On the 6th of April 2005, cousins Jamie Mackenzie and Ben Wylson set off on their bikes on a journey which will take them to over 50 countries and to every one of the worlds great continents, all without the use of an aeroplane.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007: M/V Frederiksborg
'M/V Frederiksborg' is the name of the steel cork which will float us across the Atlantic Ocean. Heavy lifts, break bulk cargo, project cargo, containers, yachts, planes, houses...the list of oddities which will accompany us goes on and on. We board in Houston on the 13th, set sail on the 14th and arrive in Africa on the 4th October. It will be the shortest of our four voyages, yet by the time we disembark in Casablanca it will have stretched our tally of sea kilometers and time-at-sea to 50,000kms and four months...and still, all for the grand sum of zero pounds.
Corpus Christi has a strangely familiar feel this morning. An end-of-an-era touch about it. The streets all seem a bit quieter, the sun has lost its verve, the clouds are grey and heavy with moisture and yet there is an undertow of expectation and anticipation which permeates through from an unknown source.
Yesterday we filled our panniers with vital provisions that would sustain us for the journey ahead. On our last outing we'd seriously underestimated the required quantities to keep us going for the duration and on day three, after leaving Townsville, the chocolate eclairs were already extinct, the fizzy worms were dangerously depleted and the sour skittles were only marginally better off than the Werthers Originals.
So long Land Lubbers and fare thee well...
Friday, September 07, 2007: Castles seen through a spyglass
After our weather-beaten arrival in the USA, Corpus Christi became our improvised destination. It's a small city on the Gulf of Mexico with a port.... and a Condo owned by none other than Rob Boling. "Take the keys and stay as long as you like," said the kindly Rob over the telephone. This was a Godsend, a golden chance for us to set up a FWE operations base for finding a ship across the pond without having to camp in the path of any hurricanes.
At the Corpus Condo we have all the facilities necessary for a fine Head Quarters. Our final hurdle of almost three years -to cross the Atlantic by sea and ride on African soil- should be easy now that we have the very bare essentials, i.e access to the internet, a supermarket where we can buy budget ingredients for home-cooked meals, 2 swimming pools, an always-hot hot tub, sea views from a balcony from which we may be spectators to the sunrise and a beach to play on when we are not working hard. The water is as warm as tepid tea, and a marvellously refreshing escape from the Texan blast furnace. I should also mention that we are both big fans of building sandcastles and pride ourselves on attention to detail; our ramparts, towers and turrets are built with unparalleled sandsmanship.
By and by, a few weeks of ship hunting and sandcastle construction later, we received one rather vital piece of shipping news from our friends at Nordana, this time the USA branch: "Dogger, moderate, Tyne, squalls; Free Wheels East you may board a vessel which will take you to your destination of primary preference, Northern Morocco. You will depart from Houston Texas. Bring sea sickness pills, you are going to be crossing the Gulf of Mexico in the middle of Hurricane season. This message will self destruct when you are 40 feet west of Spyglass Hill. Good luck."
Our golden ticket home has been delivered to our trembling paws. Not only do we have the last piece of the puzzle, we know where it goes. Every continent and the history books are only one month away. Electric shocks of elation and disbelief ride the spine. This is such a vast piece of news that we cousins are left dumbstruck, incontinent and dripping with disbelief in its wake. The challenge in which we invested our lives over four years ago is soon to conclude. Can you believe that?
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