Morocco March 2016

MrNasty said:

Chris, what are the dates that your wife is getting to Marrakesh? Want to coordinate with my wife returning home from Marrakesh and book the flight, oh and whats the hotel called your staying at?

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Hi,

I was going to pick her up on the Monday from the airport. I'll double check the flight schedules.

If you pick her up Monday, that will work out great as my wifes flight leaves at 10.30AM on the Tuesday. What was the name of that hotel your booked into?

Cor blimey I'm not that organized, I did see one near the airport for about £25 a night, I'll have a look see. I was thinking we could crash there for 1 night and then head off, if the other guys want to goto the dunes or something we can catchup.

Sounds like its going to be a blast down to Marrakesh after the crossing instead of camping in the cork forest like last time

That' motorway running south is nice and easy, just a few hours of dodging concealed police and random people picking weeds in the central reservation . The wife is not like me and likes to book things way ahead of time, if she books the flight now it's only £40..

Having a beer in the cork forest or in a hotel in Marrakesh on the first night makes no difference to me.

At least you won't get your ankles bitten in the hotel....

Oh hang on.... Maybe you will

I lost my insect repellent early on in the trip, luckily there was only a couple of places we stopped at where buzzy biters were an issue, naturally the repellent reappeared in the truck once I was home, same with my torches, MP3 cable etc etc.

Dr Mr Nasty, what did you download onto your sat nav and did you use software to do way points?

The maps listed below, are Olaf and some French version that I found randomly searching the net for free Garmin maps of Morocco, the routable one is quite good, the rest are really just overlays showing different terrain features which can be overlayed on to other maps, I haven't played with it all that much, but I ran the Garmin unit the day before I left and it would calculate routes from the UK to most small villages in Morocco

Marokko-Topo http://www.island-olaf.de/travel/marokko/gps.html
OSM generic routable new (MAR_19-01-2015)
OSM + VFP Morocco
OSM-Morocco
VFP Morocco

OSM, is Open Street Maps from Garmin Base Camp, VFP is the French map overlay I found somewhere online from free.

The link below id from Horizons where you will find info on what the latest update is, and yes, you definitely can put waypoints on the map, youll just need to read the thread through to the end to get the most up to date info.

http://www.morocco-knowledgebase.net/forum/showthread.php?t=66

Paid for the ferry today, Portsmouth to Santandar return 18th March and going back on the Sunday 3rd., anyone else going out that day?

MrNasty said:

Paid for the ferry today, Portsmouth to Santandar return 18th March and going back on the Sunday 3rd., anyone else going out that day?

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Just been looking at ferry times - Wednesday or Friday - is the intention to go into Morocco Monday. On another subject got back from Turkey a few days ago - half way through the journey one of the front inner wheel bearing cases totally collapsed - what a noise. Have a look on youtube - overland to asia the trailer.

Yeah, we will go to Morocco on the Monday 21st and head straight to Marrakesh, good job it did not take out the hub as well Ken.

Think I will book the Wednesday ferry as it gets to Santander about noon - and will get to Algeciras late Friday pm - and will be happy to wait until Monday before going into Morocco.
Yes we were more than worried about the hub but it seemed ok - drove like a different vehicle afterwards - no pulling to left, no tyre noise, and the brakes worked first time.

The ferry I'm on doesn't get into Santandar until 5pm on the Sat, so were going to stay in a hotel Sat night and then travel down to the campsite on the Sunday. Personally I would have chosen to drive through the night and get to the site stupid early on the Sunday, but the wife really does not fancy delirious endurance driving in a Defender, unlike last time that took Matt and I 29 hours non stop from Suffolk to Algeciras.

Have ordered SD card to cover the trip in south Africa from May next year from Tracks4africa and am told it also covers Morocco in detail - and it can be loaded onto Mapsource and used on any of the Garman products including the Nuvi.

Well 24 hours on a boat is not for me, so I'll be driving down crossing on the 17th late ferry and I shall meet Mike about 3pm or before on Friday, not sure if I'll stay there for the evening when we meet or crack on, then the long drive to the campsite the following day. Should get there on Saturday night.

Mr Nasty I take it missus is in the car then?

Oh and just for a laugh I'm applying for a radio license as well to try to talk to my mates back home.

OLDUN said:

Just been looking at ferry times - Wednesday or Friday - is the intention to go into Morocco Monday. On another subject got back from Turkey a few days ago - half way through the journey one of the front inner wheel bearing cases totally collapsed - what a noise. Have a look on youtube - overland to asia the trailer.

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I'd replace the other bearings if I was you, one went on mine and you were lucky, mine ****ed the tub axel and I had to get a replacement. I will be doing the others before going next time.

Yep, the "home office" is travelling down with me, wants to spend one night in Marrakesh with us and then I'll drop her off at the airport at 8AM on Tuesday 22nd.