Video Is Finished!

We had the official video viewing last night, and it was good to get the gang back together and remember the great time we had back in April.

The video is here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtXESAKSvp4&feature=related for part 1 (10 mins), and part two (also 10 mins) is linked right beside it. ( http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=G-qLJ78H9gk&feature=related)

Just as a warning to those of a more sensitive disposition, the video contains one f-word, several buttocks, a middle-finger salute, and blokes relieving themselves by the roadside (well, when you've gotta go...). Disturbingly, the vid also shows a certain member of the team in his birthday suit - but I've pixellated it as best as I could to protect us all.

Please leave comments on the vid - would be great to hear from you!

Photos!

Here's a selection of pics from the trip - you can click on each one to make it bigger.

http://www.pixagogo.com/5894024125

With the weather being like it is, I'll probably get started on the video this weekend.

Where did we go?

As it's quite hard to visualize where we went, I thought it might be good to give you a bit more clarification - after all, if we didn't know what country we were in, what chance did you have?

Our stop-overs were:

Brussels
Innsbruck (where we left the van on day 3)
Portogruaro (we couldn't quite make it to Trieste, having said farewell to the van in the morning)
Bratislava
Prague
Koln
Amsterdam
..and so much in between.

Here's a map to get your bearings - it might not be that clear, but if you click on it, you should get a bigger version.




Other stats:

- We travelled just under/over 2,700 miles (the speedos on the BMW and Jag don't seem to agree!)
- Both cars averaged around 30mpg at the beginning, but after we ditched the van (i.e. went over 60mph) and took a trip through the mountains, this levelled out at around 26/27 mpg. Not bad for a couple of old girls.
- 13 countries
- 4.5 tanks of fuel (at approx £80 per tank)

- One or two beers

A Triumphant Return

As most of you will know by now, we made it back to Rickmansworth last night just after 8pm , after the final leg of our journey from Amsterdam that morning.

The night before had been a great ending to a fantastic trip, and definitely the best place to end on. After settling in to our accommodation we hit the town, starting with a funfair ride and ending up in a gay bar. Not sure how we accomplished that, but needless to say it was a great night in a great city.

Our drive back across the north of France to Calais was fairly uneventful, and we booked ourselves into the Club Lounge aboard the ferry, thanks to the deal Helen had struck with P&O. The Club Lounge allowed us free champagne, coffee and newspapers, and was altogether a more civilised way of crossing the channel.

At Dover, we climbed into the cars for the last time on the trip, headed for home after what seemed like weeks away. Two hours later, we pulled into Batchworth scout hut for a fantastic suprise reception, organised by friends and family. Drinks, food, music, a specially made cake and a sing song had some of the boys (myself included) feeling a little emotional. Not least because we were treated like heroes, having had one of the best holidays of our lives. We may just have got away with the greatest scam of the century. Still, by the time we add up the money collected through the website, and the other amounts pledged offline we may be hitting close to £20,000 for Christies, which makes us feel a little less guilty.

We toasted the loss of the van several times during the trip, but there are loads of people who have helped out immeasurably both before we left and along the way who also deserve a huge 'toast' to say thank you. In no particular order, and praying that I've missed no-one out, we'd personally like to thank the following people for making the trip what it was:

- Helen Webb for leaving Quent in our hands for a week, and doing all our publicity
- Chris Gordon for giving us the van, and his support with its resurrection
- Barry and Angela Schnabel for the accommodation in Brussels, and the loan of what proved to be indispensible guide books
- Marion Patterson for our lunch on day 1
- Jason and the boys for their work on the van to get it through MOT
- Our reception committee last night - what a fantastic surprise, and thanks so much for a great treat upon our return
- P&O for our free return crossings
- 8build and NGK for their support
- And, of course, everyone who sponsored us or supported us in any way.

So what now? Well, the BMW looks like being Richard's new company car - it ran without a hitch and has proved itself as a reliable workhorse. The Jag is a bit the worse for wear - something needs doing on the brakes, but we're not sure what. The engine seems fine, so hopefully we can sell it on. Both cars hopefully will be at the Rickmansworth May Fair to try and raise a bit more cash.

And the van? It's a sad ending to what looked like a promising 'phoenix from the flames' story, but unfortunately it will be scrapped in Austria. Hopefully we'll get some of our gear from the back returned to us, but we're not sure at this stage.

We'll be getting together all our photos at some point in the near future and let you know where you can view them. We'll also put together a ten minute video of the trip, which will also be available online, so watch this space.

Same time next year?

No-burgring

All the way to the Nurburgring, we were debating whether to take the Jag on the circuit. It’s driving fine, but there’s a few warning lights which pop up every now and then, and the brakes have softened somewhat since crossing the mountains. An unscheduled emergency braking manoeuvre didn’t help matters, and when the steering column collapsed into the dashboard we thought it was some kind of irreversible safety mechanism. Turns out the steering column adjustment lever is just a bit loose.

All in all, these factors, coupled with my [Ed’s] paranoia about getting the car home, meant that we would have to drive it very slowly round the racetrack in order to be able to also drive it back home to the UK in one piece.

We pulled up to the Nurburgring and found to our disappointment that the decision was taken out of our hands, as the track was unfortunately closed to the public. There were, however, a few test cars belting it round the track at well over 150mph. Therefore we’ve come to the conclusion that it’s probably a good thing that a couple of twenty-year-old saloons driven by a bunch of muppets weren’t pootling round the circuit getting everyone’s way.

We had a drink in the bar, and then set off for our next overnight stop in Koln (Cologne) in western Germany, just an hour north of the Nurburgring. As per the usual routine, we phoned ahead and got rooms in a basic hostel and parked the cars up.

For once, we weren’t under pressure for an early night, as our drive the next day would only be three hours. So we grabbed the playing cards and set out to a beer house for some home-brewed beer and traditional sausages of varying shapes and sizes. We made it through most the bars in Koln, and the last of us got in at 4am, so not bad going.

Unfortunately the next morning a couple of us had to get up at 8.30 to move the cars, and not remembering where we had parked them the day before proved to be a bit of a handicap. When we eventually found them, we topped up the parking for another couple of hours to give us time to grab some breakfast and soak up a bit of culture in the form of Koln cathedral. After what seemed like a thousand steps up the tower, we were rewarded with a fairly mediocre view of the city, armed with the knowledge that we then had to walk all the way down again.

We left Koln at about midday, and have journeyed north to our 13th country – Holland. We’ve got a sort of apartment in central Amsterdam, rented from a very dodgy looking bloke, and are just catching up on our personal hygiene before hitting the town.

Tomorrow (Saturday), we are hoping to be back at the Batchworth scout hut at around 8pm, so if anyone’s around to see our triumphant return, we’d love to see you.

The great news tonight is that we’ve hit our (much extended) target of £10,000!!! Thanks a million for all the donations – who’d have thought that such a ridiculous idea could be so much fun and raise so much money. Considering our original target was £2,500, we can say that this has been well and truly smashed. Talking of which, we’re off now to grab a beer or two.

Thursday 17th April

We left Bratislava behind us yesterday morning and set off for Prague, with the idea of getting there early enough to have a look round the city. Miracle of miracles, we actually organised ourselves reasonably well, and got to our hostel in the city centre in plenty of time to have a quick walk around. We were even jammy enough to find two parking spaces next to each other right in front of the hostels.

I have to say, we can’t believe the luck we’ve had with accommodation so far - we’ve phoned ahead on the same day and always got space in pretty good hostels, in great locations, and always at bargain price. Not bad considering we are essentially flying by the seat of our pants.

It was refreshing to actually get to a city with a few daylight hours left for exploration, and Prague was probably the best place on the trip so far to do this. A quick stroll from the hostel and we found ourselves in the main square having a ‘snack’ of ribs, chips, goulash soup and garlic soup (one of Bob’s favourites). We even managed to take in a Salvador Dali exhibition – how cultured are we?

Knowing we had a long drive ahead of us the next day, we opted for an early night - no, really. We settled in to the bar next to the hostel and had a few pizzas and a couple of games of cards – our own version of “S***head” for those of you who know the game. For those of you who don’t know the game, trust me, you don’t want to lose. Bob managed to lose again, resulting in much humiliation from the rest of us. Quent seems to have escaped losing at cards and he’s normally tucked up in bed a lot earlier than us – but we’ve recognised his tactics and are determined to stitch him up at some point. Somewhat incredibly, we got ourselves into bed by about 11pm, in preparation for today’s six hour drive out through the Czech Republic and across most of Germany.

The Czech Republic was our 12th country, so we’ve achieved part of our mission. We’re planning on going to Amsterdam tomorrow, but wives and girlfriends should know that we’re only doing this to notch up another country, and not for any other reason whatsoever.

Another part of our original plan was to drive a couple of laps round the Nurburgring in Germany, and that’s where we’re heading now. In case you don’t know, it’s basically a racetrack open to the public. Well, having lost the van we were relying on the two cars completing this part of the challenge but at this stage we’re not too sure about the Jag. If we do take it round it would have to be a very sedate lap (the professionals can do it in under seven minutes, so we’re thinking about half an hour should do it). The BMW is looking a little low at the back, but we’re more confident that it will get round. Don’t worry, we’ll be sensible whatever decision we make.

Two important milestones today. Firstly, by the end of today we’ll have travelled 2,000 miles since leaving Rickmansworth. Secondly, and more importantly, we have raised over £9,500 for Christie’s – just £500 off our target. Fantastic news, and thanks so much again for your donations. It makes us feel less guilty about having a good time knowing that it’s all for a good cause.

An Early Night

Despite our best intentions of having a short day's drive yesterday, we didn't get to Bratislava until 8.00pm. We arrived at our 'cruise ship' to find that it was slightly less luxurious than we had expected - turns out it's basically a base for stag dos. Still, it's clean and a great location for the town.

We thought we would pop out for a quick bite to eat and come back for an early night, as we'd promised ourselves the night before. All tucked in bed at 3am, so didn't quite achieve our goal. There seems to be a pattern emerging here.

We're just having breakfast in the 'ballroom' of our 'cruise ship', consisting of watered down orange juice and very dodgy looking frankfurters of varying sizes. The plan today is to do a short drive to Prague in the Czech Republic, and arrive at around lunchtime to give us a chance to enjoy the city sights in the afternoon.

Both cars still running well, and all having a great time - seems like we've been away for ages.

Money raised to date has nearly topped £9,000 - it would be great to rally round and see if we can get to our target of £10,000 by the time we get back - what do you reckon? Keep the comments coming, we love reading them out to each other in the cars.