Hi Everyone.....So....the trip was cancelled because of Al-Qaeda...Rubbish. But we will do something next year, bigger and better as well!  Thanks for all your support. More importantly the raffle for the Errant Surf Holiday to South Africa is still on and you only need to donate £2 or more here, to be in with a chance of winning. So tell everyone, there will not be better odds on winning anything ever than this right here!!! 

Our Trip For Shelterbox

On Boxing Day 2009 we are setting off from our home in sunny Cornwall and attempting to drive to The Gambia, West Africa, as part of the 09/10 Plymouth-Dakar Rally. See www.plymouth-dakar.co.uk for more details. 

As you can see from the photos above, our expedition vehicle is a 1991 Volkswagen Polo ('Minty'). Her 1.3 petrol engine has covered just over 200,000 miles in its life and for two years previous to us taking ownership Minty resided unused and unloved in a farmers barn. Rescued from the scrappers Minty has been brought back to road legal status and is now bound for a new life in The Gambia.

The rally takes place over the festive period and into January. We will be covering around 4000 miles across mainland Europe, down through Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal and into The Gambia. The rally is completely unsupported, with no mechanics, medics, support crew or backup.

At the end of the rally the vehicles are handed to a control committee who auction them (what's left!) off for charity, with all of the money going to local schools and projects in The Gambia. Unbelievably these cars which have virtually no value in the UK raise good money in Africa due to the high demand for vehicles.

Over the lifetime of this event happening the vehicles auctioned off in The Gambia have raised nearly £1,000,000!

Once in Africa, the roads will be poor, the going tough, the distances intimidating and the heat insufferable. We will have to endure a three day crossing of the Sahara Desert, issues with landmines in Western Sahara and Mauritania is currently on the Foreign Office advisory list of countries not to travel to (unless essential) because of 'terrorist' concerns.

All in all, it will be a hell of a journey and an incredible experience, and we would very much like to use the rally as a vehicle to raise some much needed cash (aside from the car auction) for our nominated charity Shelterbox.

How you can help

The easiest way to help us is to donate via this website, as an added bonus Errant Surf Holidays have provided a free surfing holiday to South Africa as part of a free raffle to anyone who donates over £2 towards our cause. All terms and conditions can be found here http://www.errantsurf.com/pages/plymouth-gambia-surf-rally 

If that wasn't enough of an incentive, an independent film maker will be shooting, editing and producing a DVD documentary of our entire road trip through Europe and West Africa, due out Summer 2010. We will be sending out a free copy to anyone who donates over £10.

So please sponsor us, and help us on our drive to Africa. Every penny donated will be a massive boost to us on the way. Knowing that we are doing some good whilst digging our car out of a sand dune in 40º heat will be the motivation for us to get to the end, even if we end up pushing the car to The Gambia (a worringly possible scenario!!).

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - we raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.

Thanks and we look forward to seeing you on the other side!!