Can you see the snake in the picture below?

Below is a bot fly maggot that lived in me until I decided to squeeze it out!

POST EDITED

After writing the above post I got a family member to check all is well with the information, layout and images.  But, he said he couldn’t see what was in one of the photos (the snake one) and that I should make the image clearer.

I have done this, as you can see below, I have also banned him from any travel to the tropics unless his footwear is made of steel!

So you’ve got a car and you fancy thrashing the hell out of it, but, you have a big problem with those blue lights flashing in your rear view mirror or you are a very considerate road user.

Well, here is your answer.  The Nurburgring.  An old Formula One racing track in Germany (not far from the border with Belgium) now open to the public.  A one way road toll road, with absolutely no restrictions on speed what-so-ever!  Your car must be road legal … and that’s it.  Your standard car insurance will cover you driving on it.

As mentioned it is a toll road, so for a lap of the old northern loop (Nordschleife), approx 23 km (15 miles) it is 21 Euros (as of the time of writing this article).  Prices get cheaper the more laps you pay for.  8 laps 135 Euros, 25 laps 370 Euros and an all year pass for 995 Euros.

Having a blast round the track can have it’s downsides.

Make sure you you don’t go on a public holiday or a weekend because it is classed as a public road meaning coaches and camper vans are also having a spin.

My brakes and clutch on my Micra took an absolute beating and my car stank of the burning pads.  Yes, that’s right I did the track in my Micra.  I timed my lap using a calender, not a stopwatch.

If you spin off and hit the barrier, you pay for the damage caused (and I’m sure the insurance wont cover that!), also, if you need a recovery truck that’s going to cost more as well.

Great care is needed whilst driving the ‘Ring because no matter what car you are in there is always one faster, so be vigilant - especially for motorbikes!

A final piece of advice to finish on is to turn up an hour before the track opens.  There are some serious machines to photograph and an awsome buzz in the air.

Have fun!

Having your own vehicle is a blessing for many reasons.  On a safari or trying to view animals it is pretty damn crucial if photography is your thing.  To be on an organised tour is to be rushed into bad photography, having people bashing against your equipment as you all try to get the best position available for the picture and, worst of all for me, when you just want to sit there and appreciate nature at your own pace…. you’re off to see something else as the guide has to keep everyone happy or has a schedule to meet.

One of my best wildlife moments happened whilst watching a watering hole in Etosha National Park in Namibia.  Vehicles came and went with other people in them, but we just chilled out and had some cool drinks out of the fridge whilst watching the scene ahead of us.  Impala, warthog, baboons and ostrich were all doing there own thing in front of us.  Some animals were drinking, the baboons playing loudly, warthogs having dust baths.  Then, when all other vehicles had been gone for a while the animals started to behave in unison.  They were all looking towards the tree line, some of the impala males were barking, the baboons shrieking.

We scoured the tree line with our binoculars for quite sometime.  Then my Aussie companion Glen said he saw something, we all zoomed in to the same spot with our binoculars and there it was…. a georgous leopard.  Even more amazing to us was what happened next…….

The leopard then got up, walked out into the open and down to the watering hole.  After a drink and a brief splash around back up to the tree line it went, much to the relief of the other animals.

We were speechless.  After a few minutes of excited chatting a vehicle pulls up next to ours, then another.  They soon left, as did we, but by being able to sit quietly in our own vehicle and by taking our time we got an excellent sighting.

Getting there was a good adventure, lots of powering through deep soft sand, then we stayed at a small lodge for the night where arrangements were made for our camel trek. We decided to go for 4 days/3 nights. But now, with hindsight, that was too long. The area of dunes is, well, just dunes. Not really much else to see or do. A camel trek through a more varied terrain would be more suitable for four days. Also, you could combine some hiking with the trek. Climb off the camels and go to the top of the hill for photos whilst base camp is being prepared, for example.

Our vehicle during the trek was being looked after by the place that organised the tour. That is quite an important issue. Make sure you are happy with the security of your transport before you go away on an excursion for several days.

Enter Merzouga into google earth and you can see the huge sand dunes, Erg, east of the town. The gps co-ordinates are 31 degrees 06 minutes North and 04 degrees 01 minutes West. You can actually drive around the entire Erg, but I only recommend this if you have a decent four wheel drive vehicle and are carrying adequate food, fuel, and water in case of any delays. The distance is approx 32 miles or 50 kms. A lot of the journey will be off road 100%, meaning there wont be a road. How you navigate around will be up to you but, again, I advise caution.

I’m not talking here about walking around with an ice cream, dodging towels on the floor and admiring scantily clad sun worshippers. I consider that to be a perfectly good waste of sand.

I prefer to use my four wheels to get to areas of coastline that are pretty much uninhabited.

Just getting to remote areas of coastline is an adventure, then when you get there the vast expanse of open sea and shoreline is breathtaking. You can look for bird life, search the rock pools for marine life or get out a pair of binoculars and see if you can see any marine mammals.

If it’s not the wildlife you’ve come for then the other thing you surely must be able to appreciate is the very soothing tranquillity of it all. Even the brutal crashing of the waves has a soothing affect if you are reclined on a chair reading a book or pondering the meaning of life.

The sticky salt air, the warm glow on your skin from the wind burn and the gentle ache in your legs from clambering over rock pool always means you’ll sleep very well after a day exploring the coast.

Let’s just look at my humble Hyundai Elantra I owned. What could be more normal and uninspiring than this. But having said that, I had some excellent driving experiences in it.

I drove across Europe in blizzard like conditions on my own whilst getting to a friend’s wedding in the Czech Republic. What a fantastic adventure! I put all the seats down in the back, used an inflatable camping mat as a bed and slept with the lorries on the service stations. I had some basic tools with me and some basic repairing equipment (various glues, cable ties, radiator hose clips etc) and most importantly a set of snow chains which I bough en route when it became bad.

My friends flight to Prague was cancelled so in the end I had to drive through the night to the Slovakian border to pick him up after he flew into Bratislava and caught a cab to meet me.

After the wedding I drove home back to England though snow covered mountains, had crazy adventures getting stuck with other motorists, getting back to the UK just in time for the reception party.

Then, later on in the same year, I had another urge for a road trip.

On this mission I took along a good friend…. well it had to be a good friend really because we slept in the car for a month just on the reclining seats in the front. You really get to know someone really well in these situations. We zoomed through Holland, Germany, Switzerland, France and into Spain.

Again the car performed flawlessly. One minute rocketing along on German autobahns, the next, rally driving our way along narrow winding roads in the Alps.

After my friend left I drove to see some amigos (oh come on, I was in Spain!) and then I signed on for a sailing course in Gibraltar. When the course finished I then drove back to England where I later sold the car.

So, there you have it, two adventures in one car. One very normal car.

Look out of your window now at what is on your driveway….. you should see endless possibilities!

Gadgets, ‘toys for boys’ or just plainly known as ‘equipment for getting the job done’.  This is one of my favourite categories.  I don’t have to even leave the comfort of my boat, apartment, car or tent to have fun in this department.  From the humble wrist watch with built in barometer all the way to my snazzy laptop with lots of attachments, I just can’t leave them alone.

On a stroll through a town with my wife and dog I have to be pulled past all the camping, electrical and tools stores.  Gadgets are fun… but they are also highly addictive, so be careful!

What equipment you take with you on an adventure is sometimes dictated by the environment, the level of comfort you require or where you are going.  But by varying the amount of extras you laden yourself down with can also give you a whole new adventure.  Take the following as my own personal example.

Example 1.  I drove from South Africa back to England in a Land Rover with a GPS, fridge, satellite phone, enough tools in and on the vehicle to raise the Titanic, chairs, tables, a small kitchen, enough spares to build another Land Rover and drive it beside us.

Example 2.  I drove to Mongolia, around the Gobi desert and home again to England in a Nissan Micra with 3 maps, all my camping gear in a rucksack, a small canvass bag with some tools in and no spare parts.  In fact the satellite phone from the above trip would have bought me the car and all my gear for this trip!

I will be looking into those trips a lot closer in the future.

In the end the final choice will yours, I’m just going to put as much information (temptation) as I can your way.

Little did Henry Ford know, 100 years ago, that there would be such a wide range of 4 wheeled transport on offer to  the average member of the public.

Nor did he imagine that there would be a few people who would not rest until they had pushed their machines to the maximum of their metallic potential.

So, my friends, from here on in in this category you will be given updates as to all things driven. Luckily that will include stories and pictures from my many driving adventures and also some soon to be filmed footage of me taking cars where they simply weren’t meant to go.
Bye for now.

Adventure.  One of my many categories.  This is going to be a place to tell you of all the amazing things out there in the world, my own personal way of pushing you out of your front door, into a vehicle and turning that key in the ignition!

Sometimes a road trip or expedition starts with an idea of an adventure and the transport becomes a way of getting there or carrying the logistical equipment necessary to complete the mission at hand.  Or, as it has been with me on several of my adventures, the drive is the ‘idea’ - no plan, just a destination and a huge dose of “Let’s see what happens along the way!”.

An adventure doesn’t have to be a north to south crossing of the Sahara desert.  I think an adventure is doing something out of the ordinary compared to your normal everyday life, or possibly, doing something you’ve always wanted to do but were a little to afraid.

Not all my journeys or adventures were of my own making.  I read books, watched documentaries and searched the ‘net for ideas.  So if you have ideas for cool road trips/expeditions/adventures then let me know and I’ll spread the word, or even add a little of my own spice to come up with the mother of them all!