September
2005. Pre-Expedition - Colin Javens
Days to departure: 36
It
seems that the dream of a trans African expedition truly runs
in my blood and even better I have it in writing. It was to
my great delight, as I read my grandpa's good luck letter from
Texas, that at roughly the same age as I am now in 1949, he
and a friend had approached Massey Ferguson to try to persuade
the company to lend them a tractor, trailer and cultivation
equipment to complete the 'Worlds first trans African expedition
on a tractor!' They tried to convince Massey Ferguson that it
would be an excellent opportunity to promote their new machinery
throughout Africa. However, they received a very curt letter
stating that the tractor was NOT a Trans-continental vehicle
and they were NOT interested. As my grandpa said '…another
brilliant idea never achieved!!!' I may hold onto that idea
for the future???
Off-Road Driver Training at Land Rover Experience. 3rd- 4th
September.
September started with a bang! Again Land Rover has been fantastic
and kindly donated a weekend's off-road training including GPS
and winch training to the whole team. I think Nigel and Martin
(our instructors) realised they were in for a change of clientele
when they saw the Driving Home team arrive. After a briefing
in the classroom on the basic theory behind the vehicles and
off-road driving we split into two 110 Land Rovers; Woody, Ben
and I with Martin and Kiko and the Doc with Nigel (unfortunately
Chrissy was unable to attend). Although it isn't our aim to
do any serious 'Dakar Rally' style off-roading en route, I think
the day's tuition on Land Rovers course was fantastic training
to prepare the team for the worst possible scenario. It was
great to watch the team's confidence grow in the afternoon as
they meandered and bumped around the course and as they learnt
exactly what the Land Rover was capable of.
We split up again on Sunday of the training weekend. Ben, Kiko
and I where about to find out how a GPS worked with our new
instructor Dean and Woody and the Doc where going to spend 1
day (normally a 3 day course) learning how to operate the winch,
Land Rover had kindly donated to us. As Ben's role is navigator
he was keen to add to his vast experience of navigation by going
on the GPS course and for me it made sense that I should learn
how to use it as I would be unable to help with any winching.
Kiko made the most of the day and spent the morning with us
and the afternoon with the 'winchers'. I think we learnt one
very valuable lesson about the GPS and that was not to rely
purely on it because even in the countryside in the UK we lost
satellite coverage and we were unable to get a fix on our position
correctly. Something we don't want to happen in the Sahara desert!
The boys got on well with the winching course, however I think
it was a bit of a shock how tiring, potentially dangerous and
stressful it was. Again it was a fantastic skill to learn and
could get us out of huge hole when we are en route (no pun intended).
Over the next few weeks, before our departure we should have
the opportunity to share with each other what we learned during
the weekend and possibly improve on a few techniques. I would
just like to say thank you very much to Land Rover for their
continued support.
Cranfield Alumni Evening at Wellington Barracks, London.
5th September.
On the 5th Derek, Jo and I attended the Cranfield Alumni evening
on the 5th. I would just like to thank Cranfield University.
They have provided so much support in the planning, fundraising
and evolution of the Driving Home project and have also taken
The Colin Javens Spinal Injury Trust on as the charity of the
year.
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The
Discovery Update.
During the first two weeks in September I was beginning
to feel a little bit anxious. As you may remember we had
left the Discovery with Cowal Mobility awaiting the custom
designed hoist that was going to get me into the driving
position to be measured up, manufactured and fitted to
the roof rack. If you can imagine what possible setbacks
could occur with this job, they did. The problem was it
was a custom built hoist and not one that could just be
fitted simply, everything had to be manufactured to suit
our vehicle and roof rack.
6 weeks behind schedule Ben and I picked up the completed
Discovery on the 14th of September. We tried the hoist
out straight away. I was dreading it. I thought it would
be uncomfortable, difficult to use, take a long time and
be very undignified. I was wrong! The design was so simple
that it made operating it very easy. Ben had put the sling
underneath me, attached the hoist and jacked me up (using
a manual, hydraulic bottle jack) and into the driving
seat without a problem. As Ben and I practiced using the
hoist it dawned on us that this hoist was turning out
to have beaten any other option we had considered in the
past. It doesn't take up much room, it is reasonably light
and is very robust and if anything did break we could
get it easily fixed en route. Definitely the best option.
We took the Discovery straight up to Woody's dad's house.
During the next two days Woody and his dad worked like
men on a mission. By the time Ben, Kiko and I went back
up there two days later to pick it up we found spotlights
and electrics wired in and the wooden false floor with
draws for storage and jerry can holders fitted. Great
job and just in time for me to get some practice in over
the weekend.
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The
pressure was on. I had been asked if I could drive the vehicle
from home in Hereford to Heathrow for a meeting with a company
called Avanade. That left me only four days to get the hang
of driving the Discovery. To my surprise and with some help
from my brother Barrie I found that the controls were pretty
easy to handle. Three days later I found myself chugging down
the M4 heading for Heathrow and probably dazzling everyone coming
the other way with the light reflecting off my innate grin.
Happy days!
Finally as there was still quite a bit of work left to do before
the training weekend in October I left the Discovery with Woody
and his dad to finish off the work.
The last few days of September were taken up meeting with Trustees
meeting and also a meeting with Chris Swift. Chris has just
received some funding for his off-road chair that he hopes I
will be able to trial for him and his company Molten Rock during
our expedition. Congratulations Chris.
Wow, with 36 days to go I am very pleased to report that The
Foreign Commonwealth Office have lifted their advice against
all but essential travel to Sudan. As I'm not the best at running
away from rabid dogs anymore I've started my rabies immunisation
and others. We've also got our training weekend to look forward
to and I've got to get some more hours in driving. Next time
I add another diary to the website we'll have seven days to
go. Holy Moly!
