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Day 1 - 29 December 2008
Crich, Peak District, United Kingdom
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The first leg of our journey, though detached
from the rest by some months, certainly wasn’t devoid of
interesting anecdotes. Indeed, it represented some notable
contrasts.
We began at the Heart of Midlothian, a heart mosaic set into the
ground on the Royal Mile, Edinburgh, which holds emotional and
patriotic significance for Scots. This was the point at which
Neil’s dad, Alex, began his trip in 1969 so it also held personal
significance for us.
This is the first contrast. Alex and his friend David didn’t stand
on the heart with a GPS plotting their precise location and
digitally recording and mapping their trip from the very
beginning. Neither did they have the facts that we have about the
number of miles they would travel, the route they would take, the
amount of money they would spend, or how long they would be on the
road. In more ways than one, they were the ones taking the risks,
without any technology options at their finger tips.
However, what Alex had then and what Neil has now, is the heart
for adventure and the desire to spread their wings and see Africa
and her people. This is what brought us back to this mosaic heart
forty years later.
We had to dodge our way to the heart, on foot, through a throng of
people carrying burning torches. This was apparently an annual
event in Edinburgh linked to ancient pagan rituals and it
certainly added to the surreal nature of the moment.
With the GPS mapping of our Great Trek South ceremonially begun,
we set off the following day back down to London.
Here was the next contrast. The temperature was seven below zero.
Mpudi’s rear wheel was covered in frost and his windows were solid
with ice. If only this was all. We had to scrape the inside of the
windows and cope with no heating as we travelled down through the
Lake District. Needless to say, we gradually put on most of the
clothes in our suitcases, bought socks and hot water bottles in
the nearest supermarket and asked for them to be filled in the
nearest services. Neil was driving in skiing gloves and hat.
Catherine lost her feet after about half and hour and didn’t
rediscover them until we arrived in Crich (near Derby) in the evening.
We didn’t miss the irony of the situation, and decided to enjoy
it. It would be air conditioning, not heating, that we would be
regretting for most of our trip. Mpudi will spend his months
covered in dust, not ice. We were glad that the leg from Scotland
felt utterly British and wintry. A fitting start.
Beautiful too, as we drove through the Lakes, with a clear blue
sky and afternoon winter sun shining on the water, which was
partially frozen. There will be days on our trip when we will look
back at those photos and feel nostalgia for the cold and for how
stunning Britain can be.
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Day 2 - 2 January 2009
London, United Kingdom
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| After spending a wonderful New Year in the Peak
District with Catherine's old university friends (plus significant
others) we headed back home to London to end the first leg of our
journey.
Although we are still months off from starting the trip proper,
there is nevertheless a sense of excitement having had our first
taster. It's now New Years
2009 - who knows where we will be in Africa to bring in 2010.
We'll be picking up day 3 sometime in September 2009... |
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Day 3 - 11 November 2009
Exeter, United Kingdom
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| We drove to Exeter on 14th
September to spend a final ten days with Catherine’s parents
before heading off on our adventure. We had a lovely time
finishing off projects for the car and visiting some beautiful
Devon spots in the glorious sunshine.
However, as most of you will know these ten
days ended up turning into ten weeks as an unexpected sequence of
events delayed our departure.
On 24th September, as we headed
to London to collect our camping equipment, we had a crash which
resulted in Mpudi, our trusty Landy, being very badly damaged.
This was a traumatic time as, for a while, we thought that out
dreams and plans had been dashed.
However, we found Foley’s Specialist
Vehicles, in Essex, who gave us the option of rebuilding our Land
Rover in a safe manner. Foleys are a very well known outfit in the
UK and have been building Land Rovers for many years.
This was an amazing option as it meant that
we could save everything mechanical from our original car,
including all the custom interior bits which Neil has spent so
long designing and making. Paul and Stuart at Foleys were
fantastic and turned us around within 3 weeks. We spent a further
3 weeks finishing off the car in Exeter and then finally left on
November 25th.
Despite the fact that these few weeks were
challenging for us as our plans had to be re-thought, we were
amazingly looked after in Exeter. We feel very grateful this time
and extremely indebted to Catherine’s parents who so willingly let
us stay. They fed us, counselled us, allowed us to take over their
entire house with our belongings and projects, gave us endless
wise advice and supported us greatly through an emotionally
difficult time. We all got to know each other very closely and we
will always look back fondly on this time, especially when we are
living far away.
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