We are delighted to report that the Mourne Men have this morning arrived safety back to Base Camp!! Looking fit and tanned (well, looking tanned anyway!) the lads are glad to be home to their ‘wee country’.
We hope Richard & Andrew will be able to write their final log to the website within the next few days, but from everyone here at Base Camp, it’s goodnight from me, and it’s goodnight from him!
We had arranged to meet Capt Sam Ojo, Captain of the two Boys’ Brigade companies in the Gambia. Unfortunately, he was held up in a meeting, and by the time he arrived at our hotel, Andrew had gone for a swim, so I went on my own.We’re seeing them again on Monday, so Andrew can meet Sam and the Kids then.5th Banjul Boys’ Brigade is a small company, situated in a very poor suburb of Banjul. But the company is going from strength to strength. When I arrived, the kids formed up, paraded around, and all the while their BB Band was beating out a tune.I had the honour of inspecting the parade, and then congratulated them and passed on greetings from Down Battalion of the Boys’ Brigade.Then, as we had a lot of equipment on Disco to dispose of, I gave it to Capt Sam for distrubution, and among the items we had brought were a number of parcels of clothing.The kids were delighted with their new clothes with the tracksuits and Sabaru jackets being especially well recieved. Soberingly, every child got a pen and a toilet roll. And it was amazing to see how much so simple a gift meant to them.
As previously reported, we’ve finished the hard part of the challenge and now we’re spending a few days relaxing whilst waiting for a flight home.
Some folk managed to fly home yesterday by waiting as standby passengers, including Trish from The Scribes, so now our happy band has reduced in numbers to just Richard & Andrew (the Mourne Men), Ruth (50% of the Scribes), Mike & Glenn ( 40% Griffin Boys), Paul & Mike (Don’t Follow Us, We’re Lost Too), The Young 60’s, Roaring 40’s and other assorted teams dotted around The Gambia.
Yesterdays parade through the town was tremendous fun. At first we just beeped horns, sounded Klaxon’s and waved, but by the end, as confidence grew, I was hanging out of a door, standing on a door, and eventually standing on the roof of Disco being driven through the capital city of Banjul. Where else in the world can you stand on the roof of a moving car, salute a policeman (who is stopping traffic for you), and he’ll salute you back shouting “Good job boss man!” Thankfully no one fell of, despite the potholes and bumps, though Guv and I almost got wiped out when Andrew forgot about us on the roof and drove under a low tree! Still. No harm done!
Today at 4pm-ish, we hope to meet Capt. Sam Ojo of the Boys’ Brigade in The Gambia.
Hopefully we’ll get to present him with some equipment and gifts for the children. We’ll bring a camera.
PS - Thanks to everyone for all the comments. Kind or otherwise. We’ve had a good laugh reading them, and it’s nice to know that when we’re far from home, people are still thinking of us. Keep ‘em coming!
Richard & Andrew
We’re in Banjul, and can’t fly home until Tue 5th Feb. Every flight out is full. We didn’t stay in the official hotel - it’s not great, and expensive.
Instead, ourselves, The Scribes, The Double Excells and Ginger & the Turk all checked into a fairly nice hotel, with hundreds and hundreds of rooms. Weirdly, we’re the only guests there. The same member of staff works in reception, the bar, serves breakfast, fixed the hot water…
A couple of ex-pats in the know reckon that the empty hotel is a bit shady, so tomorrow, when ginger & Turk and the double Excells leave, we’ve booked into a very nice hotel, in a decent part of town, and should be right next door to some other teams, including Glenn & Mike, the two remaining Griffin Boys.
This afternoon, we’re getting a police escort, and are parading through the town in a cavalcade. We even get to drive through the Presidential Arch, which is an honour only reserved for the President, a few VIPS, and dozens of bangers from the UK!
***NEWSFLASH!***NEWSFLASH!***NEWSFLASH!***NEWSLASH!***
Have just received confirmation from Reuters: The Mourne Men have arrived in Banjul!! In the words of their good friend Neil…”That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
Please keep in touch for an imminent live update to the website from Richard & Andrew.
(PS If you zoom in the below map you can see ‘Disco’ disembarking from the boat at Banjul Harbour!)
10.30am - Have just spoken with Richard & Andrew. All has gone well with their journey through the northern part of Senegal, and they are now heading down through Senegal, and then will make a ferry journey over to Banjul, which they hope to reach in the next couple of days. Once they reach Banjul, they then have to deal with the hardest part of the entire adventure………parting company with ‘Disco’! But we know the boys are strong - and they’ll be there for each other!
Base Camp would encourage anyone who has been keeping track of the Mourne Men on this website to ‘register’ (see right-hand side column) and leave them a ‘comment’ as they approach the end of their trip. Thanks.
After a very difficult few days, we’ve crossed the Sahara.
As was hinted in our text messages, the police in Dakhla weren’t too friendly at first. It seems they though we might be spies! I even was taken out of the vehicle one dark night, and questioned for a bit in a hut by 6 policemen…not very pleasent when I speak very poor french, and they can’t speak English either! The campsite owner made a few calls, and the Chief of Police, the Chief of CID and the Head of Scientific Policing came to visit that night with their translator, and after a meal of some unspecified meat, everyone left friends! The Chief was especially pleased with his souveniers from Northern Ireland, and gave us a letter of recommendation to help us through police roadblocks on our journey to Banjul. We were waved through all checkpoints after that!
Next afternoon, Andrew and I were waiting in line at the Morrocan/Mauratania border, when we got called to the head of the queue. There, behind the clerk was the Chief! A couple of stamps, and a handshake later, we were on our way. No hanging about at all, and waved through customs. The Chief must have been a BB Boy!
After Morracan formalities, we have to cross the minefield in no-mans land, quite exciting, and no fatalities!
Crossing the Sahara was tough going, with a few of the cars in our group really struggling. The Scribes little car, Zee-Zou, burnt out it’s clutch on day one, and had to be towed for a while to the camp site. The Double Excell team reckoned their 4 litre jeep could tow it the whole way, but later in the crossing, when they developed engine trouble, hard decisions had to be made. As Zee-Zou wasn’t moving, we had to tow him off the piste, and laid him to rest between two sand dunes. The girls moved all their stuff into our Land Rover, and a couple of other teams moved their stuff onto us to make room to carry the girls. We were loaded to the gunnels and very heavy at the back, we risked getting stuck on soft sand, but with plenty of revs and speed, our old girl skimmed across the top. Unfortunately at one point the soft sand changed into a rocky ridge, and our Discovery soared into the air before gracefully touching down in a manoever that almost shook the fillings from our teeth!
With the Double Excells engine bother, we couldn’t risk their vehicle calving, as that would strand some of the convoy, so rather than the 80km to the beach, we headed the 80km to an asphalt road, where at least they could be rescued much more easily in the event of further incident.
In the end, the Doubles could drive their car for about 4km, let it cool for 10 minutes, and drive another 4km. A very tiring and stressful way to cross a desert I can assure you, however, we all pulled together, and came out the other side stronger friends than we went in. So all in all, a great success!
We should have finished driving yesterday at 4pm but it was midnight before we reached Nouckchott and our auberge where a tagine was waiting for us!
We slept like logs, and today, we’re having a well deserved rest.
Tomorrow? Senegal, and a nightmare of a border crossing!
Don’t panic……dont’ panic Captain Mainwaring - we have finally had contact with Richard and Andrew!!
Base Camp spoke with them last night and we are pleased to report that they have now crossed into Mauritania. They were just about to tuck into their tea, which we must say did not sound all that pleasant - sand covered bread and camel - which they had bought fresh that morning by the side of the road! Yum yum!
We detected that the boys were a little frustrated with the horrendous levels of sand that had made its way into every part of the car, and every item within the car. Needless to say Richard and Andrew were also well covered in sand - yes it did indeed get everywhere!
The boys seemed to have a ‘eventful’ journey through the Western Sahara, and have assured Base Camp that they will never again complain about getting sand into their shoes when they go for a walk along the beach in Newcastle!
We trust, like ourselves, readers will now sleep much better knowing that communication has been re-established with the Mourne Men.
All quiet on the Western Sahara Front!!
Unfortunately we have been unable to contact Richard & Andrew for a couple of days now as they are currently driving across the Sahara Desert. It’s either that, or they’ve just decided to put their mobiles onto ‘always busy’! As we are sure you can appreciate, those of you readers that know the boys, not speaking to them in recent days has been difficult for Base Camp. The team here are currently having counselling, so hopefully we’ll cope until we speak to them again! As they say……no news is good news…..and we’re holding onto that!
Thanks
On a more serious note - please continue to remember Richard & Andrew in prayer as they journey through the more ‘challenging’ section of their adventure.
