Morocco 2014

total distance travelled: app. 9.100 km

Neuss - Luxemburg - Lyon - Camargue - Andorra - Bardenas Reales - Madrid - Granada - Malaga - Algeciras - Tanger Med - Tetouan - Al Hoceima - Saidia - Figuig - Erfoud - Merzouga / Erg Chebbi - Zagora - Ouarzazate - Agadir - Sidi Ifni - Guelmin - Tiznit - Agadir - Marrakech - Casablanca - Rabat - Tanger Med - Algeciras - Almeria - Murcia - Valencia - Barcelona - Narbonne - Lyon - Luxemburg - Neuss

on the road for 30. We had to cancel the trip because we had massive problems with the valves on the tires. The platform for the quad was also damaged while driving on pistes. It was a design problem, so that we did not drive on more pistes.

15.10.2014 - 434 km

Neuss -> Luxemburg -> Metz -> Nancy
Slept on a quiet highway parking area

16.10.2014 - 573 km

Nancy -> Dijon -> Lyon -> Nimes
Problems with the speed indicator, the rev meter makes strange noises. Tried to repair it, the peg in the screw thread was broken. Slept on a quiet highway parking area

17.10.2014 - 361 km

Nimes -> Saintes Maries de la Mer -> Narbonne -> Quillan
short walk on the beach, bought some fresh fruits, slept on a quiet parking area in a valley just before Quillan

18.10.2014 - 461 km

Quillan -> Andorra -> Lleida -> Zaragoza
filled up the tanks with cheap in Andorra (tax free area), long traffic jam from Spain to Andorra (Weekend visitors to tax free Andorra ...), big loss of power, partly only able to drive 40km/h uphill. Slept on a highway parking area with beautiful sunset and sunrise.

19.10.2014 - 574 km

Zaragoza -> Bardenas Reales -> Madrid
horrible weekend traffic in Madrid, missed a highway exit in Madrid, slept on a small highway parking area for cars south of Madrid

20.10.2014 - 335 km

Madrid -> Jaen -> Granada
camped on the campground "Sierra Nevada" in Granada, bought some supplies in nearby supermarkets, tried to repair the rev meter again (not successful)

21.10.2014 - 0 km

Granada
Tried to visit the "Alhambra", the average waiting time at the entrance was 3 hours when we arrived in early morning. We decided to walk back to the campground and stroll through the town

22.10.2014 - 255 km

Granada -> Malaga -> Marbella -> Algeciras
bought tickets for the ferry from Spain to Morocco at "Carlos" and bought supplies at Carrefour

23.10.2014 - 85 km

Algeciras -> Fähre nach Tanger Med -> Martil
Problems with customs in Tanger Med, odyssey in the port, changed money

24.10.2014 - 240 km

Martil -> Al Hoceima
fuel consumption on this part was about 50l/100km because of all the ascents / descents. Problem getting fuel because I did not have enough Dirham and nobody accepted credit cards. Luckily they accepted Euro at the last fuel station, parked at the beach in Al-Hoceima, Sabine had a long "discussion" with a guy in shabby clothes who was supposedly from the military. Sabine suddenly could not speak french anymore and he left totally frustrated :-)

25.10.2014 - 0 km

Al Hoceima
Relaxing at the beach

26.10.2014 - 413 km

Al Hoceima -> Nador -> Saidia -> Oujda -> Tendrara
went for a stroll at the harbour in Saidia, finally got money from an ATM, bought supplies in a Marjane supermarket, overnighted next to the road near Tendara, quiet place but cold at night

27.10.2014 - 215 km

Tendrara -> Figuig
camped at the campground "Hôtel Figuig" in Figuig

28.10.2014 - 0 km

Figuig
stroll through the town and relaxing

29.10.2014 - 379 km

Figuig -> Erfoud
filled the fuel tanks with smuggled fuel from Algeria, short piste from Figuig to Erfoud, Date festival in Erfoud

30.10.2014 - 56 km

Erfoud -> Merzouga
short piste from Erfoud to Merzouga, camping in the "Auberge Sahara"

31.10.2014 - 0 km

Merzouga
early morning dune walk and Quad ride in the countryside, got lost a bit and then drove cross country :-)

01.11.2014 - 180 km

Merzouga -> Piste along the algerian border to Tagounite
In Taouz I had to shake off several helpers who wanted to convince me that the piste is not passable because of flooding. Short stop on the way with mint tea and some sweets. Took a wrong turn on the piste and had to drive cross country through the dunes to get on the right track again. Camped half way close to the piste, no sound at all at night, very quiet

02.11.2014 - 268 km

Piste -> Zagora -> Agdz -> Ouarzazate
At our lunch stop in Zagora I noticed that the quad platform was twisted, so that we did not drive any more pistes and stayed on the roads. Camping in Ouarzazate at "Camping de Ouarzazate".

03.11.2014 - 0 km

Ouarzazate
Drove through town, got money from ATM, walked around a bit

04.11.2014 - 295 km

Ouarzazate -> Tazenakht -> Taroudant
Camping in "Le Jardin de la Koudya"

05.11.2014 - 5 km

Le Jardin de la Koudya
When leaving the campground I noticed that the left rear tire was loosing pressure. Turned around and went back to the campsite. The valve was leaking. Took off the tire, removed the valve, put in a new one and mounted the tire again. Luckily there was a garage close by where I could purchase a moped tire to inflate the tubless truck tire.

06.11.2014 - 331 km

Le Jardin de la Koudya -> Agadir -> Tiznit -> Sidi Ifni -> Guelmin -> Bouzakarne
Camped on top of a mountain pass at 1.100 m, very nice and peacful place

07.11.2014 - 380 km

Bouzakarne -> Agadir -> Marrakech
Camped at "Camping Les Relais du Marrakech"

08.11.2014 - 0 km

Marrakech
No activity because of an upset tummy and waiting for the rain to end

09.11.2014 - 574 km

Marrakech -> Casablanca -> Rabat -> kurz vor Tanger Med
According to the weather report it will rain for the next days, so we continued north. Camped at a fuel station just before Tanger Med, a nice sttendant showed us a place to park away from the noisy refrigerated trucks.

10.11.2014 - 238 km

Tanger Med -> Fähre nach Algeciras -> Marbella -> Malaga -> Maro
Ferry crossing, bought supplies at Carrefour, then drove on to Maro

11.11.2014 - 833 km

Maro -> Almeria -> Murcia -> Valencia -> Amposta
We could not sleep, so we drove on at 1:30, took the wrong highway at Motril, turned around and drove along the coast to Almeria. The highway was on the map but was not yet opened. Arrived at Viator near Almeria at 04:50 AM and camped in a residential area until 10:00 AM. Then on to Gata de Gorgos where we stopped for lunch and I put greased the axles. At Amposta I noticed the loss of pressure of the left tire in the second axle. We stopped at a parking area and stayed overnight.

12.11.2014 - 333 km

Amposta -> Barcelona -> Perpignan
Canged the faulty valve in the morning (which was no fun because of a tour bus with chinese tourists parked right next to us and all wanted to take pictures and hellp me). Big problems fitting the valve because the seat of the valve was ruined by the garage that mounted the tires. It took all morning and we finally could drive on at noon.

13.11.2014 - 657 km

Perpignan -> Orange -> Lyon -> Dijon

14.11.2014 - 540 km

Dijon -> Nancy -> Metz -> Luxemburg -> Neuss
Home sweet home...