Some new toys, and improving old ones.

We got one of these! Given that we're going to be a little farther away from help this year we decided that a little extra "insurance" might be wise. I picked up on the idea from information on another forum, and the item you see is the slightly more useful upgrade to the original "SOS" basic unit. Actually, the basic unit does a little more than that - but not much - and anyway, isn't available anymore. So, we got this one from Amazon - (where else, they're taking over the world). Apart from having a Panic Button, it can lay a trail of breadcrumbs that can be followed online by anyone we include in our plans and allows a certain number of text messages via satphone so we can keep in touch without having the rely on Maroc Telecom, wonderful though it might be.

We also decided to commit to using the carrier of the solar panel as a table. The usual table is heavy duty - and I mean heavy - and the cover for the solar panel is a quarter of the weight, so it made sense to use it instead. I beefed up the panel - which is just a bit of ratty old 5mm plywood - with some 25mm square battens - and that has stiffened it enough to make a useable table and it doesn't interfere with folding the solar panel away:

It fixes to the rear ladder via a steel tube welded to the ladder and an old tent pole which luckily had a final diameter just the right size to fit into it:

The other end is held up with an adjustable leg that began life as the bottom half of a crutch. It fits like this:

The table isn't as solid as the usual one as it is, but if the solar panel isn't removed, it's pretty good. I reckon that since we only use the table for preparing food and eating in the evenings, the solar panel will be refitted anyway, then table becomes much more substantial and it'll be on the underside, out of the way. Two jobs for the price of one, and a saving of about 3kg as well.

Daphne had her annual inspection by the Government rep last week, and passed with only one comment. The headlamp I had to replace last year - the one that shook itself to bits on the washboard roads - was slightly out of alignment. Nothing else to note so the maintenance effort was worth it. That said, the annual MoT test doesn't really mean a thing as far as "expedition reliability" is concerned. She could blow up tomorrow and still be legal.

....and as for us, well, the Darija studies continue and my beard is now ten days old and just getting to the itchy stage. I shaved it off twice last year as I couldn't put up with it and drive all day as well. I've done all the route planning - although the sat nav won't accept the routes so it'll be point-to-point like last year, unless Wikiloc works - we'll see. The compass and the map will always work....depending on who's using them....Ouch!