At the end of January I went to Morocco and Western Sahara for a month. This is my second visit to Mor.
Firstly some figures and stats that might be of use to anyone heading that way:
Ferry crossings were with Brittany Ferries - Portsmouth to Santander - £604 return (purchased 4 weeks before) and with Acciona from Algerciras to Cueta - €180 open return plus a cake and a bottle of bubbly from Viajes Normandie!
In the round trip ex Santander I covered 7458 km with a total cost of £801 for 1079 litres (or 237 gallons) of diesel with an average of 19.5 mpg
The breakdown of the distance covered is:
2278 km were in Spain (there and back) at a total cost of £400 in diesel - cost of diesel was €1.35 per litre
5180 km were in Morocco and Western Sahara at a total cost of £400 diesel (incredibly what it cost me to get from Santander to Algeciras and back!!!) - cost of diesel was 7.4 dirham (£0.57) per litre in Morocco and 5.2 dirham (£0.43) per litre in Western Sahara.
The Morocco part of the route:
[attachment=0:1hswy8wd]map1.jpg[/attachment:1hswy8wd]
I was in Morocco between 24th January and 17th February. For the most part the temperature in Mor and WS was between 5C and 18C, although it did drop to -5C in the mountains and did occassionally rise to 22C on the desert floor. There was snow in the mountains and I had to drive through a snow storm in the hills between Azrou and Mildelt. I also encountered a few mild sand storms in the desert.
Camping was split approx 50% campsite and 50% wild camp in Mor and WS. For the most part camp sites cost less than £10 a night for 1 vehicle and two people. I also slept in Spanish car parks three times parked alongside some motor homes on the way back.
Number of times stuck: twice in sand, both times uneccessarily - first time driving off piste to do some sight seeing and the second time looking for a better camping spot in the dunes above a beach. Both recoveries involved a combination of lowering the tire pressure, digging and using waffle boards.
Assistance given: helped recover a fully kitted Swiss Jeep towing a trailer stuck in some small dunes. For some reason the owner had been trying rahther unsucessfully to recover himself with the trailer still attached. Also when out in the desert, pointed a group of three Swiss and German trucks (3T, 7T and 14T) in the right direction.
Damage and breakdowns: Nil - except for the ground connector breaking off the cyrix, probably the result of the cable dropping out of place and getting snagged in my big boot (Cyrix is located in the space above the brake pedal). On return the car was MOTed without problem following a standard service
Pics to follows.
Firstly some figures and stats that might be of use to anyone heading that way:
Ferry crossings were with Brittany Ferries - Portsmouth to Santander - £604 return (purchased 4 weeks before) and with Acciona from Algerciras to Cueta - €180 open return plus a cake and a bottle of bubbly from Viajes Normandie!
In the round trip ex Santander I covered 7458 km with a total cost of £801 for 1079 litres (or 237 gallons) of diesel with an average of 19.5 mpg
The breakdown of the distance covered is:
2278 km were in Spain (there and back) at a total cost of £400 in diesel - cost of diesel was €1.35 per litre
5180 km were in Morocco and Western Sahara at a total cost of £400 diesel (incredibly what it cost me to get from Santander to Algeciras and back!!!) - cost of diesel was 7.4 dirham (£0.57) per litre in Morocco and 5.2 dirham (£0.43) per litre in Western Sahara.
The Morocco part of the route:
[attachment=0:1hswy8wd]map1.jpg[/attachment:1hswy8wd]
I was in Morocco between 24th January and 17th February. For the most part the temperature in Mor and WS was between 5C and 18C, although it did drop to -5C in the mountains and did occassionally rise to 22C on the desert floor. There was snow in the mountains and I had to drive through a snow storm in the hills between Azrou and Mildelt. I also encountered a few mild sand storms in the desert.
Camping was split approx 50% campsite and 50% wild camp in Mor and WS. For the most part camp sites cost less than £10 a night for 1 vehicle and two people. I also slept in Spanish car parks three times parked alongside some motor homes on the way back.
Number of times stuck: twice in sand, both times uneccessarily - first time driving off piste to do some sight seeing and the second time looking for a better camping spot in the dunes above a beach. Both recoveries involved a combination of lowering the tire pressure, digging and using waffle boards.
Assistance given: helped recover a fully kitted Swiss Jeep towing a trailer stuck in some small dunes. For some reason the owner had been trying rahther unsucessfully to recover himself with the trailer still attached. Also when out in the desert, pointed a group of three Swiss and German trucks (3T, 7T and 14T) in the right direction.
Damage and breakdowns: Nil - except for the ground connector breaking off the cyrix, probably the result of the cable dropping out of place and getting snagged in my big boot (Cyrix is located in the space above the brake pedal). On return the car was MOTed without problem following a standard service
Pics to follows.
there were 5 blokes and 2 females so we got the shovels out and dug through, took us about 1 1/2 hrs or so as only two of the others had shovels 
I never expected to see snow in Morocco though. 
