Ferry Costs... & Tips for short Moroc trip?

[ManxScamp]

After reading the other post about the cost of ferries UK to Spain I decided to ask some more questions with regard to the short morocco initiation I've got planned for the Christmas holiday period.

I had also considered the same route over christmas, and was about to start looking for prices myself, for SIII, two people, for the same time period, for the same reasons, but at those prices (over £700) it looks like I'll be taking the long route. I'll be interested to hear if you get any further with your enquiries, and find a better price.

So, questions...

1) Roughly how long would it take, in a SIII Diesel with OD, from Calais all the way down, if you really pushed it driving through the night rotating sleeper/driver?

2) Also, as this'll be my first time in my own vehicle, if you've got any other tips or info with regards to the SPAIN/Moroc crossing, do I need to book in advance during this busy period, and roughly how much will it cost nowadays? the websites are quite confusing

3)Any any ideas for a good first time itinerary of this length (a couple of weeks)?
My Co-Driver with probably require a few days in M'Kesh and Casa'B on the way down, so any tips on the safest thing to do with the vehicle if you want to go into town for the day? Other than that all I've got planned so far is to do the west to east M route from Sahara OL, though not going all the way down to TanTan. Alfred is undergoing a full revitalisation programme as we speak so hopefully will be up to it by then, but the budget is extremely tight. If there's anything anyone considers vital for a first, but hopefully not last, trip, please let me know.

Hope to see some of you out there at Christmas!

James.

[Toby2]

Hi James, I put the other question on. As far as Morrocco goes - in terms of Calais down, an idiot of a friend drove his 90 TD5 from the ferry port in southern Spain back to Dover including the Calais Dover crossing in I think about 36 hours - as a solo driver this was stupid but gives an idea of timescale. He would have sat on 80mph so I guess you can calculate down from there based on how much slower you would drive in the series III.

As to the Spain - Morrocco crossing, last time we did it we rocked up at the port without anything arranged, ran to buy tickets and we were on a ferry within 20 minutes and left within a further 10. However this in part was because we were prepared to go to Tangiers. Lots of travellers seemed hung up on going to Ceuta and they were queueing for three days, partly because due to storms, there had been no sailings for 3 days. The only real benefit I can see to going to Ceuta is that there is heavily subsidised fuel there. However if there was a lengthy delay getting a ferry to Ceuta I see no reason why you couldn't get the ferry to Tangiers, drive along the coast, go into Ceuta, get fuel and come back out.

In terms of keeping the costs down, Fuel is most expensive in UK, slightly cheaper in France, slightly cheaper again in Spain, very cheap (because its subsidised) in Ceuta, pretty cheap in Morrocco. So the cheapest way would be to buy enough Uk fuel to get you comfortably into France, enough French fuel to get you in to Spain, enough Spanish fuel to get you down to Ceuta. Then fill right up to hopefully get you round Morrocco, then refill on the way back to get you back to the UK. (think this will work, haven't tried the Ceuta thing yet so if others know this not to be the case then let me know but think I have it right).

Hopefully see you down there. Cheers Toby

[This message has been edited by Toby2 (edited 12 August 2004).]

[ManxScamp]

Thanks Toby...

Any other tips on first timer programmes, the approximate spain/moroc ticket costs or the urban parking issue?

Also, would anyone know of any friendly traveller people in the London area who don't mind showing their prept. truck to a first timer for inspirational purposes, or meeting up to pass on some pearls of wisdom?

Cheers,
James

[Toby2]

James - re the questions, think we paid about £60 for the ferry to Tangiers. (one way as we continued down to Cape Town). In terms of leaving vehicles in towns, well there are campsites in each of the major towns so the easiest thing will be to leave it at the campsite and get local transport into town where necassary. In terms of Morrocco we did this in Fez and Rabat. If you are going to leave it town then Morrocco is fairly developed compared to other African countries, you will see other expensive vehicles around the place, just park it in sensible places as you would in this country. For the record I've taken my truck through about 25 countries and the only place I have ever had it broken into in a city was Nottingham, UK.

Re wanting to look at a vehicle / talk about it, we are in Stratford-upon-Avon, have a highly kitted up 110 Defender - inc roll cage, winch, bull bar, cross axle difflock, roof tent, etc, etc. Unlikely to be down in London in the short term but if you are up in this direction quite happy to meet up.



[This message has been edited by Toby2 (edited 13 August 2004).]