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Yesterdays route is here:

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Sms Yesterday we stayed @ Hotel Mirador.net where our bikes have been stored. Dennis was unwell so went 2 bed at 6pm. We had our first group beer + food - nice

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Sms Yesterday\'s route is here: http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=81082 Happy Birthday Daniel!

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Sms Drove over 850km today (14.5 hrs)down to Burgos, Spain. We\'re averaging 22mpg (with trailer) & the L200 is doing 28. Arrived \0 hotel at 12pm. Alll well.

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Sms View yesterday\'s route here: http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?&id=81000

(Thanks to Jordi)

Friday 29th

Travelled down from Paul's house in London to www.loirechateau.com. We arrived at the Chateaux at 9.30pm to a fabulous reception from our hosts (Corina and Dave). Dave works with Paul and we really were just expecting a floor for the night - maybe even in the stable, but that's not what we ended up with. Basically it's a faithfully restored 1797 French Renaissance Chateau and we were wined and dined to suit... Fab!
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The Very Approximate Plan...

27/28th December. David Hale will be taking the scoots down to southern Spain in his Sprinter van. This is in advance of the team setting off in the two 4x4s on the 28th down through France to Algeciras, Spain.

30th December. Cross into Morocco

31st December. New Year in Chefchouan.

1st-5th Jan. Transit Morocco via Rabat & Marrakesh

6th-10th. Jan. Transit Mauritania. Some via desert route

11th-16th Jan Transit Senegal. Stop at Zebra Bar for R&R.

17th ish. Arrive in Gambia

18th-24th Jan Deliver scoots & 4x4s. Maintenance of previous scoots, etc.

25th Jan. Fly home.

The Team

Dennis, Oblertone, Speggo, Elaine, Jo, John, Cogs, Rev Chuck

Also Jaq & MrIfan will be flying out to join us in Gambia.

Injections and things

Last week I had the last of my injections for this trip. The list I've had are:

1. Hep B injections (day 0, 7,21)
2. Hep A
3. Rabies (day 0, 7, 28)
4. Yellow Fever (>10 days before travelling)
5. Mengococcal (1 injection)
6. BCG (for Rabies) (1 injection) + a mantoux test to see if the BCG is required (it was for me)
7. Typhoid (1 injection)
8. Dyptheria, Tetanus, Polio (1 combined injection)

i.e. 13 injections plus daily malaria tablets (Malarone).

This whole process has taken over 6 weeks, but now it's done.
The Malerone has to be taken 2 days before entering the area, for the period you are there plus 7 days afterwards. So for 10 days in Senegal/Gambia thats 2+10+7 or 19 days worth of Malerone.

Yesterday's ride

See it here.....<iframe frameBorder="0"
src="http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/spatialArtifacts.do?event=view&id=76030&measures=off&title=off&near=off&images=off&maptype=S"
width="400px" height="400px"></iframe>
This is a test to check the process for posting the wikiloc onto my blog....

I hope it works Jordi....-;
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We're not "Riders for Health"...

That's another group who appear to be doing something similar to us. There have been a few articles in The Times over the past few days and they even mention Gambia and specifically Bansang Hospital.

You can read about their projects here:

"Dream machines" www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/times_appeal/article2947773.ece

"Transporting medicines across Africa" www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/times_appeal/article2924976.ece

"Get the motor running for a charity that bikes for life" www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/times_appeal/article2987967.ece

"Money and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/leading_article/article2980357.ece

they certainly have caught the imagination of the Moto GP Stars. What's the chances we'll bump into one of them when we're down there...? It's great that The Times have chosen "Riders for Health" as their 2007 Christmas Appeal.

Our trip is very much a lower profile initiative and we are giving our time and expertise as well as money for this trip. We have been brought together through the forums of the totally excellent www.ukgser.com/ website.

Just one of the reasons for out trip is to perform any fettling of the bikes taken out the first time this trip was run (2 years ago) to ensure they are running OK. And to have fun getting there of course! You can buy a book about the first trip written by Dennis Robinson here: http://www.scootersinthesahara.co.uk/

2nd team meet

Last weekend there was a prep meeting at Steve & Elaine's place in Essex. The following were there:

Old Grumpy, Oblertone, Cogs, OneTrack (obviously) & Elaine

Others who didn't make it this time were MrIfan, Jo & Rev Chuck.

However all bar one of the bikes were assembled there by top man David Hale.
David has been travelling all over the country in his van to assemble these machines.

He's also taking them down to the bottom of Spain on Xmas day (well maybe +/- 1 day) and then driving back of course.

Cost to us? £0.00. Really. WHAT a bloke....
Dave should do everything he can to actually ride next time.



Oblertone is chuffed to bits with his leopard skin seat.

Wonder if his employers know he's actually colour blind.

Good job he's not that important really...







Speggo, Dave and Old Grumpy checking which bikes have working suspension.

Bert was there too. He's made a valuable contribution also to C90s before his third mission out to Mali.