Day Five: Tarifa to Fes

7am leave Sotogrande for Tarifa to catch the 9am catamaran for Tangier. Others head for Algecira to Ceuta: similar crossing time but 70 Euro cheaper and 2 hours longer getting through customs!

Decide to change route and go from the scenic roads through the mountains to Fes. Harassed by Hashish dealers throwing drugs at the car on the road to Chefchaouen, where we stopped for lunch and met up with some of the teams from the other ferry crossing. So far the Corsa is proving pretty nippy by comparison with some of the other cars.

Decide not to slum it and find a hotel, where I'm blogging from a very cold balcony at 6am after passing out at 11pm.

Day Four: a rest near Gibraltar

Time to collect our thoughts and perform some much-needed maintenance, plus catching up with the other teams. Visited the local Lidl to pick up some food supplies for the run over to Africa. And Carrefour retail park for the last petrol jerry can (singular 20ltr). Fitted new spark plugs, air and oil filter, changed oil. Last supper in Sotogrande marina. 1653 miles on the clock

Day Three: Valencia to Sotogrande

Left Valencia after a well-needed sleep. Gave titch (the car) a wash and added the stickers, which had arrived just in time before we left! Titch is now ready for the ball. Spanish driving considerably poor compared to the French!

Fabulous traverse across the Skerra to the south east of Spain. Troubled the clutch for some swervy turns.

Arrived at Sottogrande at 10.45pm, in time for our free dinner and beer, minus the beer. Bar closes at 1am despite protests from the only guests in what would otherwise be an empty hotel (single star!!!) in bed at 3ish with a visit from the dehydration pixies during the night. 1622 miles on the clock.

Day Two: Limoges to Valencia

Left on the hunt for power! Alex hadn't been able to fix up a cigarette socket, so we're using various portable batteries that get recharged in every hotel.

Took a detour to Millau for the Norman Foster bridge everyone talks about, stopped for a snowball fight and had our first security check by the gendarmes on the way! Don't get off the motorway at junction 45 because the viewing area is rubbish! You're better off stopping at the services before the bridge (if you're heading south). Although, honestly, Foster's no Isambard Kingdom Brunel!

Final stop Valencia at 1.45am. 1176 miles on the clock

Day One: Monkey HQ to Limoges

Start 7.45 am. Chucked it down all the way to the Channel crossing. Glad we changed the wipers before we left!! We of course missed the intended train, fortunately there was no extra charge for catching the next train. Unfortunately we hit Paris during rush hour, trusting the Garmin to find a suitable detour around the traffic was a big mistake. Final stop in Limoges Campanile south (not north as the Garmin was suggesting) arrived at 10.45, 586 miles on the clock. Not that we dislike our little mobile navigator, but it definitely isn't an excuse to ignore your own instincts.

Still going strong

Don't worry, we haven't broken down, but the punishing schedule has kept us from blogging until now, as you'll see. Ooops, there goes the call to prayer!

Day One route map

A 7am start, the first of many too likely. It's down to the Eurotunnel, off around Paris and hopefully into Limoges for a night's kip. This will be a shakedown for the Monkey Corsa, which probably hasn't been close top 70mph many times in it's life. How will it hold with a boot full of parts, tents, and other bits and bobs? We'll let you know tomorrow!

Also arrived today, a box of stickers from Barry at Identisys, only so far it's been too wet to put them on. Another job for our Spanish stopover (along with an oil, filters and plug change).

Online anywhere

This afternoon I collected the satellite internet system from Inmarsat. BGAN is a combined satellite phone and internet terminal, about the size of a hardback book. Now we can upload pics, videos and blogs from anywhere on our trip, provided there's a view to the satellite. We can even stream video, if we were halfway competent at that sort of thing.

Look, there's me on the right, looking all manly and unruffled with my go-anywhere internet and phone. Now, where's the butler with my G&T?

But it should be handy when we're beyond the comfortable world of hotel lobby WiFi and mobile broadband. Plus we can call for help when the car falls apart!

Now back to the packing...

Monkey Runners in vision...with Hitachi

We've forgotten to say a big "thankyou" to Hitachi's excellent UK PR, David Hobbs, for arranging the loan of a camcorder. The DZ-HS500E is a hybrid DVD and hard disc camcorder, so we can
record hours of video without changing tapes, and quickly upload it to the Toughbook for editing. There should be live video on the blog within a few days of the start.

Stickers and more...

With four days to go we've got the Corsa back and superfriend Rob Brown has found someone to print Monkey Runner car stickers by the end of the week. Our thanks go to Identisys for really pulling one out of the bag, there!

Simon the mechanic has given the Monkey motor a clean bill of health, apart from the crappy exhaust Kwik Fit bodged on before Xmas, so I've got to get that replaced tomorrow morning! You can't get shitter than a Kwik Fit fitter!