Plymouth to Banjul Rally Diary

Hello sorry for the delay in updates here are all my text updates throughout the trip. this is a collaboration from both the text updates on the plymouth-Banjul website and personal texts sent home to my girlfriend (with all the personal bit taken out of course!)

The Brightonians trip to The Gambia!

13-01-06 13:36:13
Hello Drew just testing my phone for the brightonians team before we depart. Cheers.

09-02-06 09:18:17
We’ve been rotating 2hr driving shifts since landing in France at 2am. Passed paris didn’t c much. Next stop Bordeaux then Bayonne for our first hotel stop eta 6pm.

10-02-06 11:19:48
Made it to Bayonne by Spanish border. Have named car Roxy and she’s going well. Had a tire blow out but got replacement and now on way to Spain.

10-02-06 18:22:40
Made it to outskirts of Madrid. Roxy’s running well. Her speeds uphill are interesting! Aiming for Sotogrande tomorrow. Gone drinking.

11-02-06 19:36:22
Been a long drive today. Managed to pass Madrid, cordoba & malaga. Will hit sotogrande just by gibralta our destination for the evening. We are leading another car in convoy.

11-02-06 23:33:25
Finally made it to sotogrande. Had a good seafood tapas with other teams. Everyones getting pissed here!

12-02-06 12:08:34
Currently broken down in a car park in Gibralta. Team Redman en-route to give us a tow. Fingers are crossed for Roxy’s survival.

13-02-06 11:09:23
Roxys being a bitch, got her replacement part but spluttering constantly. May not make it past Morocco. Ferry crossing in 1hr.

13-02-06 15:58:50
We are in morocco, one of the cars in convoy didnt have a V5 document for the crossing!!! Planning to stay in Fes tonight. Surfing tomorrow near Rabat. Roxy may still have life in her yet!

13-02-06 16:40:10
Against all the odds we managed to fix Roxy. Made it onto the ferry and our now charging down to Fes. The Brightonians are in Africa!


14-02-06 15:03;26
Made it to Fes late last night. Are now heading to the coast for some surfing and our attempt at camping. On to Marrakesh tomorrow.

15-02-06 13:16:13
Just been surfing in Rabat. Camped last night for first time and got drunk with cool Moroccan guy. Now heading to Marakesh. Roxy going ok.

16-02-06 21:38:17
Went surfing in Rabat yesterday the surf was good, I was rubbish. Had dinner in marrakesh. Been driving today to tantan to camp for the evening.

17-02-06 08:26:36
Camped in desert outside Tan Tan last night. Punctured the bottle of octane booster so whole car is full of petrol fumes. Fri is sick.

18-02-06 22:35:32
Were in Dakhla for two days preparing for desert run in Mauritania. My phone’s got no signal. Reach Senegal in four days time.

19-02-06 17:13:37
Just received some of your texts so maybe I will have signal. Car is prepared for desert just need supplies. Leave 7am tomorrow, it will take three days to reach Senegal.

20-02-06 07:07:20
Did some work on Roxy. She looks amazing and is now desert ready. Leaving Dakhla for Mauritania and the minefield! Then on to the desert.

21-02-06 08:74:21
Just leaving Nouadhibou bound for the desert! Convoying with Eyes, Ears and MnMs, Globehoppers, Norfolk n Chance and Flat Earth.

21-02-06 09:01:04
Been through minefield in Mauritania ok heading to desert today no contact from today onwards

23-02-06 16:26:45
Desert was cool got stuck a few times saw a lamb being slaughtered for food and woke up this morning with sand in my teeth. Was great fun. Digital camera jammed with sand!

25-02-06 23:23:56
I haven’t bin able to get a signal all day here in Senegal but as im setting alarm managed to get one. Spent day in St Louis, Senegal. Reach Banjul tomorrow

26-02-06 22:06:25
Not in Gambia tonight been a long long day today. Driving since noon. Not even ¾ of our planned route to ferry crossing. Missed last ferry 3 hours ago! Camp tonight. Get to Banjul tomorrow

27-02-06 12:19:20
Sorry phone died. We were all really worked up from 12hours drive yesterday so I used my phone for tune and another rendition of Roxy Karoke. Planing to return on 3rd but need to check flights. I’m melting!

27-02-06 12:45:07
Digital camera is still jammed since desert and disposable ones are rubbish!

27-02-06 19:05:38
We are in Banjul! Took us 19 days. Got a cheap hotel for a few nights. Sun sand and a bit of swimming is on the agenda.

28-02-06 09:44:07
Made it to Banjul yesterday morning 19 days since departure, Dont believe roxy made It all the way. Celebrations begun as we wait for remaining cars

02-03-06 14:18:05
Fun times in Banjul. Paul and Luke went on Gambian radio yesterday. Heading out now for victory parade through the streets of Banjul.

03-03-06 14:59:06
In the airport about to leave sunny Banjul. We have said goodbye to Roxy. Very sad. The end has come and its time to return to Blighty.

03-03-06 17:39:29
Hello, just a last text to let you know that we are now boarding, a little delayed.

(written on behalf of Fri by Heloise)

This is it! Believe it or not, this car used to be white. I can imagine the face of the previous owner if she saw it.... it would not be pretty. Luke (far left), Paul and Fri (guess) leave Dover on the 2300hr ferry to get to Calais. The plan is to drive the whole night and then stop tomorrow night for some shut eye before heading on down to Morocco. Watch this space...

Departure day

We intend to depart tonight, I don’t know how we’ve made it here but the last few days have been a blur. On Saturday I shaved my head, then met up with luke to put our own artwork on the car. With spray cans at the ready we jumped right in and gave the white canvas a splattering of hippy colours and designs. We didn’t get started until late and sunlight was not on our side. Therefore I have not actually been able to see what the final product looks like in its full glory. Sunday / Monday / Tuesday I have been in bed solidly for the last three days hit with a bout of the Flu all last minute preparation is out the window I can barely stand let alone do any organisation. Wednesday, I decided that I ought to try to get to work to finish off some remaining work before I leave and at the same time to gather any remaining documents for the journey. (I still have to arrange my international drivers permit! Print copies of my travel insurance, passport, drivers license, visa’s etc!!) after an unsympathetic conversation from my manager (Mr pedantic) I realise how unappreciated I am and probably should have stayed in bed to recover from my cold instead of coming to work.

The more you learn the less you know

This is a phrase that I first heard years ago, and to be honest its never been more apt. whenever I seem to get anything done for this trip I always seem to think of a hundred more things that we haven’t done. To say we are unprepared is an understatement we are strolling into the lions den and have no idea what awaits us.

The Bus Lottery

Just a thought I had on the bus today. When you get on a bus and there are a couple seats left available what influences where do you sit? Next to the white guy wearing a shirt and tie glancing nervously but aimlessly around or the latino skin coloured guy who is listening to some music and is reading an A4 sheet of paper?

I chose the latino guy because he looked less bothered and that he was less likely to be fidgeting about.

I chose wrong. He smelt really bad. I had the impression that he had cooked curry a couple of days ago wearing the same outfit and decided that a quick rinse over with some deodorant was adequate to hide this hideous smell.

My next dilemma was how do I go about changing seats without being to obvious and offending him? (I don’t know or care about the bloke, so should this be a problem?!). I decided to stay seated and pulled my scarf around my mouth and nose looking for other seats. I figured that an acceptable excuse to change seats would be to switch to a window seat, this is a common occurrence amongst London commuters. Luckily this opportunity came only a few stops down the line.

But my thought is, how do I pick my seat in the future?