We needed a place to park up in the UK upon our return from North Africa and before starting our Southern African adventure. We contacted Darts Farm in Topsham and the owners very kindly agreed to us staying on their property in return for a donation to the local air ambulance trust. Big Bertha is now on its way to […]
Distance: 7,453 miles / 11,994 kmTime: 223 daysFuel Consumption: 13.2 mpg / 21.4 l/100kmCountries: UK / Spain / Morocco / Portugal It was always our intention to have a shakedown trip before setting off on our African adventure. And we have learned a lot: about ourselves, about Big Bertha, and about overlanding. On reflection, BB is too big from an […]
Our ferry, the Pont Aven, broke down again and we found ourselves with six ‘extra’ days in Northern Spain. Inspired by the magical film ‘The Way’, we visited Santiago de Compestella and Cabo Fisterra – significant parts of the ‘Camino de Santiago’. We parked up in a town 7km outside Santiago, joined the many pilgrims and walked the Camino to […]
We pushed on through Portugal, spending only thirteen nights there before emerging into Northern Spain. Not much to say except: • Tourists on the Algarve are being fleeced – the same meal was less than half the price inland. • Dave’s Aunty Mary cooks a wicked beef curry • Lisbon has a fun Scottish Country dancing group • Porto is […]
We were lucky to be in Jerez visiting friends at the time of the annual Jerez Feria del Caballo. It lasts a week and is very Spanish. We joined our friends, Douglas and Carol, at Carrefour’s caseta to watch people, fireworks and the ceremonial switching on of the illuminations. It was a late night! The next day we visited during […]
It’s not Marrakech! When we arrived in Morocco, we had a rough idea that we would travel a conventional route – down the coast, passing through Casablanca, Essaouira, Agadir, Marrakech, etc, and back up on the other side of the Atlas mountain ranges, which split Morocco in half. But, as we wanted to test Bertha in the desert and we […]
Mark White, an old Moroccan hand, whom we met whilst camping in Tinghir, advised us that, should we ever get the chance, we should attend a Moroccan Tbourida (or Fantasia). We did our research and saw that an inter-regional competition was scheduled for April 27 & 28 in Meknes. We were camping nearby in Azrou and so we arranged for […]
Rather than taking the conventional ‘Route National’ between the Dades and Todra gorges, we decided instead to take the long way around and head up the Dades gorge, into the mountains, visit Agoudal, and then back down the Todra gorge. It turned out to be a spectacular journey with some magnificent wild camping at high altitude with stunning views. Our […]
We emerged from a minor road skirting the Anti Atlas mountains at the town of Agouim, with two choices of how to get to Skoura. We could turn right (road to Ouarzazate and Skoura – 110km) or turn left (road to Touama, crossing the High Atlas range, then to Demnate and back across the mountains to Skoura – 400km). We […]
Our Moroccan trip was always intended to be our shakedown trip and this included assessing Big Bertha’s off road credentials. With that in mind we set of on one of Morocco’s classic off road overland routes: Merzouga to – Tagounite – a 244km 4 day/3 night adventure. Almost immediately we had our doubts – guys on motorcycles kept stopping us […]