can't wait to meet...

Hey, I'm excited to announce that team Original Lonely Planet is in our group! Tony and Maureen Wheeler, the co-founders of the independent travellers bibles, (Lonely Planet guide books) are part of our group! Hope I can meet them in person as I'm a great supporter of their books.

AntiAtlas Mountains, Maroc

The Challenge

Some background info on what the Plymouth to Banjul rally is all about:

The Challenge is to simply drive the route from the UK to The Gambia (on a limited budget) with the principle aim of helping some Charitable causes in Senegal and The Gambia.
Their are 4 groups of approx. 50 cars in each group, all leaving on different departures dates.
We all have to abide by some simple rules, and get to Banjul within 3 weeks for the auction date.
The rules are:
1. to spend no more than £100 on a vehicle
2. the vehicle must be left hand drive
3. to spend no more than £15 on accessories
4. to complete the challenge with no outside support or assistance
5. to hand over the vehicle at the end for auction in aid of Gambian charities

This is the fifth year of the Challenge, and it has become a very popular event, with places hard to get. This year the organisers have added an extra rally, one that takes a group to Bamako. It will be interesting to hear how this one goes.

So there you have it. We'll be keeping in regular contact with the organisers and friends/family via text messaging. It should be an easy, straight forward run as it looks all downhill on the map...

the official website: http://www.plymouth-banjul.co.uk/

New bits!

We have a new radiator! The old one was had it, but was the original since 1984, so it hadn't done too bad. The car is pretty much ready to go now. We took her to France for a booze cruise and she happily glided along the coastal road to Boulogne. As long as our navigation skills don't let us down, i think we'll make it to Banjul......

Congrats to the All Blacks

I must add, that we have been rather pre-occupied the last month (hence the lack of blog posts). we've been following the All Blacks about on their autumn tour. We are huge supporters of the team and recently had the pleasure of watching them play England at Twickenham, France in Paris and Wales at the Millenium stadium. The boys produced a clean sweep of all games; roll on the World Cup 2007! I feel the team is almost in top form.....

Jerry cans and sand ladders

I'm now well on the way to collecting things for the journey. The car is pretty much sorted; just trying to locate another spare wheel (I'll feel safer with 2). The radiator is being sorted as we speak; a nice local chap is promising to fix-up the one we have. The roof-rack is on (brought for the heafty sum of £1 on ebay), and she is starting to look more like the safari vehicle she was bred to be!
There is a corner of our spare room that is slowly piling high with supplies. The latest additions are: 50L worth of plastic water containers; 3x20L Diesel jerry cans + nozzle; sleeping mats; camp chairs + cooker; 2 x waffle boards(sand ladders); air compressor for tyres; multi-cigarette adaptor for charging batteries, sand goggles..We have a fairly small flat with no outside storage, so things are getting abit squashed!
Steve bought home some ready-to-heat meals from an outdoor shop for us to try. I have to report that the beef stew with dumplings, and the chicken casserole are not too bad (heat in bag for 7 minutes!).
The Speed Ferry is booked for Feb 2 departure...time is ticking on

getting started

Yippee! I made it into the Plymouth to Banjul car rally. My partner Steve and I are Team Lord of the Sands (think Lord of the Rings, Sahara style!) and our trusty stead is a 1984 Mercedes 200D in white. I found her on ebay for a little (!!) over the £100 budget. She runs like a dream and drives very smoothly, although not quick. We have only replaced simple things like air and oil filters so far, but she really could use a new radiator that will stand up to the desert heat. Thanks to our friend Phil for helping with things under the bonnet, sourcing mechanical bits and pieces and providing a paddock to park her in! and to Julie for making cups of tea and putting up with us all!!
So now I'm starting to collect things to take that will see us through the 3600 miles.