Update Tuesday 29th July

After battling through the busiest weekend traffic up the M5/M4 we made it to Maidenhead for the BBQ. Sue had put on a tremendous spread for us and we were all made very welcome. There was lamb and pork on a spit and a table groaning with other goodies, plenty to drink and a lovely atmosphere for the reunion. Unfortunately, it chucked it down with rain and Sue's grass is a bit worse for wear but, there were two large gazebo's up for shelter so our celebrations continued...

Cups, certificates and medals were received by all so we have returned feeling rather chuffed with ourselves.

Team Mazda - Overall winners 'Cape to Cape 2003'
Team Red Rum - 4x4 Mixed Class 'Cape to Cape 2003' winners
Team Sweet Charity - 4x4 Two Person Class 'Cape to Cape 2003' winners!!! (Easy!)

My alcohol dulled brain didn't absorb the rest of it so will let you all know the details when I return to work after a well earned break! Enjoy your summer.

Update Wednesday 23rd July

68 hours North Cape to Cape Tarifa

Results are in!!! We did North Cape to Cape Tarifa in 68 hours (including penalties for speeding, ho hum). As previously thought, we did very well in our class and made 1st place! The fact that we were not directly competing with anyone else in this class is a minor detail.

We have been very busy trying to catch up with our day to day work since we have been back. The local South Hams Newspaper did us a lovely write up and photo on our return and the Evening Herald have promised an update but nothing there so far. Alyson Marlow from Team Mazda, being a journalist, has had a couple of articles printed in the Herald but it seems the local people have to wait!

We have received a lovely gift today from my friend, Julie Becs. It is a teddy bear with a white t shirt on which says Cancer Research UK with Steve and mine names on the sleeves and a 'well done' logo on the back. He is sooo sweet! He is clutching flowers, a map of Europe, a receipt for bulk purchase of cereal bars and a donation shaker. He also sports a little hat which has been embroidered 'Cape to Cape 2003' thanks to her mum, Jessie. This is such a thoughtful gift and we shall keep him in reception, carefully wrapped so he doesn't go black, so that everyone who visits can see him.

We have had an invite from Team Red Rum member, Sue Meakin, to a BBQ on Sat 26th July. This is to be a presentation celebration of trophies, medals and certificates for all the teams now that the results are final. As Sue is quite central, Maidenhead, she has kindly offered up her stables and hard work to put this on for us all so we hope to be enjoying another knees up this weekend! I shall be sure to take the camera to update the website.

Update Thursday 3rd July

Can someone explain what I am to do with my post challenge euphoria? I was in work today but found it very difficult to do any serious backlog clearing and it is all piled high in there too. Steve and I preferred to spend a half hour looking at our website which we have not seen since we left for Peterborough on June 20th. It was great to look at the pics and see how wonderful they look on a screen bigger than the one on the digital camera. I always hoped that they would come out ok and we see that they look just breathtaking. My personal favourites are the red and orange sunset over Lake Vattern in Sweden, taken on our way up to Norway and the one with the globe at North Cape silhouetted against the night-time sun where you can just catch the rays peeking through the iron work. I would just love to expand and frame them both.

A delegate from the offices next door to us at work was sent in today. Jean said "I've been sent in to see how you got on because everyone is wondering". So, off we rattled (in stereo) bombarding her with our travelling tales. Fifteen shell shocked minutes later she departed with far more information than was possible to process in one sitting and promised to look at the website because no one knew there was one! Actually she gave me a great idea....Jean belongs to a Womens Guild and they book people to come talk to the group about their experiences, hobbies, photo's etc and thought it could be a good move to get on the 'talk circuit'. We could donate our fee to the charity and continue fund raising for quite a while yet if we could get this off the ground. If anyone has any contacts or similar ideas we would be very grateful to hear from you.

I'm not exactly sure how long I shall be updating the site for now that the challenge is over but, would like to 'top up' the information as and when appropriate if we can continue our fund raising.

Thank you to everyone for staying with us this far and we hope you have enjoyed sharing these experiences with us, admiring our photos and, above all, giving your support. These things are impossible without that and we hope you will continue to tune in to see how far we can get with this venture. Fingers crossed.

Daily Update Tuesday/Wednesday

The ferry staff say we have had the worse ferry crossing for about 12 years and needless to say I was very green. Steve, who doesn't normally suffer from travel sickness at all had to take pills in the end. In an effort to stand upright and improve wellbeing we went to the cinema to watch 'Matrix Reloaded' (brill although a bit high 'falutin in places). Unfortunately, the cinema is based in the very bowels of the ship and we can hear much banging and clanging as we hit the waves head on. The sound of swishing water does absolutely nothing for my sense of peace nor the water lapping underfoot as you step through the doorways this low down!

Finally docked at 10am today. Have a little trouble knowing what time scale we are actually on. Family and friends were gathered on the rough ground just outside the exit with banners and balloons. All cheering as we pulled over there were many hugs, kisses and congratulations, pressies and flowers. We do feel a sense of pride and achievement in completing the Cape to Cape Challenge and I feel it will always stay us. All those weeks of frantic preparation and hard work have paid off and I can hardly believe it is over and we are back in Plymouth. We can only hope that this has highlighted Cancer Research UK charity for a couple of months and look forward to hearing how we have done, officially, from the scrutineer. Certificates and medals will be forthcoming from Tony and Verena when all the results are finalised.

Fellow team mates have been in contact saying when they have reached UK etc, and I am pleased to say the Super Challenge team who faced mutiny actually completed the run together, so well done to them.

Daily Update Monday 30th June

Back on the road again today, about 10/12 hours driving to Santander but this seems like a mere trip to the supermarket now. Hugs and good wishes to those we leave behind and still have to journey back or complete the Super Challenge, which includes the return to the UK. We have a fair few email addresses to keep in touch and we are all going to send our photo's into a website 'pot' so we can print off the best of everyone's pics.

Team Ele Capa have had some bad luck. Their data logger has packed up so they will be unable to verify their journey and times. Apparently, this means they are unable to be placed within their class so will have to do with a certificate of some sort. Tony and Verena Stubbs.the organisers, have been at the hotel in Spain for a few days to greet us all. Logbooks have been taken and we have 7 days to download our data logger records and submit it to the scrutineer who works out time penalties etc for any speeding! We are hoping to place well within our class as we were the only ones in it!

We are on the E5 which runs from Cadiz to Madrid and onward towards Santander so, just the one road today and no stressful map interpretations needed. Although it did take us about an hour to get clear of Jerez, that place sends you around in circles for hours.

As we near Madrid firstly I'm thinking about whether I can get some good photo's and secondly, ok I admit, the delights of shoppers heaven are calling. As we won't be passing through until about 9.30pm I don't expect Steve will appreciate pulling the car over for that ultimate designer handbag/shoes/dress!!!

We hope to board the ferry at around 11am tomorrow and if seas are calm (more tablets) we shall dock back home in Plymouth at approx 9am Wednesday 2nd July. Come cheer us in if you wish!!!

Daily Update Sunday 29th June

We have had a few more stories told today. Red Rum team went 9 hours without a loo stop and when they did pull into a service station they left all the doors open literally, while they ran in. I said did the locals think you were 'ze bohm team'? Everyone has had a few disagreements and really I think you can expect that. All teams have put so many weeks and months planning and preparing for the challenge that the tension has set in and the competitiveness amongst them was felt ten fold. One team member was going to be cadging a lift with another who was leaving today Apparently a few harsh words were said! The strains and stresses of a long distance challenge blow minor disagreements into major ones and being sleep deprived also really doesn't help.

There were a couple of teams who left today. We had donations from all of them which was a lovely thought. Most of the teams are still looking like red streaked Brits abroad from being around the pool two days. Some have decided to take a few days holiday and you can see them all sitting outside trying to out story-tell each other.

We went for a walk this mornng to stretch our legs a little and noticed an open top bus. So off we whizzed very sprightly around Jerez trying to take photos like japanese toursts. There are a few pics of Jerez sent today and the big horses pic is because this is the home of the famous equestrian centre.

Just took it easy today as we need to leave for Santander tomorrow.

Daily Update Saturday 28th June

Fri Eve - Through Lyon 10.15pm and its like the peak of rush hour with absolutely huge amounts of lorries whizzing by and we find keeping to the speed limit very hard, you just want to drive with the flow of traffic. Steve is keen on the L/H side of the road after 10pm when he gets a little tired and while I'm checking the map he is getting a blast from infuriated foreignors.

1.30am.Pulled into a rest stop and there is a huge amount of activity for that time of the morning and there are men, women and children sleeping on pavements and roads. It feels like we have joined the 'sleeping rough' community, everyone is talking and socialising over beers or takeaway food. It's very strange. Back on the road for 3.15am and crossed the border into Spain at 5.25am singing 'Viva Espagna'. The high spirits lasted as long as it takes to check the maps and work out that we still have approx 9 hours driving to Cape Tarifa.

Stopped again 8.15am for a half hour. We are completely shattered and both need to rest. Hopefully the driving will be less wobbly now. Spain seems endless, we turned inward away from the coast road onto the E15 & A92N. There is a covering of heat mist over the mountains otherwise I could have got some tremendous photo's. As we make our way back down to the coast and see signs for Malaga 132km we are beginning to think the coastal route would have been better as the mountains roads just go on and on. The sun is up and the strain of concentration is really heavy on us now.

Forced out of the correct lane through Malaga by a truck and into the suburbs there are endless one way streets and we start to move back away from the coast again, this is not helping! Have had text messages from other teams whether they should get our drinks in soon, we certainly hope so.

Into Tarifa town centre about 7.45 pm and take the wrong road to the finish point (my fault). Driving like something out of the Italian Job Steve turns the vehicle into the car park finish point at 7.58pm. We've done it! A real sense of achievement and an emotional few moments. The closer to the finish line we get the more I dwell on the reasons behind entering the challenge to start with and feel quite choked. We rang our families and friends who gave us a few cheers which was lovely because there is absolutely nothing worth going to Tarifa cape for other than just to do it, believe me. We take a few photo's and give little 'Lucky' our mascot a hug. I run into a shop just before it closes to grab a sticker for the car.

Phew, that's it then. We turn the data logger off and do our log book entries and contact the scrutineer who says we have done very well considering there were only two of us. Conscious that all other team mates are waiting for us we set off for the Hotel Sherry Park in Jerez de la Frontera, just over from Cadiz. As we pull out of Tarifa Steve notices a wobble in the front of the car and thinks we have a lump in one of the tyres. Oh blow, will sort it tomorrow we think and just then CLUNK! Horrendous sounding knocking noise on the undercarriage as we brake on the hill. We just want to make it to the Hotel and rest now and it's beginning to look as if we won't get there at all tonight. A very, very close moment at a junction when Steve pulls right out into way of a car barrelling down hill, lots of screeching and rubber left on roads Then to top it all the fuel light comes on. Puleeeze! Conserving fuel as best we can we chug onto Jerez. It's a bloomin' nightmare to find your way around here and at the fuel station I ask directions, he works here he must know his way around. No. 4 people and 4 different directions later along with phone calls from frantic team mates "where are you? Give me a landmark so we can ask the hotel staff" What seems like hours later we pull into the back entrance of the hotel, completely missing those people stationed around the front keeping an eye out for us. Lots of commotion as we pull around to the front entrance and the whole group spill out from nowhere all around us with cheers and kisses and hug queue's. What a fantastic welcome! We abandon the car right on decorative grounds in front of the hotel and are here at last. Lots of catching up and everyone's stories to listen to and, the most overwhelming thing of all, is that they have been waiting about 3hours for us to come and all refused to cut the cake without us there wanting us to do the honours. Such a lovely group and a wonderful welcome after our epic journeys, the sense of camaraderie amongst them draws us in and we are feeling very chuffed with ourselves.

Daily Update Friday 27th June

(Thurs eve) Too shattered to drive safely after just a half hour stint Steve was driving, once again. In the last hour we have decided to alter our route and use the Rodbyhaven to Puttgarden ferry. This means a possible queue but could mean about 200 miles less driving. Teams Mazda and Red Rum have confirmed that it is the better route. As we approach the ferry the lights are all green and we board immediately. The smell of hot food wafting around sends us to the self service cafeteria like a pair of rabid animals. Oooh, chewy chicken and potato less chips taste just wonderful. that is until it hits my stomach and reminds me I've only eaten cereal bars for the past several days! Also on board are some fellow Brits (you cannot help but notice them). A swaggering clutch of Jack the lads who profess to drive pop stars around Europe. Not impressed with our story they say they can do Norway to Spain in 2 days, yeah right!

Into Germany we drive on and on, eventually pulling into a rest stopby the side of the road at 3.10 am. We fell unconscious for about 3hrs and set off again to make up for lost time yesterday with the roadworks in Sweden. Steve drove for the first hour or so and we have discussed being honest with each other about how tired we are (that means me, he knows how stubborn I can be). He can only rest his eyes while I'm driving really because he can feel by the motion of the car when I'm tiring before I do. This means he is not getting very much rest at all. There is a short window of opportunity after a good rest but I anticipated being able to do a lot more and confess to being a little disappointed in myself. It's a good job that Steve is made of sterner stuff or we would still be on the E4 in Sweden!

After Hannover on E45 in outside lane overtaking 2 lorries which were about 3 lorry lengths apart, a Porsche Carrerra undertook us between the lorries at about 120/140 mph. Have caught all the morning traffic to Frankfurt and are stop/start. Texted Team Mazda and they are near Murcia in Spain. They are doing really well seeing Allyson is smaller then me and Ian cannot fit into the back seat to rest at all!

Pics of Malmo sunset, Germany to Hannover.

8pm Received message that Team Mazda first car to finish in Tarifa and then onto Jerez for the Hotel. Well done Allyson, Innis & Ian.

Daily Update Thursday 26th June

Finding anything other than a camping site in Sweden proved to be quite difficult and we wasted a fair bit of time there. We passed a dredger off the side of the road last night and I said it was probably needed for yet another tourist who couldn't find a hotel and the stress got to him. Spotted a couple of women in their dressing gowns about half a km from a camp site and thought 'where the hell are the showers?'.

Serious bad hair day today. Keen to get going again after our compulsory rest stop and feeling quite refreshed I drive the 1st stint for 3 hours. The text messages we are getting from family and friends have been wonderfully supportive and Dad..."no,have not ridden any reindeer yet!"

Stopped for fuel and OH MY GOD!!! They sell coffee! First hot drink we have had for 2 days and the caffeine kick does wonders for an hour or so until we get caught in roadworks. As anyone who knows me will tell you, I tend to leave my mark in places and the service station was no different. Coffee overran the machine and exploded down the front of the counter onto the floor, I dropped sugar cubes and promptly stood on them. A few hasty wipes with a napkin later you could hardly notice what happened at all!

66Km outside Stockholm and receive a text from Team Mazda letting us know they are on the ferry to Germany. They are hours and hours ahead of us but, as the scrutineer subtracts our rest stops and works out the total driving time we hope it will level the field somewhat. We stopped to change drivers earlier beside a lake. Stopped for a few minutes break it looked so peaceful there and once you followed the steps down from the layby the noise abated a fair bit. Along the steps runs a ramp at about 45 degrees, "they will never get a wheelchair up and down there" I say. Then we creased up with visions of sturdy Scandinavians called Helga putting the ramp to good use!

Daily Update Wednesday 25th June

Start of Cape to Cape Challenge 2003.
Start time 6.35am mileage reading 54802

I have only had a couple of hours sleep as I tried to send too many photos last night and messed up my whole message to Phil. Hopefully, you will see more pics tonight. So so tired today, my eyes just won't stay open any longer that an hour at a time so Steve has to keep taking over. I'm trying to do my bit but just in shorter bursts. It doesn't help that it is daylight outside when you are trying to get a couple of hours sleep at 1.30am.

Oystein and Victor, his son, came up to Nordkapp to start the teams officially today. He really is an action man lookalike and even more so with his official uniform on. We were allowed to drive down to the globe for a photo with our vehicles this morning with no one around and then it was countdown. Last minute hugs and best wishes all round and we were off! The ride back down the mountain is very scary with the mist looming over sheer drops and reindeer leeping in front of us. They seem even more stupid than our English sheep.

We find it hard going keeping to the speed limits here. The lowest speed in 30k which feels like I'm about to park the car. Watching the GPS monitor like hawks all day as it is very sensitive and fluctuates constantly. Not good when you are sleep deprived. After about 5 hours driving we were both so tired that we just had to pull into a layby for 15 minutes to rest our eyes. Another team passed us and tooted but did not stop to see if we were broken down I notice! Well, they do call themselves the 'Unstopables'.

Onward through Finland and down the beloved E4 in Sweden we press and here we are now after finding a stop for the night. We fill in our log book and take our readings with burning eyes and have just now got into our rooms looking like refugees. Hope we can catch up a bit tomorrow after a good nights rest.

Daily Update Tuesday 24th June

Stayed overnight in Alta. we were so tired by then it would have been madness to continue. This morning we leave Alta and climb into the snowy mountains but it doesn't seem cold at all. Northbound we travel down to the coast through the tundra. There are a few hamlets with fishing nets around and the sea is a startlingly clear, azure blue. We drive through several tunnels cut out into the cliffside and the one to the actual North Cape island is under the sea. Saw how the locals travel, parents on a moon buggy with kids in a trailer. Stopped for a herd of reindeer crossing the road and they look wonderful in these natural surroundings.

We reach Honningsvag the nearest town to Nordkapp at about 12.30pm and have driven about 1900 miles. We make our way to the scrutineers house. This year it is Ornstein Mathiesen, the chief of police on the island (who has a total of 5 staff). He makes us feel so very welcome with a banner on the side of his house, and also speaks excellent English which is certainly helpful. Later, after a press call at the hotel, we return to Ornsteins house where he and his wife have been several days preparing a wonderful spread of fresh fish and grouse for us to eat.

6pm Ornstein takes us up to Nordkapp to visit for photo's etc. On the way we stop for a visit to a local shop and an irish gentleman named Tom Doyle has officially become our most surprising sponsor when he kindly donated 100 kroner. It is awe inspiring to think we are as north as it gets in Europe and as we look out from the visitors gallery there is nothing but sea ahead of us, until the polar cap itself. The globe is a lovely piece of artwork right on the cliff edge and we all take our photo's. It literally seems like being on the top of the world here. Early start tomorrow as we need to be at Nordkapp for 6am which is our start time for the challenge!

Daily Update Monday 23rd June

Firstly, apologies to Team Mazda whose 3rd team member is actually called Ian, or Tiny as I refer to him! Driving on the E20 we encounter the large bridge in in Denmark to Odense another missed opportunity for a photo while we try to work out which toll booth is appropriate for UK stupido's who cannot speak the language. We were trying to work out how to process the credit card/cash toll and pressed the button for help. After instructions which we found didn't help at all, the voice coming out of the machine said "would you like your ticket sometime before tomorrow morning"! We had also been moved on at the Denmark border where they wouldn't allow us to stop for a photo so not the best of first impressions.

Whilst in Peterborough we were advised that the coastal road up through Norway would take us an extra 15 hours driving so we had to use plan B and go up the same way as our route back.

Beautiful picture taken just outside Jonkoping. The sunset was just breathtaking and we managed a fairly good photo seeing I was doing about 95mph at the time!

We stopped outside Stockholm at 2.30am after 798 miles and crashed out in the car as we were shattered after 14 hours driving, I think we were stuck behind all the slow people in Sweden. Steve took pity on me at 4.20am when I said good morning and promptly fell unconscious again, it was either that or forcibly evict me from the drivers seat sleeping bag and all. 5.30am - Another beautiful day with the mist just clearing. Finding the roads extremely busy for this early in the morning. Lots of cute timber framed houses around and its looking like Hansel & Gretal land now. We find ourselves playing dodgems with the local lorries who only let you pass if they are in a good mood. A fair few seem to have that Monday morning feeling and Steve says this is the land where road rage was invented. We are now on the E4 and shall be on this one road for more than a day, some road!

10am - It's very hot outside now. Just past Harnosand trying to spot a good photo opportunity for the bridge we are approaching and we see a diesel machine. Sudden decision to fill up with fuel saw us turning too fast and onto the left hand side of the road by mistake. So glad Steve was driving, a huge lorry was approaching and we ended up bumping over the grass nearly taking the fuel stop with us! Next to it was a Garden Centre so we could have picked up a few plants on the way through. I AM wide awake now. A couple of minutes stop for hysterical laughter followed.

We have tested the road springs out on Steve's car on a rough road which we feel is a short cut. We stop at the local petrol station in Finland for diesel and they are very suspicious of us. The manager was called out to look me over and authorise the credit card...it's like something out of 'Deliverence' and I expect banjo music any second. We enter the Arctic Circle about 6pm 1500 miles from Cuxhaven and there are millions of mosquitoes about.

We have been munching the food stores for the past two days now and stocks are low. I mentioned that all we needed was a Spar shop and what do we see 1600 miles from the ferry, yep, a Spar shop. Scandinavians really like their McDonalds and we have seen a constant stream of those all the way up.

Into Norway now, and driving through road 93 to Alta we see sand dunes around. Can you believe it? The pictures are of our way to the Norway coast and shortly after this the landscape changes dramatically. Roads start winding and cliff faces tower above us with snow and ice lodged in their crevices. Will try to find a good spot for a photo of a fjord that my friend,Julie has ordered. It is 10.30pm and we are still on the road, sun is at about 2 o'clock in the sky and very bright.

Daily Update 21st June

Update 21st June

Boarded ferry at about 3.15pm yesterday. The crew ship guide looked at our boarding passes, took a look at us and said "You won de cup?" Oh yay, I thought and then remembered we haven't done the challenge yet! "You won de cup" she repeated and then pointed upwards "You won de cup". Ohhhh I get it "You are one deck up" Silly me.

The ferry crossing was a bit rock n' roll but not as bad as it might have been. There was no opportunity to jiggle buckets as it was only half full and like the Marie Celeste half the time. Found the ferry staff a little stern. There was one such seating hostess in the restaurant. After dinner (a small bite to eat for the pleasure of 60 euro's) we stood to leave thinking we would have to pay at her station but, she marched us back to our seats and made us sit down again to wait for our waitress. As said waitress was nowhere to be seen we had to sit there a good five minutes under her strict supervision "You vill SIT,yes".

Eventually left the ferry and docks into Cuxhaven, Germany onto the B73 to Hamburg at about 12.30pm european time. Everything looks well kept and clean through the towns. The land seems very flat and lots of people on bicycles. UK is SO not environmentally friendly. Just as the houses, gardens and shops, the farmland is also very neat and tidy even the cows look orderly.

Steve is driving today although he would have benefitted from a plain breakfast. It's payback for sitting across from me at dinner last night with a plate of slushy raw fish when he knew I was a bit queasy!

I forgot to mention, on the way up to Peterborough on Friday a transit van up ahead on the motorway lost it's tyre and it rolled ahead of us for about qtr of a mile. Unfortunately for the transit driver not only did he lose a tyre but then his complete wheel came right off and he was trying to pull over driving on his brake drum. Luckily he pulled over ok but I wonder how he explained that one to the AA.

Team Mazda, namely Allyson, Innis and Bill, said at breakfast that they had bought a quiz book to amuse themselves. They have just overtaken us so we rang to ask what the next question was...unfortunately I got it wrong, boo.

We have cleared Hamburg centre and joined the A7 north. After a huge tunnel that makes the one in Saltash a minor piffle we notice that the southerly entrance is jampacked and has since stayed that way for about 7miles. One to avoid on the way back through if possible.

Have found some middle ground, cd wise, with 'Mike & The Mechanics' (strangely enough) so can both sing along to that and do, badly.

Daily Update 20th June

A little bit of a late start after an extremely late night last night. As we were working on the vehicle and then had to fit in some shopping you can understand the late start! About 8.30am when we eventually left and a lovely little gaggle of family and friends (all bribed) came to see us off.

As a beginning to our epic journey we have had only a little tension so far today as in Steve's navigation errors/or my driving too fast overtaking lorries to see exit signs, whichever you feel appropriate to believe! Other team mates have been very friendly although we do detect a hint of sabotage, such as sugar in the tank and letting air out of tyres,although we are sure this is just part of the fun as the tension grows. One thing we did notice today is the El Capa team Landrover is fitted with a refrigerator, which their Australian team member assures us is standard equipment for their liquid refreshments, and we believe that their is more Castle XXX's onboard than food!


We have been told about the beautiful summery weather awaiting us in Norway.. just a hint of freshness in the air at 6 degrees celsius and Cape Tarifa is a sweltering 42 degrees! Off to Harwich for the ferry crossing tomorrow, please wish us calm seas.

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For June's Updates - click here

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