Before we begin this properly we should probably introduce the team leading this expedition. Lead driver is Mark who previously did this journey as recently as March 2009 and so is gunning for his second Saharan crossing of the year. Then we have co-driver Rich, a Peter Kay doppelgänger and taxi-driver extraordinaire; a man used to sitting in the drivers' seat then. Lastly, but most importantly (who's writing this anyway?!), is Tom. Full-time Sabre staff on his way out to Ghana to man the office for a couple of months. Tom was a tourist on Sabre's first UK to Ghana road trip and loved it so much he now makes sure more people do it as part of his job. The rest of the team will join us in Marrakech and we're greatly looking forward to meeting Jossy, Kimberley, Kristy, Nicki, Jon, Rachel, Victoria and Andy.
Wednesday brought with it our final day of preparations on the truck. This would involve finishing the trailer, packing and making it secure, along with putting the passenger box on the truck, a few mechanical alterations and making the journey from Burley to Portsmouth. That may sound like an achievable list, however, it was always going to be close to the wire. We planned to catch the 23.30 ferry from Portsmouth to Le Havre. At 21.45 we rolled out of Burley and an hour an three quarters later we arrived at the docks, not a ferry in sight!
Not an ideal start then, but at least we were on the road! Unsure what to do vis-a-vis ferries the next day we found out that there was an 07.30 sailing through a diferent company or a midday sailing using LD Lines – the carrier we were previously booked with. Obviously, but rather frustratingly, all booking lines and office phones in general were unmanned that late in the evening and so we bedded down for the night in the glamorous surroundings of a Tesco carpark somewhere near Portsmouth. Never has Lily Allen's rhyming of Tesco with 'al fresco' seemed so apt...
No comments:
Post a Comment