We wake at a reasonable time and get stuck into a buffet breakfast. I am feeling really excited about the parade today and want it to start as soon as possible. We travel to Safari gardens and met up wit the other teams that are their. Everyone has stories to tell about the trip and Paul is still up to his armpits working on a car trying to get another one going. We ready PO by mounting the speakers on the side and check the laptop is working by having some cheesy Disco tracks playing as we wait. The water pump problem on PO has got worse and we top her up regularly with water and have the fan hardwired to try to keep the engine cool.
T-shirts are handed out with the logo of various supporters of the rally on and we try to fit into them. They are a one size fits all and that’s not too good when the fit is rather snug on some people. Whilst waiting we admire one of the police motorbikes that will lead the parade it had been donated to Gambia from Taiwan and Dean gets a photo on it.
We are off and it starts well by the junction to main road some of the teams are already leaning out of the vehicle windows and this looks a lot more fun than riding inside. Looking at the pictures afterwards Chris realises that he was slow on the uptake. On the way to the national stadium leaning out of the vehicle and trying to climb out is getting less scary and more fun. By the time we arrive at the stadium Chris has managed to sit on the roof rack a couple of times and is getting the hand of it. Paul is completely set up on the roof of the Audi with the tyres behind him as a rest.
We are greeted at the stadium by dancers and everyone starts to get in a party mood. Some of the Spanish teams are seeing how many people they can get standing on a car and not to be outdone we all climb on the Zebra bus. Soon realising that the roof isn’t that strong and you need to keep to the sides!!! The organisers and TV cameras get us to head off on the tour round Banjul and want us to make as much noise as possible. We certainly oblige and are using the air horns and music to full effect. The play list of songs created over the previous couple of days gets shuffles around depending on Chris mood. Colin isn’t even touching the laptop and is just concentrating on driving. Chris feeling a lot more confident now and is up to keeling on the roof and even leans over the end of the rack to take pictures of Colin driving.
We are not sure what people thought of us and love the experience. It’s such a rush to think we have made it all this way and that the problems we have had were overcome. Our thoughts drift to the teams that didn’t get as far. The people we have travelled with have been fantastic and made the trip such an amazing experience. Chris has more time to think as is no driving and letting Colin think about climbing on the roof. His comment is he is “very happy in the car, thank you very much!”
We drive back through towards the ferry port and then along to the mayor of Banjul’s. The grin across Chris’ face couldn’t get any wider. After all the thought and planning that went into this… this is what it’s about. This is life!
We are greeted at the Mayors office and the Mayor gives a speech afterwards we all join him on the steps to get photos and be filmed by the TV camera man that is still wandering around. A short distance from the office is the Presidents gate, we have been gracefully granted special permission to travel through this and Adrian is forced to run ahead to get loads of pictures. We wait for everyone to get through and the music I muted somewhat as we are parked by a cemetery and don’t want to upset anyone.
We are soon ready to go and feeling buoyant from his earlier attempts on the roof Chris try’s out standing and managed to last only a short time before realising this isn’t the best idea of the day. He does however now have the mascot and a bottle of water on the roof with him and Tracy Chapman Fast Car playing.
Bit of a tip laying on the roof of the car watching the sky go by is brilliant but throwing you head back to look at the cars behind upside down makes you feel sick. Chris is feeling a bit queasy but the shades are still in place and he doesn’t come off the roof till we start to travel slowly through a built up area. He has got bored of the music and needs a change.
We arrive back at the national stadium completing the 3 hour parade and are met by the dancers and ice cold drinks. After speeches from various important people the dancing starts. Adrian is wandering around with the Irish flag and Chris points out that he should get it to the top of the stadium spotlights. Adrian is less than keen but it looks like fun so Chris takes the flag and is off to find a way to get to the lights.
Arriving onto the pitch Chris discusses with some of the children training how to get to the lights and is asked if he doesn’t mind climbing fences. He is promptly shown to a fence dividing the stadium sections and with several of his guides climbs it and is then shown to where the access area is. He should have noted that the children weren’t keen to climb and had expressions like stupid tourist. Undeterred he headed on.
At about the second platform when he cleared the hoardings he remembers that heights aren’t really his thing but has to push on. He gets to a height just below the spots and puts the flag out there but he is 90% there so gets to the light platform and does the same. The floor is rather rickety and the buzzards circling round below him means the decent to the ground, after a suitable pose for photos, is rather rapid.
Whilst this is going on some of the teams are showing people round there vehicles in preparation for the auction and others are handing out gifts to the children. Lots of the people from the convoy we travelled in play football with the locals. The pictures that are taken are brilliant. We are also introduced to Miss Gambia, who one of the Spanish teams promptly put in their van and head off to the meal.
The meal back at Safari Gardens allows us to swap more pictures and for Ulrig to let off an evilly large flair that he and his father had been carrying in case of emergencies. We end up heading back to Kombo Beach to have a couple of drinks before retiring.
Friday, 23 January 2009
Culture
Having been decidedly lazy on Saturday we decide to get out and see the area. We head up-to the botanical gardens and have a look round. From there it doesn’t look far to the croc pool and rather than trying to drive to it we decide to walk. After stopping a couple of times for directions we end up with a couple of children as guides. They know where to go and will probably not try to sell us anything. As we head into and through a residential area it’s another moment of just going with the flow. Our guides get us to the croc pool and wait for us to come out just before the police as they aren’t allowed past.
The pool has a museum area attached and we learn about the history of Gambia and the people. Its interesting and something more cultural than sitting on the beach which was plan b. We head out to see the Croc’s and I am convinced that we have been stiffed and they are models right up till one moves.
We pick up our guides again and head out, in payment for their services we agree to get them a football and they are football mad here. They take us to a shop that has a range of balls but they are rather pricy and Adrian asks them if there are any more shops nearby. They lead us into the market which is great as I would never have had the bottle to amble down here unless I was with people. The stalls are closely packed together and the odours are heavy. As it is afternoon it looks like we have missed lots of the traders but are taken to a shop with footballs. After the purchase we get back out onto the main road and give the guides the football. They are really impressed and scamper off to play. This means we become like a beacon for children asking for footballs, doh.
We dive of down to the beach to see the locals fishing and take some more pictures. De curiously asks what’s in a tin that one of the children that is now following us is holding. He is holding this tin like it contains the crown jewels and reluctantly shows us his prized possession. As he peals back the lid a smell like no other hits us and it looks like massive fat maggots or Chickens livers. I have no intention of looking closer and both Dee and I feel ours stomachs turning. Getting up wind we start back towards the car at which point the kid drops the tin by accident in front of Dee and it opens up again. I am so pleased I was a few feet away this time as the last smell was very much “curiosity killed the cat”.
When we get back to the cars an ingenious local has put a chair up next to them and tries to charge us for watching the cars. You have to laugh and we soon move off to find a nature reserve that was recommended to us.
We find the reserve and walk round, I find the paths relaxing and quiet and try desperately to fix the image in my mind for when I get back home. We managed to see loads of animals and get some good shots. They looked good till I saw Dee’s pics which made the animals look like they had been told to pose for them. Adrian gets a shock and nearly jumps out of his skin as Stephan pokes him with a stick. Adrian thought it was a snake as he had been paying close attention looking for them making sure he was no where near them.
We head back to the hotel and decide to go for a curry down at the strip. The curry is brilliant and beer is served by the pint so it’s “all good all of the time”. Achim and Stephan aren’t to sure about the food as they haven’t had Indian before. This is soon remedied and they are tucking into onion bargee’s and balti’s. Feeling fat dumb and happy we head back to the Jazz bar and meet up with some of the other teams.
They have loads to tell and we find out more about the teams that lost their cars in the dessert as well as the ambulance that rolled. The place is really quiet and we must have been keeping the bar open single handedly chatting, drink and watching the world go by. We are all looking forward to tomorrow and the group splits up as people head off to get a good night’s sleep.
The pool has a museum area attached and we learn about the history of Gambia and the people. Its interesting and something more cultural than sitting on the beach which was plan b. We head out to see the Croc’s and I am convinced that we have been stiffed and they are models right up till one moves.
We pick up our guides again and head out, in payment for their services we agree to get them a football and they are football mad here. They take us to a shop that has a range of balls but they are rather pricy and Adrian asks them if there are any more shops nearby. They lead us into the market which is great as I would never have had the bottle to amble down here unless I was with people. The stalls are closely packed together and the odours are heavy. As it is afternoon it looks like we have missed lots of the traders but are taken to a shop with footballs. After the purchase we get back out onto the main road and give the guides the football. They are really impressed and scamper off to play. This means we become like a beacon for children asking for footballs, doh.
We dive of down to the beach to see the locals fishing and take some more pictures. De curiously asks what’s in a tin that one of the children that is now following us is holding. He is holding this tin like it contains the crown jewels and reluctantly shows us his prized possession. As he peals back the lid a smell like no other hits us and it looks like massive fat maggots or Chickens livers. I have no intention of looking closer and both Dee and I feel ours stomachs turning. Getting up wind we start back towards the car at which point the kid drops the tin by accident in front of Dee and it opens up again. I am so pleased I was a few feet away this time as the last smell was very much “curiosity killed the cat”.
When we get back to the cars an ingenious local has put a chair up next to them and tries to charge us for watching the cars. You have to laugh and we soon move off to find a nature reserve that was recommended to us.
We find the reserve and walk round, I find the paths relaxing and quiet and try desperately to fix the image in my mind for when I get back home. We managed to see loads of animals and get some good shots. They looked good till I saw Dee’s pics which made the animals look like they had been told to pose for them. Adrian gets a shock and nearly jumps out of his skin as Stephan pokes him with a stick. Adrian thought it was a snake as he had been paying close attention looking for them making sure he was no where near them.
We head back to the hotel and decide to go for a curry down at the strip. The curry is brilliant and beer is served by the pint so it’s “all good all of the time”. Achim and Stephan aren’t to sure about the food as they haven’t had Indian before. This is soon remedied and they are tucking into onion bargee’s and balti’s. Feeling fat dumb and happy we head back to the Jazz bar and meet up with some of the other teams.
They have loads to tell and we find out more about the teams that lost their cars in the dessert as well as the ambulance that rolled. The place is really quiet and we must have been keeping the bar open single handedly chatting, drink and watching the world go by. We are all looking forward to tomorrow and the group splits up as people head off to get a good night’s sleep.
Relaxing
We wake up Saturday and work out what to do now that we aren’t driving each day. It feels strange and disjointed. We check in with the Gambia Experience people to get the flight tickets home and after all that effort have to lounge on the beach for a while. There was a bit of contemplation about playing volleyball but it involved effort so didn’t occur.
Dean, Brian and their wives came over and we pool the pictures again and flicked through some of them trying to explain what was happening at the time. Chris’ watch seams to be stuck on “beer o clock” for the afternoon and the evening is welcomed in by cocktails and a hog roast.
Dean, Brian and their wives came over and we pool the pictures again and flicked through some of them trying to explain what was happening at the time. Chris’ watch seams to be stuck on “beer o clock” for the afternoon and the evening is welcomed in by cocktails and a hog roast.
Senagambia Strip
After a slap up dinner some of us head into the Senagambia strip to see what its like. We have been told by the guys of Team Griffin that it’s an experience and we certainly don’t want to miss any of those. We get down about 10 to discover that it doesn’t really get going till midnight.
We start off in Wow’s and play pool before heading onto a bar playing reggae and attempt to convince Achim and Stephan to do drinking games but they are far too sensible. We than do a tour of the other clubs (Tootsies, Paparazzi), bars (no idea of the names) and casino whilst listening to dance and cheese before ending up in a jazz bar and then back in wow’s. Everyone is extremely friendly and chilled.
We head home about 3-4am after Simon unsuccessfully tries to explain to a couple of locals that we are looking for a kebab shop. The taxi ride back is very chilled and we could probably walk faster, but the taxi driver tells us about Reggae night on the beach Sundays and it seams like it could be a plan.
We start off in Wow’s and play pool before heading onto a bar playing reggae and attempt to convince Achim and Stephan to do drinking games but they are far too sensible. We than do a tour of the other clubs (Tootsies, Paparazzi), bars (no idea of the names) and casino whilst listening to dance and cheese before ending up in a jazz bar and then back in wow’s. Everyone is extremely friendly and chilled.
We head home about 3-4am after Simon unsuccessfully tries to explain to a couple of locals that we are looking for a kebab shop. The taxi ride back is very chilled and we could probably walk faster, but the taxi driver tells us about Reggae night on the beach Sundays and it seams like it could be a plan.
Wednesday, 21 January 2009
Sea and Shades
After stuffing faces Stephan and Chris decide to go and swim in the sea to cool off. The water is really refreshing and they both attempt to body surf with varying amounts of success. Chris however does manage to loose his shades as one of the waves breaks and due to the murkiness of the water is resigned to having lost them. Stephan does a valiant attempt to see if he can see underwater but no avail.
Chris promptly has one of his lucky moments and walking back out of the sea finds the shades with his foot and is once again a happy camper! His Maui Jim shades have been through a lot with him and loosing them would have caused much moaning and complaining.
Chris promptly has one of his lucky moments and walking back out of the sea finds the shades with his foot and is once again a happy camper! His Maui Jim shades have been through a lot with him and loosing them would have caused much moaning and complaining.
Monday, 19 January 2009
Move To Kombo
After a good sleep we have breakfast and find out about the area. Apparently credit cards are not accepted widely which doesn’t bode well. Here is however a local bank coming in at 10 am to allow us to change currency into local. Having discovered that the rooms are 65 euros a night not inc breakfast it’s a bit of a squeaky bum moment, especially as we have a week to kill before flying home. We transfer all our cash and emergency money to dulassy and do mental calculations about how much we have each day to live on.
Chris gets talking to some of the other guests about where they have been and what’s worth going to see and this is extremely helpful as he isn’t sure he wants to sit around and do nothing.
Adrain goes off to investigate other places, especially one that was recommended by Team Griffin, called Kombo Beach. They managed to get a deal of 30 euros per room including a full buffet breakfast. Having checked it out we move across. The place also wins as it takes credit cards and you can charge stuff to your room. This is of course on top of having “birds wearing bikinis”; Chris may have been going a little happy dance at this point.
The room is great and the shower works we overlook the beach and the tennis courts. There is a fridge in the room and aircon. It is a true “brits” abroad hotel and it is completely what is required.
After unpacking we head down and grab some food and look out over the beach
Chris gets talking to some of the other guests about where they have been and what’s worth going to see and this is extremely helpful as he isn’t sure he wants to sit around and do nothing.
Adrain goes off to investigate other places, especially one that was recommended by Team Griffin, called Kombo Beach. They managed to get a deal of 30 euros per room including a full buffet breakfast. Having checked it out we move across. The place also wins as it takes credit cards and you can charge stuff to your room. This is of course on top of having “birds wearing bikinis”; Chris may have been going a little happy dance at this point.
The room is great and the shower works we overlook the beach and the tennis courts. There is a fridge in the room and aircon. It is a true “brits” abroad hotel and it is completely what is required.
After unpacking we head down and grab some food and look out over the beach
Safari Gardens
We had called ahead when we were travelling down and we soon get stuck into celebratory drinks and very welcome food. As there are other guests there are only 3 rooms and whilst the beers are being drunk Chris sidles off to get a room. It may seam harsh that this was done but there was no way he was getting back in the car and driving any further that night. Having secured a room he doesn’t care and soon after eating disappears off for a well deserved sleep.
Push to Banjul
We wake early and it feels even earlier as it is still dark outside. We pack up and say goodbye to the Zebra bar and are off. However we may have still left our brains in the duvet and head the wrong direction. The mistake is spotted after about 20 minutes and we come back and head off in the correct direction.
We are soon on the good roads and hope to get many Km under our belts before having breakfast. We are hoping that we will have a good run today as it is a festival and there should be very few cars on the road. We travel well and when stopped for fuel look for places to buy bread for breakfast. However its still a bit early and there is a sinking feeling in Chris’ stomach that everywhere is going to be closed due to the festival.
However several villages later we find a shop that’s open and get bread. At a convenient spot, well clear of any villages or people we stop for breakfast. The spot is chosen so that we don’t get pestered and we attempt to get it all over with in 30min. The pork and ham cans that we have in the back of the car go well in baked bean sarnies washed down with sweet tea. PO needs to be topped up with water as we are running hot and there is a leak on the waterpump. Feeling fully revitalised we head on and travel through several towns. Whilst doing this we manage to get a decent mobile signal and upload some of the blog posts that have been waiting to go for the last couple of days. We have to run with the heater on in the car which makes it very warm as we are trying to keep the engine cool. Apparently if we don’t feel heat come out of the vents we have run out of water on the system.
The roads do vary in quality and we go through a pot hole that causes the BB to get a flat. When we stop to deal with it we find we have bent our rim and have to do a wheel change. As Colin is tightening up the wheel nuts, Chris and Dean use the lump hammer to straighten the rim on the wheel that has been taken off and it is put back on the roof. The BBs aren’t so luck and have split their alloy, luckily that do have a spare to swap in and we are soon on our way.
The drive is very uneventful and we take a shortcut that should save us at least 50 km, it does the trick and we are ahead of schedule running to the Gambian border. We are getting used to seeing holes in the roads and trucks that crab along the highway and don’t think anything of driving on the wrong side of the road to avoid holes.
As we travel through a larger town we have to pull over and refill the water as we are now running at a temperature that rivals the sun. It’s not long now and we are keeping our fingers crossed that we make it.
Going through another village the BBs find another pot hole that is too much for their wheel. It is fixed by using tyre weld and we have to get on our way quickly. We had pulled up in the middle of a crowed area and have become the street entertainment with everyone asking for gifts or trying to get us to buy stuff. Chris has finally got the satnav working again to waypoint and it isn’t looking too far.
We travel through some interesting curve dips and after ponderance recon they are to stop the road being washed away and allow drainage, they do however make us slow down grrrr. We haven’t encounter many police checks today which is good as they easily take a lot of time.
We arrive at the border to very much all of our surprise as we didn’t realise it wasn’t right by the ferry and it looks like it could be good. Its still daylight and the last ferry is supposed to be 1800.
We go through the usual checks and ignoring the people trying to sell us stuff, buy stuff, change stuff or borrow (cough) stuff. We are still on the same tennis ball on the bonnet that we started with despite the best efforts of the local children.
We are into the no mans land between the two areas and as we start to go through the Gambian customs are accosted by someone who recons he works for the challenge. He appears to be ok as he has our names and team numbers but we haven’t got this far by being complete sheep. He ushers us through customs and we are soon on the way with some of his colleagues to a weigh bridge. When we pull off at this point Dean and the lead man go to get tickets and we are left with a welcoming committee of children and adults. The adults are in badly printed t-shirts that they could have made themselves and some of the convoy remember warnings about guys in t-shirts from the road books. The kids all want “cadeaux” and the adults all want to be best friends with us. Paul stays in the car in case he needs to make a quick brake for freedom. The rest of us have been feeling the drive abit and relax and chat to the people.
Paul fends off many cadeaux requests and one of the little guys decides to pinch him to make him aware of his requests. After this he bites Paul on the elbow right where a sand fly got him when working on the bus. Paul’s shout make the guy run on so quickly there is nearly a trail of flames from his feet!! We however don’t find all this out till later as we are rather spaced.
With the tickets in hand we head off to the ferry and are ushered into a concrete sided loading area. We have heard about this from other challengers in previous years and can understand why you don’t want to be stuck here over night. Our new friends have travelled with us in or on top of the cars. Colin has managed to get one sat on the seat next to him in the front. It makes changing gears rather interesting for Chris. The car is also rather funky as it the fan is on heat windows up and Colin has managed to sit in some muck of some kind and the smell is making Chris nostrils wave the white flag of surrender! We wait for only a short time before the ferry is ready to load and we buy beers off the guides. The end is so close you can nearly taste it.
We roll onto the ferry and Chris for one doesn’t care anymore. After all the planning and all the work we made it. We park so close together the only way to get out the cars is to climb out the windows. We sit on top of our vehicles and drink, we have grins plastered across our faces and no one wants to say anything till we actually get to the finish line. Chris sends afew texts off to let people know we have arrived as he is standing on the back of a low loader. Simon goes to investigate the loo and his face tells an interesting story. It takes him 3 attempts to go in and he can’t understand how anyone can miss so badly on such a short crossing.
We roll off to see our contacts in Gambia and find that the guides are actually sort of genuine..phew but they leave quickly as there are police around. We roll off to a police escort and “man does life feel good”. It’s such a rush of adrenaline, relief and happiness. I don’t think we would ever be able to recreate that moment. As we travel on we realise that we have lost the Minty. We find out later that she ripped her exhaust off on the ferry ramp.
Chris has lost all sense of direction and he and Colin are happily following the car in front like a sheep we arrive at Safari Gardens to be greeted by some of the other residents. We climb on the vehicles and take pictures as well as congratulate each other. Who would have thought we would get this far and something said in half jest can be such an amazing thing.
We are soon on the good roads and hope to get many Km under our belts before having breakfast. We are hoping that we will have a good run today as it is a festival and there should be very few cars on the road. We travel well and when stopped for fuel look for places to buy bread for breakfast. However its still a bit early and there is a sinking feeling in Chris’ stomach that everywhere is going to be closed due to the festival.
However several villages later we find a shop that’s open and get bread. At a convenient spot, well clear of any villages or people we stop for breakfast. The spot is chosen so that we don’t get pestered and we attempt to get it all over with in 30min. The pork and ham cans that we have in the back of the car go well in baked bean sarnies washed down with sweet tea. PO needs to be topped up with water as we are running hot and there is a leak on the waterpump. Feeling fully revitalised we head on and travel through several towns. Whilst doing this we manage to get a decent mobile signal and upload some of the blog posts that have been waiting to go for the last couple of days. We have to run with the heater on in the car which makes it very warm as we are trying to keep the engine cool. Apparently if we don’t feel heat come out of the vents we have run out of water on the system.
The roads do vary in quality and we go through a pot hole that causes the BB to get a flat. When we stop to deal with it we find we have bent our rim and have to do a wheel change. As Colin is tightening up the wheel nuts, Chris and Dean use the lump hammer to straighten the rim on the wheel that has been taken off and it is put back on the roof. The BBs aren’t so luck and have split their alloy, luckily that do have a spare to swap in and we are soon on our way.
The drive is very uneventful and we take a shortcut that should save us at least 50 km, it does the trick and we are ahead of schedule running to the Gambian border. We are getting used to seeing holes in the roads and trucks that crab along the highway and don’t think anything of driving on the wrong side of the road to avoid holes.
As we travel through a larger town we have to pull over and refill the water as we are now running at a temperature that rivals the sun. It’s not long now and we are keeping our fingers crossed that we make it.
Going through another village the BBs find another pot hole that is too much for their wheel. It is fixed by using tyre weld and we have to get on our way quickly. We had pulled up in the middle of a crowed area and have become the street entertainment with everyone asking for gifts or trying to get us to buy stuff. Chris has finally got the satnav working again to waypoint and it isn’t looking too far.
We travel through some interesting curve dips and after ponderance recon they are to stop the road being washed away and allow drainage, they do however make us slow down grrrr. We haven’t encounter many police checks today which is good as they easily take a lot of time.
We arrive at the border to very much all of our surprise as we didn’t realise it wasn’t right by the ferry and it looks like it could be good. Its still daylight and the last ferry is supposed to be 1800.
We go through the usual checks and ignoring the people trying to sell us stuff, buy stuff, change stuff or borrow (cough) stuff. We are still on the same tennis ball on the bonnet that we started with despite the best efforts of the local children.
We are into the no mans land between the two areas and as we start to go through the Gambian customs are accosted by someone who recons he works for the challenge. He appears to be ok as he has our names and team numbers but we haven’t got this far by being complete sheep. He ushers us through customs and we are soon on the way with some of his colleagues to a weigh bridge. When we pull off at this point Dean and the lead man go to get tickets and we are left with a welcoming committee of children and adults. The adults are in badly printed t-shirts that they could have made themselves and some of the convoy remember warnings about guys in t-shirts from the road books. The kids all want “cadeaux” and the adults all want to be best friends with us. Paul stays in the car in case he needs to make a quick brake for freedom. The rest of us have been feeling the drive abit and relax and chat to the people.
Paul fends off many cadeaux requests and one of the little guys decides to pinch him to make him aware of his requests. After this he bites Paul on the elbow right where a sand fly got him when working on the bus. Paul’s shout make the guy run on so quickly there is nearly a trail of flames from his feet!! We however don’t find all this out till later as we are rather spaced.
With the tickets in hand we head off to the ferry and are ushered into a concrete sided loading area. We have heard about this from other challengers in previous years and can understand why you don’t want to be stuck here over night. Our new friends have travelled with us in or on top of the cars. Colin has managed to get one sat on the seat next to him in the front. It makes changing gears rather interesting for Chris. The car is also rather funky as it the fan is on heat windows up and Colin has managed to sit in some muck of some kind and the smell is making Chris nostrils wave the white flag of surrender! We wait for only a short time before the ferry is ready to load and we buy beers off the guides. The end is so close you can nearly taste it.
We roll onto the ferry and Chris for one doesn’t care anymore. After all the planning and all the work we made it. We park so close together the only way to get out the cars is to climb out the windows. We sit on top of our vehicles and drink, we have grins plastered across our faces and no one wants to say anything till we actually get to the finish line. Chris sends afew texts off to let people know we have arrived as he is standing on the back of a low loader. Simon goes to investigate the loo and his face tells an interesting story. It takes him 3 attempts to go in and he can’t understand how anyone can miss so badly on such a short crossing.
We roll off to see our contacts in Gambia and find that the guides are actually sort of genuine..phew but they leave quickly as there are police around. We roll off to a police escort and “man does life feel good”. It’s such a rush of adrenaline, relief and happiness. I don’t think we would ever be able to recreate that moment. As we travel on we realise that we have lost the Minty. We find out later that she ripped her exhaust off on the ferry ramp.
Chris has lost all sense of direction and he and Colin are happily following the car in front like a sheep we arrive at Safari Gardens to be greeted by some of the other residents. We climb on the vehicles and take pictures as well as congratulate each other. Who would have thought we would get this far and something said in half jest can be such an amazing thing.
Photo Pooling
Along the way we have pooled pictures ith the teams we travelled with and stored them on several laptops as well as an external drive. This has been fantastic as it means you get all the shots that other people have taken of you and where you were. It does however mean you end up with 22 gig of pics and movies. Sorting through is going to take an age but will bring back so many memories and stories!
Zebra Bar Day 2
It’s another wonderful day in paradise and we wake to a glorious blue sky with a gentle breeze and time to work on the bus. Well Colin, Paul and various others work on the bus, Chris to be on ignition duty…. Ignition on…. Ignition off….. Ignition on…. Ignition off. Whilst doing this taxing task he managed to use wet wipes to clean up the inside of the bus, Audi and PO. He didn’t spot till afterwards that wet wipes alone leave a smear film when used on their own.
At the same time as the bus is being worked on Chris and Colin reshape the sump guard and try to bend it away from the engine as we managed to hit a few too many bumps along the levies. Whilst this is going on the Barnacle Busters clean their car, Chris thinks they may have forgotten that to get to the Zebra bar was a dusty track.
Whilst this is being done we have several offers for the generators, and various other equipment, from other campers and the zebra bar owners. As the mechanics are getting to desperation point with the bus a couple turn up in a diesel camper van and luckily have the full German manuals on CD. This means that the carefully chosen playlist has to be turned off as the laptop is required for more important tasks.
Stephan is roped into translating the wiring diagram whilst Ahkim, Simon and Chris head off to swim the estuary. It’s amazing what is considered a good idea the night before after a couple of drinks. We however do it safely and Chris paddles the rescue boat across while the other two swim and then the roles are reversed for the way back. The swim takes about 20 minutes and on the way over we aren’t too sure about the currents. It’s a great feeling to say “I have swum that”, even if it is only a short distance and the water is lovely and refreshing. We recover by ordering lunch and taking some drinks round to the people working on the bus.
As the afternoon saunters towards evening the bus is breathed back into life. Admittedly at the point that they were in negotiations to sell it to the Zebra Bar owners. She must not have wanted to have had an owner change! Paul and the others have found many electrical faults many caused by an interesting approach to creating connections eg twisting wires together and then taping over the top.
I think the sun may have got to Colin as he now decides to clean the car to make it look more presentable. We all end up cleaning vehicles and it has to be admitted that they do look better for it.
During the afternoon some of the other teams turn up and we swap stories and updates of what they have been doing. Bangers and Smash have been towed by one of the Norwegian teams since the desert. Apparently this isn’t a good thing as they are and automatic and it damages something in the engine. They had to be towed as they have warped the head of the engine. While we are sorting ourselves out they look at what they can go and suggestions are offered. We hear about the Latvians refusing to pay to get into Senegal and some of the other teams that we know of. The teams that have arrived today head off into St Louis to check out the night life and meet up with people that have already found a suitable place to go out.
We plan for a early departure in the morning only to find that we won’t be able to get breakfast as the people we need to talk to have already gone home. We settle the bill get stickers and buy t-shirts to remember this lovely place by and get ready for a hard day.
Chris is very reluctant to leave as he loves this place but does realise that we have to push on humpf!
At the same time as the bus is being worked on Chris and Colin reshape the sump guard and try to bend it away from the engine as we managed to hit a few too many bumps along the levies. Whilst this is going on the Barnacle Busters clean their car, Chris thinks they may have forgotten that to get to the Zebra bar was a dusty track.
Whilst this is being done we have several offers for the generators, and various other equipment, from other campers and the zebra bar owners. As the mechanics are getting to desperation point with the bus a couple turn up in a diesel camper van and luckily have the full German manuals on CD. This means that the carefully chosen playlist has to be turned off as the laptop is required for more important tasks.
Stephan is roped into translating the wiring diagram whilst Ahkim, Simon and Chris head off to swim the estuary. It’s amazing what is considered a good idea the night before after a couple of drinks. We however do it safely and Chris paddles the rescue boat across while the other two swim and then the roles are reversed for the way back. The swim takes about 20 minutes and on the way over we aren’t too sure about the currents. It’s a great feeling to say “I have swum that”, even if it is only a short distance and the water is lovely and refreshing. We recover by ordering lunch and taking some drinks round to the people working on the bus.
As the afternoon saunters towards evening the bus is breathed back into life. Admittedly at the point that they were in negotiations to sell it to the Zebra Bar owners. She must not have wanted to have had an owner change! Paul and the others have found many electrical faults many caused by an interesting approach to creating connections eg twisting wires together and then taping over the top.
I think the sun may have got to Colin as he now decides to clean the car to make it look more presentable. We all end up cleaning vehicles and it has to be admitted that they do look better for it.
During the afternoon some of the other teams turn up and we swap stories and updates of what they have been doing. Bangers and Smash have been towed by one of the Norwegian teams since the desert. Apparently this isn’t a good thing as they are and automatic and it damages something in the engine. They had to be towed as they have warped the head of the engine. While we are sorting ourselves out they look at what they can go and suggestions are offered. We hear about the Latvians refusing to pay to get into Senegal and some of the other teams that we know of. The teams that have arrived today head off into St Louis to check out the night life and meet up with people that have already found a suitable place to go out.
We plan for a early departure in the morning only to find that we won’t be able to get breakfast as the people we need to talk to have already gone home. We settle the bill get stickers and buy t-shirts to remember this lovely place by and get ready for a hard day.
Chris is very reluctant to leave as he loves this place but does realise that we have to push on humpf!
St Louis
After a decent sleep Chris finally surfaces at 11am and heads down tot find breakfast. After tucking into an omelette and drinking numerous cups of coffee he decides to find out where everyone is and what’s going on. Well after climbing to the top of the lookout area and taking some pictures. The view is fantastic and so peaceful, looking down at the cars they look like they have been through the wars. After finding the rest of the group Chris has to get his backside in gear and change as we taking a boat from the bar up to St Louis so we can explore as well as get local currency. The teams we met last night have already moved off and are apparently heading down to a hotel that has been recommended around Dakar.
We wait on the beach as some of the locals try to sell us stuff. The kids are trying to sell us crabs that they have just picked up from the beach. Rather like trying to sell us fresh air! The day is starting to warm up and life is good.
We get in the boat after getting our feet wet and have to balance it so that it will travel. Rather amusing as some of us aren’t exactly the lightest, and to think the boat is supposed to take upto 14 people. If we had 14 in there we would have required a periscope. The trip is really refreshing and there is a certain amount of scorn given to Simon when he says he thinks the trip is an hour and a half, but he turns out to be right!!
We land by aiming for the shore and getting as much speed up as possible and then beaching. Right amongst the rotting fish and debris, D rescues her camera case as it gets thrown into the puddle of water at the bottom of the boat. Colin reliably informs us that the boat had been slowly sinking all the way up. So where now?
Ahkim goes off to see the fish market that we saw from the boat on the way in and the rest of us go for an amble looking to see the sites as well as find a bank. We find several atms and banks but have problems with the cash cards and withdrawing money. Eventually we find one that is able to do it and we change the various currencies we have into local. Simon has problems with his card and has to end up calling his bank to get it unlocked, as the sun is high most of us head to a café for a refreshing drink and possibly food. We all peruse the menu and it looks good till we find out that they only have ham or cheese sarnies on and that leaves D with nothing she can eat. Also a local that has had rather too many beers is deciding that we are his new best friends, so we decide to look elsewhere….
We find the main square, outside the old French officer mess, decide to push on as nowhere looks too open. After going in round in circles for a bit we cross to the other side of the river and take loads of great pictures. The good thing is that the pictures can’t capture the smell. The place honks and there are loads of dead fish in the water. Perhaps there is some disease going round? After a group discussion it is decided to head back the way we came as it looks like we are heading towards more residential areas rather than places to eat.
We end up back at the square and Chris is sent into the old officers’ mess to see if it is open for food. He is promptly shown the entire restaurant and finally told that it doesn’t open till the evening. With someone else leading the way we follow the flow of traffic and find another open area by another bridge off the central island and decide to stop here. As we order food the locals wave to try to get our attention to buy some of their wares. Paul is the first to circum and gets a pair of brightly colour trousers. Adrian and Chris think this is a good idea and head out to the same seller to get more. Adrian shows several pairs back to D and she lets him know what she thinks. Eventually she says that one pair isn’t too bad and Adrian haggles the deal for them and a pair Chris has found. Adrian haggles a price for 2 pairs that is only marginally over the price Paul paid for one and is very impressed. After a rapid change in the toilets and telephone kiosk they all pose for pics. The trousers fit surprisingly well and we are in high spirits when half the food turns up. We should have spotted something there and then but end up having to wait for another 40 minutes for the rest of the sandwiches. Apparently making cheese and ham sarnies is a time heavy process. The rest finally turn up after D’s intervention.
Due to the tides we weren’t able to get the boat back as if we had we would have only had an hour at St Louis so we get taxis back. A great experience as we see how to avoid pot holes at speed!! We arrive back at the Zebra bar with Dean and Brian having said yes to us all having dinner, so its all looking up. Settling in a shooting the breeze we discuss our plans for how long we will stay here and where we will go next. Brian and Dean are trying to work out if they are going to push on tomorrow or stay another day as their wives are already at Banjul. After discussions and conversations with higher authorities they decide to stay with the rest of us.
We are looking at staying tomorrow here and then having a day push right through to Banjul. Team Griffin managed it and they didn’t leave here till 11.30am but they did say they weren’t hanging around. This approach makes sense as the possible overnight locations are only 2 – 3 hours away and don’t seam worth it.
As we start sinking cold beers Paul’s and Adrian’s funky pants develop rips. They have been especially designed to fail within the day so you have to buy more ;). Chris is keeping quiet as his are alright and he doesn’t want to temp fate. Too late the pocket goes on his but not too badly as he is still able to wear them in public. Paul’s have a hole in the crotch. Another great meal and all to soon we retire for a good nights sleep.
As Chris and Colin have managed to end up the best chalet of the lot and with the most space Simon and Paul move in and use the floor space as it makes more sense than them putting up tents.
We wait on the beach as some of the locals try to sell us stuff. The kids are trying to sell us crabs that they have just picked up from the beach. Rather like trying to sell us fresh air! The day is starting to warm up and life is good.
We get in the boat after getting our feet wet and have to balance it so that it will travel. Rather amusing as some of us aren’t exactly the lightest, and to think the boat is supposed to take upto 14 people. If we had 14 in there we would have required a periscope. The trip is really refreshing and there is a certain amount of scorn given to Simon when he says he thinks the trip is an hour and a half, but he turns out to be right!!
We land by aiming for the shore and getting as much speed up as possible and then beaching. Right amongst the rotting fish and debris, D rescues her camera case as it gets thrown into the puddle of water at the bottom of the boat. Colin reliably informs us that the boat had been slowly sinking all the way up. So where now?
Ahkim goes off to see the fish market that we saw from the boat on the way in and the rest of us go for an amble looking to see the sites as well as find a bank. We find several atms and banks but have problems with the cash cards and withdrawing money. Eventually we find one that is able to do it and we change the various currencies we have into local. Simon has problems with his card and has to end up calling his bank to get it unlocked, as the sun is high most of us head to a café for a refreshing drink and possibly food. We all peruse the menu and it looks good till we find out that they only have ham or cheese sarnies on and that leaves D with nothing she can eat. Also a local that has had rather too many beers is deciding that we are his new best friends, so we decide to look elsewhere….
We find the main square, outside the old French officer mess, decide to push on as nowhere looks too open. After going in round in circles for a bit we cross to the other side of the river and take loads of great pictures. The good thing is that the pictures can’t capture the smell. The place honks and there are loads of dead fish in the water. Perhaps there is some disease going round? After a group discussion it is decided to head back the way we came as it looks like we are heading towards more residential areas rather than places to eat.
We end up back at the square and Chris is sent into the old officers’ mess to see if it is open for food. He is promptly shown the entire restaurant and finally told that it doesn’t open till the evening. With someone else leading the way we follow the flow of traffic and find another open area by another bridge off the central island and decide to stop here. As we order food the locals wave to try to get our attention to buy some of their wares. Paul is the first to circum and gets a pair of brightly colour trousers. Adrian and Chris think this is a good idea and head out to the same seller to get more. Adrian shows several pairs back to D and she lets him know what she thinks. Eventually she says that one pair isn’t too bad and Adrian haggles the deal for them and a pair Chris has found. Adrian haggles a price for 2 pairs that is only marginally over the price Paul paid for one and is very impressed. After a rapid change in the toilets and telephone kiosk they all pose for pics. The trousers fit surprisingly well and we are in high spirits when half the food turns up. We should have spotted something there and then but end up having to wait for another 40 minutes for the rest of the sandwiches. Apparently making cheese and ham sarnies is a time heavy process. The rest finally turn up after D’s intervention.
Due to the tides we weren’t able to get the boat back as if we had we would have only had an hour at St Louis so we get taxis back. A great experience as we see how to avoid pot holes at speed!! We arrive back at the Zebra bar with Dean and Brian having said yes to us all having dinner, so its all looking up. Settling in a shooting the breeze we discuss our plans for how long we will stay here and where we will go next. Brian and Dean are trying to work out if they are going to push on tomorrow or stay another day as their wives are already at Banjul. After discussions and conversations with higher authorities they decide to stay with the rest of us.
We are looking at staying tomorrow here and then having a day push right through to Banjul. Team Griffin managed it and they didn’t leave here till 11.30am but they did say they weren’t hanging around. This approach makes sense as the possible overnight locations are only 2 – 3 hours away and don’t seam worth it.
As we start sinking cold beers Paul’s and Adrian’s funky pants develop rips. They have been especially designed to fail within the day so you have to buy more ;). Chris is keeping quiet as his are alright and he doesn’t want to temp fate. Too late the pocket goes on his but not too badly as he is still able to wear them in public. Paul’s have a hole in the crotch. Another great meal and all to soon we retire for a good nights sleep.
As Chris and Colin have managed to end up the best chalet of the lot and with the most space Simon and Paul move in and use the floor space as it makes more sense than them putting up tents.
Tuesday, 13 January 2009
School
We have visited the school this morning that Admiral Lord Nelson have links with and handed over the laptops and equipment. It was gratefully received and we were given a tour round meeting students and teachers.
Adrian handed over the Irish flag and the hurling equipment they had and was demonstrating how to use it. We didn't get chance to take any pics of the students in the football kit kindly donated by Portsmouth Football Club but this will be rectified when ALNS come down in February.
This means I am now without a computer to use and have to work off the machines the hotel has. I will keep my fingers crossed that I don't stop them working ;) I have notes on the missing days and will add them when I am back in the UK.
Highlights include.......
Meeting Miss Gambia, Driving through the presidents gate, flying the Irish flag from the spot lights at the national stadium and traveling on the roof of the car.
Some of our convoy have already left for home or for further travels. Stephan is off to Cape Verdi, Ahkim is off exploring Gambia before sailing across to Brazil. Simon has moved his flight to today and Paul was last seen working on a knackered Renault 5. The Barnicle Busters were looking at their radiator before getting the flight home tonight.
It has been a pleasure to travel with everyone and we are planning on meeting up again soon..... and definitely for Ocktober fest.
Adrian handed over the Irish flag and the hurling equipment they had and was demonstrating how to use it. We didn't get chance to take any pics of the students in the football kit kindly donated by Portsmouth Football Club but this will be rectified when ALNS come down in February.
This means I am now without a computer to use and have to work off the machines the hotel has. I will keep my fingers crossed that I don't stop them working ;) I have notes on the missing days and will add them when I am back in the UK.
Highlights include.......
Meeting Miss Gambia, Driving through the presidents gate, flying the Irish flag from the spot lights at the national stadium and traveling on the roof of the car.
Some of our convoy have already left for home or for further travels. Stephan is off to Cape Verdi, Ahkim is off exploring Gambia before sailing across to Brazil. Simon has moved his flight to today and Paul was last seen working on a knackered Renault 5. The Barnicle Busters were looking at their radiator before getting the flight home tonight.
It has been a pleasure to travel with everyone and we are planning on meeting up again soon..... and definitely for Ocktober fest.
Sunday, 11 January 2009
To Zebra Bar
After good nights sleep we get ourselves ready to go. We intend to be on the road for 7am but things never go to plan. We have attempted to order omelettes for breakfast (the night before) but end up with the lighter option of bread and croissants and coffee that is like tar. Its going well so far but we still have the bill to pay..... After much discussion and faff the woman that owns the hotel is called as their appears to be a communication problem between our negotiators (Dean and several others) and the guy at the hotel. It is all finally resolved and the beers we drank turn out to cost more than the accommodation. It could have been why dinner took a while, so we drank more. We finally get out of the compound and Chris lays out rigid tank tracks to help the vehicles out, he doesn't fancy hitting the sump guard again.
So which way out of here?? We need to find fuel as well so this is going to be fun. After driving through what appears to be a market we end up at the first of several fuel stations. We have to go through the rigmarole of trying to find one with leaded fuel for all the cars apart from ours. At number 4 we find one that fits the bill, however fuelling 6 cars takes it time and provide street theatre for all the locals. Especially when some of the teams try to change euros to local at the pump. We were like honey to ants!!! Naomi and Tara (Stephan and Achkim) are posing for photos again and are looking so relaxed if they were anymore so would be horizontal. After resolving the fuel we have to jump the Zebra bus up and down the street as she is having a hissy fit this morning. While we are faffing we are passed by some Spanish and Norwegian teams who wave and blair their horns. We are off, till we hit the second roundabout. The bus sticks its nose up and stops, it is helped out of the traffic flow by the Germans taking her roughly from behind. Once clear we inspect the problems and help the Germans fix their first problem, they squewed their bumper pushing the bus. It is fixed quickly by using bag ties and the bus is got back running again.
We head out of town and find loads of fuel stations that would have better suited our requirement but we could have easily found none. At the second police checkpoint we pull off and have to work on the bus she definitely got up on the wrong side of the bus this morning!! The tarp is put between Pickled Onion and the Zebra to give some shade for the people working. Chris catches up writing some blogs and is asked for the laptop as a cadauex by the guards, let me see.... 2 words first starts in S and second O. The kettle is put on as you can always do with a brew. We also distribute some cakes from the grub box and they are extremely welcome. Some of the guys play hurling with the kit the Irish brought. Its a strange sight playing with camels in background. After an hour or so we get back on the road. The road is good going and we get up and hold a decent speed. We are attempting to get across the border tonight if all goes well.
We travel well and the same bush taxi keeps passing us, it stops to pick up people and we overtake it. We arrive at the point where we head towards Diama rather than Rosso and its completely as the road book describes. We however haven't read the road book and we travel through it feeling a bit unsure. Especially as we are travelling along what is only just wide enough for our wheel base. As we go further the dust level increases and so does the car temperature. We end up having to have the heater on and windows down to keep the car running. As we are tail end Charlie we are eating dust sarnies and the shemaghs are warn as masks. The road degrades and the size of the pot holes increase. We come across the Spanish teams from earlier and they have their radiator in pieces whilst we top up our water liquid metal is handed to the team repairing the radiator and we are off again.
As we are bouncing along the road we finally get phone signal and are back with the world again!!! Avoiding the pot holes takes a huge amount of concentration and wears the humour down quickly. Especially when you have two people driving seeing the road from different angles.
As the sun sets we arrive at a random road block and have to pay to get out of the national park, we are also told that the border is open later than we thought. We had been told 7pm but it turns out it is open till 11pm :). The gorgeous sunset has finished and the night doesn't help the pot hole avoidance. The bus decides to let out a big cloud of steam with a bang and have another hissy fit and is promptly put on tow till it can be investigated more. As we travel on to the border we have to stop as the BB think they have lost their passports, after a quick search they are discovered under the seat and we are off again till they get a warning light come on. We pull over to investigate and realise we aren't alone when people appear from the shadows, they are probably just interested in what's going on but humour has waned and we don't want to find out so quickly get going. As the rest of the group have gone ahead we have to drive at speed to catch up, but at least the border is in sight!!
We are learning that nothing is quick at borders and UK customs should be praised in dealing with people in 30 minutes. We have to go through several stages, Chris is really feeling it now and is wandering round like a zombie. We clear the Mauritania side pretty quickly and with minimal cost. Apparently we have to pay more euros to get the exit stamp. We have afew minutes of "too many chefs spoil the broth" but its all sorted and we head off. While this has been going on Paul has been working on the van and has got it going again.
The convoy is on the roll into "no mans land" before reaching the Senegal Border. We que up and are checked off by a guy that looks like a smurf. This wasn't pointed out to him. Simon is designated negotiator for the entry requirements and goes with the Kiwi Mark to get the first set of stamps required. It goes well for us but not for Mark. Apparently Kiwi's are on a list that need a visa and there is no way he can buy it at the border. As we head on through the next stage he is marched off and put in a 4 x 4 that heads back to the Mauritania side. He will then have to take bush taxi back up to Nouakchott and visit the embassy, which rather unhelpfully is 100m from where we had stayed the night before.
While this is being sorted there is the lamest attempt ever to steal the Audi. We are all stood round being hassled by afew locals for gifts when one of them leaning against the Audi starts to push it away. 10 out of 10 for blatancy with a 0 out of 10 likelihood of success. The bus is now running on the battery from the Audi while its one is recharged. Again the locals being so in your face about asking for gifts is disconcerting but De points out it that we are lucky we have come through so late as we would have been swamped if it had been during daylight. We then move on to the negotiation of the vehicle passes, there has been several stories that we have heard of other teams this year and previous paying huge amounts. The truck driver we met had told us that he had been stung for 100 usd and his guide had also been caught for the same when they were separated by the guards. Colin is prepared for this to be a long one.... the prices starts high and even higher if we don't want an escort through the country. After explaining we have no space, and blah blah blah the price moves to nearer the one we are thinking and we finally get away with 70 euros per car and no guide.
The final stage is now the car insurance and the first person through is Chris. Chris is currently dribbling and has pencils up his nose and underpants on his head. Communication is slow with the lovely woman who is completing the documentation and after assistance of both another border crosser Dean and Adrian the insurance is purchased for both Senegal and Gambia. Cost 50 euros for a month (same cost as 7 days) and the change is given in a bottle of pop. This is gratefully received and emptied in about 10 seconds flat!!! Colin arrives to late to get a sniff of it and it would have required someone either very brave or stupid to try to pry it out of Chris' hands. The rest of the group get through the insurance buying and we find out the woman is a grandmother and her daughter has got twins who's birthday it is. She shows us all pictures on her phone and is very proud of them.
We are now clear and on our way to Zebra bar. Apparently this place is famous and worth a visit and definitely should not be missed. Being rather slow Chris and Colin have never heard of it it is now 11pm and they are both wondering if it is a case of afew km to far for a day. We hit our first road block and it feels like this is going to be a long slog but we think Dean and Brian were handing out the 4 year old fags at the front to speed up the process and we travel quickly through several. The road however is great and well lit but the taxis have their backends jacked up so high they look like dragsters. Within 5 km we find out why as the road conditions deteriorate. The good news is the bus is back on its own steam but has no lights.
As we travel into more built up areas we hit a police stop with a guy that wants to check just about everything in the vehicles and promptly fines CH for a number plate light not working. Paul is in the bus driving and can believe it as they haven't got any lights at all and are seeing where they are going by using a head torch! It turns out that in Senegal you have to carry a fire extinguisher, florescent jacket and warning triangle. Luckily we didn't throw out the jackets in Morocco. As we hit the next stop the spare extinguisher is dropped to the Audi as we don't want to invite hassle. However this is not enough and both the Audi and Van get stung for 30 euros for not having seat belts.
Dean has the gps of the Zebra bar and is heading to the way point but it appears to be taking us to the back of nowhere down less than dirt tracks. We do however start to see signs for it and head on hoping that the place is an oasis and not a cesspit. We pull in under our own steam and the bus rolls to a halt outside having decided that it is not travelling any further. We all traipse through what turns out to be the kitchen and grab a cold one. It is most welcome especially when it come in what appears to be nearly a milk bottle. As CH have already called ahead there is hot food being prepared for us, this is the puppies danglies as its 2 am :) While this is going on rooms are booked and Team Rubbish end up in the split level unit with a view and double bed. It costs a bit more but we really arent in the mood to play silly buggers with the hammocks or tents.
The guy handing out the keys shows Chris to the room and it doesnt bode well as he has trouble finding the hut. We finally find it, he has only been working their for 3 weeks and is on a recess from university. OMG the place is like curry to a piss head. Downstairs there is a shower and sink upstairs is a massive room with both balcony and en suite. Raymond keenly points out the ceiling is new, Chris is more impressed that he is stationary and has a room with a balcony that looks out on to the beach and bay. Both of those being currently about 5 foot away. We head back for more drinks and the smile that is plastered across Chris' face is like he has just won the lottery.
As we relax and unwind we are all glad that the long push was worth it. We meet up with Chasing Rainbows and Brew Crew who have been here for 2 days. Nippy Racers are off in St Louis painting the town red. Its good to talk to others about their experiences and see what problems they have had. It becomes a standing thing to compare war stories. When we decide to retire Chris inbuilt homing skills fail drastically and Colin and he wander around the area shining torches in random directions trying to find the room. In tears of laughter they finally find it and pass out.
Apologies
We arrived and ended up in a brilliant hotel called the Kombo Beach, thanks to Team Griffin. They even managed to get us a special rate of 30 euros per room including breakfast. You have no idea how you were saluted when we arrived!!! However it has seriously disrupted my diligence in posting blogs of the final days of the journey. I am trying to remedy the situation but the pool keep beckoning and we are off for a curry tonight.
Desert 2
After a rough nights sleep we break camp and as there is no sign of anyone being up for breakfast I open a can of beans as I have to make sure I take in more calories. We are both taking in enough water and have a camel back mounted off the back of the drivers seat with the pipe coming forward. If you are doing this I would thoroughly recommend this as it means you keep a continual intake going.
Harmen is feeling a lot better today and we get ourselves on the beach ready to go. We take the opportunity to get some more lovely pics. To get them you run towards the sea when the waves go out take the picture and run back in before you get wet. I get a sodden leg as I wasn't quick enough.
We are given instruction on driving on the beach and where to head to make sure we don't bog down of float away. Its a great laugh and we run the edge of the surf hitting the occasional wave. I mange to hit a slightly bigger than expected wave and the water comes over the top of the car and comes in the drivers window. Colin is less than impressed and reminds me that if we get water in the engine its game over.
We are canning it along listening to the Fugees "The Score" and life feels great. We come across another P2B car that looks abandoned. We are about to rob / scavenge / borrow kit and are calling the teams on the working mobile when a Merc pulls up with beefy locals in. They inform our guides that the car is now owned by them and they were the guides for the team that left it. Luckily at that point I hadn't actually started to strip the car for parts as these guys look like they would have a massive humour failure. We are told that the vehicle has a busted clutch and is non drivable.
We push further on and get a good run in till Harmen informs us that the tides have changed and we have to adapt the route and get off the beach. We get back upto speed and then suddenly we try to exit the beach. Later we find out he suddenly went left. Paul was driving at the time and said "you mean stop" he gesticulates he means left not stop so Paul does it and they make it through by the skin of their teeth. Then us and the BBs bogged down. The Audi makes it through and waits with the bus. After we are dug out we pull back for a very long run up and clear it. The BBs are pushed and towed back and do the same. The CHs have no problems but that's to be expected. Above Us The Sky float across the soft sand and make it look effortless.
We regroup and use a can of tyre weld on the Minty. Unfortunately due to the bouncing around or a fault with the can the valve system breaks and showers Colin and Paul in Foam. Its like it is snowing in the desert, but Paul is less impressed as it is all over his gilabert. As we finish the job the merc comes off the beach followed by the citron. It sit rather uneasy with us and our guides wont be drawn on it.
We head on on good running with intermittent soft sand. We later find out the guides think D is giving odds on us getting out "Soft Sand Soft Sand" sounds like 66 in French when said fast. With the good running we are able to get up to 80 kph and it feels like warp speed compared to what we have been doing and we get to tarmac. We are told not to re inflate the tyres which seams strange till we hit a couple of dunes across the road. After the guides taking a look and working out the best route we go for it. There are some great sequence shots of the cars doing the run up and going over the top. Above Us the Sky look like they leave the ground as they crest the second dune. We managed to definitely get the cars backside in the air on the first one but no one got a shot.
When we reach the road and clear the first police checkpoint we stop to refil the tyres. The operation takes about 30 min and we move the electrical compressors round the group. CH manage to break their footpump and our compressor appears to put out the same amount of air as a wheezing asthmatic. We are soon on our way again and heading towards our overnight stop. Nouakchott is another shock to the system after driving for so long with no one around. The place is non stop and vehicles come from every direction. At least however there are loads of fuel stations we can use in the morning.
We go past lots of hotels in various price bands and states of repair / building and end up heading into what looks like a residential area. After all this way we nearly end up stuck in the soft sand on a road junction, the BBs do and with a quick push are soon moving again. The guides take us to the hotel and its a gorgeous place called <<cant remember the name will insert later, number 16 on lonely planet>>. We say good bye to our guides and pay the remaining money, we have been really lucky to have them and they have made the crossing something completely unforgettable. I would recommend them to anyone and will get the contact information put up on the blog. They go home to their families and we will call them in the morning if we require their assistance on our onward journey. As the other teams get themselves settled in we work on the car. It has taken some massive hits and is looking rough. We shuffle the kit around again and attempt to get the some of the sand out as well as bend the sump guard away from the engine. For anyone doing something like this in nearly any vehicle a sump guard is worth its weight in gold. Whilst we are doing this the others catch up with a kiwi that started the P2B who is staying at the hotel.
His original car made 15km in Europe before failing completely. They then got a second car that got them further down but went the same way. He has subsequently made his way down to Marrakesh and Mauritania on mixed forms of transport. The rest of his team had decided to go home.
We rigged up the filtration system so as the evening progresses we can refill the 50L we are carrying, which is okay till one of the containers falls over and we loose 25L, way it goes. As their isnt enough available rooms in the place we double up and David, Colin and Myself stay in the front room of the apartment that De and Adrian have. Food takes a while in the evening and by the time it arrives we are really ready for it, in retrospect it may have made more sense to go out for food but not moving was the best option at the time.
There is wifi and the laptop is used heavily by people checking emails and world events. I am too tired to do any more than upload the last batch of blogs. I do however take in the view of the city from the roof top veranda, unfortunately the camera is woefully unable to capture the lights and breath taking view. The stars have been so clear and even in the city with the lights you can see so many it makes you feel insignificant.
Wednesday, 7 January 2009
Desert Adrain's Birthday
We stop on the edge of the beach due to the tides and intend to push on tomorrow. We haven't got as far as we hoped but it is the way it goes and at least we are in one piece with all of the cars. We went through a village about an hour before setting up camp and had to pay fees for the sleeping in the national park. Outside the office was a carcass of a whale that had died after it hit a banana boat breaking its skull. We are the object of great interest and the children are all asking for cadaeu. There are several attempts to pry off the tennis ball stuck to the bonnet but to no avail.
To get to the area where we are staying we have to power through some very soft sand. At first attempt I get us bogged down and the BBs bog down just to our right. CH pull us backwards out of it after I do a load of shovel work. The BBs are also pulled out and Colin has a go with the motor. He hits it well and travels a good 500m further into it but still isnt clear. As We are digging him out the others come back to see what is going on. Over the radios we tell the BBs to "one the count of 3 put a brick on the accelerator and only take it off when they hit the zebra bus" Adrain adds "Just F**king go for it" and after the ribbing they do just that. Seeing them plough through the sand they look like a real rally car and their engine sounds evil (probably not a good sign). With help and lots of pushing we get ourselves clear but the effort is taking its toll. Luckily we only have to do a couple of KM before where we camp. Getting to the camp area involves going in as hot as you can and then stamping on the breaks before you overshoot and end up in the sea. We all get in on the first attempt and start to set up camp.
Unluckily Minty (BB's car) has a ruptured fuel line and is jacked up using and exhaust jack, this takes several attempts as the car keps moving in the sand. Paul calls his mate back home to find out what glues we can use with petrol and receives a text back on Brian's phone to use the evo stick. Paul is upto his waist under Minty working and is being filmed working by the BBs. The progress is slow but hopefully it will allow us to keep going. We have been assured that the beach drive wont be so hard on the cars. Some of us go for a swim in the sea to refresh after the days slog. I am feeling absolutely shot and the cool salt water feels great my body is definitely not happy though. Everyone's humour had run very short by the end of the drive.. As we are cooking dinner several vehicles pass at high speed on the edge of the surf, we will be doing this tomorrow.
The day has been a slog and we drove through a sandstorm as well as hitting some massive dunes. We got some great pictures of us and the guides on the cars on the slack side of a dune. We have been apparently following a road and are lucky that not many people have been along it to churn it up. My thoughts are "my Arse" right up till we pass a sign in the middle of nowhere.
While we are cooking we see loads of beetles and they bloody fly as well which is not sporting. They are also attracted to the ark lights, so we move their position out. One of the guides is also running a temperature and not feeling too special. Dierde fills him a hot water bottle (its a heart shaped one) and a tent is put up for him, loosing his skills would be worse than loosing several vehicles.
Adrian is doing the cooking with me helping and as its his birthday we do rice pudding for desert. You don't feel hungry when doing this sort of travelling right upto tasting food then your stomach wakes up and your ravenous. At least by not eating much I will loose some weight. We are so shattered we dont put the hammock or the tent up and opt for sleeping in the car. I pass out before Colin and the rest are chilling out having a beer.
Mobiles
When we went through Mauritania their were 2 mobile carriers M Tel and Mr Tel and neither supported orange. Brian's O2 did work all the way through we only picked up signal as we were travelling along the levies, thank you for all the texts and the answer phone messages. Unfortunately my Orange answer phone is miss configured and wont let me listen to them.
Guides
The guides we have for the desert section are really good and helpful. Especially when we hear about other teams. I will find out the number for anyone who wants to use them. We had Haybar working as a translator for Harmen the guide. Having both meant that communication was faster and easier even though it was additional cost.
Morroco to Mauritania
The border opens and we roll forward to a crossing that is expected to take 6 hours. After handing passports in we have to be weight to have our names called at another window. The gentleman we met last night had warned us to make sure we listen for our names as if we don't hear it the first time you are put to the bottom of the que and made to wait at least another 2 hours.
While this is occurring we lorries that have been waiting with use are searched. They have a good way of doing this they move out the centre load of pallets (boxes) length ways on the vehicle and then walk down the middle to make sure no one is hiding in their. There is also a small amount of movement of presents of crates of stuff that goes to the guards, just to ease the wheels. We are finally waved through one of the parts of the border and on through customs. They give us a cursory glance and then wave us through. All seams to be going well and we are now pulled up in the mine field waiting for the rest of the convoy. The smell is very bad, it makes slurry smell like lavender. There is lots of rubbish strewn around, would you want to scavenge stuff in a live mine field?
There are also quite a few wrecked vehicles about. There is no sign of explosive damage on nearly all of them. They have been stripped but that's understandable. We meet up with the guides that Dean and Brian have arranged and discuss what we want to do. We decide to take the beach route and have an adventure ;) The group of guides we meet include a money changer who has a flack jacket without the armour inserts and Liberia's deficient in his skyrocket. Unfortunately we get rather hammer on the exchange rate, but you live and learn. We travel with our two guides to the Mauritanian border que. You could easily cross the minefield without a guide and it would just be a case of keeping up with the trucks hammering across the dunes. Chris and Colin both didn't see the new Spanish road that you not supposed to follow but they could have been looking the other way. Today's music selection is a bit more random and we are playing Now albums. This means Chris is manically flicking tracks going "No, No, ooh, nah bored of that one now, ooh this is a classic leave it, shall we have that again??". We have agreed with the guides to do a 3 day route down to the capital. This will mean that we get to do both desert and beach running and aren't too rushed, it will also mean we will get some excellent pictures.
As we join the que to enter Mauritania Chris gets a call and he thinks its one of the other teams. It turns out to be Rich Baker seeing if he can pop round to see him. Rich and his wife are back in the UK from the USA).. After a bit of garble and static Chris explains that he is in a Mine Field awaiting the border crossing and Rich asks why he is clearing mines????? keeping the conversation rather short Rich is told of the website www.TeamRubbish.org.uk and promises are made to catch up in the new year.
As we are now stationary Chris decides to make a brew. Working on the British principle of if you have nothing to do put the kettle on! This is ok till the que moves and Chris has to amble along with the cooker and kettle to keep up. "If I turn the burner off it will take longer to boil".
We make it to customs and the day is starting to warm up a treat. We scatter for various points of shade and await our turn to go into the hut to talk to the officials. One person stays with the vehicles so they can check them over and the other deals with the hut officials.
The BBs go in first and end up handing over a pencil case and notepad as a cadeaux, the other option was their shades. It progresses through to Simon of WWD who does his best to plead "no understand" right up till the moment the official goes "where is my present?" in English. He ends up parting with a pencil. Chris takes the approach of looking harmless and at the floor unless spoken to giving deference and statue to the guards. Also he has stripped off anything that looks like its worth more than 50p. He makes it out without handing over a gift and is feeling smug till he sees the bag of pink tennis balls being given to the official searching the car by Colin. "bugger said Doogle!"
Once we are all clear of this we then have to fill in import documents and buy insurance. Due to leaving the ferry in Morocco with post haste we have been technically running without insurance for the last few 1000 Kms.... so this is all rather new. We get the insurance from a wooden hut and are also offered a very good exchange rate for currency. Tip: Dont Change cash in a mine field.
We are finally on our way but have a pressing need for fuel as all the petrol cars are running rather low. We are travelling well till one of our guides gets us to stop so he can get water. Chris not think mentions over the walkie talkies that in the UK we call it Vodka. Diedra points out that we aren't alone and the translator is still in the bus. Open mouth insert both feet at once. Apparently the Moroccan water isn't any good according to the guide. We run the 52 miles to the fuel station and then discover that we should have been rather clearer in what we wanted. The station we have come to only has gasoil (diesel) great for PO but as much use as chocolate fireguard for all the other cars.
It turns out that the garage owner has cans of fuel for sale but the cost is high. We try to work a deal on 130 litres which is what we recon we will need but it turns out that he only has 100. After much back and forth we buy the fuel he has and one of the guides and the pikey bus travel off to another place where their may be some more leaded fuel. At this point the guy brings out the fuel and it is in plastic 20l drums. We have fun filling the vehicles up and BBs and others are concerned about the quality of the fuel but its all we can get our grubby ickle mitts on. CH buy up the shops (huts) supply of cans of fanta and WWD stock up on water. While we are waiting several coaches pull up and stop for loo breaks. The people are really friendly and one overhears us talking about phones and offer us his to make a call if we need it. This wouldnt happen in the UK.and Chris is really surprised after all the warnings we received before we arrived. Once finally fuelled we get on our way our guide lets us know that we need to get moving as we are behind on the schedule that we wanted to do.
We start into the desert and Colin starts to film. The language gets short with lots of 4 letter words and some of it is picked up on camera as Colin didnt realised that he left it running. When we stop we swap drives as Chris has had enough of the helpful comments from the passengers seat. Colin promptly gets the car bogged down and has to agree that we havent got the best vehicle for this BB are having as much problems as us. We dig the car out and use the shovel as instructed by the guide. Its hard work and still in quite a laugh, Chris has the feeling this laugh will wear off if he has to do this more than 5 times. After letting nearly all the air out of the tires we are off again and the going is good.
We pull up just before sunset on a bit of desert that looks like any other and set up camp. As we decamp the electronics and get the tents set up Chris doesn't think the guides can believe it, but not to miss an opportunity they charge their phones. Chris remembers something he read in a book somewhere about desert cleaning of cooking equipment and gives it a try. It goes well and the pots are soon clean.
Chris has a call of nature after it gets dark and attempts to use the toilet seat. It collapses and he is left chasing the bog roll across the desert, with tears of laughter running down his face. We decided to sleep in the tent and get a good nights rest before heading off.
To The Morroco Border
The drive to the Morrocian border was uneventful and involved a straight road for several hours. There was however a few mine field signs. We arrive at the border before we realise it and there is a restaurant / cafe where we have a conflab about what to do and where to stay as well as should we try to cross tonight. We decide to stay the night in the tents the place has as well as some of the rooms. Colin and Chris help the guy checking us in by filling the fishes.
We all order food with varying amounts of success and catch up with a guy that is driving back to the UK from below Gambia. He is driving a truck he built himself, which we obviously have to have a nose round, It is far more sophisticated than our vehicles and it has a 200L drinking water tank as well a filter on the air intake that throws out all the sand. The guy has loads of really interesting stories about his travels and footage he has taken on the drive up. He also gives us loads of tips about where to stay and cross borders to minimise the hassle and cost. Adrian finally looses patience with the Celine Dion cd that is set to loop and we burn a mp3 cd of the top 75 uk hits. This seams to meet with approval but they still only loop the first 5 songs. Grrrrrrr
Whilst we are getting as much information as we can about the route ahead we copy each others pictures onto the laptop and Deans external drive. There are so many great pictures and we cant believe that we have only been away for such a short time. Colin sells the wheels we have still been carrying for the Risitas for 15 euros for 2 which is a reasonable deal. The guy we sell them to is more interested in buying the jerry cans but there is no way they are available.
All too quickly the evening gets away from us and cars start to park in a line to cross the border in the morning. We move ours out sharpish and put them nose to tail. People are still rather jumpy about leaving the vehicles exposed on the road and Colin and Dean sleep in the vehicles. Chris gets himself hunkered down in a tent with Team Griffin who spend most the night playing poker with WWD in the lounge tent.
Power for the restaurant goes on at 1800 and off at 2100 which really helps the charging the walkie talkies. There is however a really annoying beep that goes off about every hour about 3 meters from Chris head in the tent. Colin reports that the border has been in constant use all night with bus loads of people driving round it after giving a geeza standing in the shade a wad of cash.
The toilets are the usual feet points and squat except there is a normal one for the ladies. Paul gets scowled at and shooed away every time he goes near it by the female attendant. It could be something to do with him wearing his gilabert!!
We are woken in the morning by what sounds like a cat going through the final death throws, such a pleasant noise! To get ourselves motivated Chris and Colin drink coffee that is a close relative of the ALNS special variety and it cleans the pallet and makes your eyes go wide. Deans mint tea is rather manky but after the coffee Chris assists in finishing it.
We had planned to get going early in the morning for a 6am crossing we were stopped however by the border not being open till 9am.
Monday, 5 January 2009
Alive
We have got to Nouakchott and have overnighted in a lovely place. Pooped after the trip so far. Had a real laugh last night but as food took a bit too long to arrive we had all drunk afew too many cold ones. Just about to hit the road and sending a quick post to say we are alive.
Thursday, 1 January 2009
New Years Eve
We go for an early start on New Years eve and have breakfast the drive is long and straight we get through a few check points and have to start handing over fishes. I think we should have printed more than we did!!
With Team Rubbish in the lead we try to head the wrong way down a one way street and for some reason only GG follow us. The actual route was to drive on the wrong side of the road for 3 km and then go over rubble to get on the correct side. Who would have thought. We also have an impromptu stop at a camel sign for pictures. A local that we have just past must think we have stopped to give him a lift so we end the photo shoot and get rolling again.
Another random moment was when we pasted a set of 5 desert rigged military landies with some of the hardest looking hombres in. Lots of hardware in display.
We get sporadic texts from the other teams and are running well. We bypass daklha and head towards a campsite we have been emailed about. BS and HHCIB are already there. We arrive to find they have no diesel and the group decide to push on abit further. There are supposed to be loads of teams at the campsite but when people have gone down to where they are camping there is no one their. They do however have Disco Stu in the carpark selling little cans of amber nectar so we all pick up slabs, as it is New Years Eve.
We travel on to a place signed Porto Rico where CH drive down a track to find the sea and find a great looking campsite. The only problem is that its owned by an agency that let it to hotels and the guy minding the bedowin tents gets us to phone his boss who only speaks french. After some discussions with 2 camper vans on the area (that know the boss) they speak to him on the phone and try to get us a deal. The deal isnt good 40 euros per person but the sun is setting and we have a load of conflab. Chris takes a measured approach and clears off down the beach till someone decided something an with Akim (Above us the sky, Germans) goes for a paddle. Of course this is followed by the drawing in the sand and taking pictures.
Their still isn't a decision and Chris fires off a few pics of a gorgeous sun set before the convoy decides to split. GG, WWD, CH, Griffin (Irish Team) decide to stay and suffer the cost as the place is fantastic. The other head out to either camp in the mine fields, back to the previous stop or onwards. At one point their was discussion of going over to "shack man" 3 km over on the other side of the bay and seeing if he would let us camp next to him but it was discounted as 2 vehicles had already got bogged down in the softer sand getting to the current place.
We have found a fabulous place and the view is another absolutely breath taking one. Whilst GG are doing a superb job of getting grub ready and everyone is trying to be helpful with no idea of what to do. Chris bowls off for a swim, the water is refreshing (chuffing cold) but it feels great after a travelling. Chestykoff (Stan and Dimitri) arrive and find the cost and deicide to head back to the garage before and take them up on their hospitality.
The cooking is moved inside the main tent as the wind has got up a bit and the electronics set starts. We discover that the laptops cant drive the Chav speaks we have and we arent able to splice them to the output of the projector. There is discussion of moving the battle bus down so we can use the speakers but we will have to be winched out in the morning. Due to it involving effort it is decided against. As we are unpacking the screen another team pull up tell us the previous garage is only 10 euros a person and the views similar but there is no interest in moving and we are a bit like so what?.
The grub is absolutely fantastic and Diedre's not convinced that the cans o meat we got from lidl aren't dog food. It does taste great and there are no complaints. We settle down to watch Fawlty Towers as Kareoke is out of the question. The speaker volume is so low you would actually hear us sing :( By about 2030 people are already snoring like jet engines, some of us move outside to look at the mass of stars in the gloriously clear sky. Adrain isn't impressed when its pointed out that we are sat on the edge of a small cliff. We make it through to midnight and the BBs provide fireworks they have brought, so we celebrate the New Year in style. Especially as we have Champagne from Team Griffin.
The evening winds up for some and keeps going for others ,WWD and Griffin stop playing poker about 4 am. Chris passes out first and Colin is left keeping the Team Rubbish flag waving on the beer drinking front. There are tents for sleeping but falling over where you were sitting is the plan used for lots of us. We did however get pics of the nice tents on the way to a loo stop.
Happy New Year to everyone reading this may 2009 bring you many interesting stories much laughter and happiness.
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