It's been a while since I was last in Maroc and at least ten years since taking a ferry across Biscay to northern Spain which from memory was in either March or April.

I'd like to take the boat from Portsmouth or Plymouth to either Bilbao or Santander in December '24 but unsure if they run in the winter. The timetables only show sailings up to October/November.

Do they run throughout the winter or stop in the Autumn?

The other option is to ride through France and take the boat from either Sete or Barcelona to Tangier Med but I'm trying to avoid a cold ride through France in December on a small bike.
I've had quite a few bad experiences with the port at Sete being blocked (striking) so no sailings resulting in a long drive/ride to Algeciras which is a pain.
Planning two or three months in southern Morocco returning Feb/March'25.

Funny i was thinking the same a you (3 months) only problem it might be a bit cool in the atlas mountains ! Done morocco a " few " times ... keth

I am pretty sure that they run all year round - they would have a lot of money tied up in a vassal that wasn’t earning money otherwise. Ferry companies don’t tend to have timetables a year in advance - have a look to see if the ferry timetable for, say, UK - France is online for December to see if that is there.

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You will have to do without pocket handkerchiefs, and a great many other things, before we reach our journey's end, Bilbo Baggins. You were born to the rolling hills and little rivers of the Shire, but home is now behind you. The world is ahead.

Brittany ferries don’t publish the timetable for November through to November 2025 until June/July

Just a little tale > got on ferry at sandander 8 hours late ! It was about midnight , went to cabin and fell asleep.
Next morning i thought thats a nice smooth crossing to uk ..... ha ha
still in the port , it was FORCE 10 GALE ! In the bay of biscay and took 36 hours to get back to uk .... but i was cheap !!!

Brittany runs ferries to northern Spain all year round, though slightly reduced service in the winter months as the ferries are taken out of service, one by one, for maintenance work.

My favourite crossing heading south is the two nights on board. I can't remember the exact timings, but you would have all day to ride to Portsmouth, board the ship about 9pm, it leaves an hour or so later. You have one night on board during which the ferry travels slowly, calls in at Roscoff the next morning for a crew change, then carries on with a second night on board and you arrive at Santander at 8am (7am UK time). You are now totally refreshed and have all day to make progress heading south through Spain. The price for this crossing is the same as one-night versions.

One word, however. After Switzerland (OK, and Andorra), Spain is the most mountainous country in Europe and crossing in mid winter can be very cold. On one trip a group of seven of us set out from the UK on Boxing Day. We were heading for Lisbon to follow the Dakar rally into Morocco, six of us had electrically-heated vests and were fine, the seventh suffered big time and had his wife buy and ship a vest to a hotel in Algeciras for the return trip.

A Gerbing heated vest is worth three layers of clothing and you can dial in the amount of heat as you wish. You will need this at altitude in Morocco as well. I also ride with handlebar muffs in winter.

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"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)

Yes it gets cold in sunny spain !
I always find the worst part when going to maroc is just past Salamanca when you climb and pass Beja ( ski resort on left ) and after the that it tends to warm up !

Just a note to say that we got tickets from Normandie / Carlos / Gutierrez, who were open on May Day public holiday no less.
Price was 180 Euros one-way open ticket or 280 open return. Price online was 227 one way so we made a saving and got a bottle of wine too.

NB around the corner from Viajes Normandie is a car camping car park where you can stay the night for free. It is a bit noisy overnight from the nearby roads but felt safe enough.

Top tip - Carrefour at this site doesn't open until 9am but if you need facilities the ObraMat store opens earlier and has toilets and a little cafe inside.
It also has pretty much any hardware or tool that you may require, including lifting gear/slings suitable for non-kinetic recovery applications (check suitable ratings and make sure you know what you are doing blah blah blah...).

Crossing to Tangier Med was uneventful if slightly behind schedule.

You will need to fill out the immigration card and take to the booth on the boat during the crossing to get your passport stamped.

At Tangier Med after passport control, we almost got sent into the queue for the x-ray scanner with a shedload of white goods vans (driving a big white boxy vehicle), but the chap in the uniform had a bit of a conflab with his superior and we eventually got sent into the customs/Duoane queue with the other tourists.

Immediately after the booths we were pulled over with everyone else, whilst they had a look in the vehicle, ran sniffer dogs over it, asked if we had drones or weapons, and took drivers passport and vehicle V5 away for a little while.
They then returned with the temporary import document (tiny white slip of paper) without me needing to fill in a single form.

After that we were free to leave, and on the way out there is a parking place with a row of money exchange places, and at the end of the row, the insurance/assurances counter where we bought vehicle insurance for our stay in the country.

Everyone was helpful and friendly - even the customs guys once we had passed the 'attitude test'.

Was nice to hear 'you are welcome in Morocco'.

Now hoping that as we head south perhaps there will be less rubbish everywhere. I don't remember it being so bad but here up north its starting to look like India on a bad day...