Arriving back in the UK at the crack of dawn we headed homeward where we hoped a hearty breakfast would await. We weren’t disappointed – Lucy’s parents had a giant Union Jack hanging out the window and a some Bucks Fizz at the ready followed by all the home grown food we had been dreaming of for months.
Home Sweet Home – WE MADE IT!!!
We’re back at InTRANSIT Festival for one night only! Join us for positive tales, Moroccan tea and food: Powis Square, 7-8.30pm, Friday 24 June. FREE tickets available here
Our Shifting Sands book is now available online – get your copy here!
Our Shifting Sands book is now on sale in Lloyds of Kew, Kew Green, and Open Road Bookshop, Stoke-by-Nayland, Suffolk. Massive thanks to Helen Edwards and David Charleston for making this happen!
Here is our interview with James Yabut: City Living, Local Life at the end of the InTRANSIT Festival
…slightly terrifying!
So this is how much space 1000 Shifting Sands books take up…51 boxes, 740kg…not sure how we’ll fit them into Landy
InTRANSIT Festival interview Only four days to go!
Exhibition is coming together! 19-28 June, central London.
Please join us in central London, 19-28 June. See our website for details. Thanks
The last country where we were in project mode before our long drive home through Europe, Turkey was a place we knew little about and we were excited to explore. We were also slightly preoccupied. Massive problems with our brakes…
… is talking about our exhibition! Huffington Post Maghreb
Getting in to Lebanon was a bit of a gamble. We’d been warned that privately owned diesel vehicles were prohibited and our subsequent research had mostly supported this warning. With Syria off limits, the only way in by car was…
…we were just leaving Libya! These were our thoughts: https://shifting-sands.com/thoughts-libya/
A year ago we left Tunisia, a warm and welcoming country where we made fantastic friends and installed a banging stereo system. These were our thoughts: https://shifting-sands.com/thoughts-tunisia/
We left Algeria a year ago today…what an incredible country. These were our thoughts: https://shifting-sands.com/thoughts-algeria/
Sorry the barn is not as exciting as Algeria where you spent your last birthday but we’re hoping to liven things up again soon!
A year ago today we left Morocco for Spain and drove up the coast to Almeria to catch a midnight ferry to Algeria. Our two weeks in Morocco definitively shaped how our project progressed from this point, giving us a shared sense of purpose as we fluctuated between…
Can’t believe it’s a year since we crossed from Europe to Africa at the beginning of our expedition around the Mediterranean. We had no idea what adventures lay ahead nor how many incredible people would befriend and look after us…
‘One of the golden rules for successful travelling is to avoid discussing religion and politics.’ So spoke our guidebook in its infinite wisdom. But as we were soon to discover in Israel, Palestine and the Golan Heights this advice would be…
http://www.sidetracked.com/tv/
We reached Marseille and promptly got lost in the one way systems, road works and pedestrian areas of the city centre, finally being rewarded with a stroll through the old town where we treated ourselves to a delicious seafood meal…
Having driven from Split non-stop we approached Monaco around 9am – this would be the last new country for us bordering the Med. The smallest country by far we only planned to stop for a very necessary coffee along the…
Having left Croatia jsut as the sun set – we stopped for a brief but enormous hamburger in Slovenia before crossing into Italy around 11pm. Driving past Trieste, Venice, Verona and Brescia we headed towards Genoa and the Mediterranean coast.…
Entering Croatia in the early hours of the morning we swept past Dubrovnik at 3am seeing the stunning town only from the motorway. On we went spurred on by our deadline of surprising the Rigamontis in Split the following day.…
Our first leg homeward! 12hr overnight drive across Greece
From the old to the new – this city has it all!
With huge thanks to Soulafa, Samia and Omayma Ydlibi from the www.theartworkshop.net
In Jordan it’s all about the car. We arrived in Aqaba by ferry from Egypt innocently enough. We had a few plans and thought we knew roughly what to expect from Jordan, looking forward to a slightly easier and more…
Which is your favourite?
Did any of you get better pictures?!
Famed as a country of contrasts with the delta of the world’s longest river snaking through immense dry deserts, crowded cities in great swathes of emptiness, ancient monuments, flashy modern cars, and a huge disparity between rich and poor, Egypt…
From the very beginning of our project planning Libya was perceived as a big red and orange blob, a vast and dangerous territory to be survived or bypassed. Everything we’d heard about it related to guns, kidnappings, executions, extremists, checkpoints…
Landy on Saharan sand!
Cosmopolitan Tripoli…home to sensational coffee but terrible wifi
Our Tunisia experience in the Al Maghreb Huffington Post!
A much visited small country sandwiched between two giant enigmas, our relatively well informed build up to Tunisia was in complete contrast to our blank-canvas introduction to Algeria. Whilst neither of us had previously been to Tunisia we had heard…
This post is dedicated to the man in the car radio shop in Colchester who said it was impossible for us to wire up our own music system!
…Home of Star Wars
Overloading the lift at the Tunis Hotel International with awesome new Tunisian mates
Friendly Tunisian guy at the pumps dancing for joy having found Lucy’s lost earplug!
We made the Maghreb Huffington post!! http://www.huffpostmaghreb.com/2014/04/23/algerie-anglaises-road-trip_n_5196921.html
Where to start? We’d had no idea what to expect from Algeria, a country completely new to us and unknown to almost everyone we’d asked in 18 months of planning, with people in the UK, France and Morocco…
Thank you Mustafa, Nisa and the whole Chekchak family for inviting us into your beautiful home near Algiers and for showing us around town
We’ve heard that Tarzan was filmed here (Jardin d’Essai, Algiers)…here’s auditioning for the sequel 😉
Thank you Ilhem for showing us the stunning Jardin d’Essai on our last afternoon in Algiers
Our sentiments exactly… thank you Algiers kasbah signage for the vote of confidence!
Thank you Mustafa, Nisa and the whole Chekchak family for inviting us into your beautiful home near Algiers and for showing us around town
Diesel = 9p/litre until a friendly passerby gives you a ‘welcome to Algeria’ coupon – just filled up 55l for free!
Doing some mechanical work…and noticed that we’ve got an interesting make of spanner
Saharan sand flying over our heads in Algeria on its way to England!
Our Algerian family: Halima, Fatima, Sihem, Ikram and Yahya Mbarek, and lovely neighbours Meriem, Aissa and Abd el Ilah. Thank you for your wonderful hospitality and for showing us around Oran.
We made it to Africa. A smooth crossing and warm evening sun welcome us to Tanger Med, the commercial port 30km from the centre of Tangier. We don’t blend in that well on the boat amongst the well-used Moroccan cars piled…
Very excited about heading to Algeria tomorrow! Morocco was wonderful – blog post coming as soon as we get more wifi
Back to 2 working diffs, 2 prop shafts fitted and 4WD! All done today whilst freezing under the car…turns out it rains in Morocco too
Diff has finally arrived in Marrakech having been stuck in customs for a week. Fitting it tomorrow just in time for departure to Algeria!
Marrakech: making friends with artists, cultural activists, writers, craftsmen, costume designers, acrobats, ironmongers & snake charmers
Sitting in the port with a cafe con leche, we are recovering from yet another super early start and mulling over the journey ahead and the journey we’ve had already that brings us to this point.
…and we get dirty!
Landy gets some TLC…
Putting sponsorship packs together…should we be worried that it took our mechanic 15 minutes to figure out how to use the clip dispenser??
We’re back at InTRANSIT Festival for one night only! Join us for positive tales, Moroccan tea and food: Powis Square, 7-8.30pm, Friday 24 June. FREE tickets available here
We left Algeria a year ago today…what an incredible country. These were our thoughts: https://shifting-sands.com/thoughts-algeria/
Sorry the barn is not as exciting as Algeria where you spent your last birthday but we’re hoping to liven things up again soon!
A year ago today we left Morocco for Spain and drove up the coast to Almeria to catch a midnight ferry to Algeria. Our two weeks in Morocco definitively shaped how our project progressed from this point, giving us a shared sense of purpose as we fluctuated between…
Can’t believe it’s a year since we crossed from Europe to Africa at the beginning of our expedition around the Mediterranean. We had no idea what adventures lay ahead nor how many incredible people would befriend and look after us…
Thank you Paul Schmid for interviewing us for The Pursuit Zone – we really enjoyed talking to you: http://www.thepursuitzone.com/tpz079/
Arriving back in the UK at the crack of dawn we headed homeward where we hoped a hearty breakfast would await. We weren’t disappointed – Lucy’s parents had a giant Union Jack hanging out the window and a some Bucks…
43 years old and over 15,000km under her belt in the last six months…Landy passed her MOT! We are very proud of her 🙂
We reached Marseille and promptly got lost in the one way systems, road works and pedestrian areas of the city centre, finally being rewarded with a stroll through the old town where we treated ourselves to a delicious seafood meal…
Having driven from Split non-stop we approached Monaco around 9am – this would be the last new country for us bordering the Med. The smallest country by far we only planned to stop for a very necessary coffee along the…
Having left Croatia jsut as the sun set – we stopped for a brief but enormous hamburger in Slovenia before crossing into Italy around 11pm. Driving past Trieste, Venice, Verona and Brescia we headed towards Genoa and the Mediterranean coast.…
Entering Croatia in the early hours of the morning we swept past Dubrovnik at 3am seeing the stunning town only from the motorway. On we went spurred on by our deadline of surprising the Rigamontis in Split the following day.…
Our first leg homeward! 12hr overnight drive across Greece
Made it you do. Awesome!