We'd booked ourselves onto a 2 week tour of the highlights of Peru with Tucan Travel. Our first port of call was Puerto Maldonado – a gateway port to an array of lodges dotted along the Madre de Dios river in the Amazon basin

An hour and a half up the river from Puerto Maldonado we came to our lodge – a fantastic setup with lots of little bungalow huts, and a bar and restaurant serving up some excellent fresh food each day.

Our first trip into the jungle was to Monkey Island (everyone loves a Monkey Island) in the middle of the river. Althou... [read more]

Our first rest day with no driving began with a shocking head ache, and a well deserved late wake up. Approximately 2000 miles into the trip now, and our last day in Europe before heading across the Gibraltar straights into the African unknown. We decided to repack the car just to establish whether there was any last minute fixes or purchases we needed to quickly make. As we watched other teams scramble under the bonnet, and do shuttle runs to Carrefour for bits and bobs, Boxy But Good remained relaxed and confident that everything had been thought of in advance.

Late in the ... [read more]

Still no problems with the car (after about 1300 miles), and we set off on our last leg of the European segment of the rally. Another clear sky, and more clear roads meant the early part of the drive was a cruise. With Granada in the distance but fast approaching, the surrounding scenery was sensational. Our 2 car convoy was making great time as we whizzed through the southern half of Spain.

As we were closing in on the Costa del sol we spotted the first or our future rally buddies. And shot by at 90 miles an hour whilst they were probably doing the more sensible thin... [read more]

Another nice and early start in the freezing cold of central France, and straight back on the road. Beautiful blue skies and clear roads made for perfect driving conditions through some stunning French scenery. The route was picked to enable us to go over what we knew to be the quite fantastic structure of the Millau viaduct.

Although I knew it simply to be “a massive bridge” I have since discovered it is the tallest vehicular bridge in the world, and at parts is a mere 38m shorter than the Empire State Building, as well as being 2 and half km in length. A pretty ... [read more]