Another Update

We got to Mauritania yesterday having traversed the mine field and border posts. There has been far too much happen to comment on it all right now. You will all have to buy the book! Suffice to say we are both still safe… I have mobile signal but I cant send texts and using this german(?) keyboard is a nightmare!

Will update whenever possible!

Back on the road!!

Maybe that’s a bit premature, but I spoke to the garage about an hour ago, and the car is ready. I’m just waiting for a taxi to take me there to go and pick it up.

I’m kind of gutted it wasn’t ready yesterday, I wanted to go to Tudela to see the festival and the bull running. I guess there is always next year.

I got a text from Dave and John yesterday afternoon, they’re now in Mauritania.  

 

Update from Spain (again)

I went to the garage on Wednesday, it’s the Pamplona main Suzuki dealers workshop. I had an interesting episode of charades with Reuven that works there, but in the end, we got there. The radiator is badly damaged, so it’s being replaced, apparently beyond radweld or even repairing at a specialist rad shop. Still not convinced that the rad is the source of the problem, but I guess if I’m taking it into the desert, then the cooling system needs to be in tip top condition. Reuven mimed to me that he couldn’t see any other problems other than the radiator, but couldn’t be sure…. anyway, it’s promised to be fixed by Monday. In the meantime I’m still stuck at this hotel in ‘Transport City’ (it’s as bad as it sounds).

Luckily, the Repsol garage across the road has an amazing deal - last night I bought a 2L bottle of Coke, a 2L bottle of mineral water and a 1L carton of the finest cheap vino tinto (Don Simon) all for a massive total of €4,25!

If the car is fixed on Monday I intend to drive across the Pyrenees to  Llavorsi, where I know I can seek some advice from a few people who are a lot more experienced at this than me. I’ll probably be there for a day, and then continue south-west towards Seville and Algeciras.

It looks like I’m going to have only about 4 weeks to get from Algeciras to Timbuktu and back - ideally all the way back to Faugheen, although at this point in time, realistically - I think I’ll be happy just to get back to Europe, where I can leave the car somewhere safe (to collect later) and fly back home. I have a tight deadline as I have a flight to Brisbane on 4th September for the Postie Bike Challenge.

Still in Spain…

I´m still stuck in Spain.

So far, from what I can gather, there isn´t a local Daihatsu dealer, so the jeep has been towed to a Suzuki dealer in Pamplona. There now appears to be some confusion over authorisation to even get a diagnosis of what is wrong with it (´it´s the water pump…. WATER….PUMP…. agua… pumpo…. si?´. Apparently, according to Spanish law, they need my consent - but I speak ´poco de Español´ so I can´t really communicate that over the phone… I´ve told the RAC I fully consent to a diagnosis, but they´re having problems passing that on… and all the time I´m stuck in this hotel, which whilst quite nice, and having internet access, is in the middle of a services, in the middle of nowhere, with nothing to do all day :-/

It´s frustrating, as I know it´s the water pump, and I know a part like that costs only around 20 quid. It should only take an hour to fit - any competent mechanic could do it. It´s been 4 days since I broke down… WTF!?

Moral of this story is - don´t buy a vehicle and take it on a massively long overland journey without first having enough time to buy a few spares for it (including a water pump). Oh, and take RadWeld and Gun Gum.

Pump and circumstance

First things first… I didn´t end up taking the SJ410. It just wasn´t ready in time… at some point either myself or Greg will get round to updating you all with the story of us frantically trying to put the jeep back together in time.

I didn´t take the KTM either. I decided that it was too fine tuned to deal with large stretches of motorways, and would likely explode before we even reached the ferry at Poole.

With just 2 days to go, myself and Greg were busily scouring Ebay, AutoTrader, GumTree and everywhere else we could think of in order to acquire a suitable vehicle at such short notice. However, we were able to find something suitable in the shape of a 1990 Daihatsu Sportrak. 509 quid sealed the deal on Ebay, and I picked it up from Portsmouth only a few hours later.

The next day I drove it to Pembroke to catch the ferry to Ireland for the launch in Faugheen (more on that later) and on the Monday, after we had been to Hay-on-wye (more on that later) I drove it like a man possessed to get home in time, finish my packing and to get to Poole to meet the rest of the guys to catch the ferry to Cherbourg.

So far things haven´t been too eventful - hypermarche carparks have become the location of choice for en-route maintenance and bodging.

Yesterday, crossing the Pyrenees my water pump decided it had had enough. There was also a small leak in the radiator. Whilst we could fix the leak in the radiator with an egg white (really, we have video evidence), there wasn´t much we could do about the water pump - so it was time to call RAC European breakdown (having a Barclays Additions Plus account is marvellous!).

A few hours later, the mechanic was with us - as far as I can tell in broken Spanish, and a mixture of charades (try doing ´water pump´in a game…) we agreed the water pump had died, and we´re now holed up in a hotel (all on the RAC!) until the garage can replace the pump (hopefully on Monday).

Until then, we´re chilling out planning our route, recharging our batteries (both literally AND figuratively) and washing our stinky smalls.

With luck, we´ll be back on our way on Monday afternoon  - whereupon the live tracking should start moving again. If it doesn´t, it means things have gone horribly wrong, and you can expect another update. Actually, the mechanic has a rather nice Nissan 4×4 in his workshop…

Update From Spain

Hi All,

Just a quick update from Espagnolia. We got into Spain yesterday after a longer time in France than anticipated. Now we´re in a hotel for a couple of days because Lee´s water pump has gone. So far the Micra is the only beast to have no mechanical issues at all… lets hope it stays that way!

For those who aren´t in the know, you can track our progress live from the main page using the live tracking link. It wont show a lot of progress till at least Monday now though!

Hopefully will update within the week when we reach southern Spain and wait for a ferry across.

Keep your eyes to the skies,

Dave

Track our progress - LIVE!

That’s right - using the wonder that is modern technology, you can actually track where we are, LIVE. We’ll be carrying with us a satellite tracker, which updates every 10 minutes. Using the ‘LIVE TRACKING‘ link above (or by clicking on the image at the top of this article), you’ll be able to see exactly where we or (or rather, were - 10 minutes ago).

Make sure you check regularly so that you can see the exact route we’re taking - we’ll be switching it on at Faugheen on Sunday, just as we begin the rally

It’s very not alive…

As previously reported, there was a little trouble with the not so trusty steed carefully selected for the transportation task. On a sad and cold Friday the 27th of June an answerphone message was left for me, stating that getting the Minor through any sort of MOT was going to take an act of all known Gods, or maybe the Osmonds. Either way, there was a big creek and no paddle in sight.

I gave the garage till Monday to stop laughing before I called them with the sit rep; the underside of the Minor might as well be made out of cheese is about the response I got. I knew there were a few holes (read colander) but I thought it was nothing that couldn’t be rectified. Unfortunately their estimate on welding was… a tad… steep.

This meant two things… another car needed to be found and there was no time for the carnet needed to get through the more… beurocratic nations. This was a major bugger, as doing the width of the Sahara was the main draw of this route for me. I guess it’ll have to wait till next Summer.

So, the route would be the West Coast with the other guys. The trusty steed…?

Thankfully I got rid of my MR2 a few weeks ago and opted for something that went for more than a month without destroying my bank balance. Some would say I only traded in one Japanese sports car for another. They’d be wrong. My new daily run-around was a Nissan Micra from the fine year of 1988 boasting a whole one litre of displacement (what or where that litre is I’ll never know). Not only was this car old and undeniably shit but it has broken down on my 3 times in the month that I’ve owned it. Therefore there was no other worthier candidate, and the quest for the missing steed had finished before it even began.

Thankfully the Micra has near enough a years MOT on it and is taxed for longer than it’s likely to last in my hands on English roads let alone African ones. So… bring it on.

The last few days has seen money vanishing out of my pocket quicker than you can say “two litre 3SGE anyone?” the result of which has been a stockpile of lots of seemingly useful kit, that will no doubt break or disappear before I get a chance to use it… it shows willing though! Most things have been bought for the car ready for the fab lab sessions on Friday and Saturday getting the formidable Micra into a continent eating rallybeast! Or something.

Still, onward and upward. Half of Team PSM leaves on Thursday to head to Ireland and the start point while the other half waits to be picked up from Poole on Monday on the way through as prior engagements dictate (nothing to do with doubting the fearsome Micra).

Stay tuned. It’s getting close…

The Launch - Faugheen, Tipperary - 13th July 2008

The official launch of this years T2 Rally, Tipperary to Timbuktu return, (via Hay-On-Wye in the UK cos it’s twinned with Timbuktu and we want to compare them!) is a go.

Slate Quarries Vintage Club, Carrick-On-Suir Motor Club and a host of local bike clubs in Tipperary are assisting our launch of this beast of a rally. We gather in Delaneys Bar near Faugheen on Saturday the 12th of July for a meet and greet with the clubs and to have time to take photos and talk to anyone who would like to know anything about the how, where, when and why that is the T2 Rally. No doubt this will result in some form of hoolie by the end of the night, and all are welcome.

We depart this fair and soggy Isle on Sunday the 13th at approx 2pm. The clubs and locals are giving us a convoy of cars, bikes and every other available contraption (we like your style!) to the Port of Rosslare. Here we’ll charge aboard the first capable looking boat bound for the UK and onwards to destiny! Read more

Why oh Wye?

Yesterday was a tale of Woe-in-Wye.

I’m not having a real good time lately, am I? It seems bad karma has been stored for a while to be unleashed upon me just days before we start this rally… I don’t know if that’s a sign that I really shouldn’t be doing it, or just making the whole thing more exciting and more of a challenge - after all, it’s not an adventure until your plans go wrong

Anyway, yesterday started off fairly well - I went to Race Spec in Tewkesbury to pick up some bits for the KTM, and also to get some body armour (better to be safe as possible when being pitched over the handle bars…). Got all my bits, and then realised I was only 60 miles from Hay-on-Wye, so got Greg to text me the address of the council offices whilst I made my way there.

Unfortunately, I got stuck behind Miss Daisy driving a truck, so didn’t arrive till 5.00, by which time the Council offices were closed. Still, I took a few hours looking around the place that will be our “official” start next year… it’s a small quiet town, and something like Humphrey will certainly not go unnoticed.

As I got in the car to start my journey home, I noticed something wasn’t quite right - when I got back out, the front passenger side tyre was hanging off the rim… not sure if the tyre had been slashed or it was an unfortunate bit of glass or something, anyway… luckily I found me spare is a full size tyre and not one of those (waste of) space savers. 2 local boys helped me change the tyre, pints were consumed, and then I was on my way again.

Not a good day - hopefully tomorrow will be better!

I’m off to the Horizons Unlimited meeting tomorrow, so will be speaking to many people, trying out all of the comms and gadgets we’ll be taking on the rally, and generally giving all of my kit a pre rally test.

 

 

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