build andstqrt update

Wednesday and Thursday – Changed engine and gearbox with Alexander.

Friday – Drove rally car to Northampton to have roll cage welded by Richard’s father.

Saturday – Returned to Norfolk in rally car where there is undercover space. Changed king pins, finished painting roll cage, did oil change, amongst other preparations.

Sunday – My dad started fitting Terratrip navigation, stereo, air horn, fog lights and 240 volt inverter. Thanks dad!

Monday – Richard started making bumpers and with my help fitted tank guard and engine guard. Adjusted tappets and the handbrake.

Tuesday – Finished bumpers were fitted and painted. Dad finished wiring while we cleaned engine from oil to help it stay cool in Africa. BBC Look East very kindly ran a piece on the project in each news programme on Tuesday. This resulted in lots of phone calls, emails and texts from friends who had seen us. The local key shop very kindly made our spare keys for free after seeing us on Look East.

Wednesday - Some packing and last minute sponsorship letters went out. Richard returned to Northampton to pack and finish some work for Wollaston School where he works. At 6.00pm we went to Northampton send off party at Spinney Hill Pub. Many people came along to wish us luck and show their support. Great fun was had by all, especially with the raffle. The press lso showed up to photograph us with the car for the two local Northampton papers. Returned to Norfolk that evening and made it to sleep at 2.30am.

Thursday – Day before departure. Richard spent the day making final checks and loading the 2CV. I ran around sorting out camping and equipment needed for trip. Found some time to pop in and see Lee our website guy who very kindly helped upload 40 days worth of music! At 6.00pm we went to the Norfolk farewell party at Worlds end pub, Mulbarton. Once again, lots of friends and family showed up to wave us off and see photos of the car being built. Thanks to Adnams for sponsoring a barrel of beer for the evening as well as bottle beer set for the raffle. Combined, the two evening made around £300, thanks to everyone who bought raffle prizes and donated on the night. After evening we returned home to quickly finish our packing. We finally got to bed around 4.30am waking at 6.30am.

Friday (day before official departure) – Richard drove to Dover as I was suffering from no sleep. We met Richard’s friend George on route as Richard had forgotten his glasses! Thanks to George for meeting us so early in the morning. Was a great surprise to see some fellow UK 2CVers on route., Max page of ‘2CV International Friends’ forum gave us a big wave as he passed us near Dover and we had a few words and photo with our friend Oboe in a service area again near Dover. Slept on boat for the 2 hour crossing, we then drove straight to stay with family friend Bernard and his family just south of Brussels. Our rally car shared a garage with an astin martin for the night with a clean white garage floor! We used the opportunity of a warm, light and clean garage to adjust ride height of the vehicle to above standard and to allow for the fact we were carrying extra weight. We were given a lovely meal and were able to actually get to bed before midnight for the first time in 2 weeks.

Saturday – Breakfast was equally perfect with fried breakfast, yogurt, cheese, ham and tea. We were also sent off with a great packed lunch. Thanks guys. We convoyed with Bernard’s Aston Martin to The Africa Museum in Brussels and arrived around 10.30am. Richard was, greeted by the massive surprise that his Mum, Dad and brother had turned up to wave us off at the official departure. We thought we had done well getting to Brussels the day previous but Richard’s parents proved more hardcore, having got up and started the journey at 1am and arriving before us at 10am. They then had to travel back that evening!

The send off in Brussels seemed to happen very quickly1 Eleanor caught up with a few old friends and we went up in front of the crowd to give a short speech, where we introduced ourselves and plugged the website address! My Dad bought us a tie rod end, (something that could break on the car when off-roading and we’d forgot to pack.) and some extra rope, always handy. Then it was time to start our engines and convoy out of the museum grounds with Eleanor at the wheel. There was much cheering from the large crowd as the 2009 Touareg Trail got under way.

Took a slight detour (250km) to Paris to drop off some baby tortoises and in turn gather some money for fuel. We finally completed the 1250km round trip and arrived in the south of France at 5.00am after driving non stop (taking turns to sleep on route). 2 hours sleep was grabbed before rude awakening by the organisation giant man cat vehicle, which was threatening to run over our tent, whilst they moved into the correct lane for the ferry. At around 7.00am we also met up with French friends John Pierre and Collette to deliver a very large and heavy Rolls Royce gearbox, along with under tray and camshaft, much to the amazement of fellow participants who think we are crazy for doing such a thing. John Pierre and Collette, brought us lots of food, a compass and a donation towards the trip which was much appreciated. The rest of the morning was spent repacking and chatting to fellow teams. Various repairs were taking place in the ferry line up including angle grinding of bumpers, changing of oil pressure switches and the repair of fuel lines.

As we write we are now sat on the ‘Minstral Express’ ferry! And enjoying a well deserved rest, showers, company and food. 28 hour crossing which was originally rumoured to be 36 hours. We arrive in Morocco tomorrow evening where we will all fuel up, test our navigation before setting off on a massive 480km off road first day Tuesday morning.