Light weight back section (and a light in the tent..!)

After a final weekend of car work the car is now almost ready to go.. (when we get the go-ahead!) apart from a couple more buys .. the list is endless!

The boys overhauled and refurbished the transfer box, upgraded the rear suspension, and added a light to the tent.. which means no precarious balancing with a torch on the way up the ladder.

They also added a few more lights in convenient places as well as some tie down points!

We finally found a light weight back section for the roof tent (Charles now just needs to sell our original one - message me if you are interested!!) - he picked it up in the week from a family who have already done the trip! Lots in interesting information was exchanged!

In the week we also had a great meeting with Fred Mutebi who is a woodcut printmaker from Uganda. We are hoping to visit him and spend some time with him planting mutuba trees to make barkcloth (see more on his website http://fredmutebi.org/about/curriculum-vitae/ ). We are very excited to do this!

If you have been following our face book site Where To Next Africa you will see Mandy and Rob have been cooking with the Dutch Oven! They will be professional very soon  -  very impressed!

Next weekend we will all (plus others!) will be at Billing Landrover Fest so if you are around come and say hi or have a look! It would be lovely to meet you!

Thank you Craghoppers

Clothing has been rather an issue for myself.. someone who gets burnt on a vaguely sunny day in the UK... trying to find clothing that has a high sun protection factor but is also wearable has been a problem in the past. Therefore when we got an email from a facebook post to Craghoppers offering help with clothing we jumped at the chance!

I already live in my Kiwi Pro Convertable Stretch trousers - they are a good length (trouser and short wise), smart (I wear them to work!), fit well and are easy to clean - so for myself and Mandy to get another pair was great as these are all we will be wearing next year - they have a solar shield technology also!

Craghoppers also do a Nosilife range, I had already purchased some of this range Base Short Sleeved T-shirt and Base Long Sleeved T-shirt- again they are light weight, cover the shoulders (and arms), have a solar shield and are mosquito repellent (great all across Africa!). In addition to this myself and Mandy will be wearing the Adayna Hooded Jacket for cold nights - again does have solar shield if worn in the day, and the mosquito repellent, but also has security zipped pockets! Finally we have received the short sleeved Polo T-Shirts which will be great for when we need to look presentable in the Embassies!

The boys also received their gear this week! Both have gone for the Nosilife range Convertible Trousers, Long Sleeved Shirt, and Polo shirt, which again all have solar shield as well as the mosquito repellent technology.

There are sill a few things that need to be bought - shoes, hats etc however thanks to the staff over at Craghoppers for all their support and help!

Keep liking our facebook page -Where to Next Africa -  for all the updates.. Rob and Charles are doing loads to the cars still and posting onto facebook more often than I can keep up on here!

(photo courtesy of Rob)

A quick update...

With a short amount of time before we leave things are hotting up.. money is flying out of the account, parts are being bought and fitted, and general things that we 'need' are arriving! All this is timed around Summer Term at school, moving out of our house and countless other things that seem to pop up during the summer months!!

Regarding the car, Rob and Charles have been fitting new parts: cam belt, new radiator, breather filter, breather hose, rocker cover gasket, water pump - the head gasket will be fitted this weekend along with anti-roll bars (I am told in luminous green!). We have to program key fobs still which fingers crossed will be done next week! Long weekends ahead....

We have bought from ebay a Garmin Montana 600 so we can load Tracks of Africa onto it - Rob is slightly ahead of us having done this already and says it looks amazing! Tracks are all marked out in fine detail so we look forward to having a copy of our own!

We are in the process of also ordering a new notebook to store and edit photos.. this is one thing I can actually have an input on as I half know what I am talking about!

I have been clothes buying.. have managed to get some mosquito repellent, UVA 40+ clothing from a well know brand at a good price - they are really comfortable and covering (good for me who sun burnt last weekend in the UK!).

We still have to look into and buy insurance (we have been told approximately £800/person), and the Carnet for the car, as well as a train crossing to France which cannot be done until Charles and Mandy receive their UK Citizenship (time is ticking!!).

Finally Charles and Rob have been very kind to myself and Mandy and bought us pop up shower tents... it's the little luxuries!

I will keep trying to update more regularly than I have been - things happen every day, so I try to wait for a whole lot of things to write about before I do!!

Keep liking Where to Next Africa on facebook as this is updated by Rob very regularly!

Medical Kit

Today we received the bits and pieces for our medical kit... Thank you to DS medical who provided us with the kit!
Having spoken to Peter (the first-aider), various doctors and looking at other blogs a list was compiled and added to.
We still need to stock up on various over the counter drugs... and sun cream, however we are getting there!

For a comprehensive list please either post with your email address, or ask on the Where to Next Africa face book page!

Childhood memories revisited - a trip to Devon and Cornwall...

Over the Easter holidays was drove down to Land's End and back over a period of a week. This was the last long camping trip we are going to do before we head off!

Starting in the New Forsest we stayed at  Green Pastures Farm which was a great campsite central to different parts of the New Forest. Here we were joined by Charles and Mandy's family for the weekend.

Once they had left us we zipped down to Dartmouth were we stayed at Little Cotton Campsite which was near to Dartmouth Harbour. We stayed a night here, did a little bit of exploring and then moved on. The campsite was brilliant - lovely people and amazing facilities!

From here we spent the day in Penzance, we went for a walk and stopped off for a drink in a lovely little pub. From here we kept going towards Land's End and we ended up in a fantastic campsite near Sennen Cove - Trevedra Farm Campsite - this campsite was a 10 minute walk from the beach and about half a days walk to and from Land's End. The staff were so friendly and accommodating and the cafe/shop was a definite bonus!

Finally we headed back up towards Devon, not before stopping off at Polzeath. We went here because this is where I spent a lot of my childhood holidays.. we saw the house my Grandparents used to own - it had changed! However the beauty of the place had not changed and the beach was lovely - great surf - with lots of activity! From here we stayed 2 nights at Westacott Farm which was near Bideford. We spent a day in Clovelly which was lovely and spend some time walking to nearby pubs! Again the campsite was great - amazing value and very friendly staff!

Over the week Charles and I used the Disco as if we were away - we packed a box of clothes each, which was more than enough (enough to last us a week without washing), used the inverter to charge electronic devices and many other bits and pieces. The space in the landrover is usable, especially now Charles has added the extra shelving unit in the back - stops things moving about and allows for more boxes to be stored. We learnt that in the wind we need to keep the side flaps down as this cuts the noise down (simple little things!) and also that the tent is wind proof!

We cooked with the pot - Rob made a great mince and pasta dish - and with the cooking in general we planned out meals and kept left overs (and ate alot of spam!). We all lived on porridge in the mornings which definitely set us up for a day of exploring/driving.

Now we are back we are adding final touches to the car - Charles wants to change transfer box, give it a service and other bits and bobs - busy busy! Not long to go now.. just waiting for passports etc!

A slight diversion...

As for those of you who follow the Where to Next Africa you may have read that myself, Charles and Rob are taking a day off of worrying about the trip to complete Roughrunner, a 5K cross country obstacle course on 17th May.

We are doing it for Clean Slate a charity near to us (in Upper Heyford, Oxfordshire), which works with adults and children who have suffered through mental, physical, sexual and emotional abuse. I volunteer with the Youth Service which runs sessions focusing on key points and self esteem. It is a charity which does amazing work- please click the link to see their website and find out more Clean Slate.

We are looking for donations so anything donated would be much appreciated - even just to ensure Rob and Charles are running over those obstacles!!!

Please click the link to donate.

Donate!

Thank you!

Housekeeping!

We have been thinking and also beginning to buy different bits and pieces to make life a little more comfortable in the landrover...

The first thing was the sleeping.. We have been debating over different sleeping bags etc for months - how many seasons,  double or single (luckily not the colour!). We ended up going back to our standard GoOutdoors.. Mandy and Rob had already bought two sleeping bags from there that could be zipped together so we knew we couldn't go wrong. Off we trotted and spoke to a very informative employee and ended up buying two Vango starlight SQ sleeping bags which can be zipped together. We chose them mainly because of the tog, the season and also the feel of them. We firstly used them in the house (not the best idea in a heated house!) and then last weekend. It is safe to say they are great - warm, comfortable and easy to pack. We did also buy a mosquito net, however it was forgotten.. That will be fixed next week when we drive along the North Coast of Cornwall!

The second thing we are thinking of getting is a duel fuel cooker - again Rob being he organised self has bought one which we used to cook breakfast last week. It was great, so we have been researching and looking out for one! Hopefully we will have one by next week!

I am on my Easter break now - perks of the job - so I am getting on with buying the First aid kit, we have a long list from Peter who undertook our first aid course (see earlier post for details to book him!), so I will be taking a close look! Also charles and I have been talking about clothing and sun cream... Watch this space..

Any way we are heading out with Mandy and Rob next week for some camping along the North coast of Cornwall. Please feel free to follow our trip on our Facebook page - where to next africa - or suggest places for us to camp/visit. If you are in the area please also come arrange to meet us!