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Just after the parade through Banjul. The fire engine of "Pugh, Pugh, Barney, McGrew, Ian, Darren and Pete" - with lights, siren, and Bing Crosby blazing - was used to muscle our way through busy traffic, with the enthusiastic encouragement of a Police officer who perched on the roof.
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A football match in the Gambia, kindly organised by Geri and Maurice at the Safari Gardens Hotel. The final score was 3-4 to the Gambia, with all three English goals scored by a defected Gambian.
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"Terminal 3" of Tendaba "Airport", which turned out to be nothing but a sandy flat patch with cows.
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Clive extracurricular. Once the novelty of cold beer, non-canned food, beds, showers and toilets had worn off - which took some time - we stripped the CliveMobile and headed up river for some hard safari action, with the grim hope of finishing it off in a blaze of danger. Villagers, used to seeing tourists being guided along the routes in Land Rovers, seemed genuinely startled by the car's disco-like appearance and absolute unsuitability for jungle off-roading.
The CM turned out the be a safari whore and loved it all, scraping it's way along in any direction suggested with great vigour like some sort of land torpedo. We saw two monkeys, a stick insect, some squirrels and a bemused park warden. |
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| The CliveMobile croc-hunting on the banks of the River Gambia. In the words of Croc John, the amazing crocodile wrestling ex-SAS ex-pat with whom we stayed in Banjul: "You'll see a croc, unless it sees you first, in which case you won't." As it turned out, the most terrifying thing was saw was a pelican from quite a long way away. |
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| Sam and Manlafi from TARUD, the organisation to we were supporting on the event, outside Gunjur, which is twinned with Marlborough in Wiltshire. TARUD turned out to be a very worthy cause indeed, carrying out genuinely life-changing projects in a very poor area. They work to encourage home-scale enterprise, allowing community members to make a basic living, as well as supporting a huge range of health care, educational, child care and agricultural projects. Thanks to all our sponsors, who helped us to raise well over £1000. It will go a very long way. |
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| A tearful last look back at the CliveMobile as we left Safari Gardens Hotel for the last time. It had covered 4500 miles without a single mechanical issue, and taken far more of a battering than any car ever ought to. The best car in the world? Almost certainly. It later sold for £300 in the charity auction... not quite as much as we had hoped for, but still six-times what we paid for it. Amazingly, its new owners continued its amazing voyage around Africa. See http://overland.naomba.com for their tales. |
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| Back in drizzly Bris'ol, along with Pete and Ian from "Pugh, Pugh, Barney, McGrew, Ian, Darren and Pete" and Matt from "The Rocket". Ian, christened "Les Danger", was awarded the SCR prize for "exceptional achievements in the field of danger" for his impressive efforts throughout the PD. |
Clive Aid
Contacts
Clive's Corner
Current galavants:
'08 Iron Curtain Tour
Future galavants:
'09 India?
Past galavants:
'07 - Nurburgring
'07 - Banjul-Zwickau
'06 - Swindon-Vladivostok
'05 Plymouth-Banjul