Return to N.E. Morocco 2015...

Well, congrats and welcome to the brick on wheels club! Since I am not an FB kinda guy, maybe you could post a couple of pics when you get the time. Definitely no terrain response to deal with now!

Had our first planning meeting at AO14. Welcome aboard those that sat in and are planning to come along (or just thinking about coming along at this point). Will be sending out an email later this week to everyone. If you do not hear from me for some reason by email, let me know here and I will get you on to the distribution list. Six months to go....

Hi all sorry I missed the meeting! I have been flat out at work. James i received your email
Im still very keen on this trip however I have a few dilemmas. First is the amount of time I can go for due to work commitments. Now I have the dates I can now try and negotiate my leave, I would like to be able to spend the full duration of the trip however, I may need to peal off early and travel home solo.
My second dilemma is what truck to go in? I have the trusty frontera still at the moment, but I am considering selling due to lack of use! I have since brought myself a jeep which is my daily drive so I'm considering going in that.

Steve, great to hear you are still alive and kicking! Also glad to hear you are still up for the next one.

As to dilemma 1...no problem. The route is designed in a way you can just peel off and head back to the ferry anytime. There are probably others who are thinking about coming who will do the same.

As to dilemma 2...can't help you there. The Frontera was is a great truck but as a former North American I always love jeeps. What type of jeep is it?

Cheers

I am alive just! Been really busy with a new project at work! It's taken up the last six months of my life.
I would really like to go for the whole duration but i will have to have that conversation with my manager regarding leave.
I have brought myself 2007 grand Cherokee with 3.0 v6 crd. The engine and gearbox are Mercedes running gear so it drives beautiful. Need to have a think about it.
Looking forward to catch up with everyone and discuss the trip further.
How serious are the other people who are interested?

Hi Steve, we will be going again, hope you get the time to do the whole trip, be good to meet up againe,

I think the Cherokee would do as well as Gary's Discovery did...as long as you have enough ground clearance. As to how serious everyone is, I would say we have six very serious participants and a couple more who are considering it. So possibly a bigger group is time. But as always we will just wait and see. Sometimes life gets in the way no matter how serious everyone is.

I will be starting an email list soon so everyone can correspond. so you can see who is coming then.

After missing out last time, I am well up for it. Besides, it'll be a nice little run out for the orangemobile!

Hi Kevin it will be good to see you again to
Been doing some thinking and I'm likely to go in the frontera! It got me there and back last year hassle free and it is modified to deal with the terrain.
I have been doing some reading in general about the current isis issues world wide as it intrests me, and I like to no what's happening in the world. I have come across some information about Isis cells in morrcco. These cells are recruiting cells and groups have been arrested in a small town near Ceuta, tetouan and fez. From what I have read these are large groups and large numbers have been arrested for joining these cells.
I thought I post it as it's something to consider when planing routes etc.. Although there are concerns these are reported as a small risk currently but it something to consider and keep track of as the Isis issue is getting bigger and bigger and trip is fast approaching.

Yes that is some thing to keep an eye on, I recon them isis people most be in quite a lot of countries recruiting, I don't thing the morocons would take kindly to them starting anything,
but I might be wrong,

Well, have to agree on the Frontera choice...was a shame you didn't get to test it out last time so will be good to have another go.

As to ISIS and security in Morocco...yep, good to keep abreast of what is going on. I do it everyday as it is my day job. Morocco has a pretty good system and Al Qaeda tried setting up cells in Morocco for years and all were busted. The Moroccan security forces are pretty good at that sort of thing. The concern at the moment is the number of young Moroccans heading off to Syria and Iraq, but that is the same as most European countries trying to control young, disaffected youth heading off on a jihad. While there have a been a few 'terror' attacks in public areas in Casablanca and other towns over the last ten years it wouldn't be much different than most other countries. So in general, the places to avoid are the crowded cities and other high population density areas. A group our size would be a pretty tough target anytime.

Just as a bit of a reality check, as I go through this all the time with humanitarian NGO's I work with who are all terrified of kidnapping by Al Qaeda or ISIS-type groups. You have greater odds of being eaten by a shark than being kidnapped. Or struck by a meteorite. The most dangerous thing you will do on any trip is get in a vehicle and drive. Many times more of us will be injured or killed in car accidents on African roads than will be kidnapped. So good to think about it, take precautions and don't do anything stupid like drive across Northern Mali or northern Nigeria right now...but don't lose sleep over it going to places like Morocco.

Actually I was thinking of maybe offering to do a session on managing security issues at the next AO show. Alot of the tools I teach to NGO staff are pretty transferrable and might be of interest.

Tembo wrote:

Actually I was thinking of maybe offering to do a session on managing security issues at the next AO show. Alot of the tools I teach to NGO staff are pretty transferrable and might be of interest.

Yes please!

Hi Guys
Glad to that you are all alive and well and still planning to do the next trip, it will be like old times.
Hope you have got your Disco up and running again Kevin, did you make it to Plymouth in time for he party???
As a general upda on my truck for those that weren't at AO14, from the lessons that I learnt on the last trip I have had quite a shuffle around with the packing arrangements to spread the load more evenly and lower down and removed a load of unnecessary weight, this has all had a great effect on the general handling of the truck and it is now a pleasure to drive, recently took it up to Yorkshire and she behaved very well, even cruising up the motorway at 70 thats mph not kph alright I didn't have the roof tent on but she is so much more stable now with all that surplus weight removed. It really is an important lesson that I learned " don't load it like the typical view of a overland truck".
Really looking forward to next year and hopefully meeting up with every body and sorting out the details for the trip and then getting back out on a trip again.
French lessons coming on slowly, still very good at speaking double dutch and Bloody rubbish but I don't think that classes me a being multi lingual.
Regard to all  

Have a look here John

ahttp://www.4x4overlandtravel.com/t1763-25-years-discovery1-birthday-bash

Silverfox wrote:

Hi Guys
still very good at speaking double dutch and Bloody rubbish but I don't think that classes me a being multi lingual.

No change there then?

Will be leaving this den of hedonism tomorrow and heading back to the UK. Will be getting on to some planning stuff and will share some info on our email net. Going to be booking my ferry tickets from UK to Spain and we need to figure out who is going to be carrying what bridging ladders/sand mats/other so we have a good balance.

Am also going to put my head down and start on the modified sat images with lat/long overlaid for our route. That way our GPS grid references can actually tell us something useful. Will also send around the list of 1:50,000 maps for anyone who wants to print off their own set.

I thought we might also start a list of proposed evening dinners for those of us joining in on the group cooking system. Hopefully we can come up with something other than just tinned curries and pasta.

Only five more months to get sorted...so best get started!

All sounds good, I have got a new camera to record our drive, hopfully will be better than last year, I did manage to get some footage but quality not good did save some,
Depends when and where the meet is to meet up before we go, might not make it (cost).

Was looking at ferry dates, prices today and see, not without some horror, that Brittainy Ferries is even more expensive now. Was looking at:

Portsmouth to Bilbao, Wed 01 April
Bilbao to Portsmouth, Thurs 30 April
bunk bed, inboard cabin both ways

£708

Sucks not to be a 'gentleman of leisure' and have the extra time to meander down across France. Might still consider it though, fuel across France compared to that price might make it worth it.  Will keep looking for other deals though.

Anyone else booked a ferry yet?

Tembo wrote:

Was looking at ferry dates, prices today and see, not without some horror, that Brittainy Ferries is even more expensive now. Was looking at:

Portsmouth to Bilbao, Wed 01 April
Bilbao to Portsmouth, Thurs 30 April
bunk bed, inboard cabin both ways

£708

Ouch! That's a bit hefty. Looks as if I may be launching a new event at Stratford Racecourse weekend of 14-15 March 2015, so, even after allowing for breakdown of the event, this will leave me enough time to  bimble down to Bilbao or wherever to meet up with the others. May even have enough time to hit Portugal en route, meet up with the locals and have a party or three!!!

We'll see.

We will be going down through France Spain, with Mudplugging, we have yet to sort out a date to set off, will need to start giveing it some thought.

May be you could come straight from stratford show to ours then on to Dover Yoda

Do not think we will be going to the show in March, it is a Leisure ie water sports hill walking/climing surfing biking I belive, and thats all things I am unable to do, wish Tom good luck in this new format.

Just checked email from James Gary and John,
The meet near Gary's house is a 4 day 1100 mile round trip, so 3 nights hotels or camping plus deisel
approx cost £ 300+ so will not be able come down,
We have sand mats and recovery gear, also compressr,
Soif you can let us know the outcome of the details will be most apreicated,

No worries Kevin. Will do a full post afterwards for everyone. That won't be until the new year though, so no rush at this point.

I am going to be considering at least driving down across France on the way out. Still may have to bite the bullet for a ferry on return though, as I will have to be back to work.

I will be getting on to the maps and sat images in the coming weeks and will share whatever I come up with.

Ok thanks James,