecerus-ceuta 185euros return...ok the route...plymouth-santander then west coast route approx 650-700 miles dont go near madrid diesel 1.16 a ltr cross algecerus=ceuta your then on 57p a lt diesel in morocco and cheap camping...3-7 pounds a night,,,,or wild camping....free

no big tolls no expensive french diesel you wont pay for hotel in france and you dont pay for dover calais ferry ok something to think about

Expensive French diesel against a £600 to £700 ferry not much in it except wear and tear but worth considering, if I forget the trek down and the stopovers at friends it may be an alternative and I could just tack on Tom's Spanish excursion on the end on the way back up to Santander or Bilbao.

There's a lot to think about there, I'm going to be in France in June anyway so I could do my visiting then added onto the end of my trip.

Get your maps here.

Right all I have enlarged one of the maps to A1 size and it's still readable so who wants a set ?

Me Please!!!!!

If you want to pm me your full postal address I will try and sort them either this week or next

PM'd

Tom Mc wrote:

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 ...

Firstly it was nice to meet everyone at the weekend
I have been looking at this in detail since the pub meet and these are my findings.
Starting from my house in bromsgrove and driving straight to malaga using non toll roads its 1552 miles and 27 hours traveling time.

Costings
1552 miles is 3 tanks of fuel in my truck costing (UK prices) £357
Open ticket on the tunnel £199

Total including return leg from malaga £913


Driving from my house to Portsmouth and ferrying to Bilbao, Then driving Bilbao to malaga not using toll roads.
My house to Portsmouth 149 miles and 2 and half hours traveling time
Bilbao to Malaga 596 miles and 9 hours and 45mins traveling time

Costings
Total miles including return leg from malaga 1490 miles costing ( UK Prices) £357
Ferry crossing £750 including cabin (Not open ticket) this will cost more but cannot get a quote without phoning.

Total including return leg from malaga £1107 + open ticket costs if needed


I have looked at ferry crossings to morocco and the average cost is about £350 return. I have also looked at the planned route around morocco and recon we will do no more than 1500 miles. At morocco fuel prices of 56p a liter this will cost me £190.40.


Looking at all the above if i went the tunnel route it will cost me £1453 plus spending money/hotel/camping costs

Thanks chaps. So many options, definitely a lot to think about.

Great research Collie, I did something similar last year but will have a look at everyone's figures here and do some comparisons. Fortunately I have my fuel mileage records from last year's trip to the Pryenees. Stripped down, Tembo gets between 25 and 28mpg...pretty good for an old Landrover.

Unless something serious changes, I will be doing the ferry from UK to Spain (Bilboa or Santander). Then either the fast dash across Spain on major (toll roads) or if I leave a day or two before Tom, a bit slower on B-roads. Then pretty much the same on the way back.

Just got back from the UK on friday - 2 when i left. :shock: ...it was cold and snowy and im glad im back here in the sunshine....

I bet. Cold and soggy here now, it's times like this you really appreciate where you're living.

Hi Tom good to see you at the show Saturday, it was not exactly what I thought, I was hoping for a few traders so I could check out some navigation bits and pieces and water storage just have to wait until the outdoor shows start.

Anyway I digress do you want to pm me your postal address and I'll send the maps off to you

Ah, then yes you'll need the outdoor shows.

Although good for me because I got to see a goodly number of tours companies, even I thought the balance of traders was wrong. There were far too many country's tourism departments there, not enough traders directly relating to 'adventure travel'. After all, that's what the show's title is.

My address is on every one of my websites hence in the public domain, so no need to PM it -

Tom McGuigan
9 Croft Road
Bedworth
Warks
CV12 0AS

Let me know of expenditure - printing/post. Ta mate!

Just got home from a job in Thailand and found my maps waiting, thanks! I can see what a lot of my free time is going to be spent doing now. At least having them waiting makes up for having to come back to the UK winter...

I too received my set t'other day - thanks! Been really busy so have only just opened them. WOW!!! They're amazing! Will be able to start on them soon, can't wait.

Thailand then back to Milton Keynes, the very thought of it makes me shiver and my blood run cold ... and I'm not even thinking about the temperature difference.

I have started having a good look at the maps and I can see why the few reports I have read say rivers can be a major factor in route selection. There look like thousands of seasonal creeks but a few fairly large rivers running off the mountains. Something we will have to each keep in mind while we are planning out routes. There will definitely be some fording in our daily routines!

Yea, came back from Thailand and immediately caught a head cold. Aarrgh

dude join the head cold club...i came back from the UK 2 weeks ago and i still have a head cold... ..
ok i am doing a rally end of march from nador to the desert and i will be travling that route..[i think ] so i will have a look see what its like up there and report back.
I am using the MICHELIN 742 MAP and i have morocco map on tom-tom but we wont be issued a route untill the event and we get it each day....

Well, good luck with that cold...and will be really interested to hear about what you see up in that area during the rally. Enjoy!

tembo could you e mail me a copy of that map so we are all singing of the same sheet sort of thing.....

On the river front I see there is quite a major river that dissects my portion of the route from Berguent to Tarourit with many small tributaries running into it, I have looked at a route crossing said river and also a alternative that follows the high ground to the south, it would be good to see what everyone thinks at our next meeting.

Tuggy what sort of coverage is the Tom Tom Morocco map roads only or more detailed ?

check the tom-tom web site...it says it covers 75% of morocco and i think the stuff it dosent cover is south in the desert it has always worked well for me and it shows a lot of tracks because there classed as roads.....but yes i like it...

tuggy wrote:

tembo could you e mail me a copy of that map so we are all singing of the same sheet sort of thing.....

Happy to send you the maps...can you pm me your email address?

tuggy wrote:

check the tom-tom web site...it says it covers 75% of morocco and i think the stuff it dosent cover is south in the desert it has always worked well for me and it shows a lot of tracks because there classed as roads.....but yes i like it...

May well investigate that as my garmin spent 12 hours submerged in a Yorkshire stream and although it still turns on and works (after 5 days on the radiator) I think at some point it will let me down

mmm,,,, yea waters not going to do it any good,,,,,