Many Thanks to Mike Todd and all at TTC  Communications Limited who have just pledged the £200 needed to tip us over our target.

Thank you everyone who has donated It's made a very stupid venture worthwhile.

Camera found! More pics to follow

Well, we did it, despite blowing the engine up on the second day (during an ill advised drag race with a new Mercedes) and suffering the stress of having Clarence the lion kidnapped, (thank you for your messages of support during a particularly harrowing time, he was returned safely two days later) We reached North Africa on Wednesday and had a *in at the deep end* experience with Moroccan customs and form filling. The gentle drive along the coast from the Port did little to prepare us for the madness of North Afican traffic. Driving in town was even worse. We found that the best policy was to use other vehicles as a shield and *floor it*

We had a fantastic night in Tangiers with some very colourful local types (details to follow) If we'd known what a task it was going to be finding the hotel in Casablanca we probably would have laid off the pop though.

We had been told to head for the tall tower. Easier said than done. A tip for you all, ALWAYS keep a compass in your glovebox. Wish we'd had one. For one reason and another, arriving at our destination was quite emotional. A feeling of real achievement. Seeing a few other rally cars in the carpark was nice too. We started to root for some of the other teams and it was great to see that they'd made it.

After the prize giving at the organisers hotel we went out for a meal of odd little fish that we didn't recognise from previous trips to the chippy. Then back to the terrace bar at our hotel to achieve an advanced state of refreshment with some of the other drivers.

Friday morning was an early start with Ian and Dave sharing the driving. Fortunately the process of getting back into Spain involved far less paperwork. However it involved so many security checks that it became funny. Ian drove from the port to Malaga airport where they bailed to get a flight back. Gary and I then drove through the night back to Calais. We saw machine gun toting soldiers turning over some of the other cars at one point and as we stood admiring the sunrise with a coffee somewhere in Northern Spain a pack of wolves ambled by. At this point we decided that we were probably safer in the car.

Gary pulled one of his infamous *shortcuts* out of the bag and managed to get us around Paris without too much difficulty. Again we underestimated quite how long it takes to get from Paris to Calais. That was the worst part of the journey I think. We were really tired and it seemed to go on for ever.

We got the ferry at 9.00pm on Saturday 23 hours after leaving the others in Malaga, something like 38 hours after leaving Casablanca. At 10pm we were standing in the Crispin in Sandwich having our promised pint. Once my camera surfaces I'll post a photo. Meanwhile you'll have to make do with a photo of the first Camel that we saw. I'm trying to get some of the photos uploaded to the stratford stomper site. Meanwhile you can see a video of us all leaving the day two starting point here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujeUVRAeuZQ it'll give you a taste of the madness.

A huge thank you to everyone who has donated. There's alittle more to come in and I think that we'll reach our original target. We're putting together a diary with the photographs and we'll send out notification when it all goes live. Ian is having to try and get his film from celluloid to a digital format which might hold things up a bit. Bear with us, it'll be worth it (I hope)

best wishes

The Stompers

I'm not too sure whose idea this was..I dimly remember an evening in reminiscence corner (a similar corner can be found in most pubs wherever two or more old schoolfriends gather) when it suddenly seemed a good idea to celebrate our entry into our 5th decade with a bit of a road trip. Naturally it follows that if you're going on a road trip it might as well be a long one.  So here we are. A Banger Rally from Calais to Casablanca in a car bought for £100. Furthermore it is our intention, once we've taken a photo of a camel, to turn around and drive it straight back again. We leave on Sunday 24th June 2007 and plan to be in the Crispin in Sandwich, Kent in time for last orders on Saturday 30th (reasonably safe in the knowledge that we'll be the only customers who've driven from Africa for a pint, although you can never be too sure in Sandwich)

We've decided that we'd like to raise a bit of money for the Motor Neurone Disease Association. A organisation that help people who are dealing with this particularly spiteful affliction. So please dig deep.

Some more information about the rally can be found at http://www.calais2casablanca.com/index.esp

Hopefully if we can get ourselves aquainted with 21st Century technology you'll be able to follow our progress on www.stratfordstompers.co.uk

Now, where's my RAC card..........