tj's blog

New Blog

2011-05-24T13:26:00.001+01:00

I have decided to create a fresh new blog just about our trips in Land Rovers and all the fun and troubles that happen.
www.tjlr.blogspot.com

Today

2010-10-14T13:26:00.001+01:00

Went to Bezier this morning, a bit of a dive. Lunch by the Millau Bridge.
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Tonight we are here.

2010-10-12T17:36:00.001+01:00

N43.08.889
E003.00.037
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Some decent weather!

2010-10-12T17:01:00.001+01:00

Finally the weather has changed and brought some early autumn sun. After lunch and a wander around Carcassonne, we're now off to Narbonne, a short 60kms away.

May be able to get the tent dry today!

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Carcassonne

2010-10-12T11:11:00.001+01:00

Today we are in a getting sunnier location.
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Cahors

2010-10-11T13:00:00.001+01:00

Well, an eventful day yesterday, but the lovely new box is in and we realise how shagged the old one was - this is so much quieter.

Stayed overnight with Richard and Tanya who very generously offerd use nof their paddock instead of another night in the workshop! After a fine dinner and breakfast, we said out goodbyes and went to pay Nigel for all his help. Christinee giftred us 6 fresh eggs and we agreed to meet at Billing next summer. I think we'll probably stop in on our way to Morocco next autumn, cos we are going to try again!

A short drive south brings us to the home of more friends, George and Alan in Cahors. They've gone back to the uk for the winter but we'll camp here tonigt and head for Carcassonne tomorrow.

TJ very tired, I think the stress of the last week is working its way out.

It's also raining but hopfully that'll clear soon.

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Cahors

2010-10-10T14:19:00.001+01:00

Well, an eventful day yesterday, but the lovely new box is in and we realise how shagged the old one was - this is so much quieter.

A short drive south brings us to the home of more friends, George and Alan in Cahors. They've gone back to the uk for the winter but we'll camp here tonigt and head for Carcassonne tomorrow.

TJ very tired, I think the stress of the last week is working its way out.

It's also raining but hopfully that'll clear soon.

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It's in!

2010-10-09T12:43:00.001+01:00

Sterling work this morning, new gearbox and original transfer box back in the car. Now to tighten it all up and see if she runs.

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It's here!

2010-10-09T10:19:00.001+01:00

Delivered by a very nice chap on no sleep; who's now off to lyon, then Nice, the Milan. Hopefully we can gt it fitted today and back on the road!

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So it's all a bit fucked, then.

2010-10-06T18:13:00.001+01:00

As most of you may know, the goddamned sodding bastardy car packed up on Saturday. Tj and out good samaritan discovered this morning that it wasn't the transfer box, but the gearbox, a supposedly indestructible santana lt85. Replacement ordered from uk, on overnight shipping, but the van broke down on the way to collect it. So it probably won't be here tomorrow, rather Friday, and that's a whole week down the swanee.

So, new plan is to see a bit more of france and maybe stray into germany. Return ferry not till 22nd, so we still have a fortnight. All is not lost, but something is telling us not to go to morocco this year!

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home for tonight.

2010-10-06T06:47:00.003+01:00

2010-10-06T06:47:00.001+01:00

Straight bar from nigel's house to his workshop

2010-10-05T14:18:00.001+01:00

where we will make camp tonight before fixing it tomorrow morning,

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Loaded

2010-10-05T07:55:00.000+01:00

So were now loaded onto a transporter heading for the replacement transfer box.
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Current plan

2010-10-04T20:28:00.001+01:00

Off to Limoges tomorrow for replacement transfer box. Hopefully the transporter will actually turn up tomorrow.
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Just looking at the route.

2010-10-04T18:31:00.001+01:00

someone appears to have scribbled on the map!

Todays view

2010-10-04T14:04:00.001+01:00

Hopefully tomorrow we'll be elsewhere getting it fixed. Weather not helpiing the general mood.

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Decided against sItting on the beach today

2010-10-04T09:20:00.000+01:00

Jings! Wtf happenened to yesterday's weather?
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Arse

2010-10-03T19:01:00.001+01:00

The Transfer box blew up 5 kms from the Spanish border so were stuck in Biarritz for the evening. The search for a replacement box starts in the morning.
Not a good day.
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Whizzing through Bordeaux.

2010-10-03T11:00:00.001+01:00

Gonna be a loooong day today.

2010-10-03T09:48:00.001+01:00

I don't know where we are but it's very pretty.

2010-10-03T09:07:00.001+01:00

Only 800 km to go today.

First Night in France.

2010-10-02T18:58:00.000+01:00

Pitched camp now for a curry
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Turned out nice this afternoon.

2010-10-02T16:00:00.001+01:00

2010-10-02T11:51:00.001+01:00

Uh oh...

2010-10-02T11:46:00.001+01:00

We seem to be in Paris, on the peripherique. Tj says its fine. Not sure the rest of Paris agrees!

Dover

2010-10-02T05:15:00.000+01:00

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So were off

2010-10-01T18:25:00.001+01:00

Well now it starts, off to Dover to catch the ferry to france in the morning.
Morocco here we come.
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Four weeks to go!

2010-09-08T14:01:00.002+01:00

So with four weeks to go some minor prep work required for the 130.
New front shocks to be fitted.
Sort out minor fuel leak in supply pipe.
Fit replacement second battery.
Sort drive flanges at the rear.
Go through the food cupboard.
Refit first aid kit.

So not much.

Iceland Trip 2009

2010-08-25T21:49:00.001+01:00

Iceland - 30 July to 21 August 2009
Better Prepared Vehicles - TJ & Katy Nicolson - Land Rover 130

In October 2008 we took our first overland trip in our Defender 90, to Morocco, with Trailmasters.
The whole experience was fantastic, and it really gave us the bug for overland travel. We made
some really good friends while travelling, and very shortly after our return to the UK in November we were starting to think about the next trip. It had been an ambition for some while to visit Iceland, if only for a long weekend, and the Morocco experience gave us the confidence to organise a trip by ourselves - Iceland it was to be! Planning began in earnest, and a meeting at the Indoor 4x4 show at Driffield had the 6 of us poring over maps and planning routes. Dates were set for August 2009, but of course we were hostage to the vagaries of the Smyrnil Line ferry schedule. Unfortunately the route from Scrabster in the north of Scotland has been terminated, which means all travellers need to get to northern Denmark to board a ferry via the Faroe Islands, a 48hr crossing.

We wanted to spend as much time as possible in Iceland, and we agreed to spend 3 weeks - adding in travel time, it amounted to about 5 weeks off work! Our wives all have full-time jobs, and 5 weeks off was going to be a challenge for the, so we agreed that the boys would all drive up to Denmark and take the ferry, and the girls would fly out a week later to Reykjavik, take an internal flight to Egilsstadir and we'd meet them there. The plan was set - a yellow 130, a green 110 and a silver Discovery 2 were going to Iceland!

Once we were all together, we headed straight towards the fabulous Vatnajokull Glacier. Our first view of Iceland's glorious landscapes didn't disappoint, despite the low clouds and drizzle. We stopped at Snaefell mountain hut for lunch, to warm up and find out how to get to the glacier, and boy were we glad of the warm and toasty little hut tucked into the mountainside! Having established which direction to take, we headed out to Vatnajokull, which is completely awesome in its size. You really can't appreciate how big it is, even when you're standing right on the edge of it.

Returning to the hut at Snaefell for the night, I must admit we had rather failed to take into account the fact that sleeping at the foot of a glacier, even in August, isn't the warmest place in the world to be!

The following day, we were up and ready to leave shortly after 9am, with a view to taking the F909 and F910 to Adalbol and Bru, then down to the Ice Caves at Kverkfjoll. Unfortunately we turned south far too early, but it cut off about 3hrs of very hard driving, and we ended up crossing the north of Lake Halslon at the new dam. Turning north again, we rattled through some astonishing landscapes until the 130 started making some very odd noises. A quick inspection underneath revealed that the exhaust had sheared off just in front of the rear box, and we had nothing to hand that could fix it. A team discussion finally agreed that Katy and I would head north again to try and find some help, while the others would head southwest towards the ice caves.

Luck was on our side. We pitched up at Modrudalur, a tiny little hamlet which is apparently the
highest situated and still inhabited farm in Iceland. Vast swathes of land belong to the farm, and it lies in the rain shadow of the glacier, so is (apparently) a little drier than other areas. Stopping for coffee at the roadside cafe, I established that the farmer (who also owns the campsite and cafe) had a welder, and would probably be willing to help us out when he returned later in the day. True to his word, later that evening we were all fixed up, and we decided to stay the night as it was a beautiful evening, and by now far too late to try to get to Kverkfjoll.

The following morning, up bright and early to catch up with the others at Askja. Chuntering across corrugations needs to be done at 40mph or thereabouts, but it's impeded by the fact that you do have to slow down for bends and corners, otherwise the rough, loose surface will sling you off into a hillside. We finally made it to Askja at about noon, where we had a quick bite to eat at the mountain hut, then headed to the car park at the edge of the caldera. This was some truly epic scenery nothing but piles of vicious black lava, bullied into a vague road form by JCB's and diggers, and hardly impacted by the thousands of vehicles that travel up and down each year. Low cloud and rain again, four of us decided we would walk to the edge, while two of the girls sensibly stayed put in thecars with a book and a heated seat. I'm sure Askja is spectacular - we just couldn't see it! Onwards, via F910 again, to Tungnafellsjokull.

Good god, what a drive. We left Askja at 3pm, and got to Tungnafell at around 11pm!
Approximately 125km, but took 90 minutes to do the first 12km! More epic scenery, this time
including a black sand desert that stretched for about 15 miles, pinpricked occasionally by people
pushing bikes, or hiking.

Very late arrival at the campsite, but fortunately people were still up and about and there was enough light still to pitch camp. I think everyone slept soundly - it's a lovely setting, right by a river. I think the only reason that we pressed on for so long was that there was still some light, even at 11pm; we'd have been fools to do that drive in the dark, and we'd have had to pitch camp in the wilderness somewhere.

On to Landmannlaugar, but not before the Asher & Orit in the Discovery hit a rock at speed. There's nothing unusual in that, most of the roads in the interior are unsurfaced, corrugated and covered in loose rocks and stones. However, because of the rough surface they didn't realise that they'd punctured the tyre and badly dented the alloy wheel. Eventually the smell of burning rubber had them come, slowly, to a stop -and thank goodness they did, because the rear right tyre was completely shredded, with a fist-sized dent in the alloy. We were able to change wheels on the side of the road, and headed to the nearest petrol station to recover and inspect any further damage. It transpired that the front right was also dented, but the tyre was in reasonable shape, so we changed the second spare and headed down to Landmannlaugar. The plan was for him to go to Reykjavik the following day and try to get the wheel repaired or replaced.

Heading into Landmannlaugar, we were again amazed by the scenery - suddenly it started to get
green, and the rocky landscape was beginning to be replaced by grass and scrubland. We'd heard
that the campsite was "interesting" and it definitely was! The site circles a small hot spring, when we arrived it was packed to bursting with tourists, all tripping back and forth in their swimsuits - some blue with cold, others pink from the spring! Setting up camp that afternoon, we found ourselves the centre of attention - it seems a rooftent is a rare thing in Iceland. I guess it must be the high winds and 'variable' climate, but for most of the trip, ours were the only rooftents to be seen anywhere.
Lots of interest in the vehicles, people had heard about the three English Landrovers, and it's difficult to be inconspicuous in a bright yellow 130!

The following day was an easy drive on tarmac, after 380 miles "off-road" it was bliss to be on the black stuff again. The plan was to do the Golden Route next, so we visited the Gulfoss waterfall first, which was very impressive. What was really weird was the total lack of Health and Safety involvement, save for a couple of handrails near some steep steps. If you really wanted to walk into the waterfall, you could. This was the first experience we had of the 'grown up' treatment of H&S in Iceland and it never failed to amuse us. After Gulfoss, we headed to Geysir, to see the geysers! The Great Geysir itself, the one from which all others took their name, has been dormant since 1916, but Strokkur (the Churn), another geyser 100 metres south of the Great Geysir, erupts at regular intervals every 10 minutes or so and its white column of boiling water can reach as high as 20-30 metres. We were fortunate to catch a 'lively' period, with eruptions every 6-7 minutes. Again, just a small rope at knee height separates you from the boiling water spouting out of the ground...

From here, the Discovery2 headed directly to Reyjkjavik to try and sort out the tyres, while the
remaining four of us headed for Faxi, our next campsite next to a beautiful waterfall. 5 minutes out of Geysir, though, all the smoke suddenly fell out of the wiring on Colin and Sue's 110. Two fire extinguishers were unloaded into the cab. There was only a small fire behind the fuse box, but bad enough to cause quite a bit of damage. It seems there was a short somewhere which obviously now needed to be found and fixed! We headed straight for the campsite to try and sort the problem, which turned out to be a chafed wire in the rear tail light loom.

It was incredibly windy - at around 1am, we had to move both cars and turn them into the wind, as the roof-tents were getting such a side-on battering from what felt like 90mph winds. Nobody slept much that night.

Thingvellir, while very pretty and showing off some spectacular landscape, was rather lost on us. It's incredibly important to Icelanders, because in 930AD it was the seat of the world's first parliament, the Althing. Thingvellir National Park remains the ultimate symbol of Iceland’s independence and unity, a landscape inseparable from the national soul. Here, you can stand on a bluff and see the Mid-Atlantic ridge as it carves its way North and East into the island’s interior.

From Thingvellir into Reykjavik, an unscheduled hotel stop due to the Discovery's problems. We
found a hotel right under the fabulous cathedral Hallgrimskjirka, which was one of my wife's key
'must-see' places on the trip. Unfortunately, with the entire edifice covered in scaffolding, with
builders, hammer drills, skips and lorries back and forth all day, it was something of a
disappointment! I took the 130 to the local Land Rover garage for some running repairs - big thanks to Dassi at Eðalbílar Ehf.

We were now heading north, towards the Western Fjords. The road to Stykkisholmur was supposed to be terrible - in fact, it was one of the best roads we'd driven so far, and it took only 2hrs instead of the 4-5 we'd expected, which left us with plenty of time to explore the little town, and to get the ferry
to Flokalundur at 3.30pm. The Western Fjords are beautiful. We visited the cliffs at Bjarg-Tangar to see the puffins before they departed to spend 8 months bobbing around in the north Atlantic. Again,it was astonishing to be able to get right to the edge of the cliff and peer over to see these amazing birds - thousands of photographs were taken, Colin perching precariously on the cliff edge. The little folk museum at Hnjotur is worth a visit, if only for their fabulous waffles!

We took an amazing drive to Dynandji waterfall, which is unique in its formation, wider at the bottom than it is at the top. Stupendous views rewarded those who made it to the top, which was a fairly hard-going hike, even for the fitter ones of our group.

From Dynandji, we headed to Laugar for the night, yet more astonishing scenery. Every time you round a corner, there's another jaw-dropping view.

The following day saw us leaving Laugar, round the Vatnsnes peninsula, down through the Vansdalur Valley and on to Blonduos. I inadvertently backed the 130 into a small unit at the campsite, which turned out to be a bigger offence than I'd thought - upon returning from the car wash 15 minutes later, the police arrived and asked me to explain myself. It's an offence not to report ANY accident in Iceland, regardless of who/what was involved. You must call the police and wait for them to arrive.
All that being said, they were incredibly nice, and my punishment was only to repair what I'd broken.
We've heard some horror stories since about the Icelandic police, so I think I got off quite lightly.

We left Blonduos and headed to Akureryi, passing en route a collection of abandoned cars on the
edge of a farm in one of the most isolated spots we'd seen. We did go and have a little look round,
there seemed to be a couple of old Series an Austin Gypsy or two,and a pair of Simcas rotting gently into the soil.

A rest day in Akureyri enabled us to do some running repairs and oil changes on the cars, prior to heading on up to Husavik for the much-anticipated whale watching trip, which started off well enough on a flat calm, clear morning. The minke whales duly did their bit, but they're terribly hard to photograph, by the time you've spotted them, they're almost submerged again! Unfortunately the weather turned and the rain started driving in, so we were glad to head back to the harbour for a very welcome warming cup of coffee, followed by a quick visit to the Penis Museum (you HAVE to seeit to believe it).

From Husavik, we headed to Myvatyn for two nights, stopping en route at Kettilfjall, an astonishing hot springs area currently relatively untouched by industry, though there are signs that this beginning. There was nobody there, the silence only broken by the occasional "blurp" from the boiling mud, and hisses from the steam escaping the ground. The truly astonishing stench ensured that we didn't stay for as long as the photographers would like!

A tour around lake Myvatn took in Hverfjall (we didn't climb it) and Ludent (we drove up it) craters, the lava formations at Dimmuborgir and the hot springs and thermo-electirc plant at
Krafla.

Myvatn is easy enough to navigate in a day, but there are plenty of places to keep you occupied for longer. 11pm that night saw us in the public hot springs watching the sun almost set, a beautiful way to end the day.

By now we were on the home straight, with only the very north-easterly point to reach before
heading south and catching the ferry. We trundled up from Myvatn to Raufarhofn, stopping first at the Hverir hot springs, and then on to Europe's largest waterfall,
Dettifoss. We'd been told early in the trip that the Dettifoss road was one of the worst in the country

-much to the dismay of the locals, who find it amazing that a route to such an amazing landmark is so completely awful. They weren't exaggerating, this was nearly 25km of constant corrugations.
Being such an important site, many tourists try to make the trip in regular hire cars, and honestly i
have no clue how most of them made it. It's a road really only drivable in a 4x4 and it nearly finished us off!!
That said, Dettifoss was well worth the trip - it's a tough walk down and back but well worth it to
stand right on the very edge & get your toes wet, with millions of gallons of water thundering past just inches away.

Continuing up the 864 past Asbyrgi, we stopped for lunch at by the sea and again at Nupskatia, a
beautiful, isolated farmstead right at the north of the peninsula. Suddenly the sky got very big, no longer being surrounded by fjords, mountains or glaciers. We stopped again at Hraunhafnartangi, the most northerly point of our whole trip, with a brief photo stop once the GPS devices indicated we'd passed 66 degrees north. At only 3km from the Arctic Circle, the weather was the mildest it had been for the whole trip!

Our final 'must see' destination was the lighthouse at the end of the Langanes peninsula. It looks a simple enough drive, on the map, but looks can be deceptive, and it took us at least 2hrs to get
there. Having battered our way across some of the most dreadful roads so far, we finally arrived at the lighthouse, in a barren spot about 40km from the nearest fisherman's hut - only to find a couple of hikers camping on the top of the hill. It really seemed, at that point, that there was no place you could go, without bumping into someone else, even somewhere as desolate as Langanes!

Our last couple of days were spent heading back to Modrudalur, where the weather couldn't have been more different than the last time, and re-tracing our steps back to Bru and the Adalbjol valley. it was very strange to be back on roads that we had considered to be very challenging, but actually finding them very straightforward. Our perceptions of 'difficult' offroad driving had been radically adjusted in three weeks!

The very last night was spent at Seydisfjordur, before an early start the next day to queue up and board the ferry for the 2-day return journey to Denmark.

In summary, Iceland is a completely epic place to visit in a 4x4. They are, rightly, very precious
about driving off-road, but in truth, there's no need to even try. The F-roads across the interior are difficult enough, so there's no need to wander off the road! We probably didn't need three weeks. If you're organised, and have a good route worked out in advance, two weeks should be plenty. There are areas we missed that we'd like to try in the future. Handy hint - get yourself a Camping Card, available on the inbound ferry. For €90, this gets you free access to a growing number of campsites across the country. These paid for themselves in no time, though it must be said that camping prices aren't nearly as expensive in Iceland as they are in Europe - on average i think the fees were about ISK500-1000 per person, per night (£2.50 - £5.00 at August rates)

Testing with pics.

2010-08-25T21:43:00.000+01:00

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Hello it's me...

2010-08-25T21:36:00.001+01:00

Sent from my Milestone.

Yellow 130

2010-08-16T15:20:00.005+01:00

FW: Now heading to Draa Valley.

2010-08-16T15:20:00.004+01:00

So we are now getting ready for the next trip which is going to be the
Draa Valley in Morroco. This time in the 130 rather than the 90.

Next trip

2008-12-23T16:08:00.002Z

Well after much discussion the next trip will be Iceland in the back end of the summer 2009.
Now for the planning to begin!

Also have now started my own business up www.betterpreparedvehicles.co.uk

:-) Tj

Update now were home.

2008-11-22T17:29:00.003Z

Well finally got yhe Landy back to normal as we have taken the roof rack and tent off andput it back on to the BFG MT's (tyres) and cleand most of the sand out of it!
Would I do it again? HELL YEAH! can i go now?
Link to Katy's phots is
http://www.flickr.com/photos/katynicolson/collections/72157608871977784/

Enjoy!
Off to play at Slab in the sand tomorrow!!!

Leaving Bilbao.

2008-11-07T07:19:00.001Z

So were heading off from Bilbao to get home on saturday.
Had a fantastic trip with loads of great experiences and made some new good friends. Now we can start planning for the next trip!

Merida to Salamanca

2008-11-04T16:30:00.000Z

Well we're in out last campsite of the trip, one recommended to us by an English couple at the last site in Merida

We were on our way by 1200 having had the brakes fixed (yay) and trundlled north through some pretty vile weather. We tought we might have avoided the worst but it started raining just as we finished setting up here and it looks like it'll continiue all night :-( and it's bloody freezing! I have 2 fleeces on and TJ is in long trousers for the first time in 3 weeks! Will be a very early night i think!

Tomorrow we head for bilbao and that long-awaited soak in a hot bath!

Braking point (ha ha)

2008-11-04T10:05:00.001Z

Last night we determined that the sahara had done for our rear brake pads and we could not go further without causing damage to the whole brake system

We found a spanish halfords-type store and with some sign language we learned that they didn't have any, could not get any and we woulld be lucky to get any this side of Madrid (i joke about the last bit but it's not far off)

We'd spotted a truck tyre/brake place last night so steamed in there and with Felix's help as translator we are now waiting for parts to arrive (30 mins apparently) and they will fit them! Here's us in the truck bay... Best place to be!

Marbella to Merida

2008-11-03T17:42:00.000Z

Another night woth no hot water, but this 4* hotel graciously charged only 1/3 of the rack rate...

Anyhow, we hit the road at about 0830 to head north via Cordoba, with a view to stopping at Merida for the night. The roads north are great once you get over the hills, and we eventually found our campsite after a bit of a tour round Merida and its roman ruins. Nice to still have light at 6.30pm, though it's fading fast!

Tomorrow we'll head to Salamanca and see how much further we want to go before stopping for the night. Campsites seem to be quite scarce in this part of Spain. One more night in the tent, then we're in bilbao hotel for 2 nights' R&R before we head home on 7th. Some of our group will be on that same crossing so it'll be nice to catch up again!

Can't quite believe it's almost all over, rather sad in fact!

Hey ho - time for a beer methinks.

Overnight location:
N 38.56.088
W 006.18.264

Sunday evening

2008-11-02T17:58:00.001Z

All checked in at the hotel Mirador in Alhaurin el Grande outside Malaga. This is the last night we're together as a group, we're all going our seperate ways tomorrow a some though madrid and then on up through france, some due north, and we plan to trundle up the west side of spain to see some sights before we get to bilbao on the 5th.

This has been a good trip. There are things we would change, both in terms of the organisation and what we prepared, but generally it's been great fun. We've seen some astonishing scenery and driven some incredible terrain. The car held up well, i think, but it's going to take forver to get all the sand and dust out.

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Moulay Bousselem to Ceuta and Algeciras

2008-11-02T17:47:00.000Z

0730 again on Sunday and we're on the final 150m stretch up to Ceuta for the lunchtime ferry.

Last night there were several spectacular thunderstorms, we would have enjoyed them more were we not camping... Weather this morning not much better... Not sure if ferry will run! Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Asuming it goes, we're at a hotel in malaga tonight, then 5 days in spain before the final ferry from bilbao on 7th.

Rain

2008-11-01T08:46:00.001Z

You can easily see here how so much of the road network, campsites and low-lying villages get washed away. They're just not set up for heavy rain. There are mahoosive puddles along this main coast road, parts of it have disappeared altogether and this downpour will have a major effect on the rivers running down into the desert. We saw in Erg Chebbi a villge under 3ft of water that was occupied until the waters rose. There's no drainage off the roads anywhere - Essoaria town roads were as bad as those in the countryside...

Essoaria to Moulay Bousselem

2008-11-01T07:42:00.001Z

It's 0730 saturday morning and we're about to leave Essoaria for a 300m drive north up the coast. It's cold and pouring with rain.

Hotel Palace Desdemona was very comfortable, if a bit pricey) but we're glad to be off again.

Did a little shopping yesterday - this town is very pretty, quite mediterranean in some areas, with great souks and alleys full of stalls selling all you could want.

Both have lot a little weight, not surprising as we've hardly eaten for 4 days due to dicky tums. We did find the fish restaurants yesterday and had a great lunch of fresh sole, calamari, sardines, crevettes, gambas and scampis (ugly buggers, those). Was the most we've had in days!

Current location:
N 31.30.631, W 009.46.307
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Location

2008-10-30T15:46:00.000Z

N 30 28.146 W008 53.039

Taroudant to Essaoaria

2008-10-30T15:22:00.000Z

Note to self - don't EVER stay in the 1* Hotel Taroiudant again. Not sure what we expected for 20eur a night but it failed miserably! Anyway, it's an interesting town, we took a horse & cart ride round the city walls and managed to avoid eating in "my brother's restaurant". Funny how ALL moroccans have a relative who has a shop or cafe or restaurant somewhere nearby...

Mooched around the berber and arabic souks, but didn't buy anything except some biscuits. We're all fed up with moroccan food so figured they couln't cock up a margarita pizza TOO badly... How wrong we were... Can't wait to camp and cook ourselves again. Hotel in Essaoaria hgad better be good else we're camping on the beach!

This morning a brief visit to a tannery (which smelled better than the hotel and carpark), i succumbed to a shoulder bag and haggled for the fist time!!

Current location, filling up for the drive to the coast, 46 litres of diesel for £25...!
N 30.27.767
W 008.52.466

Keep

Taroudant

2008-10-30T07:26:00.001Z

Unfortunately we missed out on tata and a night in the wilderness because we lost a full day due to the clutch going on the landy.

Instead we headed out of zagora yesterday but only got about 30 mins out before someone else had a proble. They left most of us and went back to the garage again. It takes moroccan children about 5 seconds to sniff out a tourist, and not much longer to cover 1/2 mile agross burning sands, barefoot, to "demande stilo" (gimme a pen). We battled bravely for a while but they did wear us down and eventually Baz cracked first - he did insist though that they queued up like the english first! Followed up with making a rope swing, origami, writing and dancing lessons. We were quite glad to get aeway when the others returned 2.5hrs after they left!

Meant we had a long days drive to get back on track. Got to campsite at about 6pm, and pitched tents. TJ has been quite poorly with a tummy bug & nausea, but is much better after a good night's sleep. Attached pic is of our hotel room here in Taroudant, I hope it's more comfortable than it looks!

A 2hr drive this morning brings us to Taroudant, which is apparently like Marrakech used to be 30 years ago. We're here for the day and tonight, so will do some exploring after lunch. Tomorrow we leave for Essoauria (sp?) and then i guess we're on the home stretch up the coast.

Weather today is clear and sunny (hot, infact) so am looking forward to a mooch around the Berber and Arabic souks. And a dinner that is not tagine, brochettes or bloody couscous!

location

2008-10-29T08:31:00.001Z

n30 31.403 w 007 53.613

Attempt #2 to leave Zagora

2008-10-28T07:26:00.000Z

Yesterday we were due to leave zagora for 2 days in the wilderness. Unfortunately we didn't get more than 10k before our clutch started playing up and we had to return to the garage for repairs. Means we've lost a full day's off-road driving and have a long day ahead to get back on track.

TJ's haggling skills were put to the test and passed with flying colours at the garage, negotiating a 60% reduction in the cost to 400euro from 1000! Twice now he had been called a Berber, by a Berber - we think it's a compliment on his haggling technique...!

We feel bad for the rest of the group, and had offered to catch them up, but they all agreed to stay another night and wait with us. We'd have done the same for anyone else, but it's hard when you're the cause of the delay, specially somewhere you've been for 2 days already... Still, could have been worse, we could have been 200k away in the desert at the time!

Anyhow, fingers crossed for a smooth sailing today. Should be in Tata for 4ish.

Noon on 25th

2008-10-27T13:47:00.001Z

It's been a difficult morning. Had a long days drive ahead, but we were forced to stop at 1100 to change the viscous fan coupling on our vehicle as we were overheating, having to do 30mph all the time.

It was quickly fixed, as we had a spare, and got under way again. Only 30 mins later one of the others had to stop with a major electrical failure. We're currently stuck in the desert wirth a fierce wind. We have to get to the garage tonight. The cars have all had a major battering and they're starting to show signs of wear and tear.

Confident though that we'll make it, just not sure when... !

N 30.12.623
W 005.08.210

Ps we're off agaon now!

Can't seeeee!

2008-10-27T13:47:00.000Z

Today, it have mostly been like this! The dust is incredible. We're all filthy and the car that hd the problem earlier is now on a tow bar but we're still hacking through the dust to zagora,Tj is in his element.

Cannot wait for a shower and a cold beer or 10..!

2008-10-27T13:46:00.000Z

N 30. 38.193
W. 004. 48.232

Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.

Result.

2008-10-27T13:29:00.001Z

So gearbox dropped out and its just contaminated clutch plate with engine oil as the gearbox breather was blocked. So a remove and clean, then refit. Will be ready later.

IN BITS!

2008-10-27T12:11:00.001Z

Leaving zagora

2008-10-27T10:58:00.003Z

We're on our way out of zagora, a town which the guidebooks say "continually disppoints tourists" and they're not far off. Hotel was comfortable enough and we were glad of it in last nighr's rain!

Journey today into the wilderness, we just stocked up on 3 days of supplies as we don't really know what the weather will bring.

K

Change of plan. MERDE!

2008-10-27T10:58:00.001Z

So just got about 10 kilometers from Zagorra and the clutch slave cylinder has let go and contaminated the clutch plate so another day in Zagorra while Ali's garage fixes it. Very disappointed as the clutch system is only 3 months old, but better here than in the middle of the desert. Hopefully will not cost too much to change, either way I will haggle on the price.
I think a large Pernod is calling me from the bar.Tj

Location

2008-10-26T07:08:00.001Z

N 31 12.559 W 004 01.411
Spent the night here and woke to the sunrising over the dunes. Amazing!
Now off to dune bash!

view

2008-10-26T07:04:00.000Z

Paris-dakar

2008-10-25T10:24:00.000+01:00

Today we took the cars on a 6-mile "race" on a part of the paris-dakar route. I can confirm it is possible to get a fully loaded 90 airborne at 70mph if you hit the right combination of dips and crests... We can also get more stuff in now as it's all compacted itself!

Good job the garage is tomorrow.

Auberge Oasis Mharech

2008-10-25T10:19:00.000+01:00

N 30.45.587, W 004.33.807

We just spent a very pleasant evening here, under palm trees (which are a lot more spiky than they look, like needles) by a river bed. The river is currently dry but last week the whole area was under 4 feet of water, you can clearly see where it scoured down to bedrock. Also, quicksand is interesting...

Off to Zagora now for 2 days in a hotel (yay!) and to get thee car into the garage for a once-over. I have to say it's done brilliantly well so far.

2008-10-25T10:18:00.000+01:00

Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.

Erg chebbi

2008-10-24T10:58:00.000+01:00

Just got signal for first time in 3 days. ?ave been camping in the desert at Erg Chebbi, utterly beautiful, waking up to sunrise over the dunes. Now off to an oasis camp for another couple of days, and we'll get the car checked over too.

Current location (fuel stop) n 31.17.302, w 004. 17.456.

A night in teneghir

2008-10-24T08:51:00.000+01:00

Spent at N 31.30.871, W 005.32.285

Mostly, we will be tooting our horns from 0215 to 0315 at which point the dogs will take over for their morning chorus. Then the call to prayer at 0445. Birds start at 0530 accompanied by the dogs again as backing "singers".

Not the most restful night, but today we head off to the Erg Chebbi for 2 days offroad in the desert. Weather currently good, all well.

Location update

2008-10-22T14:28:00.001+01:00

So stopped for lunch at N31 29.251 W004 12.837 and found some wifi!!
We are heading off to the Erg Chebbi this afternoon for the next few days. Sights we have seen are amazing and Kate has already filled one 2GB memory card on her camera.
There are more updates stuck in my Q as data coverage non-exsistant in most areas, GSM coverage very good everywhere though.

Just lowered the tyre pressures for the dune bashing in a few minutes time and am looking forward to getting my first sight of the Erg Chebbi, most of the dessert so far ahs been hard black rock, so some soft sand will make a change.

More updates when we can connect.

Location

2008-10-22T04:32:00.001+01:00

So heading towards the Anti Atlas mountains. Stunning landscapes and amazing examples of appualling local driving!
Location N 32 11.231 W 004 22.000

Halfway to tinerhir

2008-10-21T12:01:00.001+01:00

Still crossing the mountains, there are little dwellings dotted around in the middle of nowhere; small families with a few cows and donkeys and chickens but very few obvious means of survival. I guess the men are loggers, who drive these tracks all day with a full load. We're out of the woods now and it's a bare landcape, no trees, just a few small huts.

Network coverage still patchy :-)

Another day!

2008-10-21T12:01:00.000+01:00

Arrived at the wilderness camp at about 3.00 yesterday, after a 2hr offroad drive across the plains.

It gets dark very quickly, and by the time we'd set up and cooked, it was pitch black. Fortunately, being in cedar woods, there was plenty of firewood and our campfires were ablaze. We all thought it was much later than it was, and i think all were in ved by 9.00!

Bloody cold in the night but today dawns clear and beautiful. Off to Tinhir today, Sahara tomorrow!

N. 33.08.057
W 005.15.195

Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.

Location.

2008-10-20T12:37:00.001+01:00

N33 26.484 W005 13.552
Stopped to get insurance and change some money. Got food for lunch and supper as we are now heading upto 7500 feet in the Atlas mountains for camping. Weather about 22 degrees so nice and comfortabe but am sure Federico would be wearing a scarf!

Morning!

2008-10-20T09:04:00.000+01:00

Well after pitching in a thunderstorm last night, it stopped raining soon after so we could eat and go to bed in the relative dry...

Woken at 0215 and 0415 by the cockerel, 0445 by the call to prayer, but a good night's sleep.

Off to Azrou for suipplies now, then up to the cedar forest for wilderness camp tonight.

N 34.00.895
W 005.33.724

Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.

We made it!

2008-10-19T11:33:00.000+01:00

Finally in moroccom after some interesting formalities at the border. Thank god we're in a group, i wouldn't want to face that alone...!

Only one cat tried to hitch a ride while we were waiting to go through.

Immediately feels, looks and smells arabic, we thought there may be some french or spanish influence, but none to be seen.

Weather warm but very cloudy, not sure if it'll rain though.

Off to raid cash machines, diesel pumps and then lunch! We're 1hr BEHIND the UK now.

Ferry to ceuta

2008-10-19T09:37:00.000+01:00

On the ferry to ceuta, glad to leave the roads in Spain, they're not good!

Location N 36.07.806 W 005.26.259

2008-10-18T09:06:00.001+01:00

The landscape is amazing. Every last inch of aailable land is given over to olive groves. It beats me how they harvest some of these, as they are on precipitous slopes on rocky outcrops. It'd be fascinating to watch. As far as you can see, it's all dotted with olive trees, giving an odd texture to the hills.

Final leg to the coast today, where we meet up with the rest of the group before travelling to Ceuta tomorrow!

K.

location

2008-10-18T08:56:00.001+01:00

N 37.23.732
W 003.34.361

Tj cleans the windscreen of the 10,000,000 bugs we collected yesterday.

2008-10-18T08:44:00.001+01:00

location

2008-10-17T15:11:00.001+01:00

N 39 52.152'
W 003 28.666'

Pausing after 350 miles to cool down!

2008-10-17T15:08:00.000+01:00

Ahhh, Madrid.

2008-10-17T14:03:00.001+01:00

Traffic and lane discipline leave a little (!) to be desired, but we are making good progress. Plan is to stop in another 100km or so bit we'll see how it's going. Some proper sunshine as well, hurray!

Update.

2008-10-17T12:35:00.001+01:00

So sunglasses go on for the first time on the trip.
We have spent most of the journey in cloud or fog so far, its nice to see the sun!
There have been a lot of lorries on the road as expected. Some have been called Leci-trailers some Voltrailers so Kate reckons there is an Ampervan somewhre!

Location...

2008-10-17T09:03:00.001+01:00

Elev 2109ft
N42.51.470, W 002.53.592
Up in the clouds. And it's raining...

Day 1 in the BFG... Location:

2008-10-17T09:02:00.001+01:00

N 42.53.090, W 002.53.635
In the clouds. And it's raining...

Spain!

2008-10-17T06:41:00.001+01:00

So after the most boring ferry crossing we have finally made it to Spain.
Did manage to sleep for about 22 hours of the 36!
Now just waiting to off load from the ship. Onwards to southern Spain.

At the docks!

2008-10-15T16:00:00.000+01:00

So we have arrived at the docks and met a couple of the other vehicles on the trip.
Now the long wait for the ferry boarding.
Time for a coffee.

Packed!

2008-10-15T13:47:00.000+01:00

The start of the journey.

2008-10-15T13:36:00.001+01:00

So after much planning and thought and of course the odd spanner in the works we are ready for the off.
The Landy is packed and ready to go. Are we ready? I think so but we will have the couple of days drive through spain to work out what we have forgotten to pack and hopefully buy on route.

Thank you to all who have wished us well on our little adventure. I will try and blog as often as I can get signal and will also post some Lat and Long point for you all to do a search on google maps!

See you in a month!

Transfer box.

2008-10-13T22:48:00.001+01:00

HURRAH!
The new transfer box is installed and working great.
Quick oil change tomorrow and all done ready for the off on wednesday.

Final preparations.

2008-10-13T14:13:00.002+01:00

So saturday was an eventful day. I went over to a friends garage to sort out the front kingpins as they were a bit "used" and put on some protective covers to the swivel housings.
All went well and we stripped down the wheel stations regreased and sorted the kingpins out.

The small fly in the ointment was the discovery that the transfer box had eaten one of its bushes. this was the bigger clonk that I had noticed a few days before. So drained the oil and removed the inspection panel and found teeth and glitter! Never a nice thing to find inside a gearbox.

So onto the internet and a posting in on www.lr4x4.com and quite a few offers of T boxes came in. I opted for a defender one but it was in Felixstowe. So a fast drive over in the golf on sunday afternoon and I collected a Discovery 300tdi t-box. yeah well we thought it was a defender one but on inspection of the numbers it wasnt. Never mind it should be better for the long drive through Spain.

The vehicle has now had its errant tbox removed and I am going over to the garage this afternoon to deliver the replacement so fingers crossed!

Test blog from mobile

2008-10-01T11:46:00.000+01:00

Test from mobile with picture.

Test blog before trip.

2008-10-01T11:19:00.001+01:00

Ok so this is a test blog before we go away in two weeks time. Lets see if the attachments upload from the email.

Truck is ready!

2008-07-27T22:42:00.003+01:00

Well I think the truck is no finally ready for the Sahara trip.
Took a few photos today of the roof tent up and awning rigged. Looked pretty good.
Cant wait, so were going to take it on a few shake down trips to see what we have forgotten.
Here are a few photos.
well there would be if blogger would let me upload them!

busy weekend..

2008-07-14T11:43:00.002+01:00

Blimey what a busy weekend.
Started off with a little trip down to Taunton to help a friend move his two MG's from the farm to his nice new double bay garage. Traffic by Stonehenge was the usual insanity.
Then scream back with the trailer empty. Home and relax.
Sunday was Waxoly the Defender now it has had the new rear cross member welded in place. Thanks to Chris.
I always get covered when waxolying to went in fully boiler suited and head cover, gloves. Did a real nice job and got it all over the chassis and into the chassis rails. Pleased with myself.
Decided to attack the MGB afterwards and pulled a bolt out of the roll cage to get the tube in which worked really well up until it sprayed out all over the drive! D'oh!
Clean up time.........again.
So just got the spare wheel carier to fit to the bonnet and the truck is ready for the Sahara trip. But got many shack down trips to do before hand.
More to come.

2008-03-29T21:51:00.000Z

New toys for the Landy

2008-01-01T21:51:00.001Z

So new light bar and lights from Katy and also a handy shovel from Seagers. Thanks.

More from Abingdon

2007-10-13T17:05:00.000+01:00

New Landy at Abingdon 4x4 Festival

2007-10-13T17:02:00.000+01:00

HHmmmm Landy or MG,,,,,,,

2007-10-08T11:55:00.000+01:00

So its been and interesting year with the MG sprinting. I have not done any but kate has been out in the midget quite a lot but our focus is shifting towards our other toy a Land Rover Defender.
We are looking after my sisters and have bought our own beast to play with.
I have posted some silly videos on youtube. www.youtube.com/tjnicolson
Have a giggle!
More to come soon.

FW: Midget Go Go stop!

2007-03-30T10:35:00.001+01:00

So the start of the season is upon us and we were looking quite
organised. Midget has a nice new quiet exhaust from maniflow on it and
was sounding great when wewent to collect it last thursday. Using the
new tow vehicle a Land Rover Defender, 200tdi 90.
We continued the tow upto Summit toget the MOT done which of course it
failed on some rear bushes. So summit fixed all that and we went to
collect on saturday morning.
We managed to get just off the M4 when the head gasket went!! A quick
nip home to collect thw Landy and trailer. Once home we stripped the
head off and started cleaning the faces for the new gasket.
All started going back together sunday morning and was running by the
afternoon.
So now all I need to do is give it and oil change and a polish then its
ready for Rushmoor.

TJ Nicolson sent using MOTO Q 9h

2006-10-22T20:44:00.000+01:00

2006-10-22T20:43:00.000+01:00

2006-10-22T20:41:00.000+01:00

2006-10-22T20:05:00.000+01:00

Castle Combe....Last one for this year.
Well Castle Combe has come around again and thats it all over. It was to be a wet Combe but only when the MG's were going or actually out on the track!
More cars came off at some stage this year than for quite a few years. Katy managing to be one of the spectacular 360 degree spins at Camp corner, just before the finish line but fortunately only the grass was cut. Not so good for David Butler who came unstuck at Avon rise, the first corner! A new wing and indicator are now required.

A good day a of humour and chat had by all, inspite of the rain.

Time to pack the cars away and decide on what to do with them for next year. Mine needs a really good effort on the engine, gearbox and axle. So I shall not be competing in it at all next year however I may manage to convince Katy into letting me double drive the midget. We shall see.