It is about a year since we hatched a plan, about 3months since we actually started telling people about it and approximately 2months before we intend to leave. So where do we stand? Well, the scale of the task ahead is extremely scary.

Firstly I would like to apologise. We haven’t updated the blog anywhere near as regularly as we had intended. This isn’t be cause we couldn’t be bothered or didn’t have anything to say we have simply been at 100mph for the last couple of months and just haven’t got round to it. We will be much better from now on, honest.

In the last few months we have had a big push to create awareness of our trip. We have given a talk at Dr Challoner’s Grammar School, developed a hardy following on twitter & Facebook and been featured in both Buckinghamshire papers.

People’s reaction to the trip has been interesting. Some think we are mad and have set ourselves an impossible task, some think it is easy because ‘all we are doing is driving’, some think that 11months away from home is a bigger challenge than driving 30,000miles!

Maybe the two biggest bits of news are the purchase of the car and the development of this fantastic new website by Paul at Riders Retreat. The car was owned by a farmer in Devon and is pretty knocked about inside, however unusually for a Land Rover most of the body panels are pretty straight. Three weeks on and it still attracts swarms of bees and wasps throughout the day. Unfortunately they aren’t responding to my Dog Whisperer pack leader behaviour as I approach the car and instead just sting me. Best get used to it I guess as someone mentioned to me that there are mosquitoes and scorpions in Africa… The Landy is currently having a few specialist jobs completed at a local garage, we’ll go into more detail on that once it is all done along with a full rundown of the jobs we expect to carry out in the next couple of months.

As some of you who have been following us for a while may notice the website has undergone a fairly dramatic change recently. This is thanks to the long hours put in by Paul Thomas away in the heart of the French Alps. As I am sure you will agree the new site looks stunning and is so much easier to use. We have also discovered Mapvivo as a wonderful platform to display our journey. Mapvivo have also agreed to provide a financial donation and a GPS phone for as near to live text/twitter updates as is possible whilst on the road for which we are very grateful and should provide interesting reading. If you haven’t already seen it, take a look at our mapvivo profile using the link on the front page.

So we are now T-minus 8 weeks until we hope to leave and here is a flavour of what we have in store over the next week weeks:

• Organise Visas and vehicle Carnet.
• Finish car servicing and equipping
• More fundraising
• More publicity
• Book ferries from Dover to Calais and Sicily to Tunisia.
• Complete a practice expedition
• Book a tour guide to allow us to travel through Libya
• Further plan project to be undertaken in Gondar with Link Ethiopia.
• Purchase personal health insurance, allow Dr Cheese to inject me approximately 17 times and spend a weeks wages on malaria pills which I already know make me sick

And all of this whilst continuing our 9-5 jobs…

There’s an overview of where we stand, more detailed thoughts to follow once we have answers from embassies regarding our route and have the car back for prepping.

Thanks for everyone’s support and to those who have donated.