Reccies for 2017 Tabernas Trip

[Rodger]

For this year's Good, Bad & Ugly Tour the Spanish contingent are meeting the French contingent three days out from Tabernas and then we'll use a combination of mountain roads and trails. Originally the plan was to meet at Coto Rios in the Cazorla Valley but having just explored the so-called 4x4 trails there, we are now proposing to meet south of Cazorla.
We did a three day (600kms) reccie recently: From our house we crossed the Sierra Nevada (2000 metres) then across to the Sierra Baza (2200 metres) and into the Cazorla Valley but it's just too commercial - even the wild animals don't run away from vehicles and the foxes wait in the road to be fed.
Then we explored the Badlands (it's what the locals call it) which is the access to the Gorafe desert which we'll explore next time. I would have posted photos of some of our Tabernas reccies but we forgot the camera last time out.
Photos: Sierra Baza;

Sierra Del Pozo which takes you into Sierra Cazorla:

Taken from inside truck - waiting to be fed

And into the Badlands

A red-legged partridge and chicks in the Badlands

The chicks climbing

Looking back to the Badlands

Assuming I remember the camera, I'll post more from our next reccie. But these are not the most stunning photos, for those you'll have to wait until after this year's GBU tour.

Regards,
Rodger

 

[Chris]

Nice
When are you going on the actual trip?

 

[Rodger]

Hi Chris,
The trip is scheduled for early October but Froggy Steve & Mbinko do the planning to and from Tabernas and my understanding is that they will be in Santander on the 5th meeting the ferry and will do various trails down through Portugal and then across the bottom of Spain to meet with us at Freila on the 15th.
This is where I come in: 16th Badlands & Gorafe desert back to Freila. 17th Sierra Baza and Sierra Nevada to Laroles via a film location (Sergio Leone). 18th Laroles to Tabernas. Each day has off-road aspects and mountain roads.
19th Film location tour - locations used in Sergio Leone's trilogy and in Fistful of Dynamite and some Indiana Jones locations - virtually all off-road.
20th virtually all off-road and we class this as a 'challenge' route.
It is not yet decided whether we'll create another activity day for the 21st or that will be the day the return journey starts.
People join the tour for as long or as short as their calendar allows but the maximum number at any time will be eight vehicles as this is designed as a holiday - even for those organising it.
Tempted?

Regards,
Rodger

 

[Chris]

Always tempted
It's just that work gets in the way for most of us. I'm in Spain and France in August but between exam results and a festival I'm limited to 10 days which means it's a lightning tour
I might be able to do a solo trip later in the year to make up for it

 

[Rodger]

Chris, you'd be most welcome.
It doesn't take much persuasion for Dave2000 (80 series) and us to take our trucks off-road - actually the slightest excuse gets us out. So if the opportunity arises for you - we're game anytime.

Regards,

Rodger

 

[Rodger]

Continuing our reccies, Dave2000 and us had three days out last week in the Gorafe and it was hot and there are no trees, so no respite. However on the second day we found a cave refuge and had lunch in the cool of 32C. We don't have A/C in the 40 and our in-cab thermometer showed 48C during the afternoon.
We travelled all the trails enabling us to decide which ones we'll use for the GBU17 tour. It will, hopefully, be cooler in October but the heat is worth enduring for the amazing scenery, plus the major climbs and descents.
The trip was excellent and our trucks performed faultlessly but the incessant heat was exhausting.

Regards,

 

[Ben Stratford]

Wow, looks awesome Roger. Hasnt John Wayne been there

 

[AndyCook]

Trails look great, but Spain too hot for me in June

 

[Rodger]

The most beautiful time for the deserts here is April/May as all the flowers are in bloom and it is unbelievably but GBU tour has to be in the autumn as Froggy Steve and Mblinko both have seasonal businesses but it is much cooler them - around 28-32 - but it cools down at night which it doesn't during June-September.

Regards,

Rodger

 

[chapel gate]

48c in the cab?! You'd have to peel me off the seat! 25c and ive got my tongue out panting..

 

[Biscuit]

Sounds like a great trip, and not too far away. Do you take a hard top and full doors for the longer trips?

 

[Rodger]

We only have the soft top and the doors with the cut down top frames so what you see is what we are!

Last year's GBU Tour was great fun and this year's will be even better. We limit the number of trucks as it is a holiday for everyone but if there is space and you are up for it, we can let you know the details, although at the last count we were full.

Regards,

Rodger

 

[Biscuit]

No problem, I'm unlikely to be roadworthy in time, but if I am I'll be requesting a recount

 

[froggy Steve]

meeting in Bergerac for the French 3 then on to meet the others at a campsite just before start of Portugal bit
Its going to be fun!

 

[wobbly]

Don't forget the English contingent

 

[Animal Mother]

I'd love to do this next year.

 

[froggy Steve]

It will be 3rd year we are doing it this year and 2 years for the others. Happy for another one next year, but, might be better sorting another destination though? Like Eastern Europe or Morocco ? keep your eye on updates and get in soon

 

[Rodger]

With only a couple of weeks before we meet the contingent from France, the UK and Spain, Dave, Corinne and I did a final 4 day reccie around Tabernas, arriving home last night. A few weeks ago the desert had some torrential rains and all the dry river beds were raging torrents so we needed to check whether they were still negotiable and also check the trails we hadn't done before.
Day 1 was a disappointment in that nearly all the proposed trails finished in locked gates but we eventually found a way but the 'reward' at the end was disappointing. We wanted to end up at the 'Apache Canyon' house from the Leone trilogy films but someone has purchased it and now it looks nothing like in the film - all white paint and smart railings - so we deleted that from the plan.
Day 2 was much better and we successfully located the opening sequence location for GBU and it is an interesting and challenging trail.
Day 3 was to check out the other end of a trail that we had not previously had time to complete - starting from the other end. All went well for the first hour or so until we realised that we'd missed a turn so we back-tracked and found it. Chances are no-one had been down it for years and eventually we arrive at a house and the old chap tells us we're on his land and that there is no way through (even though GE etc show that there is) but discretion being the better part of valor, we asked about another trail that we wanted to try. Yes no problem and that was interesting, shall we say, but as we neared the bottom (descent was over 1,000 metres) we were confronted by locked gates. So we tried a couple of spur trails that we'd passed until we arrived at a farmhouse and we were greeted by large dogs and an angry farmer 'How did you get here?' We showed our maps and mentioned the old chap at the top and he calmed down and told us the way out (not through the locked gates) but neither of the men wanted their solitude disturbed although we all felt that there was/is something not quite right about that area - i.e. Dave's VR showed us to be off the rail that it shows but that trail isn't there and throughout that whole area all the GPS readings were significantly off from the base reading originally taken from GE and GMaps - the only time we've encountered this! And there's more but that's for tales around the campfire in a couple of weeks.
Day 4 we explored an easy way into another trail, or so we thought! We've run part of this trail before and what had previously taken 10 minutes took us nearly an hour. The power of water from the rains has dramatically changed the trail and and a relatively simple climb, in the past, of around 500 feet is now impassable. It took us nearly 3 hours to cover three kilometers before we abandoned. - boulders, wash outs, crevasses and the temperatures were still in the mid 30s.
I was going to add a couple of videos but I don't seem to be able to get them to load - sorry (@Crispin -same problem as before with videos).

Regards
Rodger

 

[tonytoyota]

Hi Rodger the 40 is looking good it looks a good trip thanks for the pics love them from Tony.

 

[Dieseldragon]

I'm looking forward to it. In another post, you said 16th was rest day. In this post says that we are heading out. I was planning on arriving on the 16th, I can get there earlier if plans have changed.
What's the name of the camp site?