The vehicles assembled in Victoria Square earlier this afternoon with their teams of trailblazers. Rotary International were there in force and by early evening quite a crowd had gathered to wave them off. The event was filmed throughout by Hull Freedom Trail cameraman Claudio von Planta, and the TV presenter Helen Philpot took to the stage under the big screen to interview the team members and keep the public abreast of the proceedings.

BBC Look North covered the event, broadcasting live as it happened. As the moment of departure approached the waiting crowd joined in the countdown. At 6.45pm the engines roared and the convoy wheeled around the square with horns blasting, crowds cheering and the trailblazers waving goodbye to friends and family. The five 4×4 vehicles were accompanied by motorcycle outriders from Rotary International. The lead bike carried Claudio as pillion, filming the procession as they left the square and headed east through the city along Hedon Road to the ferry terminal.

The vehicles and trailblazers assemble in Victoria Square prior to tonight’s big send off. Andy Paxton and Mike James look over the collection of jerry cans just out of shot before kicking the tyres one last time.

Justine McMillan is ready for off, standing with L200 Number 4 “Hannah More”. She will be spending the next three weeks in this vehicle with fellow members of “Team Hannah”. Note Andy Paxton’s snowboard strapped firmly to the roofrack – he’s planning to carve up a few of those Sahara dunes on the way down to Freetown.

Mark Kensett is interviewed by Helen Philpot on the stage under the big screen in Victoria Square. As always Claudio is there with the camera. It’s in the can Mark!

Jonathan Richards on stage with Helen Philpot in Victoria Square, Hull. Jonathan explains how he was inspired to start the Hull Freedom Trail.

Phil Dean tells Helen Philpot how the Hull Freedom Trail will effect aid agencies on the ground in Sierra Leone. Philip works for the St. George Foundation in Freetown, reuniting street children with their families. The foundation currently relies on four clapped out motorcycles for transport, but the gift of a fully equipped 4×4 vehicle from the Hull Freedom Trail will make a huge difference to their work.

The five vehicles roll out from Victoria Square in Hull. L200 Number 3 “Thomas Clarkson” is driven by the Rotary International team.

L200 Number 4 “Hannah More” takes its place in line ready to roll out. Next stop the ferry port for the overnight crossing to Rotterdam and the start of the European leg of the journey. Wish us luck and safe travels!

After a mammoth driving session of over 700 miles, we have made it to the south of France arriving at our accommodation in the dead of night up a side of a mountain in the Ardeche Region.

We´d all like to thank everyone who turned out to see us off. It was a really humbling experience to feel the support of our friends and families.

Below are some pictures of our journey through the low countries.

What an epic! We have now travelled through France and have stayed overnight in Spain at a place called Elche. Typical Holiday Inn Express type of place, but a real opportunity for all to get a decent bed and a reasonable nights sleep. If a little short! Some of us were aware of the time change from Summer Time to Winter Time and others were not. Let´s just leave it at that shall we…

Epic mileage, epic scenery and lots of motorway service stations. Tomorrow we go to Algerciras at the tip of Spain and then into Africa! We are all well and even though things are getting cramped in the car our spirits are good and the cars performing very well.

Below are some photos of the trip so far.

What a relief! After a decent nights sleep for everyone, we wake to a bright sunny morning in Elche and fill up the long range tanks for the run down the coast of Spain to Algerciras. We´ve driven through some fantastic scenery around the southern tip of Spain and seen the Rock of Gibraltar as well.

Everyone seems to be getting used to our cameraman, Claudio von Planta, filming everything that moves and everything that doesn´t. Driving down the motorways side by side at 60mph for the camera is a skill everyone seems to be getting good at. We have radio comms between each vehicle and these are a real source of fun, banter and vital “pull left now!” information.

Last night, Claudio and Jonathan went to talk to the border guards here and learned of the problem of people trafficking through this port. There was one case were a woman was being smuggled across the border from Africa in Europe in the engine compartment of a car. Also, we heard of another case of 15 children being trafficked by plane from Sierra Leone. So the problems are rife.

Here´s todays photos!

Today has been a tiring day for many reasons. We left our hotel to catch the 45min Fast Ferry from Algerciras to Ceuta (Morocco). The Ferry boarding had to be seen to be believed, with many men shouting Spanish at great speed and the hustle and bustle gave an edge of excitement as we embark on our odyssey into Africa.

As expected, we spent a few hours in the border area and we were looked after by people called ‘fixers’. These guys meet you as you enter the border area and help you through the paperwork necessary to get you on your way. Generally very pleasant guys but as wide as you like! Money changing hands with slight of hand movements and comments like ‘I get you special price’ or ‘you have very nice day – no problem’ etc. Bit daunting at first but quite fun after a while!

We drove down a stunning road along the coast. Steve Saunders was driving, but I’m sure he’d rather have been sightseeing because he spent quite a lot of the time looking out the side windows…

The teams are getting along well and everyone is appreciating the CB radios not only for directional help in the traffic of Morocco, but for fun and laughter. Tomorrow we have some serious filming planned and the party going off to drop Isobel at the airport in Marrakech.

Here are today’s photos. We’ve got some more awesome pictures for you tomorrow though!

It is becoming clear that one of our biggest challenges on this trip is fatigue and each day we are getting only 4 or 5 hrs sleep with many hours stuck in the vehicles. With the roads soon to turn into dirt tracks and the pace to reduce, we are on a mission to keep to timetable and make sure we can achieve our goal of getting into Freetown for around the 13th November. We shall see.

Below are today’s pictures.

Howver, we’re all very tired and at times, feeling in need of words of encouragement. I want to let you know that we are reading your comments and even though there is no mechanism or time to reply to them, I read them out at various points of the day. Either when we are travelling over the radios in the cars or at team meetings or directly to the person if it is appropriate. They are a real boost to team morale and everyone is so touched by them. So please keep them coming. Tomorrow we will have some time over lunch to get the Satellite Antannae out so I’ll upload lots more photos and bring you all up to date on our progress.

We’re thinking of our friends and families all the time and talk about them often. No one pretended this was going to be easy and they’re quite right. Still, our spirits are good and the team is pulling together to get us through this.

Jonathan

Today the team are in good spirits after a decent time spent talking together and covering the issues that arise in a team as large and diverse as this. When tensions build it’s good to get everyone together and deal with it. So now, we move on and enter the Sahara proper. Our progress is good but to sustain this daily mileage demands getting up early with long long days in the saddle and the inevitable late night hunt for a Hotel. Claudio has filmed several of these late night missons which are either a source of hilarity or tension…

Although most of the photographs look like we are on a grand holiday, a group of us have visited two projects in Casablanca which are involved in caring for young women who are victims of modern day slavery. Justine took a series of photographs which tell the story. The teams members who went and filmed with Claudio came back in a very different mood to the others and for some was their first real encounter with people in this situation. Their visit helped us all to appreciate the privileged position we are in and spurr us on when the times are difficult in the cars and in the team.

After a really early start from our Hotel we departed Layounne in the fog! Rather surprising for the Sahara Desert. After many miles of interesting scenery, the days drive was mostly boring desert scrub until we came over the brow of a hill to such a spectacular view that we just had to stop the cars and take lots of photographs and footage. This was the Dakhla peninsular and it is a finger of land that extends off the west coast of the Sahara and is surrounded by sea on the north and south side. In our attempts to film various ‘GV’s’ (General Views) for Claudio, Andy was the first person to get a vehicle stuck right on the side of the road…

Now we see faces changing and the culture we are living in very different to our own. We constantly comment on the fact that even though the window in our vehicle is the same, the view outside of it has changed significantly and we have driven here! It is surreal to drive through the desert in a vehicle that only a few days ago was in Victoria Square in Hull.

Again, we are tired and it’s difficult to focus even on compiling this blog. We will have a rest day soon and hopefully I’ll have time to write a more witty and engaging prose. Generally we are all tired but are focussed on getting the job done and delivering these vehicles to the people who need them.

We read your comments everyday and it’s fantastic to know that you are all supporting us and helping us through this. Please keep them coming.

Today was only ever a means to and end. We left the ‘camp site’ around 8.00am and drove to the border between Morocco and Mauritania. This is a sensitive border area and the no-mans land between the two countries is mined, so we had to take a guide with us to lead us through the mine field.

Border proceedings at these kind of places can be a bewildering and time consuming affair with hanging around being the order of the day. The trick is to take along with you an experienced guide who knows what to do and does the running around for you. Our’s is called ‘Booba’ and we met him traditional dress at the camp site in Dakhla. He showed us his letters of recommondation which included part of the Dakar Rally Team. After a quick haggle, the deal was done and we now have him for 4 days. He seems to be labouring under some misconception that we are a rally team and appeared next day in western clothes complete with Dakar Rally jacket fancying his chances! Still, everybody at the border seems to know him so his story is holding up so far.

Basically, it takes all day to cross from Morocco into Mauritania. First we have to clear passport control, get searched by the police, export the vehicle from Morocco. Then we cross the mine field and enter passport control at the Mauritania border, get searched by the Police and import the vehicle by the Customs (Douane), buy a Visa for Mauritania then get searched by Customs. What a faff! The customs guys had all the back of the car out and were looking for drugs and alcohol. Mauritania is an Islamsic country and alchohol is forbidden. I had a small bottle of Whiskey in my bag which it was recommended to bribe the customs further down in Africa. It was a worrying time when they were looking through all the bags…

The feel of Mauritania is very different to Morocco. The people here are obviously much poorer and the country has a slighty more intimidating feel to it. Especially at night which is when we arrived. The streets have very few lights and many of the cars have only one light working, so coupled with all the people milling about, it makes for a challenging drive to get 5 vehicles and a truck (in convoy) across the city to our safe parking.

We are staying at a Auberge (an Inn) called Momo’s. Is accomodates around 25 people in a mix of beds and tiled rooms. So it’s a case of put your roll mat & sleeping bag down and crash out. Thankfully, there is a european style toilet here and even warm water and a shower, so spirits have lifed after using squat toilets and having to go without showers at the previous place. So, it’s a case of updating the blog tonight and seeing what tomorrow brings. It’s a rest day and many of us are looking forward to some time to get our things sorted and seeing the sights of Nouadibou.

Keep them coming!

A surprising day today. We had chance to rest and after an easy start several members of the team wandered around town and also went to the market place. They were fascinated by the hustle and bustle of it and even though they thought it might be intimidating, it was actually an energising place full of colour and interest.

After a lunch on the terrace of Momo’s Auberge of fish, cous cous and water melon we all went to see the wrecked ships on the beach. On the way there, Nick had a football with him and we played football with the local kids. The ships are dumped on the coast here for insurance purposes as Mauritania has no navy and can’t defend this practise. As we approached one of the ships, we noticed a small number of make-shift huts on the beach. We thought they were uninhabited but were amazed to discover that a family with 3 children were living there and were actually employed to guard the ship that was nearest to them.

As we approached, they were very friendly and we spent some time with them and started chatting with the children and pulling funny faces and the like. They were in the middle of eating a meal of fish and cous cous which was covered with flies whilst the woman was breast feeding her baby. Coming face to face with poverty like this for the first time was shocking for many. Having seen images like this on TV and in books and magazines, doesn’t quite prepare you for the mix of emotions. However, they were friendly and seem content with their lives. Kayleigh, Kayla, Anna and Richard Swain started playing with the children and before we knew it, the next hour was spent playing with their three children.

On the way back to Momo’s the conversation was charged with the contradictions of different people’s opinions of their situation. Some people felt powerless and wanted to take action, others were impressed by the humility of the family and how content they appeared. Either way, it was a moving experience that will stay with us for the rest of our lives.

Today we left Nouadhibou, said our goodbyes to Momo and his staff and drove on into the Sahara Desert proper. We arrived at our campsite with the wind blowing a gale and had to pitch our tents with sand blasting our faces. It’s amazing to find how many places the sand gets! When we first arrived in the desert, we attended a traditional tea making ceremony underneath an Acacia tree. I know it sounds obvious, but the desert was very very hot and the heat reflected off the sand is tremendous. With the wind that constantly blows here, the sweat evaporates immediately off your body. Too much information I can hear you say!

I now sit in the car with the photographer, Mark Kensett and cameraman Claudio’s daily footage digitising onto the hard drives ready for editing. I can think of better places to be when in the Sahara… still, it must be done!

Tomorrow we drive onto Nouakchott, the largest city in Mauritania. We will be staying three nights there and filming the work of several aid agencies who work with victims of modern day slavery, which was abolished only in August of this year. Plenty more interesting stuff to come I expect.

Jonathan

Apologies for the late update. A cable has been broken from our satellite antennae and we’re trying to find a replacement whilst we are here.

Today we broke camp in the desert and spent the morning filming various sequences for the film. We drove across endless plains of sand, five abreast for the camera. I have to say, the temperature was enormous, hovering around 40 c (100F) in the noonday sun. We let the tyre pressures down on the cars and the truck to help with the traction. But it took nearly 2 hours in the baking sun to pump them all back up again. We had to get out of the sun, the temperature was crushing. Finally we got going on the road again.

The drive to Nouakchott was 200kms and the temperature held steady around 40 all the way until the sun went down. Now we are travelling further south the humidity has increased considerably and the mosquitos are out in force.

We are staying in a group of apartments in the city of Nouakchott and even though hardly anything seems to work, it seems like luxury. In typical African style, the light in the toilet doesn’t work, the doors don’t lock, the handle comes off the bath tap, the light bulbs are broken and bare, we’re sleeping on the floor and the air-con makes a racket. It’s all luxury compared to a tent in the desert.

We are staying in Nouakchott for 3 days where we will visit various aid agencies who are involved in the slavery issues in Mauritania. More interesting photos to come out of them I’m sure.

Jonathan

(Due to the cable problem, Jonathan has just dictated the text to me over the phone, obviously couldn’t do anything with any photos today. Hopefully normal service will be resumed shortly! Anne).

The temperature here is enourmous at 40-45C at the hottest part of the day and it makes doing anything exhausting. However, we visited Madame Maye Mint Haidy today. Madame Haidy works for the government compiling statistics and ‘on the side’ she collates statistics relating to slavery. She was a feisty character who was very pleased to introduce us to UNICEF and to her friends in the Ministry who would vouce for her work. After the visit to these places with Claudio we had a good handle on the sorts of slavery that exists in Mauritania.

Slavery exists in Mauritania in these ways:

1. Street children who are forced to beg at street corners and when they don’t reach the required target, they are then beaten.

2. Female Circumcision. About 71% of the female population are circumcised.

3. Under age marriage – as young as 12 years old.

4. An ancient feudal system of land and people ownership which still persists today

Later in the day, some of the team went to visit an organisation called SOS Esclaves. They campaign for the legal rights of people who are affected by these forms of slavery. We were fully expecting just to have an interview with the leadership team, but we were ushered into a room and slowly more and more people came to meet us. Until in the end, around 30 victims of modern days slavery came to tell us their stories. It was a moving experience to speak first hand with these people and their strength and humility was striking.

Because slavery has only been outlawed here since August 2007, we are getting very mixed and confusing messages from whoever you speak to. Some say it doesn’t exist but the meeting as SOS Esclaves paints a very different story.

On the team side of things, because we are in 4 apartments (6 to each), communication has been very difficult. Claudio has set up all of the contacts here and the last two days have been a moveable feast of activities which various groupings have been attending. We are all looking forward to getting everyone together and debriefing. It’s been a bit ‘not knowing what the right hand is doing’ type of scenario. We’ll muddle through, but compared to being in cars with the CB radios, communication has been strained…

What a frustrating day! The temperature has been crazy, now in the region of 45C. We have the air-con on in the room all the time to keep it tolerable. The air-con on L200 No.1 ‘William Wilberforce’ is also looking vunerable and is likely to fail soon. Looking forward to that!

The biggest news is that we had three activities set up today. The first one was a visit to see a man who we met at SOS Esclaves. We worked the land for his master and had a daughther. The daughter was taken away from him becuase of the feudal laws that I spoke about yesterday. He is now receiving legal help from SOS Escalves but still cannot get his daughter back. His case is very recent – only 2 weeks old. Claudio, John Olner and Sammi went to film him in his home so he could tell his story. After this, Madame Haidy showed them around the slums and to a feeding centre. This was quite distressing for them as they were shown a baby with a bad skin disease and the general deprivation was appauling. Claudio asked Madame Haidy for an interview under the shade of a tree and she suddenly refused and cut short the visit. A strange turn of events that left the people involved angry and frustrated at the situation. This was compounded by the fact that Claudio has found that a tape he filmed on yesterday has become corrupted and all the filming has been lost on that tape. Again, all very strange and the first time in his career.

Things here are very fluid with the TIA (This Is Africa) vibe prevailing. People turning up late or not at all and official offices difficult to negotiate. To this end, we are still awaiting to see if our Visa’s have been extended so we can leave the county. We leave at 6.00am tomorrow but as of now, 6.00pm Wendesday 7th November, we don’t have the necessary paperwork to leave Mauritania. Also, the border crossing into Senegal is the most dificult of the trip and the road leading up to it (all 140km) is rough track. The challenging times are ahead.

Jonathan has asked me to post this in the absence of a chance to put the satellite antennae up today. All is well. Phoning from an all night restaurant in Dakar (don’t think they are staying there all night though!) Jonathan told me that the team finally got their visas and successfully crossed the border into Senegal mid afternoon today (Friday). Apparently Senegal is lovely!The team have now split with half going to Dakar to film slavery stories tomorrow, and the other half going to Zebrabar to camp and rest. They will rendevouz later tomorrow in Tambacounda.

As soon as they can, more details and photos will be loaded up, but in the meantime keep the blogging going – they really are appreciating all the messages from home.

Anne

A loooooong day. The visa crisis is finally over as at the eleventh hour a concerted effort by our guides and fixers resulted in the production of most of the visas we required to leave the country. I say most becuase a new Trailblazer, Pauline, has joined us in Nouakchott. Becuase she flew into the country her visa situation was different and she had to get a taxi to the border rather than come in the main group. Long story.

In order to keep to our schedule, we had to leave the town at 4.00am and drive south to cross at a little used crossing point called Barrage de Diama. This involved driving down 140km of rough track to reach the point. The road varied from simple rough track to heavily corrugated and rutted track which was a real test for the suspension. The vehciles survived aside from the vibrations unscrewing the mountings of our compasses! We reached the border around late morning and started the, often lenghty, proceedings. Even with two fixers and the application of ‘fees’ (bribes) to the Police which went straight into the Chief’s pockets, it was late afternoon when we were finally released into Senegal.

Senegal is a much more vibrant country than Mauritania. With relaxed Muslim laws. The women wear the colourful clothes you often see on tourist pictures of west Africa. The roads here even have white lines down the middles and sometimes have kerb stones and road signs. What a luxury! The terrain has also changed from sand based desert scrub to a more lush green scenery in a surprisingly short amount of time.

The team has now split into two, with 2 vehicles driving straight to Dakar and the others driving to a nearby campsite called Zebrarbar. The Dakar team will spend the next day filming a project which teaches children their rights to liberty and freedom as well as visitng Goree Island which was a major transit point for the Transatlantic slave trade.

Car Team 1 left the lovely Zebrabar campsite in St Louis and headed east into Senegal to pick up a road running south. Car Team 2 headed towards Dakar to film the activities of an agency called The African Centre for the Education of Human Rights as well as visit to Goree Island.

To explain the situation in Senegal. One particular problem is a street children begging racket that operates throughout the country. It is purported that this is organised by the religious leaders, the Maribou. Within the Senegalese culture the prevailing religion is Islam with ancient African religions and African traditions still having a strong influence. The Maribou still exert a powerful force over the people (rather like a cult) with evidence of trafficking and abuse happening to children and young people. The African Centre for the Education of Human Rights aims to educate children and Young People in their international human rights so that they can protect themselves from becoming involved with the cults.

Car Team 2 (Jonathan, Richard, Steve S, Claudio, Becca, Sammi, Mark K and Nick) visited the centre in down town Dakar. Just in case you didn’t know, Dakar is bonkers! Crazy traffic, colourful hustlers, packed full of life in all it’s forms. Children congregate around the vehicles and constantly ask for ‘Cadeaux’ or gifts. Just to even park the cars near the project required parking on the forecourt of a local bank and paying the guard to look after them. It’s difficult in this blog to fully express the nature of Dakar when I’m bouncing down a dirt track writing this on my laptop though.

The greeting we received in Dakar was fantastic. We attended a youth group on the terrace on the roof of their building and in 40C heat they performed an energetic dance and drama which illustrated their education of human rights. The energy levels and general buzz of the group is a universal language that seems to be the same the world over. We were treated to cold Coke, friendships, smiles, hugs and a genuine interest. Lovely. After this, we went to Goree Island. This was a slave collection point for the transatlantic slave trade 200 years ago. It’s an island just off the coast of Dakar, just a 20min boat ride away which ironically has now turned into a sort of holiday destination. The local authorities have preserved some of the slave houses that were used to hold the slaves prior to departure to their ‘new lives’ of slavery. We were shown the Door of No Return, this was the final departure point for the slaves and was at sea level directly out to the slave ships. It’s an errie place that echoes with the suffering of the past.

Our next challenge of the day was to rendezvous with the rest of the team in a place called Tambacounda. The only way to meet them was to drive through the night. This would have been an easy task except that after a third of the way there, the roads quickly turned bad. The tarmac has been eroded by the passage of trucks and the heavy rains into a vast series of pot holes around 3-4ft across, 6 inches deep and spread across the whole surface of the road every few feet. The impact of going down these holes jarred the car so much you’d think it would destroy it, and the pounding went on and on for miles and miles and hours and hours, all through the night. Both teams gave up the rigous of this road at a place called Koungheul, some way from our target of Tambacounda…

The Road from Hell! After the rendezvous with the two teams in Koungheul around 7.30am, and after an hours rest for the overnight team, we all started on the road to Tambacounda and beyond. Once again, the road was a nightmare, with the pounding of the unavoidable potholes jarring the cars and loosening some vital parts of the equipment. In addition to this, the air-con of ‘William Wilberforce’ has stopped completely and we are having to endure the additional humidity and dust with the windows open. So now we are covered in red dust, sweat and flying insects. We battled on over these roads all day. The tarmac has finally finished and we are on the red earth roads that are typical all over Africa. The cars are getting filthy and we are getting filthy. The dust is getting everywhere and now we are camping, we don’t have the opportunity to wash. Our full schedule doesn’t permit the luxury of time so it’s a case of sleeping for a few hours and then pressing on.

We continued driving until way after dark with hope of reaching Koundara in Guinee. This involved crossing the border after nightfall. On arrival at the border we spent several hours there in a little hut illuminated by candlelight and a single bulb. Large insects were flying around the lights and the formalities seemed to take forever. It turns out we were missing a vital piece of paperwork and we would need a customs escort throughout Guinee. With the customs guy ready to go at around 10.30pm, we proceeded up an awesome track full over some of the most amazing potholes and ruts you’ve ever seen. We had to pick our way at walking speed for 33km. We were then informed that at the end of the track is another customs post were even more paperwork had to be completed. On arrival at the upper post, the population there were watching the Premier League on an outdoor TV and the place was heaving wih truck and vehicles of all types. The customs guy who had the necessary authority to release us was unavailable until the following morning, so we had to camp in 30C humidity and heat amonngst the trucks and people. So a short and sweaty night was had by all with many of the youngsters electing to sleep in the cars because of the insects.

We left the border around 9.00am but not after some emergency medical work. One of the Police at the border had fell off a motorbike several days earlier and badly burned his leg on the exhaust. It had become infected and asked if we could help. Our paramedic, Alison Olner, armed with some donated Smith & Nephew Bactigras bandages (especially for burns), treated his wounds. He was very grateful and even though clearly in a lot of pain, had his wound cleaned and dressed. He was given pain relief and antibiotics to help him on his way but he really needs a skin graft. I’m not sure if he can have this in Guinee and he may well loose his left if it gets infected again.

We then set off for the border with Sierra Leone. The roads here are very bad and the going is slow. It’s looking more and more live we are going to arrive in Sierra Leone on the 15th rather than the 13th as expected. This is a bitter blow to some of the team as they were hoping for more time in the country.

Things are tough now, the additional humidity makes everything an effort. We are all filthy, sweaty and in need of a shower and bed. We are camping today again and finding places to stop at night is not good. Were we are at the moment is crawling with ants and insects and has the odd cow wandering through the tents. However, we are near to our objective and we must carry on. The roads are a labourious series of ruts, potholes, ruts, potholes, ruts and potholes. Let’s hope the road improves becuase the pace is down to walking speed at times and we need to get to Sierra Leone for the 16th to catch our pre-booked flights home…

After a brief nights sleep, we awoke in our makeshift camp site to a crowd of curious locals who had gathered around to watch these strange white people take down their curious fabric houses! We arrived last night after crossing over a large river on a pontoon ferry. The ferry could hold four cars and people and was hand-cranked over the river and prevented from floating away by a system of steel wires. Crossing at night was surreal in the light of the headlights and head torches of the team. I’m sure by day it would have been a lovely view. We drove further on and having asked for directions and help, we inadvertently stumbled across the chief of the local village who kindly let us stay in the clearing where we camped last night. This is how it works in Africa…

The cars are covered in a think coating of red dust from the roads now and simply loading them gets you filthy. So after the application of many wet wipes after breakfast, we are now dirty again before we even turn a wheel. Great. So the day begins with hour after hour of pounding away at the road. Simply travelling on the correct side of the track is impossible as you have to weave around to avoid the huge potholes. It was whilst one of the vehicles was on the wrong side that a young motorcyclist and pillion came straight towards us a full speed around a blind bend. He was unable to take any avoiding action and crashed his bike directly in front of our car within inches of hitting it. Fortunately they had only a few minor injuries and Alison was at hand to patch them up. It was a sobering reminder for everyone as to how close we came to killing them and also the lack of local health care and police. We fixed his bike up enough for them to get themselves home and gave him some money to repair it properly. This is how it works in Africa…

Shortly after this incident we were stopped at a Douane Checkpoint (Customs Checkpoint) were our support vehicle Goliath had been for some time. It transpires that we have failed to get the appropriate paperwork at some point (we’re unsure as to how this has happened), but we now have to have a customs escort to Labe to see the controller of customs. After another hour of travel, we approach Labe which is quite a major town in this region. However, the road approaching it is quite the worse we’ve seen with massive ruts, rocks and bomb holes. Extraordinary.

The controller of customs couldn’t believe that we were allowed into the country without this paperwork and had to contact his superiors in the capital Conakory to check what to do. Claudio has been invaluable on this trip and even with his language skills we were negoiating for a couple of hours. The result being that we are in a political battle between the head of customs and the local customs people and we now have to present our case directly to the head in Conakary. This is completely in the wrong direction for us and will add on at least another half day to our already tight schedule. So now, great debate has started as to how we can claw back some time, visit the customs people in Conakary and still get through the border to Sierra Leone in time to make our flights on the 16th November. We decided against another all night driving episode and decided to crash out for a few hours in a local hotel and start again at 3.00am for the 9 hour journey to Conakary. This is how it works in Africa…

After a brief celebration it was great to be greeted by Philip Dean of St George, Kelfa from HANCI and Kallon from AmNet actually at the rope which separates Guinea from Sierra Leone. They had waited for 2 days there for us and the surprise celebration of 200 school children, military, dignitaries had to be cancelled because we were a day late. We are very sad about this, but delighted to have made it to Sierra Leone. We will all be together in Freetown tomorrow (15th November), but for now I only have the energy to write this and flake out in bed.

More tomorrow…

A massive day! We left the hotel in Labe around 3.30am after breakfast at 2.30am and headed to Conakory to present our case to the chief of customs for the whole of Guinea. Our armed customs escort came with us in the front seat of ‘William Wilberforce’ and must have said only five or six sentances the whole of the day. Accidents can happen so quickly on a trip like this and one of the drivers misjudged a corner down a twisty mountain road and skidded off it competely. Fortunately that particular corner didn’t have a drop on it and they were safe. A timely reminder that even towards to end of a trip you have to be so careful.

Many people had painted a picture of Guinee as a country full of gun weilding people and dangerous to drive through. The reality couldn’t have been different. In the morning light the roads were lined with palm trees and colourful people going about their everyday activities in peace and joy. All along this journey people wave at us when we drive through a village and here it is the same. Children were going to school in their colourful uniforms with their satchels, men and women were engaged in picture-postcard images of life in Africa. Colourful clothes, simple huts with reed roofs, women carrying all manner of things on their heads, and men working the land. Stunning and by far this was one of the highlights of the trip. As we approached Conakory, the scenary descended in the typical African-urban slum that we have become used to seeing. Litter everywhere, decay of the infrastructure, poor housing and overcrowding.

Our purpose of this 9 hour drive was to get to the centre of the city. This is a task and a half with five vehicles travelling in convoy, but we finally arrived in the port area of town and immediately entered into an argument with the Police and Customs over where to park the vehicles. Not a good start. The phrase ‘leave them over there and we’ll deal with it tomorrow’ was one we heard that set our minds racing with it’s consequences. However, Claudio was leading the negoiations and went to see the Chief women in her office behind her massive desk. We sat in the mid day heat for several hours, and having not eaten since 2.30am we made good use of the street sellers who were selling all manner of food. The sleep deprivation was setting in with lots of people getting edgy and cross. Finally Claudio arrived truimphant with news that we could go but we only had 2 and a half hours to get to the border before it closed and it was a 2hr drive to get there. Touch and go.

We drove the last miles to the border in darkness (again!) and the formalitles were simple now we had the correct paperwork and we were processed out of Guinea with some speed – enough to conceive the notion that we could make to to Freetown that night. How wrong we were.

The border with Sierra Leone was 2kms away over rough track and as we approached, we could make out lights and shouting in our direction. It was a welcoming committee from our recipients and they had been waiting at the border for 2 days! It was really great to see some familier faces such as Philp Dean from St. George who had been at the send off in Hull and Kelfa from HANCI. We took some photographs, shook hands over the border barrier rope and went off to process the passports. Getting the vehicles in Sierra Leone was always the final hurdle that could make our entire journey futile and being turned away was a real possibility. Fortunately Kalfa Kargbo from HANCI had been working away for many days to secure entry for the team and with only an hour or two’s delay we were finally stamped into Sierra Leone!

The entire time we had been awake at this point was 21 hours and even though the spirit was willing for all the flesh was weak for some. There was conflicting information on how long the drive to Freetown was. Some people said 2-3 hours and some said 5-6 hours. 50km of this was over very rough track and 90km was road. The team was split and it was finally decided that some would press on to Freetown and others would go to a small motel in Kambia near to the border. For the team that went ahead it ended up as a 6 hour drive which meant they eventually arrived at dawn in Freetown after a herculean 27 hours in the car. A massive effort in a massive day.

For those who stayed overnight in Kambia near the border with Guinea, we very quickly gained a full understanding of the need to give our recipients 4×4 vehicles.

In the first hour of our journey to Freetown, we encountered stuck minibuses, drowned out cars and a lorry which had fallen over because of the road conditions. We were quickly helping to winch out a stuck minibus massively overcrowded with people and their belongings. Much of the country is like this. There are good roads as well but in the rural areas which some of our recipients operate, the roads are almost impassible in the wet season even for a good 4×4.

Sierra Leone is a beautiful country with lush vegetation many palm trees and stunning hills and mountains. For those who travelled this challenging journey the night before they missed a treat. Before we arrived in Freetown, we stopped off at a small place called Kent. Much of the places in Sierra Leone sound like British names because of the previous connections with Britain until the 1960’s. This town houses a slave house and slave graves, and an Anglican church. The adjacent beach was awesome with white sands and picture postcard palm trees and coconuts. We were given a guided tour and allowed some time for reflection. For many it was a time to celebrate and for others it was a moving experience to get to Sierra Leone after many months of planning and building the project.

We drove into Freetown around dusk and as we passed through the streets we were waved at and greeted with perplexed looks, smiles and acknowledgements after the people read the livery on the vehicles which says ‘Hull UK to Freetown Sierra Leone’. We were told that many people believe it is not possible to drive from Hull to Freetown and that we are ‘Modern Day Conquerers’. Humbling but completely wrong of course!

We are now staying in the Hill Valley Hotel in the west side of town and will spend a few days meeting the recipients and seeing their projects first hand.

The first part of the team travel home today. We lose Dave Green, Richard Swain, Chrissy Moog, Mark Nicholson, Pauline Parker and Andy Stephenson, but not before experiencing the most hardcore off road we have yet to encounter.

Freetown is surrounded by steep mountains all around it. We visited ‘Primed’ today. They have a school and carpentry workshop up in the mountain and to get to it we had to negotiated some very steep climbs, descents, hugh boulders and ruts 2ft deep which required someone walking alongside the vehicles to spot the hazards. Amazing to think the most difficult roads we found were in Freetown. For the techies, it was definately time for low box all the way with the occasional use of the diff lock even…

Primed have a little school with around 100 pupils who gathered and treated us to singing, praying, drama and friendly greetings. It was very moving to see little children with so much hope in their eyes it made us all miss our own children as well as encourage us to continue to support their work.

After this we came down the mountain to briefly visit the office of HANCI before being ushered to the Mayor’s offices for a visit to see him and sign his visitor’s book. The Mayor of Freetown was one of the people who saw us off on the departure day event on October 25th and it was great to see him again in his home town. We parked the vehicles outside the office were a crowd steadily grew. The Mayor addressed the crowd to explain about who we were and what we were doing and led the crowd in a song of thanks. Great spontaneous stuff. We were then treated to a meal in a nearby restuarant and after unloading the vehicles we headed back to the Hotel for a well earned rest. Finally.