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Clive, Michael and Bert are being attended on their journey by a Land Rover Discovery support vehicle, driven by Mike Moore, eldest son of Dove Nest directors Dave and Karen. Day 12: Tuesday 22nd January Today we are not charging through the desert, instead we are acting like tourists, and taking a trip to St Louis. A chance to take in and enjoy the scenery for once. All a bit tired after the late night, and coming down off the adrenalin of the stress of the past few days. We cannot thank Clive, Michael and, of course, Bert enough for the massive effort they made to make sure that the Disco is not right now being stripped down to a skeleton by wind, sand and passing opportunists. Clive even had to lend us the money to get through the border and pay the police fines. I don’t know about “IJA” (see main journal) – I think they make the rules up as they go along. One police car will stop and fine you for having lights and not using them, the next is just as likely to fine you for having the lights ON! All you can do is smile, agree and pay up. In St Louis we found a bank and managed to draw some funds, so we are again in a liquid state. We had the vehicles logged into our passports on entering Senegal and cannot leave the country without them. If the same happens at the Gambian border it could make it interesting getting on the plane home! We hope to be entering the Gambia tomorrow and also hope not to be paying massive import taxes on the cars, or it’ll be back to the bank...
Day 11: Monday 21st January Our water pump failed in the Sahara – what a place to choose! Thanks to Bert and crew we were towed 200km, then on the back of a tow truck for a further 300km. It has cost us 600 euros in total for tows and repairs, so we are now totally out of cash. We got visas at the border of Mauritania for 10 euros each, and we are now about to cross into Senegal, where we hope to find a bank and use the credit card! Day 8 : Friday 18th January : The Sahara Desert Tonight we are rough camping in the Sahara. Just wandered into the desert to find a signal as this will be our last contact with the UK for a while. Each day we say this, and one night it will be true! Quite surprised how well communication works out here. Day 7 : Thursday 17th January 2008 We have started the drive through the Sahara, with some rather dodgy bits! Made Laayoune before camping. This is where we are going to have to start relying on our stock of tinned food, because there are no handy fast food outlets – nor even slow food outlets – around. Luckily we are well supplied, Mum seemed to think we needed a month’s supply of just about everything, but at least we won’t go hungry! Before leaving Tiznit we acquired two useful bits of information – the name of the chief border guard at the Mauritanian border crossing, and his favourite bribe. Let’s hope it stands us in good stead, bearing in mind our lack of visas and our vehicle registration irregularities! We’ll be in touch when we can.... Day 6 : Wednesday 16th January 2008 : Marrakech We had a more relaxed journey today. After sorting out Bert’s troubles (see main journal) we left Marrakech and headed south. We reached Tiznit without any problems, and are camping tonight on the beach. Tomorrow we are off into the desert, and may lose contact. For you at home it’ll be like those minutes when the space capsules had radio blackout, and everyone held their breath waiting for them to speak again. Don’t hold your breath, we WILL be in touch as soon as we can. Day 5 - Tuesday 15th January: Rabat to Marrakech This morning Pete and I went to the Mauritanian embassy outside Rabat to get our visas. Luckily we followed a French couple to it, because it does not appear on any of our maps. After waiting ages we were told to come back tomorrow (Weds) and that we would then be able to collect our visas on Thursday. This time delay has not been built into the schedule, so we decided that we will try our luck at the border (where it should just be a matter of hours, not days; plus suitable palm greasing of course). We barged on through Rabat and met up with Bert and co on the motorway. When we got to Marakesh we found an hotel. In the evening Clive took us to sample the delights of the Medina. What a place!! I suspect we might feel the effects of the food in the morning though… Day 4 – Monday 14th January, 12:00 GMT: Morocco Border At the Moroccan border we did not have the insurance concerns that Clive and Michael enjoyed, as our insurance company covers us to the southern border of Morocco. As M has annexed Western Sahara, this is technically to the border with Mauritania – let’s just hope we don’t have to test it out. Instead, we were worried about the vehicle documentation – as previously mentioned we have bought the Disco on behalf of British ex-pats in the Gambia, and it is registered in their name to their UK address. Only two problems with that – one, the log book did not arrive until less than 24 hours before we set off; and two, 36 hours before departure we learnt the “when a vehicle crosses an international border it must be accompanied by the registered keeper/owner”. Whoops! So thanks to the wonders of modern technology, some creative scanning, emailing and printing, we are in possession of an official looking “Document of Authorisation” from the owners allowing Mike to take the Disco to the Gambia. This was the first test – and we got through it. Crossed into Morocco. It was raining, so much for going to hotter climates! After getting lost in Tangiers and Rabat we eventually found the campsite, and pitched camp about 6.30pm. Morocco is on GMT, which makes life easy for communicating with home. Tomorrow Pete and I have to try to get visas for Mauritania. Clive and Michael got theirs in London the day the embassy closed. We tried in Paris but all they would tell us was “Do it at the border”. The Sahara traveller sites do seem to think that this is fairly easy, but Clive is concerned that it may take too long, so we are going to try and find the Mauritanian Consulate outside Rabat. The best advice available seems to be “get a taxi”. That could be an experience in itself. Day 3 : Sunday 13th January 2008 : Burgos to Gibraltar Our journey so far has just been burning miles through Europe. Sat nav has proved itself especially when following Clive got us lost in Madrid. So we took the lead to Soto Grande! Arrived at Soto Grande 8.00pm local time. All is well. Looking forward to Africa tomorrow…… Day 2 : Saturday 12th January 2008 : Caen, France to Burgos, Spain Our planned overnight halts in Bordeaux and Madrid have had to be abandoned, as Clive has decided that we will push on and catch the ferry on Monday rather than Tuesday. So we made it over the border into Spain before finding a place to camp. Day 1 : Friday 11th January 2008 : Millness, Kendal A rather confusing departure from the Dove Nest offices at Millness, with Bert and the support car facing in opposite directions! At last we got sorted out, and off we went. Our first port of call was Harper Adams, for a photo op with senior lecturers. Then on for a cup of coffee mid afternoon in Oxford, and a farewell to Dad Dave who was running a course there. Can’t leave the country without saying goodbye. It was here that we got the news that Bert was having problems, but it was agreed that we would push on and catch the ferry. If needs be we will wait for Bert in Gibraltar. Got to Portsmouth in plenty of time, and we were delighted when Bert joined us before the ship sailed.
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