High Tech Car Jack

perfect for the rally, wouldn't you say?

A 'quick' joke...

A man was caught for speeding and went before the judge.

The judge said: 'what will you take, 30 days or £30?'

The man thought for a second and replied: 'I think I'll take the money.'

Tea! For charity...

Everyone likes tea, right?

Well, then you'll want to know about the Great British Tea Party taking place from the 1st to the 10th of December! Its being organised by Wallace and Gromit's Children's Foundation, and is sponsored by their friends at Yorkshire Tea.

You can take part and host your very own tea party to raise money for this worthy cause - just follow: http://www.wallaceandgromitfoundation.org/great-british-tea-party-launch/

Raising money to help sick children across the UK by drinking tea and eating cake and biscuits?! Can't say fairer than that!

Heading out on our own...

Well, Team Steel Camel have been doing some thinking recently.

Admittedly mostly we’ve been thinking about food, and adventure.

However we’ve also been thinking about the best way to go about driving to Mongolia and raising money for our chosen charity, Wallace & Gromit’s Children’s Foundation (they’re pretty swell after all).

We had, up until now, been looking at a couple of organisations that arrange for large groups to drive from London to Mongolia. However, both seem to want quite a bit of money for the privilege. I’m sure that there is very good reason for this, however we came to the conclusion that there is nothing stopping us from just getting in a car and driving to Mongolia (a bit like getting in the car and going to the shops, just 9,999 miles further) – there is no reason for us to be paying large ‘entry fees’ or ‘car deposits’ and raising a minimum amount of money (quite a large minimum) for someone else’s chosen charity.

We want to maximise the amount of money we can raise for WGCF, so we are heading out on our own. We know this is likely to mean more hassle – planning a route that makes getting visas slightly easier, and figuring out what on earth we are going to do with the car when we get to Ulan Batoor. But we don’t shirk away from such challenges!

If anyone knows of a worthy charity in Mongolia that might want a free car, drop us a line (and if anyone - Zissou - wants to join us for the ride, let us know). In the meantime, we’ll be turning to Google to try and find one ourselves!

Fancy a bite to eat?

We pride ourselves on seeking out and devouring the finest culinary offerings that are available on our adventures. Oh yes.

The Bamako Rally provided us with more than a few satisfying discoveries, fit to tantalise our taste buds. There were also a couple of, well, poor choices: Grilled camel mince in Boujdour, Western Sahara. If you ever have to eat it, make sure it is cooked to the point of turning into coal. And Phil strongly advises against going anywhere near fermented or congealed (or worse, both) camel milk. Immodium became his best friend after experiencing the hospitality of the Bedouin.

For those of you with a willingness to travel for tasty morsels, here are our top five recommendations from along our route:

5) The Yorkie Bar (other chocolate bars are available). So yes, you can get them in the UK. So why is it here? Because you can't get them in the Sahara and they are really tasty! Tucking in to a chunky Yorkie Bar at the end of the day was a little taste of home, except on the occasions that Team Zissou stole our Yorkie Bar. Revenge is sweet; and they still wonder how come they managed to 'run out' of petrol so many times.

4) Minced lamb sandwiches, freshly made, found in the maze of a Medina in Fez. Take a regular sandwich. Now start again, with hot bread, just baked in the little shop next door, minced lamb thrown onto a frying plate with an array of spices, fresh chillies (not so many of those for Phil...), sliced onions and olives. The downside of finding this sandwich place in Fez's Medina - which really is a maze - we couldn't find it again the next day before we hit the road again...

3) Having driven from Chefchaouen in the very north of Morocco, through Fez, Ifrane, Marrakech, and other places the names of which we have now forgotten, we had failed in oursearch for a simple chicken shawarma. In Essaouria, however, our luck changed. So good were the shawarma, stuffed with roasted chicken, pickles, tomatoes, garlic sauce, chilli sauce, that we finished them off in a matter of seconds. Then had, well, seconds!

2) On the Medina walls in Fez, there is a restaurant open to the sky that you could find by following your nose. We decided on a change from vacuum packed food heated on a camping stove, and tucked into a lamb and prune tajine that had been slowly coked for so long that the meat fell away at the slightest touch, and a pigeon bastilla (light, crispy pie) with cinnamon and flaked almonds. We felt a little guilty that Team Zissou had a takeaway pizza for dinner, but to be honest we can't remember how the guilt felt, but can still remember the food...

1) Having made it to the coast, we stumbled across a bakery in Essaouira selling some delectable light, flaky biscuits covered with a sticky apricot glaze. We devoured the few that we bought quite quickly, and Phil made the charitable yet foolish move of handing one to a beggar (who didn't seem to cope well with it having no teeth that we could see). So we went back; Phil went into the bakery, and came out with a box so full of them that they lasted us to Mauritania.

See for yourself:

Of course, we have a whole new set of discoveries awaiting us on the journey from London to Ulan Bator. Seeing as we haven't decided on a route yet, and the options are numerous, the only thing we can predict with a degree of certainty is that we shall be dining on Mongolian food.

Whilst mutton dumplings ('buuz') deep fried in mutton fat has an air of promise to it, meat cooked in a 'boodog', or the abdominal cavity of a deboned marmot (basically a large squirrel), well, doesn't (don't click the link if you are a little squeamish).

Boodog or no boodog, I'm sure we will have more tales of culinary discoveries (welcome ones and those we will try and fail to forget) to tell from along the way. We will, of course, update the blog regularly after each magical find or woeful disaster. Any tips on what we should seek out, and what we should be at pains to avoid, would be warmly received!

The first test will be to cook-up some traditional Mongolian fare at home. We will let you know how it goes...

Beyond the shawarma?

Coming soon to a blog near you (this one in fact), tales of tasty treats from the Bamako Rally. Starring, the chicken shawarma (and featuring what not to eat in Western Sahara...)

Something to keep you entertained

If you happen to have a bit of time on your hands, maybe have a go at this game. Funnily enough, it reminds Steel Camel of driving to the desert, and then racing across it...

Go to http://www.roughroads.co.uk/

...and the Bamako Rally. A bit sandy...