Sun, sand, and suicide... Second time round. The 2008 Timbuktu Run awaits, and team 8417, "Breakfast at Tizn'Test" are raring to go. This time we come with experience - been there and done that before. We're 2 years older. We have more grey hairs. Although technically less hair in total. We've even come up with a big long list of things we need to do before we go. You can call that a plan, if you will.

Sadly, whilst I may have done this before, Simon hasn't... and I didn't bother to tell him about all the scary bits. Not just because I thought the minefields, breakdowns, guaranteed tropical diseases and all the rest of it would bother him. More because I forgot and have generally tried to block out most of the memories of last time, as they tend to centre around the infection that approximated the Ebola virus I was stuck with for a whole month. So, when I said we come with experience and a plan, you can kind of ignore that. Here's the real deal - last time was too easy, and to really raise some more money for charity, it needs to live up to the name 'challenge' this time around. Firstly, the truck made it across Africa reasonably well in 2006, so this one's been specially hand-picked:

It's 7 years older, now going back to a nice 1987 vintage. That was a good year for music. It's failed its MOT on 14 counts. And whilst 'loose seats' and 'illegal numberplates' might not add much danger, the corroded chassis, collapsed suspension, and seized brakes might It's had the back cut off it just to make sure there's no structural rigidity. Or anywhere to pack camping gear No fuel injection for us - it's carbs that'll fill with sand every hour this time All creature comforts are gone - not just the air-con, but the fan, too. Secondly, there were far too many of those 'road' things the first time round. We need more sand. And stones. And crashes. And punctures. So we've got another few hundred miles of Mauritania to cover this time. And Mali.

Live Updates

As proven twice now, we suck when it comes to preparing the truck, route, etc. But, again some effort has gone in to keeping in touch... Below are our live-updates (and hopefully those of any other teams that mention us) as we (fail to) progress towards Mali. It's set up so that either of us can send an SMS that's turned into an e-mail, that's picked up by a server, that's turned into web-content, and that's pulled into this page. Geeky? Yes. Simpler/cheaper than trying to get in touch with everyone individually? Absolutely. New for 2008 - picture messaging! We have no idea if this'll work once we're out in Africa, but we'll give it a go.

MMS Photos

Sponsorship

Please sponsor us for the challenge. The truck and all our equipment is going to be auctioned off for whatever princely sum we can raise when we get there. It'll make pounds. Literally. But that's not enough - we're also trying to raise money for Build Africa who do an amazing job of really trying to help create sustainable futures for those in Africa - helping create schools, establish farms, and helping locals set up businesses to drive the continent out of poverty. We'd greatly appreciate everyone doing their bit to help with this; by clicking here you can donate online painlessly, and extort a bit of money out of Gordon Brown in the process through gift-aid tax relief.

• We're trying to break a target of £2,000.00 for Build Africa
• So far, our total (updated continually via techno-wizardry) is [Currently unavailable]. Please help us raise more!

Thanks to everyone that's donated so far... keep it coming!

Links

To check up on the progress of all the cars in our group, sponsor us, and so on, follow the links below:

• Updates from all of the teams in our group
• Sponsor us via "Just Giving"
• Official PDC 08 website

The car

Below left is a picture of what a Nissan Patrol (supposedly identical to ours) should look like when it's all set for action. Almost looks up to the task, right? Next to that is a picture of our Patrol. Which was in a slightly worse state of repair, even before the angle grinder got taken to it.

The gory details

Below right is a proper itenerary. We're not setting off from where it says, we're using a different port in France, and we'll be spending the first night elsewhere. That kind of sets the scene for how accurate it is. The fact I spent more time trying to test my geography by drawing country borders from memory onto the map, rather than thinking about the route we're taking should speak volumes, too.

Day Route Distance (miles) Total miles 1 Depart UK   300 2 9AM arrive St Malo and drive to border with Spain 600 900 3 Drive through Spain to Gibraltar 600 1500 4 Rest / catch-up / repairs in Gibraltar 0 1500 5 Ferry to Morocco. Drive to Rabat. 173 1673 6 Drive to Marrakech. PARTY TIME!!! 205 1878 7 Rest/Recovery day 0 1878 8 Drive to Agadir 172 2050 9 Drive to Laâyoune 433 2183 10 Drive to Dakhla 338 2821 11 Drive to Nouâdhibou 288 3109 12 Rest / repairs / catch-up / party 0 3109 13 Into the desert. Overnight camping (probably near a dune). 110 3219 14 Continue through the desert, out of the National Park at Nouâmghar, and part way down the beach. 120 3339 15 Continue down the coast to Nouakchott 93 3432 16 Drive to Mbout 335 3767 17 Drive to Hamoud 146 3913 18 Drive to Kayes, entering Mali 175 4088 19 Drive to Kita 205 4293 20 Triumphant arrival in Bamako! 112 4405 21 Party, planning, and medical attention.   4405 22 Timbuktu?   4705? 23 Mopti/Djenne?   4855? 24 Into Burkina Faso?   5055? 25 Back to Bamako?   5300? 26 Home?