Team Rubbish

The Parade

2009-01-23T16:34:00.000Z

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.

Culture

2009-01-23T14:00:00.004Z

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.

Relaxing

2009-01-23T14:00:00.003Z

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.

Senagambia Strip

2009-01-23T13:59:00.001Z

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.

Sea and Shades

2009-01-21T16:19:00.002Z

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.

Move To Kombo

2009-01-19T21:35:00.002Z

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

Safari Gardens

2009-01-19T21:21:00.001Z

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

2009-01-19T21:17:00.001Z

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.

Photo Pooling

2009-01-19T21:15:00.000Z

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

2009-01-19T19:58:00.000Z

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!

St Louis

2009-01-19T19:04:00.001Z

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.

School

2009-01-13T12:50:00.002Z

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.

To Zebra Bar

2009-01-11T18:32:00.006Z

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

2009-01-11T18:32:00.004Z

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.

We Made It!!!

2009-01-11T18:32:00.003Z

We are in Banjul

Desert 2

2009-01-11T18:31:00.001Z

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.

Desert Adrain's Birthday

2009-01-07T17:09:00.000Z

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

2009-01-07T17:07:00.001Z

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

2009-01-07T17:07:00.000Z

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

2009-01-07T17:06:00.000Z

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

2009-01-07T17:05:00.000Z

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.

Alive

2009-01-05T07:49:00.001Z

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.

New Years Eve

2009-01-01T13:24:00.000Z

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.

Burst Communications

2008-12-31T09:58:00.000Z

As wifi in the desert is rarer than rocking horse poo we are bursting the blogs out via email through GPRS. This means that they arrive out of order. I am sorry but we cant fix this unless we send one at a time and Chris wants to spend the smallest amount of time transmitting as possible. Coul someone please update the facebook group of our progress as loading facebook takes over 10 minutes!!!!

Rain In The Sahara

2008-12-31T09:57:00.000Z

We wake to still more rain and the Germans and BBs have also given up during the night and are asleep in their cars. We get ourselves packed up and ready to move as quick as possible the security guard is on hand to point out he has watched us all night and is tired and would like a tip / present. He gets the knackered chair as well as a whip round from the teams. He has done a good job and all our kit is still there.

We start to muster on the road and have to dig WWD out of their position on the campsite. This doesn't bode well for us doing much off road when we are in Mauritania. We start to roll and run around the town looking for fuel as some of the cars are running low. After 20 minutes we fill the cars up that are low from Jerry Cans and start the run. 10 minutes later we see a fuel station, typical!! We all fuel and refill the cans and get on our way. It is still fine rain and loads of wind, the wind isnt even in the car!!!!

We are now officially in Western Sahara and the sand is being blown across the road. Watching the patterns made as it travel is really hypnotising. Chris sleeps for lots of the first bit but wakes up for the police checks. Colin also attempts to sleep and we bounce around for a bit as we hit the edge of the road. Quite soon after Chris manages to convince Colin its time to swap. We run for a total of 200 km to Tarfaya a medium size town where we are hoping to have lunch. Unfortunately after a quick reconnoitre decide the place is a dump and to push on as its only another 100 km or so to where we are going to spend the night. As we get to roughly the right point Chris waves to Gran Canaria, as Rich Morris requested. Rich are you their for New Year?

The rain eases and then gets worse the wind drops and then builds up again. As we are driving Chris gets out and up on the roof as there is a horrible noise that is driving us both nuts. From what he can see it looks like a strap is being caught by the wind and thumping on the roof, its amazing how much such a small thing can wind you up!!! At the next police road block we get out and take the strap off. It had been put in to stop the roof rack shifting if we broke heavily. Sic Pickled Onion has brakes, when did this happen??

During the day we are stopped at several police checks and get through 3 fishes. The police are friendly and polite and occasionally ask for a cadeuax. It depends what you have visible to if they ask. Pleading you speak nothing but English seams to help.

We continue the next 100 Km with no problems and some lovely pictures. Heading into Laayoune we see military everywhere and UN vans. The place is a bit like Aldershot but a lot more guns on display. We head to the hotel recommended in the Lonely Planet unfortunately it is fully booked so we trawl round the town for a place to stay. Colin makes the mistake of saying he knows where we are and suddenly its Rubbish to the front. Colin is still trying to work out where we are and what we do at junctions without throwing in the walkie talkies. He does however direct us to within 50m of the hotel we decide to stay in. Its a lovely place and Adrian haggles the price down from 1400 duh to 900 duh per room including breakfast. According to Lonely Planet this is the next hotel up from the full one. The one below the full one has salt water showers, which doesn't sound the most appealing.

We fall out the cars and they all look a state and head to our rooms to freshen up. After the three S's Chris gets the filtration system up and running and his washing on. Clean Shreddies are a must!!! As per usually we also get the electronics packages on and charging. From their feeling like normal people we head out with GG and BB to get food and explore the city. We find a local cafe that serves food and lovely lavaza coffee mmmmmmmmhhh Chris is one hampy camper. Next door to the cafe is a patisserie where we get a load of sweet pastries to celebrate Deans birthday. The BB had sung happy birthday over the walkie talkies earlier. We amble round for a bit trying to find the supermarket and generally take in the sights before heading back for a bit of a rest before dinner. Chris uses the time to get afew of the blogs done and Colin watches BBC news (apparently the FTSE is up).

We meet up with the others and gave Dean the pastries before heading out for dinner. We decide to go to a pizza place that was closed earlier. We should have spotted something when the guy greeting us grin was larger than a cheshire cat. We order food only to discover that the pizza oven they are using can only hold 1 at a time and they wait till it is cooked before preparing the next one. As there are 9 of us it takes a while, whilst this is occuring Chris is drinking the most luminous Fanta he has ever seen and is feeling the sugar rush. Lewis this stuff makes relentless taste like water. Adrian receives news that the other Irish team are in town with the Russians (Dimitry and Stan). They are at our hotel making sure the bars beer is ok by drinking as much of it as they can.

We get back to the hotel feeling suitably full and catch up with the others stories. Stan managed to get when they cracked their sump on film. He was sat on the roof of the car at the time. They intend to get their exhaust welded back on tomorrow at the same time the Irish are going to find a new indicator unit as theirs fell out and they feel it would be an enticement for fines.

We retire and sleep like the dead till Colin walks into the glass table on his way to the loo. We are up at 0545 as we have a long push to where we intend to spend New Years eve. After vehicle checks and refuelling both us and the cars we head off.

To El Ouatia

2008-12-31T09:56:00.000Z

Rather than stopping at Tan Tan we push on as the day is gloriously warm to El Ouatia. Dean has promised us that he will go fishing and catch dinner. Its not that we don't trust Deans capabilities but when we are stopped to buy vegetables we ponder getting meat. By the time we are at El Ouatia we decide to pick up some as well as wire griddles to cook it on.

After a small amount of driving around we choose a camp site and a location to put the tents up and then haggle a price. Once this is done we decide to move 10m towards the wall around the edge and promptly GG and WWD get stuck in soft sand. As this is the first time we have seen this we try several solutions to see what works before we have to do it in the wild.

The carpet donated by Jo is tested and we realise you have to put the coloured bit facing the sand otherwise it just pulls it under the wheels and spits it out. We also try a bit of digging and finally use CHs 4 x 4 to pull GG out. With WWD we have more success with the shovel and get them moving to a position they want to stay for the night. As we set up and get the kettle on and tents up Dean heads off to the sea with his rod a lure.

GG get started preping the evenings meal and Chris sets up the projector and screen ready for the movie. We get the BBQs that BB donated to us out and set them on rocks ready for the fish and meat. We also crack open a bottle of Vino Du Callapso to set the evening off. As the sun gets low in the sky Dean and Paul come back and they haven't been able to catch anything but they have got shell fish in the form of muscles and whelks. We are expecting many a tail of the ones that got away but Dean admits he didn't get a single nibble.

The site we stay on has showers and several of us make the most of it and refresh ourselves to feel semi human. They also have a bog!!! Which is something very exciting if you have an iffy gut. The solar shower has been on the roof all day an dactually appears to be colder now then when we started so its a good

As the Sun sets the food is getting close to ready the Germans arrive (Above Us The Sky). They have had a great day taking a scenic route down from Sidi Ifni that was recommended in the guide book.. We discuss the days evens at we tuck into the food. The meat we are grilling comes in dribs and drabs due to the limited BBQ space but is well cooked and tasty. After round one of food Paul cooks the shellfish and a few of us try it including Chris ("In for a penny in for a pound"). We have entertainment provided by the UK top 75 singles of the week we left, but this doesn't deter some locals trying to convince us that we should hear them sing (for a price). "Thanks lads but we would rather listen to Rhianna" takes a while to register. Chris joins the exclusive "People Who Broke Their Folding Chair" Club he joins the founding member Brian of CHs.

As it gets darker we crank up the generators and watch "Hanncock". Deans movie's are in lot more in demand than the softer flicks Chris brought. It gets colder tonight and everyone has the warmer stuff to hand due to re juggling the loads on the cars this morning. The security guard stands and watches the movie on his continual rounds he also ends up with all the cooked meat that we cant eat.

Chris retires at the end of the first movie whilst some of the others decide to push on and watch "wanted" and Colin has found the £4 whiskey bottle we got in Marrakesh. In the early hours the wind starts to really build up and the tarp over the hammocks makes loads of noise. About an hour later it rips free on Chris' side and after sticking it under his head for at least 30 minutes he decides he should really do something about it. At which point Colin gets up an helps him roll it under the front wheels. So its sleeping under the star light :) Yay. But as its a bit cold the shemagh is wrapped around Chris' face and he cant see the stars, he can however hear the wild dogs fighting. About 3 am however he can feel the rain that starts. Bugger! he does the sleeping bag hop into the car where Colin is already asleep, whiskey and hammocks don't mix apparently.

Sidi Ifni

2008-12-31T09:54:00.000Z

We arrive at Sidi Ifni after taking a scenic coastal route and go about finding a campsite. During the day we stop to buy vegetables and see places hiring surf boards and quad bikes, the place is a bit like Bude and 10 km down the road we go through the local equivalent of Newquay. The sat nags sarcastic comments came in useful again, thanks Andre and Tim. We end up on the beach in a walled compound with a load of camper vans. Apparently the King doesn't allow you to camp anywhere any more as the place was looking a mess. If you do the army wake you in the middle of the night by hitting you with batons according to one of the people in the camper vans. It turns out they are in a rush back to the UK and need to be back by March. We give them our snow chains as we have no further need for them. We did carry them through Andorra and the Atlas mountains though! The camp is set up and WWD get their hammocks up and they look a lot more level than ours, we do however try each others out and debate how long we are going to be able to stay in them asleep. BB start putting up the mother of all tents. It is large enough to park the front end of their polo in and still have sleeping space in the 2 side compartments.

The campsite is well designed and they electricity points so we don't even need to get the generator up and running and its powerful enough to run two ark lights the projector and laptop as well as charge the walkie talkies. After dinner and Brian breaking his folding chair we settle down to watch Jack Ass 2.5 followed by Death race. We have the smuggest grin possible what a way to travel. Chris gives Gran another call to say we are ok and alive.

Hammock sleeping is interesting and Colin's hammock hadn't been stretched through use so he ends up basically laying on the emergency camp beds. The emergency camp beds are as rickety as they looked in the photos taken before we went and during the movies one of them collapses way it goes. As the evening wears on the other irish team arrive and they have managed to get an apartment just above where we are staying as long as they say they are friends of the owner to anyone who asks. They are in fine spirits as are the Norwegian teams that camp next to us. We end up watching Fawlty Towers as Simon cant remember the one with "don't mention the war". We retire and sleep well under the watchful eye of the security guard, who inherits the knackered folding seat in the morning.

Welding

2008-12-30T18:04:00.000Z

Lets find a welder... We head back towards where we had dinner last night as what looked like a garage was spotted. Dean of CH comes with us to assist Chris' very very poor French. We find the place only does wheels and cant weld but up by the station there are afew places. Dean leaves us to it and we go for a drive. Chris has discovered a new plan to take the 2 bits of box section with him wave them manically like nun chucks. Okay so poetic licence is being used their!! The routine does look comical from the car Colin reports.

We are told at one of the many places we stop that we wont get anyone as its Sunday and they are all closed. We finally find the garage district and it is closed. We trawl the side streets and are just about to give up when we find a moped workshop who directs us one street over. They turn out to only do windscreens but in trying to get back to the main road we end up at the nastiest dirtiest lock up on the face of the planet with locals loitering. In for a penny in for a pound Chris does the funky chicken dance again with the box section and on of the old men grins and drags out a Acetylene torch and is willing to braise the rack back together. As we are now discovering before anything starts we ask a price. Chris is palmed through 3 people before one of them say 100 duh (£10). WWD paid 400 duh for their suspension spacers in Marrakesh so this looks good. The guy is like Leonardo Da Vinchi, a true artist. He does a lovely job and they even paint the roof where they welded the rack to it. Chris admittedly had to hold the umbrella to protect the guy from the rain.

We head back to the hotel with another story and find the others loading up. We get back on the road and after a fuel stop are drinking towards Sidi Ifni.

I love it when a plan come together

2008-12-30T18:03:00.000Z

Tomorrows plan is to weld the roof rack to the car and do a gentle drive down the coast before setting up camp. It will give everyone a chance to relax and chill

Onwards to Agadia

2008-12-29T12:57:00.000Z

We are tanking towards Agadia and Chris gets out the laptop he has been using with the gps of the ibis on. As the computer senses it would be the most in opportune moment to fail it goes what all technology goes when needed and sticks two fingers up. A full OS crach and the one thing Chris didn't bring was an XP disc to repair it.

We head into Agadia and start to get abit misplaced over our position.... So Chris calls the hotel and after desperately trying to converse in French that he wants a room the receptionist pleads "Do you speak English!!!" We find out the hotel is next to the Souk and locate it quite easily in the end. Adrian haggles a deal on the rooms and gets them to throw in breakfast for 210duh per person (approx £20).

Its good to be in somewhere with wifi and we meet up and head out for food. We amble around street after street and end up in the main square with worlds largest number of taxis all painted pickled onion orange!!!!! We have a fantastic meal of chicken and rice and relax.

On getting back to the hotel Chris gets the shitty stick out to hit the non working laptop. It is having none of it and he ends up hitting the hotels wifi and rapidshare to get a hierens boot disc. Hoping that a chkdsk will bring it back up as he has lost system32 grrrrr. Chris is pleased as punch that he brought 2 blank discs with him. After 40 minutes he gives up as is shattered and cant kep his eyes open.

Another night where we sleep like the dead and a shower to revitalise us in the morning. This is the way to travel, especially as we have mint tea for breakfast. A fabulous drink :) Now off to find a welder....

Roof Rack

2008-12-29T12:40:00.000Z

It is time to leave Marrakesh, a fantastic city that we are pleased we have seen. The excitement starts to build as it feels a bit like we are leaving civilisation. We meet up in the Meridian carpark where the CH's are staying and are joined by Bangers and Smash, How Hard Can it Be and The German Team. The convoy is looking rather larger and we have a conflab on which way to go. As we are pulling out Chris finds a stack of cash that he radios out about but no one responds, they will when they try to use it!

As we head out of town we meet up with Sand in Me Crack and another team. During the progress to the tizi n test pass we end up splitting into 2 groups. The roads wind like Andorra but are like tarmacked farmers tracks.. Its ogoing well till Chris looks out and sees the roof rack moving, never a good thing. We radio out to say we ned to stop asap ad which point one of the legs collapse. We have a conflab at the side of the road and get the CHs drill out to try to put a bolt through the rack. They discover the generator they has a builders 3 pin circular socket on it. Their drill however has a standard UK domestic plug on the charger. They are sure they have and adapter but are not sure where on the vehicle it is. We deploy the 2.2kva and get her up and running. It works now, last time in Sotogrande we tried to use it wouldnt start. Later found to be no fuel!!

Adrian from GG wakes up the road and finds a iron worker. The gods are smiling on us! He brings him back and we do lots of gesticulation and he seams to get the idea. The teams that we had split from earlier catch up and the money turns out to be Stephans and he is most pleased to have it back. We cruse down to where he works and discover that he has the kit to do it but no power as the winds have taken down the lines. His transformer is in a ply box very interesting. I will up the pics when I get a good connection. We then hit the next snag as he needs 330v and we only output 240v. After more pigeon french we end up getting a brace bolted to the broken bar and are on our way. Cost £10 and 3 beers (the guy was most impressed by the beer and was welcomedlike a hero back into the garage with them!). Thanks to all the teams that stopped to help. We just felt like a bunch o plonkers that it had failed. We took the load from the rack in the car and also the VW camper of GG.

We travel on further up seeing the most amazing views. The camera doesn't seam to be able to catch them. We pass another team that has doen a head on with a taxi. I have the pic of the Taxi but not the Pajero. Everyone is ok and as there are loads of people there dealing with it we move on. We climb above the snow line taking even windier roads. After a quick pee stop we get to the Cafe at the top and meet quite afew other teams. The guy running the place must have thought his luck was in. We all have omelettes, you dont realise your hungry when doing this till you smell or taste food. The food is hastened on by Adrian and we end up having 21.

The run down from the cafe is brilliant especially when you meet buses coming the other way! WWD and the Germans head off towards a campsite they want to go. BS and HHCIB push on from the pass whilst we are still waiting for the rest of the people to finish food. Coming down the mountains Dierda has a problem with the brakes overheating which quickly resolves itself and we are back on the planes heading towards Agadia. We intend to stop in one of the villages but keep pushing on as the going is good.

Boxing Day

2008-12-29T12:39:00.000Z

So how can we top Christmas day? Boxing day has a plan we load up on breakfast and head into town to meet the CHs with the BB and do the open top bus tour. We time it perfectly and the bus stops just outside their hotel as we are catching up with whats been going on and new of other teams. The bus tour seams a great idea as you will hit all the major sites and get a commentary on the history. We find out all about the history of the city as well as seeing the funniest method of brick laying. You hang out of the building your working on and do it that way, when your 3 stories up!! From the bus we see Risitas heading out of town but are unable to attract their attention.

Once we have done the tour we head back to the hotel via the local equivalent of Tescos (Marjane). We pic up a few provisions booze, mixers and shower gel. Didnt want to overload the car ;) The BB do a lot more effect shop as they havent got any food onboard. We get back to the Ibis and help the BBs load up. They are short of space and want help positioning stuff. They were even going to get rid of their disposable barbies (bleeding sacrilegious!!!) So we had away with them ;)

We have arranged for a meet up and drink at 1930 and faff till then sending emails and typing up blog posts. WWD, GG, CH and a German and an other Irish team turn up. WWD have had a fab time, they have their jedi suits and arrive on scooters they hired. They have been rassing round the old town with a phone taped to the wing mirror recording the progress. The footage will be upped to youtube when they get home. You must check it out. Chris is dead jealous that he didn't think of it and hasn't got chance to do it. Th hotel they are staying in with the Germans is lovely and they say would put the ritz to shame. Sorry dont know the name of it will try to find out. Stephan has scared the woman that is looking after them at breakfast that morning he goes to ask for bread and ends up asking a bit load scaring the woman. Currently he is being called the pan monster.

The other Irish team had picked up some ladies on the walkie talkies on the way in but hadn't managed to met up with them. They did however make Marrakeshs Passha and leave early to get some more drinking in. We discuss the route we are going to take the next day and what time we are going to leave. We end up brining out some bisquits (tell them vinny sent you) that we had found in the marjane and they turn out to be as salty as hell. This spurs us on to have another couple of glass of vino collapso.

Christmas Day pt. 2

2008-12-28T00:53:00.000Z

After settling ourselves back into the Ibis John of Bangers and Smash text to say they are on the way in and will be with us in a bit along with How Hard Can It Be. We are sat in the bar relaxing with these messages coming in until they say the hotel is full and have just gone to the one next door but will be back in the bar in a bit. We start asking ourselves questions and finally work out that there are 2 Ibis in Marrakesh and they are at the other one.

After taking Pickle Onion down to the one they are in and a brief catch up of stories we travel into the Medina for food. It is about a 5 minute drive for us and they take a taxi. It then takes us and hour to find them again.

The final call is they are at stall 29. we find stall 28 and 30 but no 29. 29 is eventually located between 117 and 130 which is obviously where we would have put it. Away from the stalls there are loads of street performers and story tellers and it is a fantastic atmosphere. We end up meeting other teams and having food from one of the stalls after Stan negotiates a good price.

What an end to Christmas day!

Christmas Day pt 1

2008-12-27T23:50:00.001Z

Merry Christmas to everyone, I am sorry for the delay in sending but have been trying to fit as much is as possible. We ventured back to the Medina today to find out what it is actually like in daylight. Last nights experience was a real shock an from what we saw we had it wrong. As Paul from Wrong Way Down said later in the day you are completely safe as the people will rob you blind to your face.

We are joined by the Barnacle Busters and amble around the old town entering the old square via some side streets. The place is non stop and has a real buzz to it. We walk round some of the souks and take in the culture and it is very difficult to express in words what the place is like. Chris ends up talking to a local that thinks he is Australian, Chris isnt bothered to diswade him as far as he is aware Australians are not hated by anyone!! This guy stops someone else walking by and after a brief exchange we follow the second guy for around 20 minutes to the tannery district and get a guided tour. It is a great way to see the sights and smells of the city and we find out loads about how leather is worked. Completely obligatory we end up in a shop that sells the products as well as rugs. We sit and have ice tea and are shown the goods. Chris and Colin both decide to get rugs and the fun begins.

They name a price that would single handedly fund the Moroccan Space Program, Chris names a price that would cover afew cans of Tesco's value beans. We end up settling on a price a lot closer to Chris' and we all leave smiling, till we our stung for more denaries by our "guide". Having left the Tannery area we all walk around taking in the sites with no idea where we are going. After a bit Chris calls gran to wish her Happy Christmas, and gain muchos brownie points, he hears all about how the UK is.

After about another hour of walking the Barnacale Busters decide that they want a fes and once purchased we have an impromptu photo shoot which seams to bemuse the locals. The pictures have been hopefully uploaded to the Picassa album.

Tired out from all this culture we end up in a cafe for lunch. We sit down and "septic sam the sewer man" turns up and runs a leaking hose through the eating area. Luckily it misses us as we are sat on the terrace!!! When the food arrives we play the game of "what is that I'm eating and do I want to know??". After being fully revitalised we head back to the hotel where we receive a call from Tim and Jo. It was great to fill them in on what we have been doing and try to get across what's been going on.

Laptop Goes Kapoot

2008-12-27T23:24:00.000Z

There is going to be a delay in uploading the blogs as have lost 3 days worth due to laptop deciding it didnt like me and corrupting the system files. Needless to say I was very impressed.

Close Encounters

2008-12-26T19:24:00.000Z

This is all turning very Rock and Roll as Chris can hardly keep his eyes open and has decided to not drink as he is sure that will send him to sleep quicker. After and excellent meal and much chatting we grovel a lift off the Barnacle Busters as there is no way the guy with the car is still waiting as it is now 11.30pm.

We are warned its going to be tight but we will both rather endure anything rather than walk home. Getting a taxi from here we might as well pull our pants down, as the tourist special price will go into overdrive.

We travel back with Colin in the back and Chris sat in the from with one of the Barnacle Busters sat on his lap. These BB are gentleman that enjoy their food as much as Chris and Colin so the feeling in Chris' legs is optional.....We arrrive back at the GLORIOUS Ibis and decide to have a night cap so the Vodka and Whiskey is broken out. Thanks for the Vodka Ady (23 Bassenthwaite) you are an absolute gent and it made the evening.

Suddenly its 0130 and Christmas day. We toast everyone and wish you all reading this a fabulous festive season and pass out.

Left Right Left.... Double Time

2008-12-26T19:18:00.000Z

The adrenaline rush of finding ourselves in a nice hotel revitalises our spirits and we decide to find out where the Chester Hawlers are as it sounds a plush place. Asking at reception we get a map and told its about 5 6 km to their hotel. Colin points out that when we were in Cancoon we walked 9km to the bars and that wasn't too bad so we might as well do it again. Chris agrees as he is feeling rather portly from sitting in the motor for so long, and also no amount of cash would see him get back in the car tonight. So we start off with the compass in pocket and a map, what else do two educated world travellers need???? PMSL. At this point you could ask why we didnt hire a taxi and take the easy route. Well as Colin didnt have high heels and a short skirt there was no way Chris was paying for a taxi!!

After 40 minutes at a cracking pace the bravardo starts to faulter. Chris recons we have have been shifting at nearly 8 km and we should have seen more things on the map by now and promptly takes the map out. A helpful local appears out of no where (materialises out of the shadows) and offers to help. At this point Chris will pay for a taxi high heels or not. So we start chatting and he says he will take us. Bloody marvelous!!!! So we head off..... walking. We are making polite conversation and are still walking..... We are still walking. It turns out he is going to walk us to the hotel after 15 minutes we finally see it. By this time we have possibly sorted out a car back to our hotel a guide for the next day and a restaurant booking. These guys dont miss a trick and make the locals in Egypt look like beginners. He drops us off and promises to return in 2 hrs with a car to take us back to the hotel.

The Meridian is the cats whiskers of hotels and looks amaizing. We meet Dean and Brian and their wives and finally sit down. Low and behold the amber nectar of beers turns up and Chris' brain shuts down. The Barnacle Busters give us a call to ask us where we are as they have just turned up at the Ibis and have seen the "Battle Bus". We let them know along with directions and distances and they are going to come down and join us.

As time progresses we decide to grab food as they must have got lost and amble through to the restaurant. We are shown the worlds nicest al la cart set meal of 7 courses (with a price to match). Chris just wants a bowl of something warm and filling that is definitely cooked and dead (the 2 can not co-inside!). We have just ordered and the Barnacle Busters turn up and they join us and regale the group of their stories coming down and their polo Minty. You have never seen so many people discuss a custom exhaust made by a fabulous Spanish mechanic in Gibraltar.

Articulated Lorry in Farnham

2008-12-26T19:15:00.000Z

For the drive into Marrakesh Colin must be actually following the speed limits. The police out here must have got a bulk discount on radar guns as they are everywhere and so far we have been lucky. We arrive on the outskirts of the city and the group bomb bursts toward their intended hotels. The Chester Hawlers hire a moped drive to take them to theirs and Wrong Way Down and the Germans where last seen disappearing down a side road. We head confidently on. The maps are looking a bit iffy but it cant be that hard can it?

We break the walls of the old city and at least 6 kinds of brown and sticky breaks out. There are vehicles everywhere and its suddenly got dark. We start travelling down streets that are just 2 car widths wide, which is allright till you realise that there are people, mopeds and oncoming vehicles as well as donkeys and cars and stalls. We are both starting to get rather nervous. We finally come to a halt when we hit a dead end and have no idea where we are. Colin talks to some locals who assure us our Jidy is just round the corner and they will take us there. Chris stays with the car to watch it and try to fix the mirror that got damaged and Colin takes his phone. Chris is feeling very exposed. After a bit Chris gets out and leans against the vehicle to take in the atmosphere and see if it is that iffy. The mass of humanity in a confined space is threatening especially when we don't speak the language and have been running for hours seeing very few people.

Colin comes back after 20 long minutes and says that there is no parking at the hotel and it is a dump. The guides (scrots) that had shown him the way are trying to assure us that we can leave the car where it is and will help us take our bags to the hotel. Just about every possible holiday horror story is running through our minds at this point and we decide to make our excuses and leave which is easier said than done. After much bollocks and gusto (and 12 euros) we start moving. The locals aren't the happiest with only skinning us for that and travel down the street hanging of the back of the car. Needles to say we don't stop and accelerate like a scolded cat. Whilst doing this the car is blue with expletives as Colin explains that some of the toilets we have seen on the way down would seam more appealing to stay in rather than our "hotel". We are yamming it round the streets till we see a suzi 4x4 and it is decided that we will follow it. Eventually we find the city wall and a gate out and Colin doesn't need telling twice, we gun it. We are now heading out of town back towards Cas and give Dean a call to find out where they are staying as "sod this for a game of soldiers" rules now apply.

Driving round the Medena is like taking a double trailer articulated lorry through Farnham at rush hour with out signs and ending up travelling the wrong way round the one way system.

Dean explains that the moped driver they had took them down all sorts of back streets and he had to put his chain back on at least 3 times before the guide gave the moped to a random and got in the car with them to show them the way. When they got to the hotel he tried to charge them for a new chain! So from the sounds of it getting to theirs is going to be a poop sandwich. We fall back on the Ibis hotel that we saw on the way in. I dont think either of us have ever been so please to stop and get out of a car in a well light area. We bowl in and grab a room, that we have to check out first as we currently trust no one. OMG it is like heaven and we can both completely recommend staying in Ibis when travelling. It only cost £5 more than the other place and we have a secure car park, shower and free wifi. Chris should have been posting more blogs but has been doing things like uploading pics or being a tourist. What an end to an Xmas eve! Well we cant go to sleep yet..... what else can we do?

Ponderances

2008-12-25T19:01:00.001Z

Its a fabulous experience that has generated so many stories already and we are still in the civilized bit!! It is overwhelming though trying to take in all the cultural differences and keeping humour. I am writing long blogs as if I don't I will just forget all these great moments. It feels like we have been away for weeks and yet it is only days.

Who knows what lies ahead and where the trip will take us. Each place we go to challenges us a bit more and I wonder what I will think when we get back to the UK and I actually have to stop at junctions rather than hitting the horn and closing my eyes.

The people are very friendly and welcoming but feeling that you are actually safe rather than 30 seconds away from being mugged is very much a case of challenging your perceptions. I should have spent so much more time learning languages as feel completely inadequate at communicating.

I am currently sat in reception waiting for Bangers and Smash to turn up and am trying to write the blogs of the last few days and to get across the mood of the trip (ignoring some of the fruitier language!).

Casablanca

2008-12-25T18:48:00.001Z

After a decent nights sleep it is on to Casablanca to find Riks Bar for a spot of light refreshment. The drive in isn't to bad and we manage to find the centre of the city without any major problems. From there the route to the port isn't that bad. Chris nav is being aided by screen captures of google maps and the Riks Bar website acquired before we left Shkirat. Bang on the money we round a corner and find the bar, along with 2 bored looking security guards. These guards proceed to tell us that the cafe doesn't open till midday and apparently this one isn't the Riks Bar we want, The one we want is right, left, right, 1km just round the corner. Also we cant park here as its for patrons only.

We proceed to follow these directions and end up going down streets that are rather narrow with no sign of another bar. When we find a square we pull up and Paul goes to chat to a local to find out where we have gone wrong. Talking to Simon he points out that it probably isn't called Riks Bar as they have a different attitude to alcohol here and would be called a cafe. After Paul finishes the discussions we find out we were in the right place and go stuff it and drive to find somewhere to have lunch.

We finally pull over in a posh looking area on the beach, were 3 policeman pull in after us. They have the badge to prove it. Above the word police we swear it says Deputy Dog and reckon on the back is written choking hazard, suitable for 3 year old's and over. They turn out to be fantastic. Two guard the cars and one patrols round the beach to protect us. We set ourselves up and have Chicken Curry, Rat Packs and Beans followed by a lovely fruit cake from Dean. Dierdra bough along some Christmas cookies but unfortunately we weren't able to have them. She opened the tin and found that it was a self bake kit and as we didn't have an oven we were out of luck.

Off on our way again we end up going down loads of side streets till we hit a major set of roads. These are of course grid locked. After probably 30 minutes with humour waning we decide to head back towards Rabat as that way we can pick up the toll road to Marrakesh. We find ourselves on a lovely road and start moving well till suddenly the road stops and we are suddenly on a sand track. WWD decide to see if they can see the motorway over the brow of the hill ahead and after chatting to a local we follow they as they assure us we can rejoin. We bounce our way over the ground till we meet a car coming the other way, where we negotiate to follow him. He promptly manages to take us to an underpass where we aren't able to join at this point WWD suggest using the winch to pull us up the embankment and force entry onto the road. Humour was low and pissy level definitely rising!!! we then follow this guy, as we might as well, back over a rubbish tip where a really gnarly local hops in his car to help out. We do some real off road and have tested the sump guard getting back to a tarmac road and finally we are back motoring.

After al this excitement tanking along the motor soon starts to get very boring. We break up the boredum buy overtaking each other and getting some camera practice in. At one point Chris decides to see how far out the car he can get so the Chester Hawlers can get a good pic. The problem with that is he is driving and for the car to keep going requires his foot on the accelerator doh! Apparently the picture is good though, so completely worth it!!!

We are getting updates from other teams and GG let us know one of the Irish teams are gaining on us. At which point the Germans arrive. We have no idea where they went to as we lost them on the way to the Tangiers ferry. As we are getting close to Marrakesh we decide to pull in for a break and driver change at which point the Irish bowl in to join us. Its great to swap stories and some of the experiences and once we have configured their radios to work on our comms frequency we are off again. We are all looking forward to getting to Marrakesh.

Rabat to Casablanca Overnight

2008-12-24T08:09:00.001Z

The place we have ended up is great and has free wifi so I have been able to upload some of the pics. We have had a cracking dinner and have retired early. I am just writing up the blog and marshalling the electronics kit ensuring we are charged and ready for the run to Marakech tomorrow.

Not the most interesting of blogs but can only do so much and today has been a fun one..... Just think I could be back home struggling with Tescos ques and cold weather. I know where I would rather be :)

Rabat to Casablanca

2008-12-24T08:03:00.001Z

After 15 Km we decide we have to cut across to where the hotel might be and we are definately in the boonies. Going past the first settlement they are all out, and Chris swears he can hear banjos (a la deliverance). Chester Hallers mention over the radios you only have to worry if your hear dualling banjos.

Running up to a bridge we have to stop rather suddenly as the shepard is bringing his flock over. The lorry that was behind us has other ideas and just yams it through. I suppose a 10 ton truck does win when pitted agains a goat or even a heard of them.

Let it be noted shortly afterwards we stopped and asked for directions admitedly from the least dodgyiest geezer we had seen in a long time. After much back and forth we found the train station and then ended up in a petol station with Dean hiring a taxi and us all following him as humour had wained.

On the correct route to the hotel we met several unlight horse drawn wagons coming the wrong way up the wrong side of the road as well as the taxi driver playing chicken with an articulated lorry. Very entertaining!!!!!!

We finally made it.........

Rabat

2008-12-23T23:41:00.000Z

After a lovely lunch we tootled along towards Rabat and the campsite not a care in the world. Whilst of course playing silly buggers with games like: head in the car, head out of the car, picture of my feet, picture of the back of my head and other classic that can wind the driver up no end when the passengers bored. Chris's favourite is to cunningly start poking Colin with the video camera turned on.

Chris was thinking of the lovely set out campsite with showers and lecky just like lonely planet mentions. mmmh TIA (This Is Africa).

Well for starters we are sat at the back of the convoy and have been watching a zebras arse (Galway to Gambia) for the last hour when we turn into the airport WTF at this point we realise no one knows where we are actually going.

A crafty rummage and Chris has both lonely planet, map and road book in his hands and has suddenly become the convoys nav. I think it was a case of he was doing his shoes laces up when everyone else took a step back.

Garmin since leaving Tangiers was as helpful as a choclate tea pot due to having about 3 roads in the entire of Africa and none of them still existing. Way points work great but lonely planet doesnt give GPS for people with the kit but no idea.

On the greatest rational and much cunning we all head towards Sale with the "Battle Bus" at the front and many supporting calls over the radios.

Chris has a heading in mind and the map looks simple, head for the city walls and when you see them go left and keep the wall on the right till you hit the sea. Great plans are never that when your sat in the field....... Oooh we found the wall... Is that a wall??.....is that a palace compond or a wall??...... no thats a wall???.... bugger thats a block of houses!!!!!.......arrrhh where did all these roads come from....... are we all still together????? Right I am getting my bloody compass out. Cant go wrong using a compass in a metal car and besides it can get any worse, can it?

Oooooh I see a sign, that way, no that way.....(we are now travelling the wrong way round the wall) and Chris is pulling air from both ends, great for road traction not so if he has overcaked it.

Ok so under the legend on the map there must be an unmarked entrance to the city, as if we get here we can go across and their must be signs soon. Right lets go through here.... Coor everything is going abit slow.... We just need to go past the 4 mosques and through this graveyard. Hang on a sec, why have they got a motorway maintenance van at the front with lights going???? Moments pass as Chris summs up the crowd around the car and then time slows as he manically grabs for the radio mike to warn "wrong way down" not to use the air horns as we are at the back of a funeral possession. When the possession turn off we propel the vehicles through a hole in the city wall to roughly where the campsite should be.

Well the land is flat but the shopping trolleys are on fire and they are up on bricks as someones knicked the wheels. After chatting to a helpful chappy and guesticulating like a mad orangutang we are told there is no camping in the city and the nearest place is 15 km towards Casablanca. Well how hard can that be. He even drew us a map. The map looked abit like an elephant with two tusks, as maps go never a good sign.

So we are off again still with Chris in front which is not a good place for him to be especially with a map and no music. Chris was really concentrating at this point the music was off and tougue was out the side of the mouth.

The convoy now reaches down town Rabat at rush hour and are using the wet finger in the air method of navigation. This method works on the following... we dont want to be where we have come from and as long as we are sort of near the sea I am sure it will work out (bugger cant see the sea due to tall buildings).

We are doing well till we ended up outside a souk as the riot police start forming up with battons and body armour. Another time not to us the air horns. Well someone is protesting about something and we want to be here even less.....they rush past the lead cars and are politely suggesting to people to move on (with the battons) around the last car. However after a couple more turns we find the coast road and the sea. Whoop Whoop and to celebrate we drive into the nearest garage to use the hole in the floor.

The coast road allows us fantastic views of another gorgeous sunset. We mootle down the coast road at a certain amount of speed and WWD nearly get their dinner delivered to them through the car window as a cow decides that playing chicken with vehicles is a great occupation and has sprinted down the side road and out into the 4 lane traffic. They apparently saw he whites of its eys.

Abit further on Colin point out what looks lke the local KKK meeting, either that or a convention of Jedi Nights, we arent hanging around to find out.....

Ed Dutton

2008-12-23T14:57:00.001Z

Heres a post just for you!!! and it should make you laugh... We have several Russian teams and they are all bonkers. One of them never stops drinking and was seen last night fitting a wooden sump guard. Chris walked past their car and all he could hear was sawing coming from under the bonnet. He also wont start to do anything till at least he has drunk half a bottle of the boot plonk, the Russian not Chris.

They have a pen and a spare wheel and a boot full of 1 euro wine and thats them ready to rock and roll.

I shamlessly mentioned Eds name as he text to say he wouldnt sponsor us if I didnt and being such a money grabbing individual how could I refuse ;)

on route to Rabat

2008-12-23T14:56:00.000Z

Thanks for all the texts and messages of support on facebook. I am sorry we havent responded to them all, the data link is like an asthmatic hamster with heavy shopping and a hernia.

We are still on the worlds longest disco album and its Colins turn to drive, currently "When Will I Be Famous".

Tonight we will try out the hammocks and the projectors. Current thinking is Death Race as the Chester Hawlers have it. WWD are still listening to the Harry Potter audio books series and are going to let us know when they need a change. Paul was able to make Galway to Gambias day when he got their stereo to work. They had done the run down with no music and a buzzing oil warning light. They still have the buzzing but now have some tunes.

We havent seen the Germans that we lost on the way to the ferry and the Latvians have probably found a bar somewhere.

Garmin has given up trying to work out roads and now just shows a line to the next way point. We should be in Rabat around 1600.

Morroco

2008-12-23T14:48:00.000Z

Well we went the route of Tarifa to Tangers as it was reconed to be easier on customs. Whilst waiting to load we met one of the Timbuktu teams with a car that looked like it had no kit in.

We set ourselves up on the boat and started to sort out customs forms as well as swap mp3s. The Chrester Hawlers and Galway to Gambia checked their sat phones and we settled in for the crossing. Wrong Way Down got to the food counter early and had Crossants but by the time we got our backsides in gear they had sold out :( We did however all get out passports stamped on the boat and hoped for an easy entry into Morrocco.

We moored up but didnt move very far for ages, very much hoot your horn and drive just to get off the ferry! The walkie talkies were distributed and we were picking up alot of port chatter. Wrong Way Down started ordering doughnuts and discussing fish to see what happened.

Customs took us about an hour and Chester Hawlers and Galway to Gambia cleared pretty quickly. We were doing well till they lost our forms and then decided what to do with us. When WWD were told to move forward they ended up nearly making a break for freedom on the wrong side of the road and too muchos whislte blowing. I think this made the customs feel we should definately wait for a bit longer. Colin and Simon when off to the Police area with a friendly smiling guide (smiling abit like a shark that has seen dinner). Paul and Chris were discussing over the radio if the man with the rubber gloves and KY was in their near future.

Colin must have a face that says please try to sell me toot / moody gold / pay a fine for something I have just thought up. Whilst amusing we havent even got out of the dock compond!! After about an hour we clear, which is good as we were expecting it to take upto 4 hours. Total cost to us 4 euros whoop whoop.

So on the open road again we blatted through tangiers playing disco hits at a LOUD volume. Mwah Mwah Mwa Mwah el Starsky and hutch and loving it. Whats wrong with a bit of "Car Wash"????

Driving in built up areas here is just a case of who has the biggest Kahoonas. Great when Chris forgets to look to the left on roundabouts and is too busy bouncing up and down in his seat singing (badly). We left Tangiers behind us and started the run to the campsite at Sale (Rabat) with the sounds of "Ice, Ice Baby!".

For lunch we pulled of the main road and went into a village which was cracking. Especially when Chris wasnt paying attention and tried to order everything that wasnt on the lunch menu, finally settling on an omlette. The view was great and WWD wanted to run their Audi over the beech but were eventually diswaded. However we have seen the vehicle we would use next time a Tuk Tuk. How cool would that be??? 4000 miles in one of those. Dean recons it would take about a litre of fuel to do the lot which seams a good idea.

Tangiers Ferry

2008-12-23T07:30:00.000Z

Have arrived at the Tangiers ferry and our current.y filling out the documents. Going to get some grub in a bit.

The Rock

2008-12-23T06:39:00.000Z

We made it to Sotogrande after a bit of a push and met up with the Chester Hawlers as well as Wrong Way Down. It was good to finally stop driving and relax with afew beers.

After a good nights sleep and watching the Chester Hawlers fix their brakes issue we headed to Gib to check the place out. The Hawlers had to get a circular gringer to take a lip out of their brakes to stop them seizing on. Following a recomendation we parked up before and walked on, we were glad we did the que to get on seamed to be miles long. We later found out that Wrong Way Down had got there early and driven on as well as most the way up the rock. Aparently the raod was getting narrower and naroower and then all they could see through the screen was sky and they started to loose traction so thats where they stopped.

We took a much more sedate approach and wandered round the town taking in the sights and stopping for a pub lunch. A tip for Gib not to get naled on the exchange rate is to pay for everything using pounds. We decided not to go up the rock as it looked manky at the top. We met back up with the Chester Hawlers and decided to head back to the hotel. The walkie talkies worked well but not for too long as Chris hadnt recharged them after the inital charge.

By the time we got back to the hotel many more teams had arrived and it was really interesting to hear about other teams trips so far. As not enough teams had yet turned up the hotel wasnt able to get us ferry tickets but told us to head to the port andget them from a particular place. So we set off with a very tired Irish Team (Galway to Gambia) in the lead, they had arrived about 5 minutes before. Trying to find this particular office was interesting and envolved driving round in circles and looking thoroughly lost. Team Lumberjack (Latvians) were convinced that we had to keep going to find this particular office. We lost the Irish and the German teams and ended up just pulling over and getting the tickets from the side of the road. When we got back we had all payed the same price of 167 euros for a car and 2 people and could have got the same price without making the port from any of the numerous sellers. We have decided to take the route form Tarifa to Tangiers as aparently some of the customs stuff is done on the ferry.

Last night at least another 7 teams turned up. Some have decided to have a rest day before travelling on. Understandable when you consider the amount of driving they have done. I wonder if we looked so ashen faced when we arrived?

I am writing this as we are in convoy to the ferry port excited and nervous at the same time.

Spain - Sunday 2

2008-12-21T17:27:00.000Z

We travelled on this morning for a couple of hourse before stopping to have breakfast. Whilst having a brew in the car park we got chatting to an Irish family who where on there way down to the "Spanish Blackpool". They were telling us horror stories of trying to be forced off the road in Barcelona and how thye were nearly robbed 9 years ago when they were down this way.

After wishing us luck they found their battery was dead and had to get a jump start from us. They wished us and any Irish teams the best of luck!

The driving has been easy and we have been making very good time. We have been toying with the idea all day of pushing on to Sotogrande and we have decided to go for it after speaking to Dean (Chester Hawlers) on the phone.

Called Gran today, which was a great way to get brownie points :) Heard all about last nights TV and what she was doing over the next few days.

Forgot to mention Ady txt this morning on where to get a good beer in Mauritania, I am sure a helpful tip that will be noted along with the many others he has provided.

We have gone through Alacanti and Alamera and at 6.25, having seen another fabulous sunset, are just outside Malaga. Current total 2326km and rising.

Sunday

2008-12-21T08:49:00.000Z

A decent nights sleep has made us both feel human again. We decide to get a couple of hours in before breakfast and are aiming for Alicante. We have just passed Valencia and are going well.

This time has given Chris chance to write up the latest posts and recharge the iPod. We are currently listening to the Beach Boys Pet Sounds. The sky is clear and it is lovely and sunny abit a little cool when you are wandering around outside the car.

A7 - Tanking

2008-12-21T08:46:00.000Z

The road from Barcelona down is like the A1 to Cranwell goes on for ever and your never quite sure of where you are on it.

We have bounced from service station to service station as we require things like fuel / food / a rest. From looking at the worldmap on the laptop we discount several of the original overnights and keep going till we hit a signed rest area.

Humour had become very thin at that point (very thin). We decide to stop and get ourselves a room. We have done 1564Km since leaving Portsmouth in 25 hrs. It got stupid but the following day neither of us are sure why!!!!!

We had just sat down to some universally bad motorway serivces food when 3/4 of the spanish teams arrrive for coffee and recognise us. Glad they did as I dont recongise myself at this point. They are pushing on for at least another 300 Km that night. We are having problems doing the 300 m to the room!! We only chat for a short time as we feel like poop on a stick. WIll catch up with them again in Sotogrande.

Barcelona

2008-12-21T08:37:00.002Z

We made Barcelona and would have sung the song but in the rush to leave Chris forgot the words so we managed the courus twice...well the bit of the corus that goes Barcelona anyway.

The sunset was breath taking and full of colour. The car is completely fine again, think it must have just needed a break.

Spain - Barcelona

2008-12-21T08:37:00.001Z

The lack of sleep in Bordeaux is catching up and we are both pretty minging. Currently its drive for a couple of hours to hunmour fails and then swap. We are looking for a place to stop and must be driving down the one road that has never heard of cafe or resaurants. They have however heard of great views with winding roads and lakes.

On the C14 we find a Motorbike Museum at the point where the dashboard lights up like a Christmas tree. Colin parks us up as Chris tries to get his brain working. Rather than look and see what caused all the lights to come on we head for a break being that what ever it is will probably fix itself when left alone. Its a fixing philisophy that works with computers.

After grabbing some grub and looking at the motorbikes that did the Egypt to South Africa run we decide we should look at he car and work out whats happened. From Colins initial look he recons the alternator has gone. As the location hasnt got much going on we recon we can run for another 50Km to somewhere more interesting before calling the AA. So its Chris' turn to drive and after half a kilometer all the lights go off and we are back fully running. The car must had had a thought that with Chris driving it shouldnt misbehave.

Andorra

2008-12-21T08:36:00.000Z

So after hearing from the Chester Hallers we felt boyed up and looking forward to Andorra. We made the decision to not stop at Toulouse but to push on incase customs was slow. Had been warned that it may take a long time.

We can see snow topped mountains yay, soon will be time for snow chains (admitedly a strange thing to get excited about!). The scenary is gorgeous and Colin takes some photos as we wind up toward the border.

The bordor was a bit of an anticlimax as there was no que and we drove straight through. It looks like in a afew months time they are going to have a brand spanking new ubber customs post but not now. The road is carved out through the snow and reminds Chris of driving in Wales.

We end up with the ubiquitous local White Van man behind us and he is willing to travel that close to us it cant be that dangerous so we crack on at max speed. After slidding round a couple of hair pins Chris gives up with glasses and switches to shades. May as well look cool when I die. (Colin: "look cool you???").

We arrive at the ski slopes and its breath taking. After the excitement of the turns we dont really feel like stopping and plan to stop for lunch on the backside. The Garmin is having an eppy and keeps loosing sat signal. It bleats away like a small child, compared to Colin who curses like an adult!. Using the judgement of up must be the way we wont to go we suddenly amble over a saddle point and it all becomes down hill. A very rapid downhill. AT this point we have to let the mascot creat yellow snow and have an impromptu snow ball fight (not with yellow snow).

When we are coming down the sat nav decides to work and attempts to get us to drive through a tunnel at the last moment we spot it would actually take us back to near where we started to climb the other side!

The Spanish side of Andorra has buildings on every concievable point and there is heavy traffic. At the Spanish customs when asked are we bringing in ciggies or whiskey Colin attempts to point out the bottle of blue label vodka before Chris interceeds that we definatley have no whiskey and we are let on our way. As we drive away it looks like the Spanish border is the one with the ques at (roughly 10km).

Barcelona here we come.....

Bordeaux - and no wine!

2008-12-21T08:35:00.000Z

Arrived at Bordeaux at 3am. We have a current max speed of 120kmph due to the amount of load we are carrying and if we hit a hill it drops to around 80!!! Grrrr for a performance car, either that or we should have found a NOS kit for the Kaddett LMAO If we did have a Nitrous Kit at least we could have another illuminating switch hehe.

The hotel was interesting it was like staying in a wendy house, but it had 2 beds and was cheap. The alarm going off this morning must have woken the entire floor and both Colin and Chris were playing the game of "if I cant hear it I dont have to get up!". We got back on the road and Chris did the first hit.

As we are running a bit behind the program we didnt manage to partake in any of the local wine but will make up for that soon.

Have heard from the Chester Hallers and they are feet dry and at Bordeaux now. We are currently 2 hours further down, but are taking the Andorra route compaired to the coast one they are using. It was great to hear from them but the call came in and made Chris miss the stop he had been aiming for (for the last 97km) and promptly had to do another 50 before change over.

We have already emptied the ipod of the first set of music. The playlist hadnt really been thought through and Orbital or Hardcore Dance is not welcome in the early hours by Colin. We had already listen to enough Bio Hazard and some really random "love album" ( 3 times) and only had the dance left. As writting this new music is being uploaded whilst we listen to a mega mix cd. OMG how retro next we will start wearing pop socks and global hyper colour tshirts.

Hole in One

2008-12-20T09:27:00.000Z

French Loos, well in for a penny in for a pound. Chris was doing well till he thought how comical it would be if he slipped at which point the giggles struck and everything got technical.

Managing to escape with dignity in tact we are back on the road again.

Les Mans

2008-12-20T09:26:00.000Z

We made it to Le Man so we are one point down and no arguements.... yet.

We have tried to get pics of us and the car in front of signs but it has been rather dificullt as 1) It was dark 2) We have alwasy seen the signs when we are on top of them and stopping takes a bit of time in the "Battle Bus"

We did however take pics in the rest area where we uploaded the last lot of blog posts. Chris is grinning anyway!

The fan has stopped working in the car but we have a backup 12v one mounted on the dash so its all good.

Have heard from WrongWayDown and they are thinking of doing the Andorra run to but they dont get in till later as they were on a different ferry.

Strange Places...

2008-12-20T09:23:00.000Z

Have just seen a sign for a village called Condom Passage. What an address, you'd expect it to be part of a joke punchline.

Sat Nag

2008-12-19T17:55:00.001Z

As well as Sat Nav we have Sat Nag that offers abuse at us at the push of a button. This will get so much use as we drive!!! I will try to get video footage and upload it.

This handy new gadget comes from Tim and Dre and we thank them for their input....... ;) A guy we were talking to at the ferry seamed impressed with it. He was off with his family visiting the inlaws.

Feet Dry

2008-12-19T17:54:00.000Z

We are now feet dry in France and starting to do the run to Le Mans. Using hacked wifi at the moment :) and it isnt going well at 70Kmph!!!!

The ferry crossing was uneventful and seam to take forever. We Chatted to a lovely couple from Wales who had taken the route of getting a cabin and we were deaply envious of them getting some good sleep.

The Garmin rig is working and the map set seams to be holding settings which is a very good thing.

Radio Ga Ga

2008-12-19T10:11:00.000Z

mmmmmh Chris lost for words again!!! Just put him on the radio his mind goes blank and all he can think is dont swear, dont swear. Which is not helpful especially as it blockes out all of the vitally important things he needs to mention like the website address.

At least we know that an alternate career as a radio presenter would be very very very short.

On Our Way

2008-12-19T10:06:00.000Z

Well we are at the Ferry Port waiting to go. There is a real mixture of excitement and nerves... what will happen.... will we get there.... what if and did I lock the front door??? We were up till 2 am last night working out what we needed to take and didnt and I think we decided to take everying except the kitchen sink but it got hazy near the end.Chris is feeling better and still rattles like a maracass.

Admiral Lord Nelson School sent us off this morning and we drew the hamper raffle. The money raised from this will be given directly to the school they have links with in the Gambia. We have also added extra stickers to the car from Ocean FM but havent had chance to upload the pics yet. Chris thinks he should have spent some more time scoping wifi access along the route. He remembers starting to look at it but then got distracted, not at all like him ;)

Nuts... Chris has just discovered that the laptops dont have spell check eeeeek that means he has to read what he types :(

Bubonic Man Flu

2008-12-18T09:10:00.002Z

Colin had it first and now Chris, we have both been hit with one of the many bugs that are going around which is making the last few days \ week of prep a nightmare. To resolve the issue they have both taken so many potions and concoctions that they rattle like a maracas! On the plus side at least its now and not when we are driving.

Union Jack Shorts

2008-12-12T09:18:00.000Z

"We require Union jack shorts....." Chris
"No we bl**dy dont" Colin
"but we are going to malaga..."Chris
"Im not wearing them!" Colin

And after ordering them off ebay Colin wont be wearing them. Chris had enough problems puting them on and as you can see above. What else can I say as I am lost for words, I am not speachless I have been rolling around the floor laughing SO hard I have tears rolling down my face.

This was a fall back plan as the first palce Chris ordered them from sold out. Who apart from us wants union jack boxer shorts?

Pop Idol

2008-12-07T16:13:00.003Z

Well a random selection of tracks have been loaded on the kit (2 A4 sides of Kareoke Classics) and we will be able to sing \ shout to our hearts content…. I think we won’t get this out till we are well away from population.

Mosquito Nets

2008-12-07T16:11:00.001Z

Mosquito’s are going to think it’s an “all you can eat buffet” when they see us and despite Chris’ suggestion to drink gin (he vaguely remembers that the quinine in the tonic deters them) we have decided to get a set of impregnated nets. Once again ebay has a lot to answer for and we get them at less than half retail price. As you can see from the picture above they work quite well with the hammock setup.

Flight Simulator

2008-12-07T16:10:00.001Z

The slot on the British Airways flight Simulator was auctioned on Friday by Ocean Fm in aid of “Help A Local Child” and raised £400!! This is great news and we are extremely pleased that it made so much.

Consulates

2008-12-07T16:07:00.002Z

If it goes that much like a Poop Sandwich who do we call? A list of the consulates on the route has been produced and as everything printed about 10 times! We are also creating lists of contact numbers.

Chris keeps laughing as he thinks of the Peter Kay Sketch about customs and holidays “Its coffee mate.. I’m not your mate..”

Snow Chains

2008-12-07T16:06:00.006Z

As it was deemed a good idea to check the snow chains before we had to use them in anger we tried to fit the ones found in the loft…… They must have been designed to fit a tractor!!!! Resultantly we have found some chains on ebay “for a very good price” and now have sets that fit the tires.

Check Lists

2008-12-07T16:06:00.005Z

Lists on lists!!!! There have been so many back of fag packet lists that it has now been moved to an excel sheet. We keep finding more and more things to take or think about. I swear if we add the kitchen sink it wouldn’t look out of place. We keep making the lists so we don’t miss something obvious or vital. However the lists are getting shorter and more manageable.

Access Granted....

2008-12-07T16:06:00.002Z

Thinking about worse case scenario, “If it does go wrong…” people back home are going to need to access and manage bank accounts etc. We are still setting it up but are giving family access to the various things. Tim better not start going round putting post it notes on Chris’ stuff with things like “Mine”, “Sell” and “Tip”!! It makes you think a bit getting the wills notarised.

Movies

2008-12-07T16:05:00.004Z

Mmmmh well this took a lot of thought, what could we take that wouldn’t offend. Debbie Does Dallas is definitely not on the list!!! We have ended up settling for a few classics:

The Entire Faulty Towers Series – It’s not Russian Hamster it’s a Rat!
Over the Hedge – Hammy, need I say more
Ice Age – Love Scrat
Bad Boys I & II – Classic action movies
Monsters Inc – Chris nearly knock Sully out in Florida when he tripped
Lilo and Stitch – Stitch rules
Italian Job – The original….

Music

2008-12-07T16:05:00.003Z

So there weren’t many suggestions in the Facebook group regarding music to take so Chris has been let loose with his music collection loading the laptops up. The iTunes library now says 7.2days of continual music. There is at least a mix from Linkin Park and Rage Against the Machine to the Now Compilation Albums taking a route via Jazz, Pop, Salsa and Cheese of course not forgetting the 50 greatest Christmas Classics. It is hoped with all this lot that we wont get bored ;)

Fishe

2008-12-07T16:05:00.001Z

Ok so we know who we are isn’t apparently good enough to get through customs and border check points. We have adapted the Fishe available from the challenger’s website into a usable form and now have multiple copies of the information with the world’s nastiest mug shots on

Email Posting Test

2008-11-29T15:09:00.001Z

Well as it is pouring down with rain I have decided to test the email to blog settings. Fingers crossed this works.

Whoop Whoop

2008-11-26T20:38:00.000Z

Ocean FM have posted the links to the site and some information. Chris is currently doing a little dance!!

Link

This is a high note on a week that has not been going well...As I am sure everyone knows, you have weeks that are hard work to stay stationary. Well Chris and Colin are both having one of those but are sure it will get better with the load test Saturday.

Christmas Hamper.....

2008-11-26T20:33:00.001Z

The latest acquisition to raise money for charity is a hamper. This is not to be eaten in case of emergencies like "there isn't anything interesting in the cupboard to eat" or "what you haven't got any biscuits..." it is going to be raffled off at Admiral Lord Nelson School in aid of Kabafita Upper Basic School, Gambia.

Admiral Lord Nelson School have existing links with Kabafita Upper Basic and have visited yearly with the next trip going in February 2009.

The hamper was generously donated by Jo Reynolds (thanks Mum) and the clear wrap traveled from Germany to the UK then Spain before getting back to the UK. Mum was on a multi leg trip and had to take it with her.

It is hoped that in the run up to Christmas that people will buy tickets, especially at the Awards evening next week. The posters designed by Elly will hopefully help attract people.

Shields To Maximum

2008-11-26T20:28:00.000Z

Well we are getting there, the sump shield is fitted and only rubs on the engine when the cars cold or occasionally on tick over.

Thats Chris' excuse for not driving it to work this week!!! Not of course that its cold and he likes his normal car......

I lump of metal dural was located at a friendly scrap dealer and with some cursing and swearing Roy and Colin fited it.

There isnt a pictre yet as Chris has been running around chassing his tail and hasnt managed to get out with a camera in daylight

Route

2008-11-26T20:20:00.000Z

Charlie Croker: What's the matter.
Yellow: He says he wants to sit up in front with the driver!
Coco: I always get sick in the back.
Yellow: Listen, if I go in the back, I'll get me migraine, I'll be out like a light.
Charlie Croker: You are not going to be sick. You are not going to have your migraine. And everybody is gonna sit in the back of the motor!
Arthur: Charlie, me in the back of the motor with my asthma?

Ok so we said we are going here here and here but how long will that actually take us? What should we consider? Colins suggestion of we should tank through the night was met with a face that said several things.... all of them ended in off and started in 4 letters or less.

We are stopping night 1 in Bordeaux but depending how badly wrong it goes with Chris' sat nav kit it may be more of a cat nap. Day 2 is Andorra (with snow chains and hairpin bends) pushing on to Barcelona and as far as we can get to Valencia before the caffeine and sugar runs out. Monday is a run down to Gib stopping on route for the union jack shorts and knotted hanky photos. Tuesday morning is the ferry to Morocco and hopefully Sale (Rabat). Then it goes mushy......

Smashed Glass

2008-11-15T21:48:00.001Z

Having looked at how we have mounted the speakers Colin realised that if we decided to go over anything larger than a Portsmouth Speed bump we were highly likely to have the speakers swing out and smash the glass. To remedy this we have stuck polystyrene on the glass and if this wasn’t enough Chris has cut up the box the speakers came in and used that to encase the back of the speakers.

Blackpool Illuminations

2008-11-15T21:46:00.000Z

We have now fitted two 12v strip light in the main cab to allow us to see what we are doing at night. After some cursing and swearing (see You Say What?) they now both work.

You Say What??

2008-11-15T21:45:00.002Z

The speakers from Lewis are now tested and fitted. We have mounted them on hardboard that is suspended from the roof. This has been done with enough slack in the cable to allow us to mount them off the roof rack when we are watching movies. The car has been “chaved” up and with the speakers running and doors closed you can still hear the music clearly. Colin wasn’t so impressed as this test was conducted with him sat between the speakers trying to work on the strip lights!!!!!

Pink Balls

2008-11-15T21:28:00.000Z

So we started to put the “Pickled Onion” logo on the bonnet and had a thought….. so Chris got dispatched to find some Pink tennis balls and came back with 24. It was all Toys”R” Us had. With the aid of Serious glue half a tennis ball is now mounted

Stickers

2008-11-15T21:22:00.000Z

We have put additional logo’ing (is that a word??) on the car but due to the inks used have had to cover them in clear fablon to stop the colour running when it rains.

Sticky Stuff and Window Tints

2008-11-15T21:20:00.000Z

How do the boy racers put all these stickers on their Nova’s and make them look good?? We have tried to put a rear window tint on to stop people seeing in and nasty isn’t the word. If you were stood on the moon it would look okay but any closer and you can see the streaks. After this poor effort we have resorted to using white “Fablon” on the rear windows.

William Shakespeare

2008-11-15T21:17:00.000Z

Having talked to the Post Office Clerks something they said got Chris thinking…. Why don’t we write a book about this? What could we put in it? Mmmhhh more contemplations reuired.

Driving Licenses

2008-11-15T21:15:00.000Z

You need a license to drive? When did this come in?????

For the trip we need international driving licenses so a Saturday morning amble down to the Post office was called for as you can get them over the counter. We got chatting to the cashiers and managed to hold up the queue explaining what we were doing and why it seamed like a good idea in January.

Ocean FM

2008-11-14T09:23:00.000Z

To gain the most funds for Ocean FM's Charity “Help a Local Child” they are going to auction off the flight experience, kindly donated by British Airways. This is going to be done on air on December 5th. Details located here.

They have also offered us time on air before we go and a call into the show whilst we are doing the trip and a map tracking our progress on their website, as well as coming to the launch.

We are currently still finalising the details, so stay tuned………

Do We Stay Or Do We Go???

2008-11-13T09:09:00.000Z

Well it has been an interesting week and many discussion has occurred about the security situation in the countries we are travelling through. We have decided to monitor the situation right up till we get to Marrakech and if it deteriates we will evaluate at that point. This is not a case of false bravado or ego leading the way but balanced reason and has been greatly aided by the security report provided by Adrian.

Thanks Adrain for the info!!! Ady works in oil exploration around the world and his company provide detailed threat assessments for their employees.

Houston We Have A Problem

2008-11-08T00:30:00.001Z

********************* News Flash*********************
Mauritania declare no go by FCO and US Forgein office
*****************************************************
Will link information and further discusion when we decided what to do. the full infomation can be read here

Facebook and Flying

2008-10-26T13:37:00.000Z

Well we now have a facebook group up and running (link) please feel free to join and add your thoughts.

We are currently talking to British Airways to see if we can get some time in their flight simulator as an auction item... fingers crossed and will keep everyone posted.

Justgive

2008-10-25T11:10:00.000+01:00

The direct link to the page

Website

2008-10-24T09:18:00.000+01:00

Ok so I have finally got the site up and running. We are still waiting for a charity number for them just give page but that should be sorted by the end of the day! Please let us know if you have problems viewing the pages by emailing info@teamrubbish.org.uk.

If you are just reading the blog have a look at the main site located at www.TeamRubbish.org.uk

Maps and Mayhem

2008-10-22T18:52:00.000+01:00

Chris has finally got his head round google maps and has plotted the route. Now all he needs to do is get it embedded into the correct page. He has also got his backside in gear and has booked his next set of injections.

He is also thinking about doing a test of the projectors and laptops but isnt sure he feels that powerful!

Fluffy Dice

2008-10-20T14:20:00.000+01:00

We now have fluffy dice and they will be mounted in a prominent position! Thanks Johanna!!

Work, Work, Work

2008-10-08T13:46:00.001+01:00

Well Team Rubbish has been snowed under with there real jobs and have got behind the drag curve on the prep. Rather helpfully it was pointed out that we have less than 12 weeks to go before we start AAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRHHHHHHH.

Sign Writing

2008-10-07T14:16:00.000+01:00

This still needs to be done but we haven’t got as far as intended… Some basic designs have been done but it may just come down to fablon cut into letters for the web address.

Air Horns

2008-10-05T14:04:00.000+01:00

Bloody Air Horns!!!! Chris regrets the price he paid for the SINGLE missile fire “Mad Max” switch and should have gone for a bank of them.

Having found some air horns Colin has now fitted and tested them. They play Dixie (the dukes of hazard car tune) and are loud enough to get his neighbours out of their houses to see what is going on.

Whilst Colin is now keen to weld the doors up so we really look like the Dukes Of Hazard Chris is looking for Daisy Duke (admittedly through fingers over his eyes!)and is mubbling Bloody Air Horns continually

Fuzzy Felt

2008-10-04T13:49:00.000+01:00

From discussions with other teams, that have previously completed the challenge, we have been advised that covering the dash with felt will reduce glare when driving. Chris is currently looking to see what his grubby little paws can find.

Ten Four Good Buddy

2008-10-03T14:00:00.000+01:00

“Right if we can only talk to each other through the desert it is going to get boring quickly as there are only so many games of eye spy you can have with something beginning with s, what are we going to do?” (if your interested or not following the plot s is for sand).

From this we looked at CBs (not big in Africa) and Walkie talkies and quell surprise ebay came to the rescue again. Chris was dissuaded from getting the sets with throat mikes and 50 mile range not only because he was going to have to ship them from china but also they weren’t cheap. The team has settles on a set of 4 handheld units that run on rechargeable batteries and look pretty cool.

The units have arrived and the picture was taken very carefully by the seller, they are tiny and look far too flimsy but they do pick up one of the taxi firms in Portsmouth.