As you probably all know John Oates and I are off to the Gambia overland in a £20 rust bucket. In order to make some sense of why we are doing this and to give us a little bit of purpose in our venture we have decided that this would be an ideal opportunity to raise money for charity.

Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor our chosen charity - Médecins Sans Frontières UK. By using the Just Giving service MSF UK will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you (you should be aware that Justgiving do charge a 5% fee for their service).

There will be occasional updates on our progress on John's website - www.theregister.co.uk - and we hope to complete the 4,000 mile journey in around 3 weeks.

So please sponsor us now! Any donation will do and if you think anybody else would be interested please feel free to pass this on.

Many thanks for your support.

Alexei and John PS you can find a map of the route here: http://drewsweb.net/pdc04/routemain.htm And more details on the rally here: http://www.plymouth-dakar.co.uk/