What happens when you drive very worn Winter tyres through the Sahara Desert? Well, actually – not much! You get some pretty impressive grip… Sadly, that grip also included a discarded screw… which ended up in our tyre! Last year we had a puncture in the High Atlas mountains… so this year we are going […]

Day two of the challenge… and by the time you read this, we should be somewhere in Spain… or is that Morocco? Well, last year – by this point we were in a hotel in Southern Spain enjoying the sunshine, sangria and paella…  I don’t think Andrea will be having any Paella this year… lets […]

After a ridiculously early start, we got to Folkestone with time to spare before our train left today. We then made fantastic time through France, without the slightest impediment from the snow… There was no traffic, and we found a fantastic free campsite on the border with Andorra where we are now spending the night. […]

Merry Christmas! With only 2 days to go before the launch of group 1105 of the Timbuktu Challenge, things have been pretty stressed. We’ve been pressed for time to get those last minute things together… and we’re at a good point! We are also welcoming another sponsor to the team, which everyone is very grateful for!

Sunny is our contact in Bamako, Mali… he is organising the auction of the cars. We’ve gotten a message from him regarding what the W202’s sale will fund. See message from Sunny in Bamako below…..

Looks like Al Jazeera has started broadcasting footage from the Saharan groups, Al-Queda in Mahgreb, Saharan Emirates, & co. Feels like I should be getting much more worried than I am… An offshoot of al-Qaeda has emerged in the deserts of North Africa, claiming an area it calls the Sahara Emirate. The group roams the […]

As we get closer and closer to D-Day, I get more and more excited! While listerning to Sting’s Desert Rose and America’s Horse with No Name (repeatedly) I came across this video-clip on the “song of the sands” This is a noise made byt he sand shearing when you disturb it, by walking, touching or […]

Last night I finally braved the arctic weather and went outdoors to change the viscous coupling on the fan/radiator. This means that now, the car shouldn’t overheat when stuck in traffic!

On Saturday, the 16th of October a weird and wonderfull realisation came to me… there were only 10 weeks left before departure! So much has happened since the last post, much more than I can fit in a rushed post typed on my phone! The highlights have been: * The aquisition of a new team-member, […]

So things have quieted down a little – but there’s only 5 months (to the day) left before the big departure! In the meantime, I’ve given the new wheels (kindly donated by W124 Works) a good scrub, fitted some roof bars, changed the spark plugs, got the various filters I plan on changing and generally fiddled.