Morocco : Setting off 24th June 2010

Been humming and harring about doing this since last year, but recently, partially due to reading stuff on here, I thought sod it, I need a trip this year before it gets more hectic later on the year (baby on the way).

So going to Morocco next month. We will be going in our 1963 SWB landie again which is prety much standard other than a few creature comforts (mainly some better seats and a digital clock). Hopefully it will cope with the temperatures out there which are pretty high at that time of year. The landie is pretty much there...just need to make something to hold the radiator expansion tank as th broken expansion tank sitting in the footwell isn't having much effect, might have a rear wheel seal to do by the looks of it...might need to buy some more tyres, as the cheapo ones I have on there, which were old when I bought them, look a little worse for wear since the last trip. Thinking maybe some AT tread to get a little better fuel economy.

Keeping it simple as usual, we will be taking our trusty Camping Gaz single burner, tent, lots of Super Noodles, Granola bars, pasta, and, of course, lots of water.

We have not got a lot of time on the trip (16 days!) due to work commitments...so we are going to cain it down to the south of Spain...possibly in 1 hit... driving in shifts to get the first 1500 miles out of the way, buy a ferry ticket on the day, and then do a (probably anti-clockwise) loop round Morocco, picking out what we think are interesting bits (been keeping a keen eye on the recent guys who went there, so thanks for that ) and then head back again. We reckon we might just be able to do between 2000 and 3000 miles in Morocco partially depending how quick we get down to Spain.

Thanks to the help from Chris at Pebble Track, we are yet again having a GPS tracking system which will record our location, speed and temperature. This will be live on our website as well as our blog which I will post shortly before the launch if anyone is interested. Our trusty 50p compass and maps, though, will provide the bulk of our in-car navigation as used in previous trips to Mongolia and Algeria.

Wish us luck!

Alex and Adam
aka The Rusty Rhinos

Good Luck guys, I'll check on your website on a daily basis to see where you guys are, and pretend that I too am doing something interessting and fun

Hehe cool

best of luck rusty, hopefully you will have time for a pint before you leave!

Thank you

Of course, up for a drink

Hey mate, you know that Kai and I wish you the very best for your trip...

Safe driving and interesting times!

Just make sure you write it all up on here afterwards!

Cheers

Chris

Thanks you two

And yup will certainly take pics and try to do a write-up...although I am not very good at that sort of thing so might leave it for the videos!

dont know if its of any use to you I have got a 8 blade fan and an mil sump & oil cooler here

8 blade! Crikey! MHM has got a 5 blade on the way to me shortly.

Is it easy enough to fit the oil cooler? Is it a case of it all plumbs into the sump or is there other thigns that need to be done?

*edit* thinking about it, it surely has to have a plate where the oil filter attaches? Where would the cooler normally mount? As I have an electric fan to get in the way. I still could be very interested though, get back to me ...even if the original cooler does not fit (I am assuiming they are quite bulky?) I could get a modern oil cooler and use the sump etc to plumb it in.

Hey mate, just finished putting your temperature information on the trackinig window. You should have live internal and external temperature readings across the whole journey.



Cheers

Chris

Excellent - technology in a Series Land Rover - brilliant!

I would say though that the internal temperature is nothing to go by the looks of it, the unit is obv a lot warmer than the rest of the land rover!

The blog is in your siggy hehe

Ryder...p.s according to the current observations from the nearest weather station, the external temp is spot on

Glad about the external sensor... remember the internal one is coming from the mainboard and so may remain a little higher than the general ambient te,perature. I believe, however, that as you get into areas of extreme heat or cold, being in the ballpark should work OK...

The only thing I do have reservations about is the starting elevation of the map view... can't help wondering whether we should set it a little lower to start with... your thoughts?

In fact... anyone's thoughts?

That is true, the temp should even out, I can't see the GPS unit generating much heat itself.

I think it needs to be zoomed out a little - is that what you were thinking, or the opposite?

Me and Adam have now plotted a rough route: See Moroccan Road Trip 2010 (May 2010 Edit) - Google Maps



There is method to our route somewhere! It is approx 6000 miles - 3000 Spain and back and 3000 in Morocco...as above we might need to scrimp a bit here and there if we run out of time but we hope to get most of it in

Brilliant, that's roughly the same route we did.

Glad to see you didn't bother going through Tan Tan, O Casablanca is a ****hole too, but it's so bad you actually have to see it, even if it's just driving past

Easy to cut the trip short if you run out of time, just find a toll road, they are pretty damn good.

Cant wait to see your video

Now ya see that is, a LOT of miles... driving that old series your biceps better be in good shape!

Re: the map... I was thinking of starting a lttle lower... the initial setting shows a vast area.

Yeah I had a good feeling Casablanca would be a hole...but you know, some things just have to be done, even as you say, just to see how rubbish it is! The main reason for the big loop at the bottom left is to do that bit by the sea as that appealed greatly...worst case if we dont get enough time we will skip that

I didn't know there were toll roads!

You actually get used to driving the Series over long distances, you don't even feel it once you get used to it. Fast twisty desert driving is hillarious though, you have to kinda let the vehicle go where it wants and kinda guide it, rather than directly steering it, if that makes sense!

Interesting, I thought it would be better zoomed out a little, because when we are in different countries, I thought it would be more useful for people to compare to what countries or what part of the country we are in. What are other peoples thoughts?

Yes on the way out I found a nice toll road, as good as the roads here, I got from Essouria to 5 miles to the border in one day, then the gearbox exploded Think it starts at Agadir and pretty much goes to Tanger. The B roads are a bit more scary, in fact they are terrifiying Luckily most of our route was off road.

The Desert highway (n12 I think) is a pretty good road too..

Thanks for the info Booger

B roads sound fun!