Off-road Christmas

We arrived in Merzouga yesterday evening after a fabulous but long day of piste. Using the Wifi at the Hotel Toureg to upload this post. In general posts will be a day or two behind.

The ferry arrived on Tuesday in Nador under the wane sunshine of mid-afternoon. The formalities took longer than expected at the port because the authorities wanted to examine the Scania. We had hoped to make it to Missour around nightfall, but we decided to settle for Guercif. It was already quite dark when we passed Hassi Berkane, and we drove carefully the last hour since there are often surprises on the road at night. Pedestrians, bicycles, sheep, branches, rocks: we saw all of these in time.

We stayed the night at the Atlas Hotel in Gercif, a simple hotel, clean and comfortable at a very correct price. Dinner at the restaurant was ok, but the breakfast was fabulous. Coffee and warm milk, a large glass of sweet fresh orange juice, an enormous pain au chocolat, cheese spread and strawberry jam: 2.25€ per person, less than the price of a coffee in most major European cities.

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We got a rather late start, after picking up bread and cookies at the local bakery. From Guercif, we headed south to Missour, through the Gorges of the Ziz in the Tafilalet to Errachidia, stopping for a late lunch at the gas station just after Rich. The tajine was delicious, but they didn’t have much left after the midday rush, so we ordered some brochettes as well.

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At Errachidia we stopped at the supermarket for some last minute supplies. Not far south of town we turned onto the piste, driving carefully until we found a nice place for a Christmas Eve bivouac. The warmth of the company made up for the inefficiency of the anemic campfire. 

Hoping our readers had a wonderful Christmas too.

Back Behind The Wheel

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2014 was a tough year. The blog has been dormant due to a number of setbacks that also prevented us from taking the wheel in any rallies. If all goes well, we’ll try to be back in the line-up by next spring.

Meanwhile, despite all odds, we managed to get away for some overlanding with the Scania in Morocco during the Christmas break. We didn’t have a lot of time to plan, and we don’t have a fixed itinerary. The main objective is to revisit some of the beautiful places we discovered during our trip in 2012. With luck, we’ll be able to catch up with the Africa Eco Race at the end of stage 1 near Errachidia.

It feels great to be back off-roading, and we’re looking forward to catching up with friends.

If the network connection permits we’ll be posting updates here in as near real-time as possible.

Wishing peace for our readers during this holiday season.

Morocco: On The Trail Of The Rally — Part 4 Africa Eco Race Tagounite, Trucks

We took a lot of pictures at the start of stage 3 of the Africa Eco Race. To reduce loading times, we decided to create a separate post for the truck photos.

We arrived as the trucks and cars were preparing to head over to the starting line just outside the bivouac at Tagounite. Tomas and Anton, the Tatra and Kamaz drivers, were comparing notes…

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The teams had different ways of preparing their minds and bodies for the coming day.

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We spotted the Kerax of Belgian Roland Hoebeke parked alone near the main tents. We didn’t learn until later that he had entered the race as a solo driver in the classic (raid) category.

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Noel Essers getting ready to head out.

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One of the sweeper trucks was parked at the bivouac.

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As the trucks headed to the starting line, the service teams didn’t hang around to watch the action. They packed up and immediately set off for the long drive to the next bivouac.

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The competitors waited in line to start according to the previous day’s ranking.

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The Kamaz was the first to start,

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As the last of the competitors started the course, the Tatra sweeper truck pulled out, ready to follow the racers through the desert to the next bivouac at Oued Draa.

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Read the next installment or go back to Part 1 and the post index.