Flat tyres, but up-beat Wheelers

Posted Sunday, February 04, 2007, 5:25 PM by Lonely Planet

Day 1: Tony and Maureen Wheeler get their Mitsu on the road for the Plymouth to Banjul rally.

Friday 2 February
Our 'trusty' (I'm going to keep saying that) Mitsubishi sat by a wall in the Dorset village. I'd handed over the £350 (yes, we'd paid more than the target £100), it was ours. The trouble was we couldn't see it in the dark, but we get in, I turn the key, it starts, so we drive away. The next morning, in daylight, it looks OK, apart from the flat tyre. But even if there had been air in the spare it would have done us no good if we'd had a puncture, there was no jack.

Next day we drive back to London and circle around various car places to find a jack and a few other vital necessities. Friday 2 February we leave central London and head south, passing so many African hairdressers, African restaurants and African phone card shops it scarcely seems necessary to drive to Africa. At Folkestone we drive on to the Eurotunnel train, no time wasted, we get on standby on the first train going, and 35 minutes later drive away in Calais.

By 6pm we are 400km from London and it's dark, drizzling with rain and the wipers don't seem to work. Make it to Alençon for the night where we stay in what feels like a cheap rural American motel (costs €44) and 'enjoy' a meal that proves even the French can do dull food when they put their minds to it.

- Tony Wheeler

Track progress and view a map of the route here.

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