Morocco 4x4 overland tour, day 9 we got lost a bit

Lost in Lake Iriki

Ok so remember the previous day was amazing, we camped out in the desert after having a fantastic fun day.

The route we had planned was to go west from where we were (I must get the sat nav coordinates) to an Oasis Source Sacree Abd-Er-Rahmane at and the cross Iriki north and end up in Foum Zguid.

The day started well, there we no or few tracks and I think because of the problems James had earlier with the 90 he got a squeak and decided to check it out, Mike and Jerry took the opportunity to get a Tiffin in.  I drove off for a quick comfort break, this time without camels.

Look a camel!

We drove west to the Oasis and got there well before midday, Rachel and Jerry went and bought camels made from recycled stuff.  Rachel tried out here new car and we then decided to head out North West to Forum Zguid.

The local Camel selling place

Sid admiring camels

James managed to get a puncture.

Puncture no 1

I do not think much of the car Rachel bought.

Nice series 2

Ok, I have to admit probably should not have turned left into a dry river bed and kept heading north towards the mountain tracks.  However I did and we ended up at a crossroad in the river bed and Ken said go right which we did.  About 2 a miles later I was stuck in the dunes, James got a puncture and Adam/Sid were stuck in the P38 about 1/2 mile behind.

The river bed crossing here were quite dull unlike the ones we found a day later.

After some faffing I got out thanks to James and then parked waiting for the others, I walked back to see where the P38 was, James popped along and towed them out as well. At the point I think we realised James 90's ratios had been further lowered making it pull like a hell.

I remember at one point saying something the the CB like "oh gosh sir that was bad luck it seems the sand got to me a little and I'm not at all happy".  With all of us together again I went for a walk to see what was about and try to see if we could get to out to the track.   I saw a grouping if three trees nead some rock, but I didn't think we would make it, I believe we ended up about, 29°52'50.3"N 6°07'14.6"W

Look it up you will see the track we were aiming for just north.

We decided it was best to re-trace our tracks and go back to where we turned the wrong way.  At this point the weather got windy and there was obviously a sand storm coming in.

So we set off, tracing my way back I got stuck again, as did the P38.  I waited to be rescued, I did not know that James was pulling out the P38 and also pulled the bull bars off of it.  If this was not bad enough my car was sinking a little more so I dug it out and waited for Ken to come to the rescue. 

Anyway, after much snatching and pulling we did eventually managed to get out of the sand and end up on some rocky outcrop, which as it turns out was not where we thought we had entered the lake bed.  The tracks we had made were gone and I guess we were lucky to know the rough way we were going, well not really we still had the GPS.  Anyway, on foot we found out where we should go, we re-inflated out tyres and headed all the way back to the Oasis.  OK that was bad, back to where we started hours earlier but this time in a sand storm.

So, what next, a quick team chat and we decided to try to get to back to Mhamid, things must have been bad Mike and Jerry did not have a meal.  So off we set; however, setting off the storm just got worse and worse and worse, you get the picture right.

We have two landies

Err where's Mike?

Grr sand everywhere

With the P38 getting hot and James having lost some tools when his back door came open after we hit one of the now common dips Rachel and I took the lead again after.  I had calmed down and we picked our way around the dune fields past where we had camped the night before back towards the main road and back to town for a hotel, camping would have been nasty with the wind.  Ken also lost a loo roll, I have no idea how but it did cause some merriment in a long and quite frankly stressful at times.

We were in a sand storm, at night, with my buggered headlamps, moving fast trying to get out of the desert.

Eventually we got to the main road, but the visibility was that bad we could not see the tarmac when we were only 20 meters from it.

Just before we got to the road Ken pulled up and said "What a fantastic drive, I have not thought about my house all day", err err.  Ken loved the more extreeme stuff.

It was 10pm by then we needed to sleep so we set out for a hotel.  We found the Sahara Sky hotel who promptly pissed everyone off with some absolutely stupid suggested charges for the rooms, and also trying to cram us all into as few a rooms as possible.  It was only when we walked out that the manager came running out and tried to give us a better rate.  This is considering they could not serve us food.  We probably would have spend £600 in the bar that night is we had stayed, but it was thier loss.  Anyway, well and truly pissed off we went back to a Dar at Tamegroute.

They had rooms.  On entering reception the owner said "good you here after your call earlier", I said "yup" everyone else said "No", I guess I wanted a room and a shower more than eveyone else.  She did accomodate us and we all got rooms and a show, blimey the amount of sand which fell off me was unreal.  There was the usual confusion over who was staying with whom but when this was sorted out we all had a shower and got together for the evening meal.  Sid was not happy at this point and we all agreed to have a sleep after a meal and work out what we would do tomorrow, however we decided the rest of the trip would not involve F'ing SAND!!!!

The next morning the owner of the hotel had arranged a guide for us to look around the town, apparently it had the best ancient Arab library in the world and also a underground village.  I'll cover this in my next post.

Oh and my little camera packed up!

Morocco 4x4 overland tour ,days 3 to 6

Spain to Morocco and onwards

Well by now I had lost track of time, I didn't know what day it was, I kinda lost track.  We managed to meet up with Adam and Sid in their P38 (don't laugh) and also meet with Ken at the campsite http://www.campingvaldevaqueros.com prior to our crossing to Morocco.  I would say the camp site was great but we were not there long enough, well not long enough for more than a beer and a sleep before we were off again.

Oh and on the way to the campsite from Salamanca the 90 decided to act up with the turbo quitting on several occasions probably due to the speed it was travelling at.  We pulled over at the services to have a break and a look see at what was wrong.

Pointing really helps.

There was nothing obviously wrong with the 90, but we put the issue down to the speed James was motoring at, the 90 did not have standard gearing so it was revving quite high and we agreed this was probably the issue.  Anyway, we decided to go slower and push on but not before a few theories discussed around the 90's problem.

James explaining the size of the squirrel wrapped around the turbo waste gate

We got to Carlos the ticket seller later in the day and picked up out tickets with no issues, we even got a present of Cidre and Chocolate Cake from Aldi, these were given away to locals ASAP.  What they did do well at the travel agent was to give us our White and Yellow travel cards as well as open tickets all for 200 euro.

The ferry crossing to Tanger Med

The next morning we went to the ferry port for the crossing to Tanger Med it was good having Ken there who had done the trip before because he knew the route and also what to expect.

A lot has been written about this crossing on how complicated it is and also how many forms you have to fill in etc.  Also a lot has been written about the best way to bake fairy cakes as well.  Not that you can derive anything in common between the two other than they are both easy to do.

At the port you get in to queue with your ticket, that will get you onto the boat, they will give you plenty of room to park.  If you can get out of your car well done, it was not easy for us to do.

How do we get out?

We noticed a sign which seemed to infer only poodles could get onto the boat.

Only Poodles allowed to Morocco

Desert Dog has a weird reaction to this sign.

Dog with the horn, high on Coca

When you are on board you need to fill in a white entry form for Morocco (a yellow one on the way back).  When the boat leaves you will see someone with a laptop and a queue next to them, join the queue, when you get to the front give the chap your passport and card and it will get stamped.  If you have already entered Morocco before as we had you need to use the number already stamped in the passport.  If you don't have one they will stamp one in your passport.  That's it.

Getting off is a laugh, you get into a queue and then all mayhem happens, basically you will get out when you get out, don't get stressed or you will not be happy.  We got out in 30 minutes.

However, Sid had his passport recorded incorrectly on the boat and by magic became a Dutch woman, err, considering he was travelling with a man in a P38 converted to a camper with a double bed I assume this was an easy mistake.  However, this did mean it took them 2 hours to get out.

To get your insurance (if needed) and currency you can do this at the port, its dead easy, our insurance was about 90 euros for 30 days any driver.

Give me insurance little man

Pets can get through as well providing they have the correct documentation and are in the right place.

Desert dog humping the roof bars

When you get through the port you turn right and follow the signed for about 3km to the motorway south.  We got the A1 to Kenitra, we wild camped in a cork forest for our 1st night in Morocco.

Oh it is at this point it should be noted the 90 broke down, the return fuel pipe fell off and wrapped around the drive shaft, they were stuck for 20 minuted till they re-fitted it, we waited for them at the services till they got to us.

Camp setup

Mikes roof tent

Sid enjoying the local food, SPAM!

Planning the next leg of the trip, or the invasion of Basingstoke

The 1st night was fab, Rachel had never wild camped before and I'm not sure all the other chaps has as well.  We were not disturbed at all and went to lengths to ensure we left nothing behind when we left.

Mike had a bit of an issue, during the night he went off for a poo and got lost in the dark and nearly did not make it back.  The lesson here is to not go far away from camp in the woods unless you know your way back.

Kenitra to Erg Chebbi

One thing is for sure, we had done a lot of miles at this point in time, we had not broken any Land Rovers (bar the squirrel and fuel line on the 90) on the trip so far.  So the long drive to Erg Chebbi from Kenitra went without any undue issues.  We did get lunch along the way (Tagine) and also saw some monkeys in the high pine forests, the scenery was pleasant, it really was a nice drive.

Parked up after the long climb up the hills

A Moroccan monkey

 
We refuelled at the massive price of 70p a liter along the way :-) We went along the Dra valley as well, that was quite pretty.  Also we generally took in the sights.  It was at this point I started to notice Mike and Jerry's eating habits.  Every time we stopped a table came out and they ate a three course meal. Also at 5 minute comfort breaks the wine came out for a quick tipple.

Pretty

Typical loaded Moroccan lorry

Erg Chebbi

A lot has been said about Erg Chebbi being the mecca for 4x4, I now think of it just as a play ground.  I wonder how many 4x4 trips only get this far play about and then go home and call it an overland trip.  We had full intentions of not being there for too long though and were due to push on the next day.

For one day we fell foul of the absolute brilliance of Erg Chebbi, a place for playing around.  During our day there we went a little mad.  Drove alongside some mad Spanish people who were on a rally and meet a nice English couple, obviously mad as well, who were with a group of older landy owners, barking mad and then filled up again at a mad busy service station.

If you want to go play, go to Erg Chebbi.  However, I would not consider this as an overland venue, this is the place where the beggars and commercialisation is just to much.  But it really makes you smile a lot.  I think we all felt we had made it to where our little adventure began.  Yay go us.

We made it yay!

The P38 was so please it made it to the desert it immediately refused to move.

Hello you there

Get me out, I'm stuck

If you jack the really high they will be able to get out

Yup they are stuck under there

There was a lot of walking about to be done.

Now in the clip above you will see a local Arab, I am not kidding you that these guys pop up everywhere, I seriously wonder where they come from.  This chap arrived on a little 50cc scooter bounding across the dunes, so much for 4x4's.

After pulling a few fuses the P38 just drove out of the sand pit, electronics eh!  After this mod was done it worked really well the rest of the trip, except for the engine cooling.  I would not say the P38 was as capable as a 90 or the 110, nor is Larry, but we all went the same places and the P38 did it in style.  We only saw two others the rest of the trip, the owners were also mad.

When we got to Erg Chebbi we spent some time practising in the sand for the long trips ahead.  Looking back now what we thought was driving through sand really was nothing, but it did give us some practise.  Larry got stuck as well, but I was not driving.  Rachel tried her 1st off road driving and buried Larry in sand.

Larry's 1st getting stuck

Rachel celebrating her driving achievement

We really did not know how to drive on sand at this time so everyone for some practise, it was really really needed.

Erg Chebbi to Zagora FAIL!

After a nights camping at Camping Karla (quite a nice campsite) we decided to tackle the route from Erg Chebbi to Zagora.  The route was a lot tougher than expected.  It resulted in a lot of getting stuck and also our first major breakdown, the 90 lost its rear diff and then broke a front drive shaft after it had been converted to a 2 wheel drive 90.

I would like to say if you are considering a trip like ours get a really good gps system, our maps and gps's were not up to it and more than once this caused issues.  Also if you are looking at google earth for a route remember the dunes look smaller from above.

Our navigation issues left us on day 1 doing about 5 miles in over 8 hours because we just went the wrong way once and ended up in dodo with a poorly 90.  At the end of the day we ended up with one broken car and a return trip to the camp site.

Action photo of Ken, hope someone got me

I got well and truly stuck and was the 1st to be rescued by the P38's winch and sand mats came to the rescue.

Removing the drive shafts to get a 90 into 2 wheel drive

Traditional English pose when watching work was employed

Rachel tried her hardest to be sympathetic to James who was lying under the 90 pulling parts off with Andy.

Om nom nom, James mum makes great cakes

James and I practicing our Zombie walks whilst Andy works on the 90

Eventually when we got out heading back to Camping Karla for the night.  James and Andy took the 90 to a local garage to re-build the rear diff just so the could get to Zegora for a more thorough re-build, at this point Adam and Sid decided to go with them the next day leaving Ken, Mike, Jerry, Rachel and I to travel overland to meet them the following day.  We knew we would have to stay somewhere over night en route.

I think at this point we all wondered what we had got ourselves into, this was not the last time on the trip we really pushed our off road experience a bit.

More to follow.