Limping Into First Place

Sorry it's a late one tonight guys, I've been away since before 7 o'clock this morning on a training day ahead of the upcoming local elections and I am shattered, but I do bring fantastic news!

They've done it! I had a phone call from the hotel in Bamako earlier this evening on my way home. And from the looks of things, none of the other teams on the run beat them to it, so frankly it's yah boo sucks to their detractors! After eating their chicken and rice (so some food they have eaten is the kind of stuff you find ubiquitously on Earth then..) and spending a beautiful night under the stars with a moon so bright you could be forgiven for mistaking it for daylight, they'd had a change of heart about taking a few days to do the last 275 miles, mainly due to the fact that all the cars have a range of hiccups. Peg herself is still driving ok, but the clutch is slipping a little and the thermostat is wonky (which isn't great when it's 40 celsius outside). They've had a dusty day on the road, seeing miniature tornadoes and developing a strange illness they have named 'grouping cough' thanks to breathing in almost as much sand as air for the last 24 hours. The scenery gets much greener on the way into Bamako though, and it isn't the only contrast to note; apparently the level of affluence is much higher in the capital city and people are a bit more jaded, for example children who see the cars are well used to the fact that these kind of visitors give them presents and almost take it for granted, and some of the cars on the roads are better than the one mum has at home! They are installed in a nice hotel with a pool and a well-stocked bar, and wondering if they are doing the right thing by auctioning Peg in Bamako rather than taking her back into Mali and giving everything away there to people who clearly need it more.

The girls aren't due to fly home for another week yet, and with Peg ailing it might be best to forgo the last little stretch into Timbuktu as that was an optional extra anyway, so they are unsure what they want to do with the remaining time and are even considering just calling it all quits and coming home early (though knowing them it's infinitely more likely that in the light of day they will find a much more fun option). If you're feeling a little lost and anticlimactic too, you might be glad to know that I *finally* (with the help of my brother who knows what domain names Keith owns, because they have no Google listings) found the alternative account of this journey, as told by Jane to her husband, and it is here, so you can relive the trip with a whole different writing style, example photographs of the locations en route and I must say a lot more minute detail! Well done, Keith.