Billy Balthorpe
22-01-2006, 11:18 PM
The Grand Casablanca Challenge
It goes like this. You have to buy a bike and prepare it for a long journey for less than £1000 (Hence the "Grand" in the title). Competitors (or me on my own probably) leave Stoke (or wherever) on Friday the 21st April and drive down to Dover and across to France. An overnight in Calais lulls you into a false sense of comfort before awaking in the morning and riding for about 700 miles to the south coast of France. From there you make your way down the french coast and into Spain, all the way down through Spain camping along the way and across the Straight of Gibraltar into Morocco. Drive down to Casablanca for an overnight stop and a couple of beers. Then you ride all the way back again up throught Spain to La Coruna in the top left hand corner of Spain and a gentle tour along to Santander to catch the ferry back to Blighty arriving back in Plymouth at 10:30 AM on the 2nd May. A nice ride up to Stoke (or wherever) and the bike tour of a lifetime (well for me anyway) is complete. Me? I cant wait, i picked up my <ahem> "New" bike on Saturday morning, a 1985 Yamaha FJ 1100 tested till June and "just" 47,000 miles on the clock, for a total of £630 including a new battery, i reckon another £100 will see it fully prepared with a new front tyre to match the already new rear, a new taller flip up screen and a tank full of petrol.
Should be a good trip. The idea of this is that you could buy a bike now and do the trip on it then probably sell it for more than you bought it for in May/June to help offset some of the cost of the trip. A shrewd move on a zzr1100 could see it paying for the whole thing come June!
Anyone who wants to come give me a shout, anyone who has done something similar to this trip going to the same destination with any advice please post away.
Well thats the plan anyway. Oh and by the way, i no one else goes i'm doing it on me own! Exitement, adventure and really wild things.
Please note that this is not an officially organised trip, its just me going to Casablanca coz the missus gave me the green light to go before t'Baby's born. It would be more like a loose affilliation of preople heading in the same direction at the same time.
The original plan was to come back up through France and back via Calais. But i had a look at the day planner and thought it would be best if i came back via Santander, it also makes a nice finish to the trip, a big piss up on a boat. It also means that the schedule can be shuffled about in case i find somewhere nice and want to stay for a day extra, or indeed if anything untoward happens, punctures on a Sunday and the need for a new tyre and that sort of thing. Anyone who wants to tag along can go and come back whichever way they choose, taking as much time as they like. Everyone goes at their own pace, we all have mobiles nowadays so at least we can communicate which particular campsite we stop at, its up to you wether you want to stop there for the night or carry on a bit, or stop where you are and meet up later on the trip. "See you in Casablanca" sounds like a sentence you wouldnt be able to use very often in your life unless you work there or summat.
Ferry costs,
Dover - Calais, £30 ish
Strait of Gibraltar, £30 ish
Santander - Plymouth, £155-£175
Fancy it?
It goes like this. You have to buy a bike and prepare it for a long journey for less than £1000 (Hence the "Grand" in the title). Competitors (or me on my own probably) leave Stoke (or wherever) on Friday the 21st April and drive down to Dover and across to France. An overnight in Calais lulls you into a false sense of comfort before awaking in the morning and riding for about 700 miles to the south coast of France. From there you make your way down the french coast and into Spain, all the way down through Spain camping along the way and across the Straight of Gibraltar into Morocco. Drive down to Casablanca for an overnight stop and a couple of beers. Then you ride all the way back again up throught Spain to La Coruna in the top left hand corner of Spain and a gentle tour along to Santander to catch the ferry back to Blighty arriving back in Plymouth at 10:30 AM on the 2nd May. A nice ride up to Stoke (or wherever) and the bike tour of a lifetime (well for me anyway) is complete. Me? I cant wait, i picked up my <ahem> "New" bike on Saturday morning, a 1985 Yamaha FJ 1100 tested till June and "just" 47,000 miles on the clock, for a total of £630 including a new battery, i reckon another £100 will see it fully prepared with a new front tyre to match the already new rear, a new taller flip up screen and a tank full of petrol.
Should be a good trip. The idea of this is that you could buy a bike now and do the trip on it then probably sell it for more than you bought it for in May/June to help offset some of the cost of the trip. A shrewd move on a zzr1100 could see it paying for the whole thing come June!
Anyone who wants to come give me a shout, anyone who has done something similar to this trip going to the same destination with any advice please post away.
Well thats the plan anyway. Oh and by the way, i no one else goes i'm doing it on me own! Exitement, adventure and really wild things.
Please note that this is not an officially organised trip, its just me going to Casablanca coz the missus gave me the green light to go before t'Baby's born. It would be more like a loose affilliation of preople heading in the same direction at the same time.
The original plan was to come back up through France and back via Calais. But i had a look at the day planner and thought it would be best if i came back via Santander, it also makes a nice finish to the trip, a big piss up on a boat. It also means that the schedule can be shuffled about in case i find somewhere nice and want to stay for a day extra, or indeed if anything untoward happens, punctures on a Sunday and the need for a new tyre and that sort of thing. Anyone who wants to tag along can go and come back whichever way they choose, taking as much time as they like. Everyone goes at their own pace, we all have mobiles nowadays so at least we can communicate which particular campsite we stop at, its up to you wether you want to stop there for the night or carry on a bit, or stop where you are and meet up later on the trip. "See you in Casablanca" sounds like a sentence you wouldnt be able to use very often in your life unless you work there or summat.
Ferry costs,
Dover - Calais, £30 ish
Strait of Gibraltar, £30 ish
Santander - Plymouth, £155-£175
Fancy it?