News from Simon

Spoke to Simon yesterday (29th December).
They were still in dakhla, morocco about to set off into the desert.

It is very hot with very beautiful scenery and beaches.

They will be crossing the desert during the next 5 days or so and it is likely there will be no mobile contact for about 5 to 7 days. No news in the next few days until they get tothe first settlement in the next country (Mauritania).

Rossella

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laayoune, morroco stopped off at a very comfortable hotel at the port. Probably our last night of comfort. 2morrow 650km to daklah.

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Tan-tan, morroco just had lunch on the beach. We are now following the atlantic for a few thousand km. It's great to see the sea. I

Update from the field

laayoune, morroco We've had a few problems with the programme on our home computer that lets Alex and Simon post entries on the blog - they've been sending updates daily but they've not been getting through. Hopefully helpdesk here has sorted it out, fingers crossed...
I've just spoken to Alex and they are well - they're now in Laayoune, the capital of Western Sahara. In a hotel tonight - they were in their tents last night. For more info on Western Sahara, go to http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/country_profiles/3466917.stm - interesting background about the disputed territory.
If you go here, you'll see a map of the area and where Laayoune is.
http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/africa/eh.htm
Tomorrow they're heading towards Ad Dakhla, in the south.

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Marrakech, morroco Merry christmas everyone. we hope you enjoy the festivities. We have a few treats so are looking forward as well. I

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beni mellal, morroco didn't make it to marrakech. Roads bad & left fes 2 late. Setting off at 7am to m. xmas brkfst at waterfalls! I

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Maamar, Morroco stopped off for lunch on road to marrakech. Might struggle to make it 2night as there are 00s km to do and It's 3.45 I

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chefchaouen, morocco stopped off for a coffee and going to look at the medina I

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Fes, Morocco We are now in Africa and Shogun running well. Border crossing involved four queues and typical african chaos. I

Morocco

Just spoken to Alex and they were 'somewhere' in Morocco having a coffee at a roadside cafe.
Onwards to Marrakech!

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ceuta, spain arrived in africa! border crossing into morocco yet to come. May take some time. I

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sotogrande, Spain getting an early night, ready for the 7am ferry. bought food for desert today and fixed spots. Brakes playing up:( I

Picture msg from South of Spain

MMS received: 22 December 2007 13:50:27 (UK)
Gibraltar
Pouring with rain outside. stopped for tapas and glass of Rioja. Now in south of Spain near Gibraltor. Day of rest and taking ferry to Tangier tomorrow morning.

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fombellida, spain stopped off for a late lunch. Not seen any other teams since ferry. Tonight we are staying at alejandra's brothers I

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Jaen , spain stopped off for a spot of lunch. 300km to go today. Should get to the hotel about 8pm , in time for a beer or two. I

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madrid , spain on the road again heading to Tarifa. problem starting this morning but okay now. I

In Cadiz

Just spoken to the intrepid explorers and they've reached the southern coast of Spain, where it's bucketing down with rain (not quite their words). The car is OK, but makes crunching noises when they go round corners - no corners in the Sahara, so that's alright then. Most of the cars in their team have now arrived at the hotel, although some latecomers complained about mud sliding down off the hills onto the roads and nearly not making it at all. Eek. Nothing a good meal won't sort out judging by the sounds of the hotel restaurant in the background. Sounds like it's all Rioja and tapas so far, what happened to the roughing it and beans and dried veg? Next stop Morocco - let's hope they don't have corners there either.

Madrid

Text message from Simon at 18:43

Hola! We are 100km north of Madrid and should be there in an hour.
Looking forward to tapas and glass or two of Rioja.

MMS at 22:03

Now in Madrid and met Alejandra. Eating fantastic tapas and drinking local beer and wine.

[..] leaving tomorrow for south of Spain - 6 to 8 hour trip.

Plymouth

Plymouth, Devon

A couple of messages from the 'Urban Deserters' today confirming that Alex and Simon got to Plymouth

6:30 am

"Parked at the ferry port in Plymouth having a sleep. Bit knackered so looking forward to getting cabin on the boat"

MMS with picture at 12:14 pm today:

"We're on the ferry and setting off in next 30mins"

Set off

Kew,London,UK

The guys have just set off on their adventure. After loading the car and collecting the last bits of equipment dotted around the house they drove off in the night full of excitement.

Loading the last few things.. ** The "essentials" packed

******

Ready to go!

.... and a couple of sad faces left behind ;)

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london, uk last minute prep arggghh I

Monsta 2 kitted out

London, UKWe picked up Monsta 2 from the garage on Saturday.. I think they've fixed the brakes now.. There are certainly a whole load of new parts in there now..
That bloke in Mali, who'll be bidding on the auction for the cars at the end of the rally, will do all right..

Simon and I did some work on her aswell so she looks the part. I'm hoping Simon puts on some of the photos.
We fitted the jerry can holders, kindly built by Martin's company, to the outside along with the extra spare wheel and roofrack so she looks very safari!

Still waiting on some bits and pieces to arrive through the post but apart from that I think we are there!

The official departure is 9pm Tuesday evening. Fingers crossed.

Onward to Timbuktu

Well we've nearly finished fixing our second vehicle up with significant help from a garage!!
Last provisions are being purchased and packing to commence shortly.

According to Google Maps Timbuktu is on the Isle of Wight but luckily for us we've done a little more research.

Next Tuesday we'll be making our way from London heading to Plymouth for the start of the challenge.....

Monsta 2 in the doghouse

Sorry we haven't put any updates up here for a while. We've had a bit of a nightmare!!
We bought the replacement Monsta and let's just say it wasn't quite as good as we had hoped.......

On the way back from buying it the brakes seized and we had to get transported back on the top of a yellow lorry (AA).

It has been in at my local garage while we were deciding what to do..
Well we've taken the plunge and given the go-ahead for the work to be done..
Fingers crossed nothing else goes wrong.