The Plymouth Dakar Challenge is a 4000 mile rally that doesn't start in Plymouth and doesn't end in Dakar. Our steed is a 25-year old Renault 4 van that we bought off a Frenchman called Didier for 400 quid.
 
Our adventure begins in Bristol. Rest assured we have both been to Plymouth, albeit once, and know it to be only a fairly nice place. From Bristol we head to Dover, via mum's house for Christmas. Roaring off the ferry in a cloud of smoke, and with three weeks' of turkey sandwiches in the back, we travel down through France and Spain and then cross into Africa from Gibraltar. Here’s where it gets interesting... our faithful van will take us on through Morocco (van haters), Western Sahara (buriers of land mines), Mauritania (sword wielders), Senegal (which, in case you were wondering, is where Dakar is) and finally our journey ends in Gambia (full of friendly folk with a penchant for clapped out bangers).  We will then sell our trusty friend, the van (not James) and donate the money to a local charity. Who knows, maybe we’ll sell it to some Gambian charlies wanting to try their hand at a Dakar to Plymouth Rally...

There are three characters in this challenge:  Matt, James and Bernard. Bernard was made in 1984 by a Gaulois-smoking son of a Morrocan goatherd, so this will be an emotional journey for him as well. Bernard is named after the late great Field Marshall Bernard Law Montgomery, who was small, powerful and invaded Africa. Bernard has already come with us on a journey through the complicated world of amateur mechanics. In short, Bernard doesn’t currently work. We think we have fixed the problems that he had when he first came to us back in June. Now all we have to do is fix the problems we created whilst trying to fix the problems that he had when he first came to us back in June.
 
We have a ferry to catch on Boxing Day.

Wish us luck, and thanks for your support!