Huston this is Cameroon base,
the car has landed and much beer is about to be drunk, in
fact already had a few!
Posted: January 02nd 2010
From: Graham
Hi well on the way to Bamako,
400k to go, recon get in about midnight. Dave had a noice
bar of chocolate till he saw the maggots in it, give him his
due he wasn't sick. Got through Mali border ok, guard to buy
our car.
Posted: January 01st 2010
From: Graham
Hi heading for Mali border
about 300k away, temp 104f, roads ok at the moment, camping
tonight. Managed to get a battery, when we stop we will try
to make it fit, running with heater on to try and keep
engine cool.
Posted: December 31st 2009
From: Graham
Happy New Year and we have
the car! Battery fu**** as ripped out wiring to nick radio
and exhaust broke so a good way to start the year, happy
days buton the road, YIPIE.
Posted: December 28th 2009
From: Graham
hi there well were off down the
docks today see how long its going to take to get cars out
then the trip can realy start nothing much else to report
had a quiet exmas in the sun 80 degrees but the pool kept us
cool.
Posted: December 18th 2009
From: Graham
Well
this is a good start, out of 41 flights 22 are cancelled,
luckily ours is anly delayed 4 hours so should get to
Africa.
Posted: December 14th 2009
From: Tony
Ok, they got away from Dunsfold aerodrome yesterday. The
aerodrome is also
the site of the 'Top Gear' test track, so all the cars
got to do a lap of the track prior to getting on the
road. However as a result of the following email sent by
the rally organisers to all the teams on Thursday:-
Hi Guys,
We have some very bad news to break to you.
Yesterday evening we were summoned to the Foreign
Office in London to meet the Head of Counter
Terrorism. They told us not to hold the rally
because the threat of terrorism has increased very
significantly recently parts of Africa we have to
drive through. The Foreign Office Minister is going
to release a statement this morning about the Rally
and the vastly increased danger level in Mauritania.
They have recently got back from unsuccessfully
trying to rescue a British citizen from the region
who was ultimately killed. They said due to the
profile of the event on the internet that you could
be a direct target for militant action.
Yesterday morning they changed their travel advice
to state that you should not travel at all to the
vast majority of Mauritania and Algeria. A point
they made very emphatically when we met them in
person. The statement is being forwarded to the
Foreign Office's of all other countries so they can
respond similarly.
We love a bit of adventure and a danger like the
rest of you but it definitely stops being fun when
someone cuts your head off in a damp smelly prison
cell. With what amounts to a direct request to halt
the rally and a public statement from the Minister
about to be released we have no choice but to cancel
the rally in it's current format.
We are working now on the best alternative given the
situation and will keep you up to speed on what
happens. At the moment we are definitely still going
to hold the launch and the party in Spain and we are
looking at what and where we can hold the finish
line without any of you guys being murdered.
I'm really sorry to have to break this news to you
but given the circumstances it is clearly essential. We
will be updating you as soon as we have more
information and will send you the statement from the
foreign office.
Tom
Friday was spent frantically trying to find alternative
routes. Graham & Dave finally opted to have the car
shipped out of Tilbury this morning (Monday) to Dakar
and fly out this Friday to collect it on the 29th, so
there won't be much more news untill then.
Posted: March 9th 2009
From: Tony
Well as can be seen I have started a new web site for this years Adventure!
