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Shap Ahoy Challenge Diary - UK, France &
Spain
This is an account of Nick
Capron and Tim Lovatt's journey from Cumbria to the Gambia during
the 2006 Plymouth-Banjul Challenge. It is based on notes taken along
the way, their photos and their memories. This page covers their journey
from Cumbria, through France and Spain. Use the links at the top of
the page to see other parts of their story, or to return to the Shap
Ahoy Summary Page.
Day 1 - Sat 17th Dec (Starting mileage
93,845km)
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At 7.30am,Tim, Arlene, Nick & Jenny meet up
at Westmorland Services on the M6 for a fry-up breakfast and
send-off. Tim's sister Ruth & husband John also came to wave 'bon
voyage'.
Leave Services just before 9am with a full
tank of petrol and 2 loaves of frozen corned beef sandwiches.
Uneventful journey to Dover. Some time spent sorting, positioning &
testing various gadgets, of which Nick seems to think there are an
alarming number of. Tim checks contents of Nick's music collection &
considers consequences of 'losing' Meatloaf CD.
At 4.30pm we leave Dover for Boulogne,
France. Spot a couple of other Challenge vehicles, 'Team Pullin'
Power' (huge Toyota 4WD), and 'Air Freshener' (Mitsubishi Gallant).
On leaving the ferry, we meet up with Bret &
Sanjay (team Air Freshener), they decide to follow us out of the
port & travel down through France with us. After about 400 yards we manage to loose Bret
& Sanjay. To meet up again in southern Spain!
We make it as far as Beauvais for an overnight stop.
After removing our bags from the car we both
agree we've got too much stuff.
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Last night was Tim's first experience of
Nick's 'interesting' snoring patterns.
Mile munching (or kilometre killing if you
prefer metric), right through to the south of France via Paris. Tim
entertains French motorists by using flash of digital camera in
tunnels through Paris to imitate a speed camera! This accompanied by
the horn on the car causes much amusement.
Into the sun all the way. Lots of road tolls
on the Peage.
Lisa and Richard (friends of Tim's) put us up
for the night in their 'Chateau', Castillon Massas just west of
Toulouse.
Thanks to Lisa, Richard and Jasper for their
hospitality.
Frosty start to the day, heading east past
Toulouse and then south down the coast, passing the Pyrenees,
through border and into Spain. More road tolls.
Turn the heater down to 'half' setting while
passing Barcelona (11°C). The frozen corned beef sandwiches prepared
by Nick run out at this point!
Pull in at Murcia for our overnight stop.
Hotel walls are covered in Bulls heads and photos of Matadors. Nick
concerned about (lack of) 'movements'. Rough 'Brandy' consumed after
evening meal.
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Destination today is Sotogrande, near
Gibraltar.
Wash car and take a diversion via Granada to
visit the Alhambra Palace. Spend the afternoon there, very
impressive sights & history, good 'audio tour'. Nick disposes of
some of his clothes, notably the ones he's worn since leaving home.
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Staying at hotel Las Camelias, Sotogrande,
uninspiring but functional. Buy some fruit & wine.
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Very windy, hear that all ferry crossings to
Africa are cancelled. Decide to head off inland and north into the
mountains and spend a few hours looking around Ronda. Unfortunately
the famous Bull Ring closes for visitors as we arrive at 1pm, but
there was an up side to this. We met Elvis!__. well actually just a
very poor impersonator, posing with a cassette player from which
emanated 'I can't help falling in love with you'. How Bizarre!
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Tim buys stick-on Velcro strips to secure
gadgets on dashboard, which is also used to stop Nicks extra strong
mints from rolling around the Toyota interior.
See many challenge vehicles arrive at hotel
for rendezvous. Meet up with Air Freshener again who by this time
have had the rear of their car re-arranged in a Spanish 'Coming
together'.
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Still very windy, sea wall nearby has huge
waves breaking across it. No ferries.
Drove down to Algeciras & port for a look.
Hung around hotel meeting others from group 1, watched many people
repairing & 'tinkering' with their cars. Felt a bit left out so Tim
decided to adjust headlights, which, due to our load, were doing a
good job of lighting up the sky.
Group briefing in evening. |
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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.
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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