For those in the London area, Pete, Gareth and myself popped into Kings Cross yesterday afternoon for another inview with ITV London Tonight who are planning to air a little about us and some of our footage either tomorrow or sunday in their London Tonight news show. If you get the chance, have a look out for us, it should be saturday or sunday evening, 5:30-545pm.
Hello all, we have made it home safe and well. After an exciting flight home (via Tenerife due to a lack of fuel in Banjul….) we arrived early this morning to a rapturous welcome from some key family members, namely Jon and Pete’s wives. The 8 hours flight seemed nothing when compared to the arduous 19 day journey in the other direction.
Who would have thought we would make it, at times, certainly not us but here we are, 8000 miles later, a little wiser, a little older, a little thinner and in Pete’s case - distinctly hairier!
Gareth is coping well with his new found coke addition, going cold turkey has proved a challenge but all is well at this stage. Pete has returned to South London to find a razor and smarten up for work and I am looking forward to not having to spend hours covered in grease fixing a car clearly not fit for the road.
Sorry for the delay in uploading the videos, The Gambia and internet connections clearly don’t mix well. Check out the vids below:
Days 17 & 18
Day 19 – Arrival in Banjul!
We’ll be back soon to put up some final vids and tell some of the key tales from our adventure. Thanks for following our progress so closely and come back soon.
So this is the second attempt today to upload the latest video, again with no joy…
So you may well have to wait till tomorrow (tuesday) night, when we’ll be safely back home and sitting on a decent internet connection again.
to whet your appetites, still to come is the trip from St Louis to The Gambian Border, Our limping entry into Banjul to finish the Challenge, and our antics over the last couple of days as we have enjoyed some R&R, including the rare honour of driving through the Banjul Arch as part of a huge convoy of plymouth-banjul challenger cars.
Its gonna be hard to leave the high 20s temperatures and lovely beaches here, but then it’s gonna be great to get back home and see everyone again - we’ve been gone for ages!
The problems with the car continue, we’re so glad it’s only now we have finished as it would have been a nightmare to nurse any distance with the odd complete cut out from no-where, and less than an enthusiastic starting ritual before we get going.
Peace out from Banjul…
Yes Sanddodgers watchers - WE HAVE MADE IT!!!
the Saab rolled off the ferry to banjul yesterday afternoon having spent all morning queueing to get on - apparently we got away lightly with a 3 hour wait, some teams took over 8 hours to get through and ended up camping on the on-ramp amongst hundreds of ‘fixers’.
The car is truly making the most of getting towards the end of her journey by developing all sorts of interesting ignition problems. So we now loose all power at in-opportune moments on the road (including right before the ferry resulting in a Landy Tow, and right before our hotel resulting in a Jetta shove) - thanks boys for returning the favour 
We spent the afternoon getting the first few layers of dirt off us in the pool, and hit the local Anglican and Feisty ‘Mega’ Churches this morning to say hi and give out the last of our bibles.
The 1st car auction is in full swing, most cars are making over 500 pounds and some over 2000 which is great. There were a couple of Saab 900s which made it, much newer and far better nick - but hey, there’d be no contest in a drag race with our Turbo!
Anyone in the Gambia want to see who’s got the fastest motor?
Sorry for the delay everyone, things have been a little busy and internet a little few and far between. Lots of fun to be had though and we are more than pleased to make it to Banjul.
Hey, check out the vids for days 15 & 16 - making it into senegal! with mechanical problems mounting…..
Hopefully the vids for days 17, 18 & 19 will be done and uploaded soon.
We have made it all the way to Banjul! So has the Saab! Hooray!
Now is the time to sit back, relax and sip our drinks by the side of the pool safe in the knowledge that the Challenge has been well and truly met.
We are hoping to upload the video soon, so watch this space.
Team Sanddodgers were:
