Day 10 & 11 –Middelfart to France and beyond

Hello again everybody!

Welcome to Day 10. I think this is also Day 11 although I'm losing track of where we are to be honest, not to mention where we've been!

This is a late update for Day 10 for which we apologize. However we hope you will allow the early update for Day 11 to make up for that fact.

I'd imagine our reader numbers are dwindling by now anyway – I know at least two have left and gone to France to avoid getting these updates. Geoff has gone all the way to Anguilla to try and get away from us! But don't worry. They have the internet over there you know; no excuses!!

Talking of CTS, we discovered they have a German branch over here…

I think I prefer the local logo's though, and I'm a strong believer in corporate image, so 'ave a word Geoff!

So anyway, onwards and upwards. And Southwards and Westwards.

Day 10 saw us leave our Hotel by around 11am in the end, as waking up was no easy task after the previous days mammoth drive, and by the time we had done the website update, father time had marched on a bit!

So, we left our Denmark hotel, which despite being the second visit in 3 days, cost more than the first night we stayed there…(so much for frequent visitor discount. Still, chances of us ever going back there again anytime soon are fairly slim!)

…and headed South.

An hour later, we were at last crossing the German border…

…land of the "recommended speed limit of 130kp/h" (you've gotta love the Germans!)

…and thirsty for their fuel…where we discovered it wasn't just Shell selling the good stuff!

On the subject of High Octane, thanks for the info on V-power, Martin. So what you are saying is, I have to choose between ultimate power or ultimate Engine longevity?! Guess which one I chose!! (That's what warranties are for eh!)

Oh and the advice on Mike hugging the engine for ten minutes went slightly wrong; we misread it, and Mike hugged it for ten minutes after the engine was started. He now has MITSUBISHI emblazoned across his chest…

Anyway, back to the plot…

On one of the many miles we covered on the Autobahns, we passed these 3 long trucks carrying what must have been propellers for a wind generator… one per truck.

The picture above doesn't really do justice to the size of this thing – it was HUGE!

The next picture shows Mike stood at the end of the prop with me taking the picture from the front of it, to give you some idea of its size:

And a side-on view, just in case you needed more evidence!

Anyway, I'm sure you are bored of that now – sorry – it was one of the days highlights for us!!

We stopped for more fuel and some lunch, where I spent half an hour on the phone to the Bank trying to convince someone that just because my card had been used in 13 countries in the last 10 days doesn't necessarily mean it's been stolen! (Just as well I had a backup payment plan.. Mike! )

So, fuelled and fed up for another few hundred miles, we made more of that hay whilst the sun was shining through the rain…

And were soon following these…

…which shortly after led us across another border…

(we didn't actually need to cross this border really – our original route bypassed Holland, but when Mike discovered it was only a 7 mile diversion, we just couldn't resist the temptation of another border crossing! We know what demanding standards you all have after all. We're sorry that we couldn't do Luxemburg for you as well, but that was about 70 miles out of our way. So tough, you will just have to get over that I'm afraid!)

At times, the sun streaking through the clouds looked so incredible that Mike just couldn't resist doing his David Bailey impressions (and doing a great job of it at that!)

…and it certainly took our minds off some of the more tedious driving, although I'm not entirely convinced the guy in front was telling the truth…

We soon got over that (well, passed that) and headed to the next Border…

At one point during the day, we had some charging issues with the Laptop, so Mike had to resort to our Primary DR Plan…

Fortunately though, the small issue was soon resolved, and normal service was resumed!

Across Belgium we travelled, until we soon found ourselves headed for yet another border!!

…and before long we were back in more familiar territory, where we at least spoke a little bit of the language! Although I think the coach in front was blatantly pointing out the obvious..

The light was beginning to fade by now…

…but we had done pretty well to get this far, so after a dinner stop at an Autoroute restaurant, and as we were so far ahead of schedule, we decided to plod on thru the night, our intention being to see if we could make it in time for the 8am Emmeraude ferry.

Unfortunately, after Mike made a phone call to them at about 8pm, it transpired that the Wednesday sailings had been cancelled due to engine propeller problems, which kind of left us up the proverbial creek without the proverbial paddle (well, propeller in this instance).

But being the inventive type of guys that we are (and with a little help from my sister!) we established that there was a Condor ferry departing to Jersey at 8am, so this renewed our enthusiasm, and we pressed on!

We found ourselves the subject of thorough Gendarmes questioning as we exited the Toll Booths at Le Havre. They were very friendly chaps though – checked all the papers, passports, licences etc – obviously all in order, and being law abiding citizens, we had nothing to feel guilty about!

Having been given a clean bill of health, we crossed the Pont du Normandie bridge and headed for the toll booths the other side, only to get stopped by another group of Gendarmes!

Same questions, different police force, but once again very friendly. Both sets of officers had waved us through and said "drive very very slowly!" (say it with a french accent; its sooo much funnier!)

As if we would do anything else!

We confirmed that the speed limit was "une cent trente kilometres/heure" and obviously impressed with my French, the nice officer made some comment about "deux cent trente" and sent us on our way.

We couldn't quite work out if he was giving us permission to speed, but we didn't chance it, and headed on our merry way!

We had it all planned out by this point; stop at the F1 Hotel that is ten minutes away from the ferry port, get a few cheap hours sleep, and get up early to catch the Condor.

Alas, when we pulled up to the hotel at 3.30am, it was full.

This came as a bit of a blow to us; we were seriously tired and we probably shouldn't have been in charge of a motorcar at this point, but not wishing to spend a fortune on a "real" hotel for what would amount to less than 3 hours sleep, we decided the only option was to sleep in the car at the Harbour.

I'm sure Mike will back me up when I say that Recaro's really aren't designed for sleeping in!

But before long, and after many an uncomfortable minutes sleep, the half six alarm went off, and we trundled into the terminal building , delighted to be able to get ourselves on the 8am Condor sailing for a very reasonable all in price of 96 euros!

We were soon heading down the ramp onto the Condor 10, extremely tired but very satisfied with our days work – a new record for us – 976 miles in one day – ok, only 5 countries in that distance, but not bad for a days work!

So that's the "Tour de Liberation 2005 and Beyond "over for another year!

I'm sure you won't be interested, but we put together for you some facts about this years trip!

Total Distance covered 5340 miles (in 10 days)
Total countries visited 13
Total times borders crossed 19

It's worth noting at this point that the distance between New York and LA is only 2540 miles, and the distance between Brisbane and Perth is only 2450miles (as the crow flies) So we could have done both and still travelled less distance. (Except for the bit in the middle obviously.)

It's also interesting to know that two thirds of Alaska is actually below the Arctic circle. I bet you didn't know that! Or want to!

Other useless information (just because we have it!)

Total amount of fuel burnt 1023 litres
Total cost of fuel £895
Average economy over entire distance 23.76mpg

But lets not forget what this is all about – all those miles ago, we set out on this trip as part of a fundraising trip to raise money for the Bush Hospital Foundation - and we would like to thank the following people:

Geoff, Mark, Eddy and everyone at CTS Computers for their continued support of the Charity and also for allowing us to use their website to bore you all to death day in and day out! Big round of applause please!
You can visit their website at http://www.ctscomputing.com

Also, new sponsors this year of La Motte Ford – thanks for coming on board guys – I promise we'll be begging you to do it again next year – its worth it just to see the confused look on peoples face when they see a Mitsubishi with a big blue Ford sticker on the doors! Go and by a new car from La Motte Ford right now everyone; click here to make your choice first; http://ford.co.uk

And of course to everyone who sponsors us on an individual basis – without whom we would never meet our sponsorship target!

Thanks guys and gals!

We should also give credit to other people and companies who assisted us en- route!

A big thanks to Bill Gates and all at Microsoft for Autoroute 2005; for excellent mapping information as well as Hotel and fuel station info that enabled us to drive up to the door time after time! We did find a couple of errors – mainly new motorways that have popped up – but we won't be holding that against them. (Now where's our free copy of Autoroute 2006??)
(http://www.microsoft.com)

Garmin for GPS navigation
(If I advertise their website, maybe they'll give me a new Bluetooth one perhaps? http://www.garmin.co.uk)

We should also thank the Americans for putting the GPS satellites into orbit.

HP for building a laptop that didn't once fail on us – well, except for the 12v power adaptor which is definitely a bit Dicky.. "rarghhhhhhh" – Eddy, I'll be in touch! (http://hp.com/uk)

Mitsubishi for building a car that almost didn't miss a beat in nearly 5500miles (well, two "hiccups" but nothing major – at least once of them isn't; I'm not sure about the other one yet….but it never stopped us from cruising at high speeds!) - Lindsay!! I need my car booked in for a service ASAP!!!! Call me!!!
http://www.mitsubishi-cars.co.uk/

Yokohama; outstanding grip at all times (http://www.yokohama.co.uk)
I'm so pleased we didn't opt for the Bridgestones in the end– I suspect I'd have had two flat tyres; Left rear and Left front.
Those in the know will know what I'm talking about.
Those who don't click here http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=32768

AP Racing for superb WARP FREE braking power, without which I feel sure I'd have had a Mercedes adjoined to the front of the car by now! (http://www.apracing.com/car/index.htm)

Shell and Aral for providing 100 Octane fuel in Germany – come on, let's get it in Jersey! (http://www.shell.com & http://www.aral.com)

David Coulthard for letting us stay in his hotel. Sorry about the mess. And get the wireless sorted. (Any chance of some free tickets to Magny-Cour?)
http://www.columbushotels.com/

Sony for high quality audio components that allowed us to listen to some superb music over the miles, and not forgetting Archos, whose 80gb capacity allowed us to put almost my entire music collection on it! (http://www.sony.co.uk & http://www.archos.com/)

And last and probably most importantly, a heartfelt thanks to Mike for putting up with me and my driving over the last 10days and for faultlessly navigating us to the Arctic Circle and back again and only once falling asleep in the car during that period of time (and that was only for 4 minutes till I cruelly slammed the brakes on!)

Anyone that would like to sponsor us next year is welcome to have their name splashed all over the car (for a small fee obviously!) – give us a shout!

We're not sure of next year's destination yet – it's the Tour de Liberations 10th anniversary, so hopefully there will be a good turn out! Obviously we'll be hoping to return to winning ways!

And Beyond the tour, well, it's going to take a lot to beat this year's trip. Maybe a more relaxing venture next year.. who knows! I think it will take us two weeks to recover from this one!

Finally, Day 10's Tour route follows.

Thanks and goodbye all.

Oh by the way; anyone that received our email updates this year will automatically get them next year. There's nothing you can do about it. Cya!
(well, ok, email us and let us know if you want to be removed!)

Finally, thank you to everyone who posted comments in the Guest Book this year - it gives us some confidence that people are reading this drivel! We should really select the best wittiest comment and award a prize, but they're all funny in their own special way!! Oh, and some of them don't have names on them, so we have no idea who they are from!!

Click here to see the complete route of the last 10 days.