We made it!!!!

Well, I'm proud to be able to tell you that Scott, Tom and the Polo made it to Casablanca on Thursday afternoon.  A crazy place.  Here we are in a sandstorm on the Tangier - Casa road just north of Rabat.

Into Africa!!!!

Well we have made it to Tangier, where we have an internet connection for once! Too many tales to tell now especially as this keyboard is in Arabic, but the Polo is still going strong albeit with a few war wounds. We are doing well too, surviving interminable Ibis Hotels and Scott's snoring, as well as Tom's questionable directions and map reading.

Yesterday's drive was completely mad. Half made roads in the Sierra Nevada covered in mud claimed the lives of at least 3 other cars. These Spanish are crazy. Then today negotiating the Moroccan border and yet another tropical rainstorm. These Moroccans are crazy.....

Tomorrow Casablanca if our luck holds. Photos will follow soon, as will a full story when we have a proper keyboard. Salut!

Tom and Scott

On our way

Well, after not enough sleep, we are go! Blenio Bistro in Brighton have kindly offered £200 for our fundraising target thanks Paula! blogging this from passenger seat on iPhone!

Stickered up and ready to go

Hi everyone.  Well it is the 2nd April - 2 days to go and I'm starting to get nervous!  We just had the handbook through in the email from Justin and it looks a bit daunting - especially the crossing into Morocco.  Still, that is the adventure I guess.

Packing tonight - trying to keep it really light so that if/ when we fly back I won't have to pay for baggage, that's how cheap I am.....

Polo is doing well.  It is scabby but mechanically seems really good despite the MOT advisories.  This may however be famous last words....  It is a delicate balance between being bad enough to qualify without being ashamed, but have a decent chance of making it.  Daniel helped me with the stickers on Saturday - SSDM did a lovely job on them I'm sure you'll agree.....

Up and running

Well, still not sure what was wrong, as the next day it fired up perfectly.  I've now had a nice week driving the Polo all around North Wales - a shakedown run, and nothing has fallen off or let me down - yet.  Although cosmetically it is a mess, the car seems to be mechanically A1.  Famous last words.....!

The Polo

Well, thanks to the kind sponsorship and care of Simon, Dale and Mark of our favourite garage Dragon Tyres of Ruthin, we have a VW Polo that has passed its MOT.  New shock absorbers, welded exhaust, brake pipes, part worn tyres replacing the fully worn ones, new wipers, and a load of other little bits.

So, chuffed to bits, I dropped the TVR off at the garage for its service and MOT (displaying VW - like dependability, it fired up first time on the key after being left alone for 6 weeks) and picked up the Polo.  Except.....when I came to turn the key, no glowplug light, no heat, no ignition, no go. The first thing the bl**dy thing does is break down.....  Hopefully it is something simple and we will be all systems go. Let you know tomorrow.

Small, cheap beginnings....

Hello everyone

This is the story of a little old car, two little middle aged men, and a daft idea to drive to Africa....read on and follow our story.

We are Scott Bainbridge and Tom Barham.  We are driving a VW Polo, bought for £100, on the www.calais2casablanca.com rally to ....uh Casablanca.  We are doing this for Britain, for the hell of it and because we can raise money for Cancer Research UK.

We hope you will come back and follow our story as we go on.  Hopefully we will be sending posts and photos as we brave the wilds of France, Andorra, Spain and the dangerous souks of Morrocco