August
2005. Pre-Expedition - Colin Javens
Days to departure: 68
Sitting on a disused airstrip with Jo's arms firmly locked around
my chest, holding onto me from behind my driving seat, acting
as a seat belt. The unmistakable hum from the engine of a Land
Rover and we're off!
It
had been four long and anxious days since the whole team had
met on Monday at Steering Developments, eagerly awaiting the
moment that I would test-drive the newly modified adaptations
in our Land Rover Discovery. However, to the disappointment
of everyone it was not to be. Although the steering wheel had
been swopped for a lighter, smaller one I was still unable to
turn the wheel left through the whole 360 degrees. The brakes
had also been lightened but adding to the frustration we found,
I was now unable to physically pull back the throttle due to
the large robust working parts of the Discovery! I could feel
the excitement of the team deflate through the day like a slow
puncture as we all realised I wouldn't get to drive the vehicle
on that occasion.
Ben,
Woody, Colin, Kiko, Chris and Chrissy
I
was really impressed by Paul and Grant working on the vehicle.
They could have quite easily have given up and fitted an electric
motor to enable me to operate the throttle. Thankfully they
knew that we where trying to stay away from any complicated
electrics that had the potential of breaking in extreme heat
and dust, and battled on under the bonnet trying to lighten
the throttle. Finally at the end of the day and with no joy
we had to leave. I wasn't worried about the throttle, I knew
Paul and Grant could fix that. What I was worried about was
the steering! During the next few days they where going to lighten
the steering again to the maximum level. If I was unable to
use it after that it would mean they would have to fit a totally
new system with additional motors and electrics and combined
with a very big price tag. I definitely didn't want that.
Jo
and I met again the following Thursday. Before I knew it Jo
and Paul had lifted me into the driving position and after a
few tweaks to my position I was driving down the airstrip. To
my relief the steering was light enough to enable me to turn
left and the throttle and break wasn't a problem to control
either. With a few minor alterations all that was left to do
now was to get the hoist made and fitted to the Discovery. This
meant we would leave the vehicle again with Cowal Mobility to
carry out the required work. It is incredibly exciting to think
that I will be able to drive the Discovery in a few weeks and
get some real practice in.
Colin
and Paul
Team
Training. 'As they say, knowledge is power!'
It has been everyone involved with the Driving Home projects
aim to ensure that all of the expedition team members are trained
to a specific level in all aspects of the expedition from navigation
to mechanics to first aid. This will ensure that if somebody
with a particular skill set like Richard the mechanic is ill
or hurt, then at least all of the team members should have enough
knowledge to be able to carry out his job to a certain extent
and visa-versa. We started to achieve this by organising a training
weekend early on in August.
The
team met on the Friday before at Chateaux Javens. Chris had
prepared a very thorough first aid course for Saturday, including
a very detailed section on the life threatening tropical diseases
that will be a real threat to each of us during the expedition.
It was very good to brush up on first aid and learn a lot more
from Chris. Ben and Kiko also literally learnt how to set up
a drip. By the end of the day there were a couple of hands that
looked just like pin cushions and in the excitement of things
Ben got a little carried and got dressed up in Resussy Annie's
clothes. I think the underlying message regarding the diseases
is that prevention is definitely better than cure and will be
the rule we all stick to as the preparation and journey gets
underway.
Ben's
First Aid!
On
Sunday morning Chris and I discussed with the team the fundamental
factors that result after a spinal cord injury. We felt it was
important to do because there will be definitely be times during
the expedition that my injury will have an affect on the course
of the expedition. For example as I have no feeling below the
shoulders we are going to have to stop on regular occasions
on the road so that I can do some pressure relief to prevent
any sores from occurring. Therefore I wanted the team to have
an understanding of why I have to do it and as a result hopefully
they will not get frustrated with the delay.
That
following afternoon Woody took us through how a combustion engine
worked and how it's maintained. The afternoon was a brilliant
building block to hopefully more mechanical sessions to come
on our vehicles.
Monday
was a perfect end to a good training session. As Africa can
be such a volatile and unpredictable continent we really wanted
to get good grounding of how to cope with any dangerous situations
if they occur. We had kindly been donated a days 'Travel Safety
Course' by a company we met at the Adventure Show earlier on
in the year called Objective. The aim of the day was to impart
essential skills of how to recognise danger and thus avoid it,
and a 'tool kit' of what to do if it all goes wrong. Charlie
who ran the course (and who coincidently trained Ewan McGregor
for his mammoth motorbike ride around the world), and who is
used to training journalists to go into extreme conditions such
as battlefields, ran through the most common scenarios that
could happen to us from how to handle difficult border crossings;
how to avoid pickpockets; what material a bullet will pass through,
to the worst case scenario of what to do if you are kidnapped.
It was an incredibly good day and we all learnt so much. I would
definitely recommend this course to anyone doing an overland
expedition or someone who is about to go on a gap year. I would
just like to say thank you very much to Charlie and Objective
it was a fantastic course. 10 out of 10. www.objectivetravelsafety.com
We
are now so close to the date of departure that the excitement
is really beginning to build. I hope by next month that I can
tell you that I can get into and drive the Discovery and that
the support vehicle is prepared and how we got on at Land Rovers
off-road driver training coarse. I also hope that the riots
have ceased in Khartoum, Sudan sufficiently for the Foreign
Commonwealth Office to lift their advice against all but essential
travel to Sudan. Also time to start getting immunised and visas
underway. If anyone has any up-to-date information on our route
we would very much appreciate it. Here's looking forward to
next month.
