Monday 31 December 2007

No driving today!

Marrakech is a fun place - friendly and surprisingly little hassle. The medina is really characterful, you can spend hours getting lost in the souks (we did) and the salmon-terracotta colour is gorgeous.
 
I was highly tempted to buy lots of souveniers, but managed to temper my enthusiasm by reminding myself about my baggage allowance.  However I couldn't pass up the obligatory snake photograh - fortunately my snake seemed very chilled out - a true Moroccan!  Apparently the monkeys are the ones to avoid, as they tend to nick your glasses.
 
Going out now to see what Marrakech has to offer for New Year's Eve...

1300 miles - into Marrakech...

...we'd assumed that since the road was good, and the animals few and far between, we'd be OK driving the last hour or two in the dark, but we hadn't accounted for the human factors!
 
The road was indeed reasonable, but the drivers were just as bad as anywhere else, and the biggest hazard was unlit vehicles (cyclists, motorbikes, donkey carts trotting down the road).  We did see one cyclist who'd come off rather badly.
 
However once we'd arrived, driving around the city was actually quite easy.  Contrary to my expectations, the Patrol seems to be the perfect Morrocan city car.  It's big, so it has presence, and it has lots of dents in the bodywork and massive bits of steel girder hanging off it, so all the other drivers stay out of your way! 
 
Parking was also fun - as the photo hopefully shows!  You can't really drive far into the medina, so we took a guarded parking where the cars are layered four deep and you have to park with the handbrake off so the parking guys can push the cars around to free the ones at the back!
 
We found our riad without "much" difficulty (and without the help of the local kids), it's lovely and very welcoming.  Getting used to Morrocan tea.

1200 miles - El Kebab

Small villages, twisty roads, fantastic scenery, and sheep (I was expecting goats! but I think there are more further south...)
 
The driving is interesting - there are four speeds here, "Heavy Vehicle", "Tourist", "Local", and "Taxi", in increasing order.  The best fun is to watch - from a distance - the locals and taxis fighting it out on the corners of the higher passes, both in beaten-up Mercedes, and both overloaded with passengers!  Alternatively you can get your kicks from trying to overtake trucks safely - you have to develop an art of "blocking", a la Lewis Hamilton, otherwise you are stuck forever behind the truck while local drivers overtake you and the truck and four other cars at the same time...!
 
We decided not to go to the waterfalls after all, because the journey had taken a little longer than expected (we'd been relaxing on the road, which seems to be the only way to drive here if you want to live) - instead we headed on to Marrakech.

Es el último día del año

Después de de un par de días en la carretera que resumiré de esta manera: verdísimas montañas en el Rif y preciosos paisajes en el Atlas medio, hemos llegado a Marrakech.
 
No hemos tenido tiempo de hacer demasiado turismo porque íbamos un poco justos de tiempo. Hemos pasado muchas horas al volante y eso cansa. Pero el último día del año estamos en Marrakech y va a ser un historia totalmente diferente. Relajación, turismo y un poco de fiesta...
 
Feliz año nuevo a tod@s!!!  No os atrangantéis con las uvas.
 
Ana

1100 miles - into the Atlas mountains!

We left Meknes in the late morning, in a "loose convoy" with Teams Fat Blokes and Nomad'er, headed for the waterfalls on the road from Fez.
 
We'd all decided to wimp out and take the mid-Atlas road, rather than the high-Atlas route - mainly due to time constraints (we'd have needed at least an extra day, maybe two, for the longer and higher road).
 
The mid-Atlas road is still spectacular!  And the Patrol is coping very well, even with Ana trying to find reverse gear at 50mph.  :)

Saturday 29 December 2007

Hotel de Nice...

...and the Restaurant Antibes with Piano Bar!  Sighted in Meknes.  We didn't go in.

1000 miles - on the road to Meknes

It's been a long day of driving - not many miles, but the roads are very twisty and the surfaces uneven (though tarmaced).
 
We left three teams to explore Chefchaouen and pressed on with Teams Nomad'er (Ford Transit - your mates, James, if you're reading this) and Fat Blokes In A Car (Landy Defender) to Meknes.  A really beautiful drive with some scary overtaking in evidence, mainly by the locals!  :-)

900 miles - Chefchaouen

Almost exactly 900 (road) miles from home!
 
Crossed into Morroco this morning from Ceuta with surprisingly little hassle, cleared the border in about an hour, along with 5 other teams.  We're headed to Meknes tonight.  Scenery is stunning, will try to post more photos...

A proper car

(Saw this on the ferry, just found the photo - it was heading for the Lisbon - Dakar rally.  Quite fancy one myself!)

Gibraltar at sunrise

Made the ferry, pretty simple with a Spanish-speaker to arrange things! There are about 4 other teams on board, the rest are staying the day in Tarifa We'll convoy to Fez, route to be determined while we wait to cross from Ceuta to Morroco...

Arrived

We made it to the meeting point - hotel in Al Jazeera (or at least, that's how it's pronounced) - and we weren't the last! Met some of the other teams including the owners of this spectacular Merc! Off tomorrow 0700 to Morroco...

800 miles - tunnels past Marbella

The only thing missing is the exhaust note :-)

700 miles - much like 600

So much so that no photo required!

Friday 28 December 2007

600 miles - in the hills, in the dark

This bit's quite dull, really... At least it's colder now so no problems running too hot uphill :)

500 miles - Sunset

The photo doesn't really do it justice!
 
What's not working:  as before, plus the USB hub, and occasionally my mobile phone (bad sign!)
 
Everything is going to plan, except rather slower...

400 miles - A giant bull

And more hills.  Had to stop at the top of a particularly big one after the Patrol started spewing thick black smoke... running slightly hot!  Everything OK once it had cooled down a bit.  Stuart suggested maybe not driving everywhere with my foot on the floor.
 
Met Team Lavvies on the ferry (forgot to mention earlier).  They seem really nice - bought me beer - and are now way ahead of us in their "stealth" dark green 1994 Hyundai Accent...

Pickup at Madrid Barajas

Ana was waiting underneath what appeared to be a giant McDonalds advert...

200 miles - Spain...

Hills and fog.

300 miles - more Spain...

Hills and no fog! Three people have waved at me so far and they've all been French... Hmm... :-)

Found it!

It took a few attempts, but I'm here now :) New tyres at last, should see up safely over both the Pyrennees and Rif mountains before I start wishing we had sand tyres fitted! Kept one of the old ones for the inevitable puncture...

Beautiful sunrise towards Bilbao

Wednesday 26 December 2007

Portsmouth - it's a mini Adventure!

Made it to Portsmouth with plenty of time to spare... but I wasn't allowing for a 30 minute stop in the security search shed!
 
First impressions were quite promising - friendly chap asked to take a look in the boot, I opened up the back, he had a rootle around and asked me if I was really going to Timbuktu.  Yes, I said, I was.
 
He x-rayed my (uninteresting) kitbag and I thought he was going to let me go, but then he started with the questions.  "Have you got any firearms?"  "Nope."  "Got any knives?"  "Yes, a few."  "Few?"  "Yes, three plus a machete."  That was enough to get him on the phone to his supervisor... who turned up and then called HIS supervisor...
 
I spent a few minutes rummaging around to find said knives, which they placed on a table first in order of increasing length, and then amusingly re-sorted them into what I assumed to be an order of increasing naughtiness (small knives at one end, machete in the middle, big scary survival knife at the other end).  There was a bit of sucking-through-teeth and looking me up and down.  I gave them my best public-school smile. and then got told off for sitting down on the big polycarbonate box of "knives we've taken off people, Sonny..."
 
Supervisor "Dave" turned up and carried on with the questions.  "Are you a Serviceman?"  "Are you an Ex-serviceman?"  (must be the haircut)  "Are you really going to Timbuktu?" 

I explained that I thought it was legal to transport knives if they were inaccessible and required for a specific, legitimite purpose - like travelling to Timbuktu.  "You mean like 'Tools of the Trade'?" they asked.  Yes, I said, pretty much. 
 
After a bit more humming and haaing, and sucking through teeth, they decided that there wasn't anything to get excited about after all, and half of the hangers-on sloped off into the rain.  "We'll have to tell P&O" said Dave.  "In case they're not happy carrying them on the boat."  We then had another few minutes to smile at each other while Mr P&O was called up.  I got bored of the smiling and went to sit back in the car.
 
While we were waiting, Dave's minion wandered over for a chat.  The opening gambit ("Are you really going to Timbuktu?") was quite predictable, but then he started talking shop.  "We get a fair few people going to Africa through here... not many of them have knives with 'em.  Some've got guns but then they've got a license, so that's much less of a bother."  Nice to know that it'd have been easier to get on board with a gun! 
 
Mr P&O turned up two minutes later and was much more relaxed about the whole thing.  "So long as they stay in the car... I'd take a knife or two with me if I was going to Africa myself... are you really going to Timbuktu?"
 
I'm on the boat now.  If I hear Frosty the flipping Snowman one more time, I may regret leaving the knives on Car Deck 3.

100 miles - enjoying the M3...

Weather:  light rain
 
What's not working:  the stereo; the dixie-tunes horns; the wipers (they're moving but they're not doing much clearing of water)
 
Minor Concerns:  seeing out of the windscreen; whether or not the crap windscreen wipers will scrape my nice stickers off; making the ferry in time; fuel consumption at motorway speeds.
 
Major Concerns:  none.
 
Comment:  safe to say that the motorway is not the Patrol's preferred habitat.  Still, she does an indicated 80 on the flat, just about, so that's probably about 65 in reality!

On the road!

At last... everything is packed (kind of) and I'm leaving NOW for Portsmouth!


Tuesday 25 December 2007

J-1 & J-2

Es Navidad!!!
 
Y cada vez queda menos para el gran día... o debería decir los grandes días.
 
A mí me toca salir de Barcelona en tren (ese símil de AVE que tenemos por ahora) el día 27 a las 7h. Pasaré un día en Madrid y el 28 me subiré al Patrol en el aeropuerto de Barajas.
 
A Alastair le va a tocar disfrutar de un "crucero" de más de 24h por el Cantábrico. Courage mon ami!
 
Ana 

Monday 24 December 2007

Final, final preparations!

Yep, I picked today of all days to decide that we do in fact need new tyres :-)

Key factors contributing to this decision:
  • it's now snowing in the Pyrenees and raining either side of them
  • we want to take the cross-Atlas route to Marakech, which has corners
  • the gradual realisation that 4000 miles on crap roads with even crapper tyres is asking for trouble.
Made an abortive trip to Costco today, the new plan is to get a new set of tyres in Bilbao (they should be cheaper in Spain anyway...)

Managed to get the replacement air filter and repair the air intake, I still intend to make a snorkel for the car before we reach the desert but I don't have time to do it before we leave. So I'll take the bits and do it in a carpark somewhere in Spain or Morocco, most likely.

Oh, and the big disappointment of the day: my dixie-tunes "Dukes of Hazzard" airhorn is not working, after I fed the compressor 24v instead of 12v. Will take it apart tomorrow and see if it can be fixed.

We DO finally have music in the car, though, but only through one speaker for now. Tomorrow might well be quite a busy day.

Merry Christmas, everyone! :-)


Sunday 23 December 2007

Para nuestros lectores hispanoparlantes

Hola,

la verdad es que tengo poco que decir.

Alastair se ha estado ocupando de la parte más dura, preparando el coche; y yo he estado mucho más tranquila, verificando detalles del viaje: ferrys, hoteles y poco más.
Me ha parecido buena idea incluir la primera entrada en castellano, para todos aquéllos que nos sigan desde España y no hablen inglés (que son unos cuantos e incluye a la mayoría de mi familia).
Nos han dicho que en África hay cobertura telefónica en casi todos los centros urbanos. Así que intentaremos poner el blog al día tanto como nos sea posible. Eso sí, no os extrañéis si no damos señales de vida en días, que en el desierto no hay ná de ná ...

Ana

Saturday 22 December 2007

Final preparations are underway!

Good thing- the rear seat folds forward! 
Bad thing- the spare air filter I got is the wrong size! Off to our local motor factors on Monday to try to get the right one (plus a spare fanbelt, which I forgot...!)

Better look like we know what we're doing...

...and as a side benefit, the more stickers on the car, the less dodgy paintwork you can see! :-) 
Scott did a truly excellent job preparing these in next-to-no time... great work that man.

Monday 10 December 2007

There can't be much more to fix!

Another weekend at SW's, what can I say... always a pleasure!





(Yes, we did really need the huge wrench, it's not just for show!!!)

The Noble (below) was nothing to do with our trip to Africa - but it was quite tempting to swap it for the Patrol. I tried, actually, but didn't get away with it... probably a good thing, it doesn't have the ground clearance we need. Or move under it's own power, but I'm sure that's a temporary issue :-)


Now, I think, everything really is sorted, apart from some small stuff I can do at home. So, fingers crossed.

Thursday 6 December 2007

Testing - mobile blogging from Toughbook

Test blog post sent from our in-car Toughbook via mobile phone.


A

Thursday 29 November 2007

Got a Ticket!

The Patrol has spent a few days down at SW Autos - I collected it this evening. They've replaced the steering track rod ends and now you can actually make the thing drive in a straight line (the handling's not "pin-point", but that would be asking too much!) They also fixed up the seatbelt properly, sorted one or two other bits, and changed the engine oil, so I think we are now good to go...

Despite being dubbed the "Patrol of Death" by Stuart, it then flew through its MOT and we now have a ticket to allow it to be driven after December! All good.

Tuesday 27 November 2007

Another one!

Good news - we have heard that Team Breakfast At Tizntest (a.k.a. James and Simon) are also driving a Patrol to Timbuktu. Theirs is a bit newer (1987) and (I quote) "in particularly poor condition - even worse now it's had an angle grinder taken to it!"

So that should be good in case we need to make one working car out of two broken ones... :-)

Monday 26 November 2007

Getting there slowly...

Two improvements to the car this weekend - a "new" (secondhand) replacement for the dying battery, and a "new" (really new) seatbelt for the driver.

The seatbelt still needs some finishing-off (one of the securing bolts isn't quite long enough to be ideal) but the battery seems to do the trick - car started first time on a cold November evening, which was quite a thing!


Admittedly, the "old" battery looks like it might be the original one from 1985...


Apart from that, I still have not checked if the 4wd transmission works properly, I guess I will do that one night this week. The car is also going down to SW Autos again this week to have the track rod ends repaired, the oil changed, and another look at the suspension. All good fun.

Saturday 24 November 2007

Frost in the morning

Not something we'll be seeing in Mali!

Friday 23 November 2007

Essential!


Haynes repair manual arrived, we'll definitely need it during our trip. Not sure I fancy stripping the gearbox down at the roadside though! Hopefully will just be required for minor repairs...

Spare wheels


The spare wheels that I bought on eBay arrived yesterday. Tyres don't have much life left but they'll be ok for emergencies. We'll keep two and put the other two back up for sale!

The first sticker is on the car!


And now everyone wants to know "why Timbuktu?..." If only I had a proper answer! :-)