Rally update: Destination reached!

12 January 2009

Part of Katharine and Pierre's path, via SPOT


Back in September, we reported on the ambitious plans of one ATLAS collaborator to spend Christmas driving across Europe and Africa in a beaten up second hand car, to raise money for development charities working in Africa. Well, Katharine Leney and her boyfriend Pierre officially reached their destination – Timbuktu – on the afternoon of January 5th.

It has been an eventful journey for Katharine, Pierre, and the ATLAS car. They have encountered border officials of questionable morality; had to fix problems with the car on the fly; seen the markets of Marrakech, the rolling sand dunes of the Sahara, and where the desert falls into the sea at Tan Tan; and even eaten sheep’s head for Christmas dinner. Not your average Christmas break for a European couple!

The ATLAS public website has been monitoring Katharine and Pierre’s adventure from the start. The pair were issued with a satellite phone and GPS transmitter, so that we could literally watch them trace their journey across the map, and they could phone us every couple of days with their latest news.

To read this, as well as see some amazing photographs from their journey, check out the site and follow their progress on the map.

 

 

 

Ceri Perkins

ATLAS e-News