Credits

I owe so much gratitude to so many different people, it's difficult to know where to start.

Of course, a big thank you to The Viktor Gomez Association and Viktor in particular for his unerring support, guidance and inspiration.

Also a huge thank you to Saranna and the children for thier support in this.

Thanks to my employers, Lloyd and Partners Limited for allowing me to take a month away from my duties, and of course colleagues for covering by work.

Thanks to the many many sponsors who have donated to War Child so generously. Once I'm back I'll work out the final total of money raised.

Off to the pool now for a coctail and to watch the sunset...

The End...

So dear reader, we finally made it to the finish in Grand Popo. I suppose I should have some thoughtful insicive comment on what this has all meant. I'm sure it will come to me at some point but for now, I am simply exhausted. This has been such an extraorinary experience for me it will take some time for it to sink in.
Therefore, there will be a "Streets of Sanfrancisco" style epilogue after the credits. What a thrill waiting for that (obviously not as thrilling as waiting for the German verb, but thrilling none the less).

Words

Sorry about the lack of pictures, dear readers, bu this machine wont allow access to my phone card. Hopefully better luck tomorrow.

26 November

Getting close to the finish now.
We had just picked up some fuel and were heading to the "jungle camp" when a couple of kids on the side of the road through a small rock through the windscreen. Pretty frightening really, it smashed completely, Helen was covered in boken glass and suffered several small cuts (nothing serious so don't worry mum!). I gave chase to the brats but they got away.
Now, you may recall that we had already lost our original windscreen and were using the rear window, taped to the front with rather striking War Child tape. So now we had no windows front or back, a broken roof, smashed rear light and broken headlight.
It was a windy drive to the finish and Helen looked just like Gromit in his side car - we had to laugh!

"The windshield was broken, but I love the fresh air you know"

24 November

Helen and I got up before dawn to get to a nearby watering hole in the hope of seeing some wildlife before it all got scared away. Not much luck though, some hippos, crocodiles and baboons, stuff like that. Rubish really!
The sunrise over the lake was breathtakingly beautiful.
We then visited some waterfalls which looked like something from a shampoo commercial. We were still an hour or so ahead of the rest so we had a swim. Didn't wash my hair though.
We spent the night in a little motel with a pool and a shower. Luxury!
A lazy day really, but feeling refreshed and revitqlized. Happy days.

23 November

Drove through the National Park. No sight nor sound of any animals , just a herd of charging 2cvs. The co-drivers sitting on the roof with binoculars, we looked like an invading army of hippy eco-warriors. Little did they know there was an insurance warrior amongst them.

22 November

We don't hang around in Burkina, don't know why, it seem pretty hospitable to me. Anyway, it's a long drive down to the Benin border. I've been wearing the same shirt now for 4 days, I think I'll treat myself to a slightly less dusty one tomorrow.
We camped just outside the Benin national park, ready for the drive through first thing in the morning.
Maybe it's just fatigue but felt a bit low, missing loved ones a lot. It's been a long trip and only a week to go so I should definitely make the most of it, it is after all an amazing experience.

"Tonight I miss my girl mister,
Tonight I miss my home"

Good ol' Bruce!

22 November

21 November

This was our last day in Mali and our last day of driving on sand. The route twisted through the trees passing numerous small villages on the way. Absolutre top fun, I could pretend to be a real proper rally driver speeding along the sandy dusty track. When I say "speeding", of course it's all relative. The 2cv is not a fast car. We went along at 60 - 80kmh, which felt pretty fast to me and one of the teams, the Garmin car, managed to hit a tree.
Then to the border with Burkina Faso. No problems here although the exit from Mali and the entrance to BF were over 40kms apprt. Perhaps this is normal, just struck me as odd.
We camped in a car park in a sizeable town,Ougigouya, with 37 mosques. They started their first calls to prayer at 04.30 and seemed in competition with each other to be the loudest. The town was also home to a very noisey donkey which bellowed and brayed all night. The rather beautiful Swedish lady, Pia, reckoned it was because it was randy. The Swedes know about these things I suppose.
Slept well.

"We slept in parking lots.
I don't mind, I don't mind"

Slow Train Coming

Sorry, I forgot to mention that when we arrived in Mauritania, we drove past the longest train in the world; 3 locos and over 2kms of wagons carrying iron ore to tyhe coast. Helen got a picture of it but only of one of the wagons. Exciting stuff.

20 November

Only 20kms today but it took several hours. A very beautiful route through remote Dogon villages running below a high sandstone cliff into which many of the houses were built.
The track was soft deep sand and for long stretches it was a case of 3 meters at a time on the sand ladders, but no longer absolute beginners at driving in such conditions, we made steadt progress and were nearly stage winners!
In the evening, we slaughtered some goats (no really) and enjoyed a most excellent dinner with the treat of goats testicles after the main course. Quite nice really and Helen ate several. This was followed by a live performance by one of Mali's toppermost bands, Embryo Dogon, in the dry river bed beside our tents.

PS this is a picture of Morocco, but I thought it was quite nice...

15 November

Today was our last day in Mauritania. A quite beautiful route, mostly off road passing through remote villages and across open grassland stretching to the horizon in every direction. In a word this is not just a big country, it is 'ginormous'. Now, many of you may think this is not a real word, just a made up combination of 'gigantic' and enormous'. Well, you'd be wrong, just ask Harvey. If you still have doubts, consult Chambers, I did.
We finally entered Mali without too much fuss. It was not without a sense of relief that we sped away from the border. Whilst Mauritania had its charms and I will miss the funny little checkpoints with their funny little guns, I could do with a beer.

14 November

No life changing experiences today, just a tyre changing one. Now, this isn't like popping down to Kwik-Fit (although they do wear the same overalls), every village has at least one 'vulcanateur' who repairs tyres and inner tubes by the side of the road. Very rescourceful and skilled , remarkable really. Next was the search for a photocopier. At every roadblock we have to hand in a sheet of paper with all our personal details on it, the usual sort of stuff like your father's profession etc. With so many checkpoints we were fasr running out of the sheets we had brought and without them, progress would be difficult.
Copying done we were on the road again.

13 November

Day two in the desert. Last night whilst I slept under the shimmering firmament, I had a revelation. Unfortunately it was a boring one so I wont bother to tell you about it now.
A harder day today with more 'out of car' activity to get us to the Atlantic. However, on arrival we had a couple of hours to wait before we could get onto the coast road, or 'beach' as some people call it. Just enough time for a swim and snooze. Once the tide had retreated, it was time to charge 60kms down the coast along the wet sands before the sea returned. No stopping here and beware of the 'undertoad'.
We arrived in Nouakchott by nightfall and had the car thoroughly cleaned underneath to get rid of the salt. Whilst at the lavage, I met a shoesalesman (no acquaintance) and selected some shiney sandals, my previous ones having been wrecked, along with my back shoving 2cvs around in the sand.
That night we found out that some of our compatriots had not made it to the coast in time to make the run and had to sleep overnight on the beach ready to catch the next low tide.

12 November

"And as I slept, I dreamt"

Sorry I've been absent dear readers, but we've been up country for a while. Anyway, to catch up...

Today we went completely off the roads and tracks and into the desert proper. We travelled in groups of 3 or 4 cars. Less than that and it's a lot of work for the few to dig and push the cars out of the soft sand. More than that and progress is too slow with more chance that someone in the group will have difficulties.
It was an amazing wonderful experience to be making our way across the sand, trying to pick a route over firm ground but frequently having to get out and get our hands dirty. We made it to our dune camp just before nightfall, exhausted but exhilarated. It was a full moon so I took my sleeping mat away from the camp into the silent night and slept under the stars. Beautiful.
Yes, I've gone native!

"So Major Lawrence, just what is it you like so much about the desert?"
"It's clean. I like it because it's clean"

11th - contd - borderline

The border crossing to Mauritania was a bizarre facinating frustrating all day event.
We arrived before noon and so it starts...
The routine is to visit the police so they can check you're not a wanted man, then customs to get an exit permission for your car, then the gendarmerie as a final release from, the country. After that it's into no-mans land. This is a 3km stretch between border posts with no road or obvious track, just some raggedy kids offering to guide you for a few quid. Needless to say I declined their help, raced into the inknown and promptly got stuck in the sand. Luckilmy Helen was able to push us clear. The Mauritanian side was much the same routine with communication a mix of schoolboy French and broken English. Anyway, having been nice to all the appropriate officials we went about our day, and it was only 5pm and not yet dark.

11 November 2008

Last day before Mauritania where fuel prices go up. The country has recently discovered some oil but petrol prices are still very high.

Got to go... more on this to follow.

Very very interesting so stay tuned.

Here is a picture of the road I drove on. A lot.

10 November 2008

Today was the long roqd south through Western Sahara. Having dropped down from the Haute Atlas, this was a stark contrast. The vasr barren rock strewn countryside looked like a lunar landscape, or that of Nevada, whichever you're more familiar with.
Large stretches of the road run through minefields and the relentless police and military roadblocks remind us that this is still a "disputed territory". Having said that, it has a serene majestic beauty in its unyeilding unchanging expanse.
Perhaps it was just the mood I was in, Helen was doing her usual routine of waving at anything that moved when she let loose an unusually vigorous hand flap. I casually enquired who she had seen, "Oh", she said, "it was a bunch of army guys waving at us."
That kept me chuckling to myself for hours.

Here's a picture of Helen and some car and some sand.

Happy birthday Sam!!!!

This is The Sea

"I've got tows coming out of my ears"

Whilst the other cars seemed to be having their various difficulties, ours was motoring along quite happily, it seems a little tougher than the rest.
We've dropped out of the mountains and hit the coast ready for the long haul south to Mauratania. It is now much hotter and drier, the desert is just around the corner.
We came across this ship on the beach, mv "Zahara", looking a bit past its best. Ok, into the desert now so not sure when we can post next but will do as soon as we get the chance.

Perfect Day?

We awoke at 5am for breakfast, then set off south with the magnificent kasbah overseeing our departure and the promise of the first rays of sun lighting up the tips of the snow peaked High Atlas drawing us on - what could possibly go wrong (apart from getting up before 5am - that's always wrong)?

After about 20 mins there was a loud bang, and Rob said "F****sh****rd", I may have said something similar. The foldaway roof of our car had chosen to fold itself away as we drove along, and we couldn't get it back on. We eventually abandoned our efforts to fix it and continued on our now very windswept journey, with t-shirts wrapped around my hands on the steering wheel to prevent hypothermia.

We were now even more eager for those first rays of sun to start lighting up etc etc, but after about 20 mins there was a loud bang bang bang. Rob said "F****sh****rd" and I may have concurred. An overtaking 2CV had thrown gravel up and shattered our windscreen. Two gallant Frenchmen stopped and helped us to remove the remainder of the glass, cutting themselves in the process (I think that this was deliberate so that they could show off their very impressive first aid kit). Others stopped to help and after some very nifty handiwork our back window was removed and taped up in place of the missing front window. A little more breezy now, desperate for those sun's rays, we were on the road again.

A few hours later, the sun was up, the t-shirts were off my hands, an we were traversing our last glorious stretch of mountain before heading off to the Atlantic coast. We had stopped at every petrol station we had seen but they were sold out of "sans plomb". . . we were very close to empty. Some more gallants, of varying gender and nationality, assisted and between us we got a syphon and someone else's petrol tank, and Rob got very dizzy trying to suck the petrol through the hose. Everything worked out eventually, the only result being that the spare petrol can I forced Rob to buy to put water in for emergencies now contains petrol for emergencies.

The barren field in the middle of nowhere which we will call "the campsite" was reached with no further major incident, and as we supped cold beer and heard that other cars had had accidents, failed brakes, and caught fire, we realised that ours wasn't such a difficult day.

That's some bad hat Harry

"I hate wearing hats on me 'ed"

We had the afternoon and evening to spend in Marrakech and so off to the city we went. First port of call was the Hammam for a scrub and a massage, just the thing after several days on the road. After that it was off to the market to get supplies. Despite Helen's irritation at my lack of preparedness, I had a sneakin' suspicion that sub-Saharan cities might sell such things as water bottles etc. and so it was. Whodathunkit! TM 2006 MB Games Inc. Anyway, Marrakech has a fantastic market, the Souk. This is a seemingly endless labyrinthine undercover market where you can get lost for hours browsing the fantastic stalls selling amazing spices, rugs, antiques and bizarre foodstuffs. I bought a tupperware bowl.
The only item I forgot to bring that I was really missing was my hat. I eventually bargained my way into a funny looking straw number too small for my big ol head. At least we are now fully equiped. Fully armoured. Very tough!

The Long and Winding Road

So, since arriving in Africa we have been making our way south. Today see us in Marrakech having nearly made it across the High Atlas mountains. We got to around 10,000 ft but faced with a washed out mountain track, deep snow and terrifying drops just feet away, our plucky little 2cv sighed a barely audible "non" and we had to work our way back down the mountain and find an easier route. Oh well, we live to drive another day.
Helen has picked up the habit of waving at everyone we pass in the car. Its a bit like travelling with Crocodile Dundee. Not because she gives off an air of much needed masculine security, its because shes very friendly. Maybe its more like travelling with the Queen.

"And what do you do?"

The first 24 hours. I have learnt a lot about Rob and the car.

1. The car leaks when it rains.
2. Rob has less baggage than me.
3. The car really really leaks when it rains heavily.
4. We each had a list of items to bring. I viewed the list in the same manner as traffic lights in London, as compulsoryinstructions. It is apparent that Rob viewed the list more like traffic lights in Marrakech, ie a vague suggestion that could be ignored.
5. Rob doesnt have a towel.
6. Rob doesnt have a plate to eat from.
7. Rob doesnt have the water carriers necessary to get us across the desert.
8. Rob doesnt have the shovel necessary to dig us out of sand dunes.
9. Rob does have one small bottle of insect repellant. Insect repellant was on my list to bring for both of us and I have many large bottles.
10. Also on my list was camp shower. I neednt have bothered. If you soap up, sit in the car and get someone to throw water at the windscreen it will be like sitting under a waterfall.
11. The car chugged and whined over the Pyrenees. I dont rate its chances over the Atlas mountains.
12. Rob has bought a good soundsystem for the car and chocolate milk for breakfast. All is forgiven. Im glad to have come. Together we will make it to the end.
Hels
ps Have just found out that Rob doesnt have a cup to drink from either.