High Tech Car Jack

perfect for the rally, wouldn't you say?

A 'quick' joke...

A man was caught for speeding and went before the judge.

The judge said: 'what will you take, 30 days or £30?'

The man thought for a second and replied: 'I think I'll take the money.'

Tea! For charity...

Everyone likes tea, right?

Well, then you'll want to know about the Great British Tea Party taking place from the 1st to the 10th of December! Its being organised by Wallace and Gromit's Children's Foundation, and is sponsored by their friends at Yorkshire Tea.

You can take part and host your very own tea party to raise money for this worthy cause - just follow: http://www.wallaceandgromitfoundation.org/great-british-tea-party-launch/

Raising money to help sick children across the UK by drinking tea and eating cake and biscuits?! Can't say fairer than that!

Heading out on our own...

Well, Team Steel Camel have been doing some thinking recently.

Admittedly mostly we’ve been thinking about food, and adventure.

However we’ve also been thinking about the best way to go about driving to Mongolia and raising money for our chosen charity, Wallace & Gromit’s Children’s Foundation (they’re pretty swell after all).

We had, up until now, been looking at a couple of organisations that arrange for large groups to drive from London to Mongolia. However, both seem to want quite a bit of money for the privilege. I’m sure that there is very good reason for this, however we came to the conclusion that there is nothing stopping us from just getting in a car and driving to Mongolia (a bit like getting in the car and going to the shops, just 9,999 miles further) – there is no reason for us to be paying large ‘entry fees’ or ‘car deposits’ and raising a minimum amount of money (quite a large minimum) for someone else’s chosen charity.

We want to maximise the amount of money we can raise for WGCF, so we are heading out on our own. We know this is likely to mean more hassle – planning a route that makes getting visas slightly easier, and figuring out what on earth we are going to do with the car when we get to Ulan Batoor. But we don’t shirk away from such challenges!

If anyone knows of a worthy charity in Mongolia that might want a free car, drop us a line (and if anyone - Zissou - wants to join us for the ride, let us know). In the meantime, we’ll be turning to Google to try and find one ourselves!

Fancy a bite to eat?

We pride ourselves on seeking out and devouring the finest culinary offerings that are available on our adventures. Oh yes.

The Bamako Rally provided us with more than a few satisfying discoveries, fit to tantalise our taste buds. There were also a couple of, well, poor choices: Grilled camel mince in Boujdour, Western Sahara. If you ever have to eat it, make sure it is cooked to the point of turning into coal. And Phil strongly advises against going anywhere near fermented or congealed (or worse, both) camel milk. Immodium became his best friend after experiencing the hospitality of the Bedouin.

For those of you with a willingness to travel for tasty morsels, here are our top five recommendations from along our route:

5) The Yorkie Bar (other chocolate bars are available). So yes, you can get them in the UK. So why is it here? Because you can't get them in the Sahara and they are really tasty! Tucking in to a chunky Yorkie Bar at the end of the day was a little taste of home, except on the occasions that Team Zissou stole our Yorkie Bar. Revenge is sweet; and they still wonder how come they managed to 'run out' of petrol so many times.

4) Minced lamb sandwiches, freshly made, found in the maze of a Medina in Fez. Take a regular sandwich. Now start again, with hot bread, just baked in the little shop next door, minced lamb thrown onto a frying plate with an array of spices, fresh chillies (not so many of those for Phil...), sliced onions and olives. The downside of finding this sandwich place in Fez's Medina - which really is a maze - we couldn't find it again the next day before we hit the road again...

3) Having driven from Chefchaouen in the very north of Morocco, through Fez, Ifrane, Marrakech, and other places the names of which we have now forgotten, we had failed in oursearch for a simple chicken shawarma. In Essaouria, however, our luck changed. So good were the shawarma, stuffed with roasted chicken, pickles, tomatoes, garlic sauce, chilli sauce, that we finished them off in a matter of seconds. Then had, well, seconds!

2) On the Medina walls in Fez, there is a restaurant open to the sky that you could find by following your nose. We decided on a change from vacuum packed food heated on a camping stove, and tucked into a lamb and prune tajine that had been slowly coked for so long that the meat fell away at the slightest touch, and a pigeon bastilla (light, crispy pie) with cinnamon and flaked almonds. We felt a little guilty that Team Zissou had a takeaway pizza for dinner, but to be honest we can't remember how the guilt felt, but can still remember the food...

1) Having made it to the coast, we stumbled across a bakery in Essaouira selling some delectable light, flaky biscuits covered with a sticky apricot glaze. We devoured the few that we bought quite quickly, and Phil made the charitable yet foolish move of handing one to a beggar (who didn't seem to cope well with it having no teeth that we could see). So we went back; Phil went into the bakery, and came out with a box so full of them that they lasted us to Mauritania.

See for yourself:

Of course, we have a whole new set of discoveries awaiting us on the journey from London to Ulan Bator. Seeing as we haven't decided on a route yet, and the options are numerous, the only thing we can predict with a degree of certainty is that we shall be dining on Mongolian food.

Whilst mutton dumplings ('buuz') deep fried in mutton fat has an air of promise to it, meat cooked in a 'boodog', or the abdominal cavity of a deboned marmot (basically a large squirrel), well, doesn't (don't click the link if you are a little squeamish).

Boodog or no boodog, I'm sure we will have more tales of culinary discoveries (welcome ones and those we will try and fail to forget) to tell from along the way. We will, of course, update the blog regularly after each magical find or woeful disaster. Any tips on what we should seek out, and what we should be at pains to avoid, would be warmly received!

The first test will be to cook-up some traditional Mongolian fare at home. We will let you know how it goes...

Beyond the shawarma?

Coming soon to a blog near you (this one in fact), tales of tasty treats from the Bamako Rally. Starring, the chicken shawarma (and featuring what not to eat in Western Sahara...)

Something to keep you entertained

If you happen to have a bit of time on your hands, maybe have a go at this game. Funnily enough, it reminds Steel Camel of driving to the desert, and then racing across it...

Go to http://www.roughroads.co.uk/

...and the Bamako Rally. A bit sandy...

A Grand Day Out...

Ever found yourself in the park, taking a peaceful stroll, only to look down at your dog and realise that you aren't raising money for charity? Yes? Haven't we all.

Well, Steel Camel's Favourite charity - Wallace & Gromit's Children's Foundation are teaming up with the Kennel Club to fix this for you. Smashing.

They are hosting three fantastic dog walking events for everyone to attend. What's this, you ask? A Grand Day Out is a brand new dog walking event raising money for Wallace & Gromit’s Children’s Foundation and The Kennel Club Charitable Trust, with three locations and dates to choose from:

Bath - Royal Victoria Park, Sunday 27th March

Essex - Hadleigh Country Park, Sunday 3rd April

London - Battersea Park, Sunday 10th April

The proceeds raised on the day will go to Wallace & Gromit's Children's Foundation and the Kennel Club. So you really will be helping to make a difference.

As we have said before, Wallace & Gromit's Children's Foundation is a national charity working to improve the quality of life for sick and terminally ill children and their families by ensuring they have access to the very best comforts, facilities and equipment available when staying in hospitals and hospices across the UK.

Please visit the website: http://www.agranddayout.org.uk/ to register to take part.

Good Afternoon! Tea?

Every good story has a moral.

Take Homer's epic, The Odyssey. A classic without question, and thousands of years old, but this poem has a strong message embodied in the actions and determination of its protagonist, Odysseus. Persevere, like a mad person, and you will get to where you want to go. Don't let distractions get the better of you, and sway you off course.

Even Humpty Dumpty, no less. Not everyone's idea of a classic, but it has also passed the test of time (well, 200 years at least). And the moral? Don't climb walls if you are an egg. Smashing (sorry).

Last weekend we had afternoon tea with The Adventurists. We savoured fine teas hand-selected from Asia (Superior Keemun, considered one of the world's best black teas, and Pu-Erh, a mysterious tea, fermented underground if you're interested) and discovered a fondness for toffee apple cake. Now, when we did the Bamako Rally we did it like true adventurists - with a nice cup of tea to start each day. We made do with porridge for breakfast, no toffee apple cake for us. But there are few better feelings than sitting at the top of the cliffs on the skeleton coast, with your back to the Sahara desert looking out over the atlantic, sipping a cup of Assam. Bliss.

And whilst not a camel, our deer companion enjoyed the Keemun too.

We were also regaled by stories of ocean adventure by no less than Sir Chay Blyth, CBE, BEM.

In 1966 he rowed across the Atlantic with Captain Ridgway in a 20ft boat. That's about 3,000 miles. They arrived after three months. The other team attempting the feat were never seen again. In '68 he competed in a global sailing race without ever having sailed before - he actually had friends sail ahead of him for a while so he could get an idea of the right manoeuvres. He didn't finish. And in '71 he became the first person to sail non-stop the 'wrong way' around the world, after being at sea for 292 days.

We heard of the sailor who fell overboard in Antartic waters (and was never found), the sailor who, following a moment's distraction lost fingers to a wayward rope, and saw film of entire crews swept effortlessly across the bow by unforgiving waves.

All the time he was damp, soaked through or being battered by waves. And the moral from the stories? It is one that Steel Camel can live by: stay on dry land.

Some photos from along the way

As you may imagine, when driving through a large number of countries (it probably doesn't matter which ones, unless one is Belgium) you are likely to see some unsual or interesting sights. When Team Steel Camel's wheels were rolling through the Bamako Rally we saw some odd and memorable things, some of which we were lucky enough to catch on camera and wanted to share with you here.

We have left out the ones with one or the other of our thumbs on the lens, and picked a selection for your viewing pleasure...

Ah yes, the sturdy camel. Graceful in its every movement. Reliable and hardy enough to get you across the harshest, most barren environment. I think this was in Kent somewhere actually...

Just another sunny day in the Atlas mountains. And yes, there may have been a quick pit-stop for a snowball fight.

The calm, endless desert, nothing for hundreds of miles in any direction...

...except some land mines. Naturally. The desert wasn't always suffering from sandstorms, or confronting us with warning signs for land mines. Having camped out under the biggest sky you can see, it can be both awe-inspiring to see the morning view, and worrying to see how close to the edge you had parked in the pitch-darkness...

The desert throws up many challenges, some that even the mightiest 4x4 would struggle to stand up to. That's why choosing old bangers was the only way to go. Surely, lighter cars would sink less in the sand?

We came across some vehicles that, whilst basic, still paid attention to the finer details. Where would we be without some classy hubs?

Having made it, a touch over 5,000 miles to a little village in Mali - Dinfara - we were not expecting the welcome we received; an entire village out to greet us. There was music and dancing, and warm and inquisitive smiles from the children. In support of Team Zissou we asked that the profit from the sale of our car went to the projects being undertaken in Dinfara - a new school roof and a clean water well. With the sale of our cars there were sufficient funds to complete both projects, with a little left over.

Team Steel Camel

In January 2008 Team Steel Camel set off from London for a little drive. 5,000 miles later, a bit tired and worried that our wives must be wondering where we'd got to, we thought we'd head back. By that point we had crossed the Sahara Desert, driven over a minefield in Mauritania and might have got a bit lost on the way...

In the end we drove through France, Spain and Gibraltar in three days. In Gibraltar we joined forces with Team Zissou. We took another three weeks to cross Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania and Mali to get to Bamako.

We completed the London-Bamako Rally and made it to Bamako in our trusty, rusty Vauxhaull Astra van in one piece (the van was for the most part in one piece, held together here and there with plastic ties), and raised over £1,500 for charity. Zissou somehow managed to get Bellafonte, their antique Renault 5, to the finish line too, although we thought at one point that we might have to put it in the back of the van to get it there.

The planning is starting now for another drive next year, this time 10,000 miles from London to Mongolia . We have created a Facebook page and Twitter account as the perfect accompaniment to this blog (and so our wives can keep track of us properly...), cast your eyes right a few inches to see the links!

http://mongolrally.theadventurists.com/

For more information about our little drive, please take a look at this website and get a flavour for what it is all about!

The challenge begins again...

The gauntlet is down, and Team Steel Camel have stepped forward to pick it up, and drive it 10,000 miles across the world from London to Mongolia.

This time we will be raising money for Wallace & Gromit's Children's Foundation, a national children's health charity that raises money for sick children in hospitals and hospices throughout the UK. Visit the website for more details - www.wallaceandgromitteaparty.org.uk

As the planning progresses we will keep you updated here, so watch this space...(actually, the new posts will be above this one, so look up a bit...)