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Team 'Shap Ahoy' - The Story of their
Plymouth-Banjul Challenge
During December 2005 and January 2006, Nick Capron
and Tim Lovatt took part in the Plymouth-Banjul Challenge, driving a
1996 Toyota Starlet from Cumbria to the Gambia. This page
summarises their story, with full details on subsidiary pages as
shown below.
Team 'Shap Ahoy' further exploits: T4 Challenge
& 4Ts Adventure
Background
The Plymouth-Banjul Challenge started in 2003
as an ironic tribute to the
Paris-Dakar Rally. Instead of
highly expensive cars driven by world class rally drivers, with
large back-up teams, this challenge consists of small teams on
strictly limited budgets, and at the end of the challenge, the cars
are auctioned for the benefit of local good causes. For further
information, see the
Plymouth-Banjul
Challenge 2006 website. There are
several teams taking part in this challenge, and also the
Amsterdam-Dakar Challenge, who have decided to help Pageant in
different ways. For more information on teams who took part in both challenges, see the
Pageant
2005/6 Challenge
Page.
See also details of
the route through France and
Spain, across the Straits of Gibraltar, and then through Morocco,
Western Sahara, Mauritania and Senegal to Banjul in The Gambia.
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Team Shap Ahoy consists of Nick Capron and
Tim Lovatt. Nick is Primary Strategy Manager for Cumbria Education
Service, and Tim is Manager of Park Cliffe Camping and Caravan
Park, Windermere.
They decided to use this Pageant page
to record their progress on The Challenge, instead of setting up
their own website. If you came here via an external link, please
take time to look at the rest of our website, perhaps starting with
the
Pageant Home Page. |
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Nick and Tim with the
car |
Preparations and fund-raising
(day
by day diary)
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Nick and Tim organised fundraising
events, such as a treasure hunt and a fireworks party.
A number of Cumbrian Schools also helped
with the fundraising: a fancy dress Halloween Disco at St Mary's RC Primary
School in Kells near Whitehaven; a non uniform day at Shap CE
Primary School; a 'Children in Need' day at St Gregory's and St
Patrick's RC Infant School; a fundraising day as part of the
bullying awareness campaign at Our Lady and St Patrick's RC
School in Maryport and a non uniform day at Beckstone Primary School
in Harrington, near Workington.
There were also a large number of
individual sponsors, and many local businesses helped with
preparation of the car. |
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Halloween Disco at St
Mary's RC Primary School |
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Tim and Nick left Westmorland Services on the M6 at
9am on Saturday 17 December, and drove to Dover for the 4.30pm ferry
to Boulogne, and continued as far as Beauvais for an overnight stop.
On Sunday 18 December they
drove from Beauvais to stay with Tim's friends Lisa and Richard,
near Toulouse.
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leaving Westmorland
Services |
on the road in Spain |
On Monday 19 they continued
to Murcia in Spain, and then on Tuesday 20 on to Sotogrande, near
Gibraltar, taking in a visit to Granada on the way.
They spent Wednesday 21 and Thursday 22
waiting for the bad weather to improve, so that they could take the
ferry to Morocco, and indulged in a bit of sight-seeing at Ronda.
Morocco
(day by day
diary)
On Friday 23 December they finally crossed
on the ferry from Tarifa to Tangier, and drove on to
Casablanca. On Saturday 24 they drove on to to Marrakech, where they
spent Christmas Day. On Monday 26 they continued from Marrakech
through the Atlas Mountains across the Tizi n Test Pass to
Tiznit.
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Marrakech by night |
the Tizi n Test Pass |
On Tuesday 27, they continued from from Tiznit
to Laayoune in Western
Sahara, with their first taste of driving through the desert.
On Wednesday 28 December their journey took
them through the desert, but quite close to the Atlantic Ocean, to
the town of Dakhla.
They then spent a day in Dakhla, and then on Friday 30, crossed the desert off-road
to Nouadhibou in
Mauritania.
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in the desert |
Western Sahara -
Mauritania border post |
Mauritania
(day
by day diary)
On Saturday 31 December they drove through
the desert again from Nouadhibou to a campsite at
the 'Big Dune', and from there, on New Year's Day, through the
desert again to a campsite near Nouamghar.
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the desert convoy (yes that is a Black
Cab) |
campsite at the 'Big Dune' |
On Monday 2 January, the route continued from Nouamghar along the coast to
a nice hotel in Nouakchott. From there, on Tuesday, they continued
further down the coast to a campsite at Zebrabar across the border in Senegal.
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the convoy driving along the beach |
just time for a dip |
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Wednesday 4 January was a lazy day at Zebrabar campsite.
On Thursday most of the members of the convoy took a boat trip
across the bay to the old French colonial city of St Louis.
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the campsite at Zebrabar |
by boat across the bay to St Louis |
On Friday 6 January, they drove the last
leg of the Challenge, from Zebrabar, over the border into The
Gambia, and then across the Gambia River to Banjul, finally arriving
at the Safari Gardens Hotel.
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drinks & sing-song around fire |
heading towards The Gambia |
The Gambia
(day
by day diary)
Both Saturday and Sunday 7 & 8 January were
spent chilling out at the Safari Gardens Hotel in Banjul.
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the pool at the Safari Gardens Hotel |
chilling out |
On Monday 9, Pageant's agent Kemo arrived and
took Nick and Tim on trip to Saloum Nursery School. Shap Ahoy has
raised over £5000 in sponsorship, and this has been donated to
Saloum Nursery to fund a new toilet block. Nick and Tim were
introduced to the pupils, and presented a giant cheque.
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Nick, Tim and Kemo at Saloum Nursery in
The Gambia with the 'cheque' for £5000 |
checking the new toilets at Saloum |
On Monday afternoon, there was a motorcade
of the Group 1 cars through the streets of Banjul. This was followed
by a couple of days staying at the Bintang Bolong Lodge, with a
visit to Tabaski village.
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Tim & Nick with 'Bill' in the
motorcade |
Nick & Tim relax at the Bintang Bolong
Lodge |
They then returned to the Safari Garden
Hotel, and flew home to the UK on 13 January.
Tim and Nick's final word on their
achievement:
"Well it seems that our Plymouth to Banjul
challenge was completed without any breakdowns (car-wise and
relationship-wise). All credit to Bill and those men & women in
Japan who screwed him together so well. It's amazing just how much
punishment a car (and not just ours) can take. We should also like
to thank the rest of our convoy who provided entertainment, company,
morale, yellow cards, sand ladders and an unnatural will to push
each other's cars through the desert."
"Thanks must also go to our families who have
encouraged us to go, put up with our preparations and our 4 week
absence, and not least to the hundreds of sponsors who have helped
with car parts, equipment, fuel, fundraising and a huge amount of
cash for our nominated charity, over £5,000 at the time of writing
this diary. On top of all this, our car, Bill, raised £1,692 at
auction, not bad from an initial investment of £600 at home. The
combined auction monies from all the vehicles will go to support
'grass roots' charities in the Gambia (see the official
Plymouth
Banjul Challenge website)."
"What a cracking adventure it was. We would
have no hesitation in recommending the challenge to anyone who is up
for a bit of discomfort in lieu of a great experience.
Many people have asked - 'would we do it again?' Yes we possibly would, but maybe something a
bit different next time. Plans are at a very early stage (i.e. non
existent), but the sound of Mercs through Mali to Ghana has a nice
ring to it we think."
"Watch this space - - - - Tim & Nick"
The final reckoning
Tim and Nick have given us their final totals of
money raised. Pageant received the staggering total of £4572.55,
which will be going to the
Saloum Nursery. This is a truly
fantastic amount, for which Pageant thanks Shap Ahoy. We are
sure that Mariama at Saloum will be so pleased with her good
fortune in having Shap Ahoy's support for her efforts. The
sale of their Toyota raised 86,000 Dalasis, equivalent to
£1692, which was then donated to ASSET and the GNOC in The Gambia.
More Team Shap Ahoy Information
Plymouth-Banjul
Challenge 2006 website gives a great
deal of interesting information about the Challenge, and there is
a
Shap Ahoy Team Page on this
website, and an archive of
SMS messages sent during the
Challenge.
[The above links no longer work!]
The
2005/6 Challenge
Page gives more
information about other teams who took part in the Plymouth-Banjul
2006 and
Amsterdam-Dakar 2005 Challenges, and the
Saloum Nursery Page
tells more about how Shap Ahoy and Pageant are helping Saloum
Nursery in The Gambia.
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