The Finish.

Earlier on in my blog I explained the competition element to Touareg Trail. It has been a close competition the whole trip with us the Pentax Team and Dymo Team at the top. All winners were announced at the grand beach presentations on Benin beach. Throughout the trip we have had fun fulfilling our assignments for assignment Chief Brigitte. The last week has seen us work particularly hard as it had dawned on us we could actually win. The hard work paid off and with the support and help of many other teams received the title of Winners of Touareg Trail 2007! If this wasn't enough we were also awarded the very important prize of being voted the team with the most Team Spirit by out fellow drivers! Something which came as a complete surprise to both me and DJ.

The last few days of Touareg Trail has left everyone reflecting on the trip. The whole team has grown really close and many are not keen to leave the group behind. For me personally I feel I have made many new friends for life and the time it is taking me to adjust to being home is a testament to how much the experience has affected me.

Finally back home and still adjusting to being back four days in. Driving on the other side of the road is proving a real challenge after 4 weeks of left hand drive car on right hand side. Trip home from airport nearly made me sick because of it.

Thank you to everyone who has been in touch with their congratulations. Am truly flattered to hear that so many people have been following my blog and photos! Can only apologise for not updating more often towards to end. Combination of exhaustion and useless local internet connection, when it was available!

Am in the process of writing reports on different parts to the trip, including preparation, mechanical, fundraising etc. This I hope will not only serve general interest, but particularly to anyone who is considering a similar trip in the future.

Watch this space.

Burkina Faso and Benin.

Met up with the Mali 2cv club this week! They have 300 members and some amazing cars ranging from immaculate to questionable. These guys really are super mechanics. The 2cv specialist in Mali deserves an award for his welding and part improvised repair techniques. Retro fitted lense mountings and window latches being my favorite.

Am now five days away from finishing the driving part of my month long trip. Have nearly made it and wow, all I can say is it’s definitely a very long way with 400km to 700 km a day on bad roads and tracks is hard work. Crossed Burkina Faso yesterday with the best tarmac roads in weeks with hardly any pot hole! Appears to be lots of foreign support here with wells and new construction everywhere. During our one day crossing we were very pleased to see an original 2cv ‘Africar’ jeep kit car in great condition. Unfortunately the owner was nowhere to be seen, but took lots of pictures. The car was surprisingly based on a 60’s 2cv with early door latches, drive shafts and dash board!

The beginning of Benin was started with driving through one of the largest wildlife parks in Benin. Movements very slow due to elephants making a mess of the track in the rainy season. Most of us took turns looking out for animals from the top of the 2cv’s. Lots of unusual birds, deer, apes, hippos, crocodiles and even an elephant were spotted.

Weather still high between 30 and 40, humid jungle heat and smells now. Car is still behaving herself with only a split drive shaft gaiter and another flat tire. We treated her to a new oil change yesterday, hoping this will help her make it to the end with no problems.

Benin again

After the safari park two days were spent trying to spot a termite hill from the top of the car, with no success. We also adopted a meet and greet 2cv couple from Holland who followed us in our quest to complete our final assignments. This included trying to fit as many local people in our 2cv as possible. We did this by visiting a local school, the end count was 24 children. Unfortunately someone succeeded in 40, god knows how! Our final bush camp was spent in tropical jungle surroundings and is where DJ had an unforgettable jungle birthday evening. Thanks Jane and Miguel!

Voodoo evening and official arrival at Benin beach, beautiful pirate themed hotel. Turtles on the beach

Last drive marina hotel, 1000 people final party night. Sorting of very dusty car tomorrow, fly home at midnight (25^th).

Final mileage count 9500km!

More uploaded pictures upon return when I have faster internet access.

Mauritania and Mali

The Mauritania leg of the trip is now complete. Overall the least friendly area so far, and to start with the most extreme environment wise. It started with Sahara sand dunes and heat at least 35c each day. The whole group have felt the strain the past few days. There has been more getting stuck, flu, bust tires and mechanical failure than any other time. This has included bent chassis’s from bouncing off sand humps at high speed, bent front suspension arms from being blown off the road and severely dented wheels from unavoidable tarmac holes. To such a point that the last off road track of Mauritania was changed to tarmac due to everyone being so tired. Despite the hard days we are all still enjoying the trip without exception.

Car is behaving extremely well so far, with only standard tires and small exhaust repairs. Suspension is showing signs of strain, but will hopefully hold out till the end. Dust is absolutely everywhere and is probably my least favourite aspect. Scarves and goggles have been a life saver but still leave you coughing up dirt. Yuck.

We are now currently in Mali and are now enjoying a relaxing nights in a hotel before continuing. It is nice to be out of the Muslim counties where the women are covered from head to toe in fabrics. Although this in itself is ok the general attitude towards women and life in general is not great.

Apparently the next few days will be quite taxing on the car so myself and DJ are now off to make a good check on the car. e. x

Mali has been very beautiful, still loads of sand to get stuck in due to dry weather. Visited a dogon village today which is built on the side of a mountain. Community still living very traditionally in their rock houses, mainly with only ropes made from bark leading to their entrances.

Our car is still being good to us, with no majour problems other than flat tire every day without fail. Over the border to Burkina tomorrow shortly followed by Benin, nearly there!

Climate becoming increasingly hot and humid. temp now up to 45c most days.

mauritania - beach and dune driving.

More off roading than I could have imagined on this trip. Everyone having to work hard as a team. Today we drove from our beach camp through a bird watchers paradise of dunes and coast line. flamingos, birds of pray, stalks and much more. The soft sand was so bad today that half the team have not made the hostel tonight and are camping on the beach until the tide is low enough for them to continue and get through to us. Myself and DJ were lucky and actually were the first 2cv to camp by hours, was partly luck but have also found that high speed approach through dunes is quite effective in getting through.

PICTURES

My photobucket page is not uploading so adding extra pictures to blog for now for myself and DJ. There are some extra pictures of our mechanic for his daughter to see at home. direct link on http://www.2cvbenin.com/. bye for now. thanks for looking.

TOUAREG TRAIL 2007 ITINERARY
Brussels 27th October
Barcelona 28th October
Morocco 29th October - 5th November
Mauritania 6th – 9th November
Mali 10th – 15th November
Burkina 16th – 18th November
Benin 19th – 25th November
UK 26th November

POINTS SYSTEM
There is a points system throughout the month long trip. Points are gained through tasks listed below and points are lost through asking for technical support or breaking safety rules such as arriving after dark or driving irresponsibly. The team with the highest points at the end of the trip win free entry into the 2008 Touareg trail.

DAILY TASKS
Lots of driving
Picture or film task.
Questions from the locals
Picture spotting from road book and photographing.

GENERAL UPDATE
Making some really good friends along the way, mainly through helping each other out. There are penalty points for asking for organization assistance, so everyone tries to help each other first.

Seeing many Amsterdam – Dakar rally drivers along the way, who all seem quite impressed with our massive support truck and army food lorry. Our Dutch chef Mark is absolutely amazing and we miss his cooking when we are sampling local food for a few nights. Last camp meal was fresh mussels from the beach we were staying at 4 euros a kilo! As well a spaghetti, pesto and salad.

For a map of our exact route please look on the ‘DYMO’’ 2cv page through the Touareg Trail official website. http://www.touareg-trail.be/

MOROCCO
Now we are completely out of the Atlas Mountains, but we have enjoyed the action packed journey. All cars have been put through some serious hill climbing and very rocky dirt track driving. Campsites have been both bush camps, traditional Moroccan tents and even a hotel! The sights have included sleeping to the sound of a massive waterfall and waking to the view of beautiful and famous Kasba forts.

Everyday we move further along the track it is getting noticeably warmer during both the day and night. There has been lots of off roading as well as tarmac. This has allowed us to see very rural parts of Morocco. My favorite has been the traditional ‘Berber’ people housing which are box shaped mud construction and are scattered across the Atlas Mountains. All the people are generally very kind and helpful with our daily project questions, which are set to encourage interaction with the local people and also so we learn something about their culture.

The Younger generations are the least polite with constant requests for pens, money and cigarettes in French. This being a direct result of previous ill advised foreign travelers. The elder members of the community are against the begging and often tell children to move. As a group we have been encouraged not to make this situation worse by giving from the car. Instead giving to village leaders or schools if we feel the need or occasionally if someone has been particularly helpful. We have also been told that the Berbers are comfortable compared to future countries and to hold out with help till later on.

SAHARA
Rocky and sandy, but definitely dessert stretching for miles. Free range camels along the way! Many designs for landmines as we near the border. Impressive ship wrecks
Lots of beautiful beach campsite with plenty of getting stuck in the sand. Still perfecting the sand driving technique. Dj is too slow and gets stuck every few meters and I’m too fast and cause a drive shaft to putt out when we hit a bouncy spot. Managed to get it back in without undoing anything, but both have learnt lessons. Opps.

As part of a daily task we were asked to find a fisherman and photo him with catch of the day. This lead to an amazing encounter with three locals, a hand made Moroccan blanket tent and some beautiful fresh fish, which they insisted we took with us.

As I write we are driving south along the coast on the edge of the cross the Mauritanian border 5 hours wait in the heat more driving in the sand have a feeling we will be stuck at least once tomorrow.

MOROCCO

Been in morocco a few days and really enjoying the challenge and am in marakesh the capital with a french keyboard this evening. so apologise for slightly shorter log this time. Last few days have been fast moving with bush camps changing every day. had one flat tyre due larger than expected hole when off roading. Other than this car is behaving, but has already begun to fill with mud and dust. Seems to be more donkeys than cars in places. Especially when zooming through the atlas mountains. Been helping others with their breakdowns. which include broken suspention mainly. Having to learn french fast along the way as tasks are set each day which involves talking to the local people. much to the anusement of my co driver dj. tasks have included things such as getting a picture of a local animal pulling your car. weather so far is like english summer time with quite cold nights. but expecting a lot hotter as we move south. hope you like the pictures: xx