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3 weeks and a soft-roader, where would you go? 3 weeks and a soft-roader, where would you go?
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Photo by Hendi Kaf, in Cambodia

I haven't been everywhere...
but it's on my list!


Photo by Hendi Kaf,
in Cambodia



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  #1  
Old 11 Aug 2009
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3 weeks and a soft-roader, where would you go?
I've been given the opportunity of trying out a new "soft-roader" 4x4 at the end of September. Realistically if I don't stray too far from an internet connection I can grab about 2-3 weeks out of the office, which gives me about 10 days to get there and 10 to get back. Where's the office? North-West France, but where's there? I've no idea.

So has anyone got any suggestions for a sudden, not really planned and don't want to faff with complicated paper-work, trip. Also I'm no hardcore off-roader and neither is the car. I realise it's 22 years since I last drove a very ancient Army Landy off-road round bits of Aldershot, so I'm not looking for the extremes, but I would like to stray a bit off tarmac, oh and to be even more annoying, preferably somewhere photogenic.

Oh the car? It's (don't laugh) a Skoda Yeti.



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Old 11 Aug 2009
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Hi Alex
Try the Spanish Pyrenees, a great place for solo offroaders, quads and 4x4's, plenty of places to 'wildcamp' if desired, and i am pretty sure internet connection can be found nearby.
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Old 12 Aug 2009
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Alex,

The French/Italian Alps you can get there in a day and spend the rest of yor time exploring old military roads high in the Alps. Never very far from a town and very very photogenic.

I will be getting a ferry down there on the 22nd and hanging about for 3 weeks

G
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Old 12 Aug 2009
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Pyrenées? Alps? You guys have a mountain fetish!!! Both sound good though, and of course there's the sneaky part of me says if I stay in France I can at least speak the right language.

I've got a slight pull towards desert/dunes though, but seem to remember hearing about an area in Spain that is very much like that, but doesn't seem to get much press (I guess because it's a big area in Spain that's a bit desert-like).
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Old 12 Aug 2009
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Hey Alex. I heard about these european desert areas. Heres the ones I know: the Bardenas Reales in Navarre, Spaim, the Tabernas Desert in Almeria, Spain and perhaps the best the Accona Desert in Tuscany, Italy. The latter is where Rommel trained his troops in the Africa Korps.

Have fun.
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Old 12 Aug 2009
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I thought the Alps would be more tame/mild as a start point but if you want dunes/sand:

Europe
Accona Desert - a desert in Tuscany, Italy
Bardenas Reales - a desert in Navarra, Spain
Błędowska Desert – a desert located in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland
Deliblatska Peščara - a desert located in Vojvodina, Serbia
Hálendi – a region of Iceland and Europe's largest desert
Oltenian Sahara – a desert spanning approximately 80.000 hectares or 800 km² in the Romanian historical province of Oltenia
Tabernas Desert – a desert in Almería, Spain.

Alternativly Morocco is not far away
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Old 12 Aug 2009
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3 days down to Morrocco, couple of weeks touring, 3 days back. Quite easy, safe. Lots of camper vans, French, German, Dutch people touring round so well established touring destination, lots of the routes have been tarmaced, roads improved but you can still get away from it across the Atlas mountains, get into the sand dunes. Don't need 4x4 but opportunities to play if you want to.
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Old 20 Aug 2009
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Well I have a plan, and that's to head down the west coast of France, as I've got friends in Angouleme and then near Tarbes so I might as well check out the Millau Viaduct while I'm there, cross over the Pyrenées and head towards Almeria and the Tabernas Desert, a few days messing about there and back to the mountains and then hopefully, home.

Would have loved to get to Morocco but sadly as it's not mine, the insurers seem oddly reluctant to let me out of Europe. Maybe next time.
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