Bodgers to Banjul – Roger Bruton & Richard Freeman
do the run south for the third time.

See here for some of the pictures of the trip. More will be added in due course.

See also here for our web site.

First of all, it has to be said, that Richard’s preparation of the Discovery for the trip was perfect. Although it had its quirks, the car behaved perfectly for the whole run, and NOTHING went wrong.

The car was a £500 Land Rover Discovery, bought on EBAY. Rust was a big problem, and Richard spent many hours renewing the vehicle. In addition, he converted it to Left Hand Drive. Not a project for the faint-hearted! The car now has TWO steering boxes, and one or two more tie-rods than it left the factory with, back in 1992. I have never driven a car with so much under-steer, but I finally got used to it. The pedals also took some getting used to, and I more than once slammed the brakes on while intending to de-clutch. Richard’s subsequent comments are not printable.

This time, we decided to take our wives along on the first part of the trip, as far as fabulous Marrakech. We felt that the road beyond there is not for “ladies”! So, off we went, having spent New Year’s Eve at my place in France.

FRIDAY 2nd January 2009
Left Monein and headed down to the Spanish border at Somport. We went over the pass, rather than through the tunnel, to see all the pretty, cold snow!

Northern Spain in winter is very boring! The road south is interminable. But we got to Madrid with no problems. Due to HUGE road works, we missed our turn on the through motorway and ended up in the centre of Madrid. It proved an entertaining mistake, as the Christmas lights there were VERY good. The weather however was AWFUL. Loads of rain. Spent the night at a small “Hostal” on the motorway - good food and loads of beer!

SATURDAY 3rd
Early start - drove to the Costa del Sol and dropped in on Sue and Derek for a late lunch - very nice - but Rick left the car lights on and flattened the battery!! After a quick purchase of jump leads, Derek’s hire car provided the necessary boost. Spent the night at the usual place in Tarifa and booked the ferry tickets. 200 Euros one-way for the car and the four of us.

SUNDAY 4th
The 9.30 ferry from Algeciras to Tangier left at 11.00 and screwed the schedule up. Although it was a lovely day, it was a fairly rough crossing and everyone except us seemed to be throwing up. After the usual couple of hours fighting our way through Moroccan bureaucracy, we had some difficulty finding our way out of Tangier. Ended up on the coast road and stopping for a lunch-time picnic …. In the rain. We were hoping to get to Essaouira that night but only got as far as Mohammedia - just north of Casablanca. Stayed at the reasonable Hagar Hotel. The Lonely Planet guide has no mention whatsoever of this town. It seems to be very popular with Moroccan holidaymakers. Unlike most seaside resorts I have ever been to, the “promenade” is almost devoid of life.

MONDAY 5th
An early start got us to Essaouira for late afternoon. (Little did I realize en-route as we passed by the city of Casablanca, that I would be staying the night there a couple of weeks later!) The only affordable option in Essaouira was an apartment which seemed to get worse the longer we stayed in it. Nice town apart from that - did all the tourist stuff. Sampled street food while wandering around the medina. Nice evening!!

TUESDAY 6th
More tourist stuff - more time in the medina - bought fish from a fisherman in the harbour for dinner - stank the place out cooking it!! Ha-ha!! Watched the sunset from the city walls.

WEDNESDAY 7th
Early start - filthy weather - the new motorway section between Essaouira and Marrakech was very confusing but worked well. It actually helped us avoid the centre of the city, although the route was several miles longer. From Marrakech we traveled up through the mountains over the Tizi-n-Tichka pass. Through a blizzard!!! You would not believe it!! Apalling weather. Blocked roads – snow ploughs!! We came upon a Mercedes taxi, with all the passengers trying to push it up the hill. Richard needed little encouragement to push him up one slippy section with the Disco. The road was completely closed north bound and we were mobbed by people wanting to know how bad the conditions were. It was bizarre, trying to explain it while standing in bright sunshine! Got to Ouarzazate late afternoon and found a good cheap hotel - La Valee. Had a Nice meal in town.

THURSDAY 8th
Drove through Zagora and all the oases to M’Hamid on the edge of the desert. This is the end of the tarmac. FREEZING cold!!! Spent the night in Berber tents in a "campement". Camp fires - Touareg drums - fantastic.

FRIDAY 9th
Some locals were trying to sell us their services as guides but we decided to go it alone. Out into the desert - 40kms out toward the Algerian border (which is 34kms away) - out of telephone range. Very deep sand - diff lock engage - first gear stuff. Spent the night at another Berber campement - much nicer place - out in the dunes. Richard and Sue decided to camp out in the desert in a tent. Unfortunately they found that they had very noisy Spanish neighbours who were drinking and pounding drums for half the night!!

SATURDAY 10th
Early start and out into the desert - "beau geste" forts - not a soul for miles – amazingly we had lots of rain! Took all morning to get to Foum Zguid - about 60kms. Lunch at Tazenakht, which seems to be the place where Ford Transit vans go to die, and then back to Ouarzazate for the night.

SUNDAY 11th
A long drive to Marrakech via the Tizi-n-Test pass - no snow!! The café at the top has been extended!! It was freezing up there and blowing a gale, but we had the usual coffee and omelette lunch!! In Marrakech, checked into the IBIS – and immediately met up with Tim & Pete - beers & Pizza in town!!

MONDAY 12th
Tim/Pete have headed off south. We spent all day roaming around Marrakech – the square, souk and the old palace – with the girls buying all their souvenirs!!! At one point we were shown the police watching the old synagogue – the Gaza situation is making Israel a little unpopular!!

TUESDAY 13th
Dropped Gill & Sue at the airport for their flight back to France and then drove to Mirleft on the coast. No Tim/Pete!! They have gone on to Laayoune - Tim managed a 40 euro speeding fine!!

WEDNESDY 14th
After the night in Mirleft at a nice little hotel run by a French guy who’s grandparents are buried in GAN near our place in France!!!, we drove on to near Laayoune in Western Sahara. We stayed the night at the camp site in the desert. The stars were stunning at night. Loads of Dutch camper vans!! Met a couple of guys who are driving motor bikes to Mali – a BMW and an old Triumph. Camel and rice for dinner!! I got out of my tent and into the car at about 6 am when I was afraid one of the Dutch camper vans was going to reverse over me!! It was about the size of a wheely-bin truck!

THURSDAY 15th
Stopped for breakfast in Laayoune which is 90 per cent army! Spotted what looked like a US “spook” in town. Set off across the desert to Dakhla. Boring desert stuff. Miles and miles of nothing except checkpoints. The campsite at Dakhla was amazingly empty. Richard and I camped in the car park this time!! We found Tim and Pete and two guys from the Plymouth-Banjul Challenge on their way to Mali in an old Peugeot – James Harris & Mark Broadwith – 9617 – “The Boneyard Boys” - http://tinyurl.com/btgco8. A good evening. Lots of booze, MOD rations! and laughs.

FRIDAY 16th
6am start!!! Hurtling to get to the border before they shut at lunchtime. Moroccan beaurocracy is stunning. It took ages to get through. But all very good humoured. Then through the minefield!!! I took a wrong turn - for Tim who was following!! - and he got stuck in the sand. Twice. We had to tow him out with the Land Rover. VERY exciting!! Richard VERY animated.

MAURITANIA
They have concrete offices!!! The packing cases are gone!!! But the visas are still twenty euros each. The Mauritanian side was predictably slow and protracted, and there were THREE checkpoints on the road into Nouadhibou. Nouadhibou IS the wild west. We nearly drove into a huge demonstration but avoided it and arrived safely at “Camping Abba”. HUGE dinner - contributions from all, including James & Mark who caught us up - their BUCKERS car stickers got tampered with!! Sorry guys!! ? Irresistible!!

SATURDAY 17th
The BORING drive to Nouakchott!!! Horrible!!! 470 kms - TWELVE army-police-customs roadblocks, AND we got ripped off for coffees at a petrol station!!! The sandstorm did not help. However --- dinner at the very welcome “Sahara Auberge”, with lashings of illicit vodka, wine and whisky – (ISLAMIC republic) - helped no end!!

SUNDAY 18th
A bit of a groggy start after all that sedative we drank! Finally got away at about 9.30. Nouakchott is a nightmare to get out of but we managed OK. I had a GOOGLE EARTH escape route. Today we managed to come across just 12 roadblocks. However, they were all fairly good humoured and we didn’t get the usual "fines". Tim was pulled over at one --- to help pump up someone’s tyre! Worst part of the journey - we witnessed a little girl get knocked down by a careless driver. She was thrown into the air like a rag doll. She was whisked away to the nearest hospital by car. Put a damper on the day. Horrible!!! Rosso - just the edge of the town - was a nightmare. But we got onto the track to the Diama border crossing without incident. No entry check-point! 100 kms of the worst road imaginable. Tim had to back out of one section and find an alternative, as even the Discovery nearly got bogged down in mud. At the last checkpoint, we were "volunteered" to be a taxi service to the frontier!! Our Palestinian scarves went down a bomb at the border - the police chief made us tea while we watched Al Jazeera TV reports on Gaza.

SENEGAL!!!
Richard’s photoshop paperwork proved flawless (!!!) and Tim managed to get away with a fairly small "fee" to gain entry. I had been stood outside the customs house with my stomach in knots!!! Again - all was smiles and light for the "Palestinians"! And again we assumed taxi duties for the drive to St Louis. Only two Police stops on the 29 km drive -- Richard got away with a ticking off for not having his seat belt on ---- I was the only person in the country who WAS wearing one!!! The Diamarek hotel was very quiet - we were the only guests. Dinner in the restaurant and LEGAL beer and wine!

MONDAY 19th
Day off!!! We have earned it. A lazy day doing washing and lazing about. We popped into St Louis for a beer at the Hotel de la Poste (a must do) and to visit the ATM.

TUESDAY 20th
Early start. After a mad half hour trying to get through the fish market, with Pirogues unloading onto the quayside, we finally got away. The drive across Senegal was very nice after the madhouse that is Mauritania. Only three police checkpoints across the whole country. Thanks to my GPS/Google Earth plans, the towns were no problem, even with all the markets in full swing. Nice place, Senegal! We stopped to photograph the mosque at Touba. The only problem was the time taken on the road from Kaolack to the border. Horrific condition -- the desert was easier. We had decided that the Barra river crossing was not an option this time -- it proved very dangerous last trip. So we headed for the Farafenni ferry. African borders at night are always "interesting". This one certainly was. But everyone was very pleasant even with the dark candlelit offices and people with AK47s doing lots of shouting.

The GAMBIA
Once across the border we were back into the English speaking world - sort of. But due to it being dark and the road ahead being a bit too much to cope with in the dark, our only choice was to get rooms at the legendary "Eddy’s Hotel" near the border. Awesome place. In fact Farafenni is pretty awsome! African market stalls - TOTAL darkness save for candles flickering, people dancing in the street outside a shebeen --- we were escorted to the town restaurant --- a greasy spoon with electric light and very loud regae playing. We got beers from the local "gangsta" bar called "Peace and Love" (!). Finished off the evening drinking beer in the courtyard of the hotel, watching the huge bats flying about.

WEDNESDAY 21st
Off we go again --- the final 180kms to Banjul. The first 30 were REALLY bad, even for the Land Rover. But after that is was not bad, as they are building a higway to link Banjul to Farafenni. Called in at the “Bintang Bolong Lodge” eco-hotel which is in the same guide book as us, and had a beer. The "graded" dirt surface was good and we were in Banjul for about 16;00 -- the end of the line. Richard & I checked into the “Liverpool Arms Motel” – a gruesome place which I would not recommend to anyone! Much "Julbrew" beer was consumed to celebrate!! Followed by a pig-out meal and a session at Churchill’s Bar. A big laugh was had by all.

FRIDAY 23rd
Spent the morning at the DMF School handing over the bus. Tim/Pete then left almost immediately for the airport and flew back to Gatwick. A really annoying postscript ---- while trying to download photos to the web at an internet cafe opposite the “Liverpool Arms”, the SD card from my camera was corrupted by viruses from one of the computers!!! I will now have to wait until I have got home to see if I can rescue them. About 300-400 pictures, including everything from St Louis, Senegal onward are in jeopardy. The moral of the story is to ALWAYS use the "lock" switch on your camera card!!!

SATURDAY 24th
I had a day on the beach (not great weather!) while Richard went to Serrakunda market.

SUNDAY 25th
Lazy day on the beach.

MONDAY 26th
A leisurely start and down to the airport at lunchtime for the flight home. The plane left a few minutes early and it looked like all was going well, until the woman behind me (in seat 4E) had a “funny turn” over Mauritania! The pilot eventually diverted to Casablanca and after the woman was pronounced OK was then unable to take off due to technical problems!!! Aaaaarrrrrggggghhhhh!!!! It’s like being in the film "Planes Trains and Automobiles". I had dinner at one hotel and was then bussed to a second hotel – the “Oum Palace” so that I could get a single room for the night.

TUESDAY 27th
Thomas Cook Airlines, who were SUPPOSED to fly me to Manchester yesterday, so that I could drive to London-Gatwick, so that I could fly to Toulouse, so that I could get a train home ...... (following this so far????) finally left Casablanca in the afternoon. Upon arrival at Manchester, my VISA Debit card was unacceptable to “Europcar” car hire and Sue had to come out to the airport to use HER card for a deposit!! The Peugeot 207 got me to Gatwick without any problems, via Banbury Tesco, where I bought a new holdall, and Beconsfield where I devoured a donner kebab!! Mmm!!! As I was now 24hrs late, I had to buy another ticket from Easyjet - £84 – and checked in for the 7.10 flight.

WEDNESDAY 28th
The flight was OK, as was the bus ride into Toulouse to the train station – memories of my friend John Posniak's traumatic visit!! - a train cancellation was the final twist of the knife – due to French storms at the weekend, the TGVs were not running, but they didn’t stop me!! Finally got home at 17:00 --- what a mad journey.

Final postscript --- I seem to have lost my camera cards (apart from the one that is in there)! Hopefully Rick/Tim/Pete will let me see some of theirs!

roger_bruton(at)hotmail.com

Youthology
Youthology