It's Saturday 13th August 2005 - Day one of our trip from Kennington to Cape Town...Now all we have to do is head south!

We organised a party in Cleaver Square, Kennington for friends and neighbours to come and say their farewells, have a tour of Biggles, and find out more about Amani, the Children's Home in Tanzania we are raising money for. We've been overwhelmed by everyone's generosity and are really looking forward to spending time at Amani to see how the money we raise helps the children. It was difficult saying goodbye to friends and family who we won't see for 9 months - ...

Now we had Biggles up to a level where hopefully he can complete our expedition...it was time to sort out ourselves. Apart from Camilla driving her brother's 1964 Series 11A Land Rover to school and back aged 17, we each had little experience of how to drive a four wheel drive car. We needed to prepare for all eventualities as the trip covers a wide variety of terrain and there will be parts where we will be on our own...So the answer came in the form of a ...

We bought BIGGLES, a 1992 Land Rover Defender 200tdi, in Sheffield from a lovely couple who had taken it to Central America, Tunisia and Scandinavia - in fact, Mike even proposed to Sharon in the roof tent... The vehicle already had some alterations to accommodate overland expedition travel. This included a snorkel, a Husky Superwinch, polybush kit, high lift suspension, galvanised roof rack, Hannibal roof tent and a full set of Pirrelli Scorpion All Terrain ty...