Tuesday 6 November 2012

African Adventure Part 1: Briston to Tangiers

Time for me to stop dreaming I am still in Africa and start writing about it! Over a few blog entries I am going to tell you about my three and a bit week odyssey that ended with me drowning in my own sweat in Dakar. Lets not get ahead of ourselves though, there is a huge swathe of land, travels and tales to tell before we get within a thousand miles of Dakar!

First off, a note on how I, a Vauxhall Corsa driving numptyfant managed to get involved in a rag tag collection of Citroen 2CVs, Motorbikes and Vespas following the Touareg Trail through Northern and Western Africa. Its really quite simple, I happened to post on Facebook that I was looking for ideas for a challenge, and Kell MacLean, whom I used to work with at the nameless bank of evil, suggested I sign up for the trip. She had done it in 2009 and was going again with her father and her Belgian boyfriernd, who had previously gone on the trail as a mechanic, was looking for a co-pilot to go along as a participant on this occasion. Naturally, having never driven a 2CV and having no experience of off roading, mechanics or left hand drive vehicles, it was an easy yes.

So, on the first Friday, I left the comfort of my air conditioned girl wagon at my parents and my father dropped me off at Kell's fathers (Mal), as I would journey with him to Belgium before joining up with Erik in his 2CV for the adventure itself. I arrived at about 3pm with the latest we should leave to catch the 8.30 ferry in Dover being around 3.30 to 4pm. Thus it was with some anxiety I noted the 2CV (who is called Laura) was still up on ramps with the wings removed and work very much underway! Apparantly, Mal had a doozy of a job getting Laura ready for the journey and I was catching the very end of the frenetic activity. You can take the boy out of the OCD, but you can't take the OCD out of the boy.... OCD plus not ready = anxious little pudding.

However, somehow everything came together for a 4pm departure and we were off. the first 12 miles went very smoothly and then we reached Thetford.....and went no further! The car has two petrol tanks, and the one we were travelling on read as full, yet the car, she no going anywhere! Mal was perplexed and I founf myself in doubting Thomas mode, ruefully pondering a trip across another continent when we appeared unable to make it out of Norfolk.

In the end, it was the rush of activity and stress of getting it all ready that had done for Mal and Laura. The tank was indeed full, it was just that it, and the empty main tank had been labelled up the wrong way round. A neatly simple answer, but we had an hour of headscratching to get there (thats what working on a car for solid days and nights with little sleep does for you I guess). A friend of Mals from Thetford towed us to the next garage and everything was set right to go on.

We had no way of making the ferry now, so I arranged for us to take the 10.30 ferry to Calais instead. A major piece of pressing a button on a computer which cost £10. Old rope for which I gave my money. The journey to Dover after this was uneventful, and we boarded the ferry just fine. I managed to set a world record by having 4 pints in the short period the bar was open. Start the trip as you mean to go on!

Once in Calais, we set off for Teveuren near Brussels, where we would start officially. We reached it in the early hours and found we had nowhere to sleep but in Laura. It was rather cold to say the least, and was not my favourite part of the trip. The next morning, after discovering the joys of eggs and bacon in a Teveuren cafe, we met up with the organistion, the other cars and bikes and well wisher at the Africa Museum, the traditional starting point for the voyage. We set off at about 2pm with the aim to reach Barcelona by early morning as we needed to be in place to start boarding formalities at the ferry to Tangiers around midday.

All the vehicles were to follow the same route to Barcelona, so that the mechanics could follow on and provide assistance should any early breakdowns spoil the party. The route for mapaholics was Teveuren (Brussels) - Luxembourg - Metz - Dijon - Lyon - Nimes - Montpellier - Perpignan - Girona - Barcelona. Thats a total of 1384KM, nearly a quarter of the total we would be doing in Africa itself (though on infinitely better roads!) We shared the driving, so I had my first experience of left hand drive vehicles, 2CVs and driving on the right all in one go! I did OK I'd say on that basis, certainly we didnt end up in any ditches.

The 1400 or so KMs took 19 hours to complete, and we only went wrong once, following the signs into the centre of Lyon itself at 11 on a Saturday night. The locals at least were having a fine time in the cafes and bars. It took an hour longer than necessary to correct the wrongturn as someone had their satnav on the last city (Dijon) instead of the next one (Nimes) which meant the two cars that had gone wrong (Dirt Duck which was Erik and my car, and Laura) were trying to go opposite ways all the time. Amazing what a 5 minute pause and breathe can achieve!

In Barcelona, I had the single worst breakfast that has ever been had, ever, anywhere. A tasteless pappy baguettey thing with some rubber in it and cold sausage and cold fried mushrooms. Also on offer were uncooked cold eggs and cold bacon lumps. Needless to say I dumped the offending food and settled for a chocolate muffin. Breakfast of champions!

Everyone made the ferry on time and we boarded for the 27 hour trip to Tangiers in Morocco. Now, I don't know about you, but to me 27 hours with nothing to do spells piss up. Also on offer was a very fine restaurant where I had one of the best meals I have had in a long time, and that was the starter! A Linguini with fruits of the sea. Main course was rather acceptable too, Swordfish, I dined with the other two English guys on the voyage, Fitz and Stan who are both good company. It was after dinner that I had the first Dave moment of the trip. Having consumed an appropriate amount of beer (many), I decided it would be remiss of me to join Kell, Mal and Erik in our cabin as I might snore. So, logically, I should just sleep on deck. So thats what I did, I joined the people who did not want to pay for a cabin asleep on a bar sofa. About 3am I awoke to an enormous dude literally in my face shouting in something that I think wasnt French. Having squeaked in my most effette voice that I was Anglais, he pointed at the other end of the sofa and grunted. I determined he wanted to sleep there so I nodded my assent. And then did a runner in case he meant he wanted to deflower me there, or something. Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun. And sleep on chairs. Another chair, another sleep and dawn found me with a hangover.

We managed to make it to Tangiers in one piece, but 27 hours is a loooooong time when you can't go anywhere! A couple of hours got us through customs and money changing etc as most of the paperwork had been done onboard. And there I shall leave it for now. Next update I will take us through the first few days of travel, and the joys of the desert!!

Below are the Dirt Duck, Kell and Erik, and Laura the 2CV.



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