Day 8

With only 4 hours sleep under our belts we were on the road again, this time heading about 400km south west to the coast, where we were all keeping our fingers crossed for a bit of warmer weather. We decided to avoid the more obvious larger cities and head to a smaller town off the beaten path, in a stretch of the coastline known for its beaches.

As the journey went on we left the drizzle of Marrakesh behind us, and it wasn't long before it was clear we were heading i...

After bit of a sleep in the best hotel room we've had so far, we awoke to find our first day of miserable weather, like a typical drissly November day back home. Still, it didn't put us off too much as there was so much of central Marrakesh to explore.

We headed straight to the souks, the awesome maze of Moroccan markets that sprawl around the heart of the medina. This was similar to our brief experience in Fez, but on a scale of Disneyworld compared to Pleasurewood ...

Its probably about 5:30 am when you hear the first one. A noise that at first sounds like the sacrificing of an extremely loud goat. Then another one. 2 goats in stereo, dying very slowly. As I was awaking and my senses were catching up with the strange noises around me it became apparent that there was some form of tune to these early bellowings, or at least some variation in tone, and that their origin was in fact human. The calls for Muslim prayers, played loudly on speakers, rally the ...

Our first rest day with no driving began with a shocking head ache, and a well deserved late wake up. Approximately 2000 miles into the trip now, and our last day in Europe before heading across the Gibraltar straights into the African unknown. We decided to repack the car just to establish whether there was any last minute fixes or purchases we needed to quickly make. As we watched other teams scramble under the bonnet, and do shuttle runs to Carrefour for bits and bobs, Boxy But Good rem...

Still no problems with the car (after about 1300 miles), and we set off on our last leg of the European segment of the rally. Another clear sky, and more clear roads meant the early part of the drive was a cruise. With Granada in the distance but fast approaching, the surrounding scenery was sensational. Our 2 car convoy was making great time as we whizzed through the southern half of Spain.

As we were closing in on the Costa del sol we spotted the first or our future r...

Another nice and early start in the freezing cold of central France, and straight back on the road. Beautiful blue skies and clear roads made for perfect driving conditions through some stunning French scenery. The route was picked to enable us to go over what we knew to be the quite fantastic structure of the Millau viaduct.

Although I knew it simply to be “a massive bridge” I have since discovered it is the tallest vehicular bridge in the world, and at parts is a ...