Hello from Prague! We’ve heard of teams with suspension problems, overheating and clutch failure, but we have no problems to report yet (watch this space…) Here’s the story so far:
We arrived at the launch in Hyde Park on Saturday and were greeted by around 200 other crap cars all raring to go - quite a sight! The first mission was to collect our passports from the rally organisers (not seen since May). Thankfully, both were present and correct - complete with colourful visas from most of the former Soviet Union.
We then hit the road at about 2pm - and promptly got stuck in a traffic jam straight out of the Italian Job. Our intented route had been closed off for a protest march, so we had to find an alternative. After two hours of crawling we finally reached the A20. Then it was foot to the floor time to make it to Dover for our ferry at 6.
We docked in Dunkerque at 9 and set about conquering Europe. As I had had the pleasure of grinding the gears through the London chaos, it was Jim’s turn to take the wheel. We sped through France and Belgium, stopping once for petrol and only slowing for occasional periods of very heavy rain. Around 2:30 we pulled into a motel in Luxembourg and called it a night.
The next morning we were on the road before 8 and made good progress into Germany. However, just past Mannheim the traffic ground to a halt. We were stuck for around 2 hours, in which time we advanced three miles and switched the engine off more than once.
Once on the move again we made steady progress through the remainder of Germany and into the Czech Republic, arrivng in Prague about 6pm. We parked the car, exchanged stories with fellow ralliers and went to the party for a well-earned pint or five!
We’re about to hit the road again, heading for Slovakia and Hungary. That’s if we don’t get trapped in the underground car park.
Dave.
