Date: 14/10/09

Location: Sfax

Miles travelled: TBC

Weather: 28ºC - Cloudy with sunny spells

Today we mostly listened to: Paul Simon (Today), Tunisian music in the front of a recovery vehicle (yesterday)

Although Tunis is quite a nice place we woke yesterday glad we were going to get moving. We picked up Monty from the garage at about 3pm, the new clutch had been fitted and we were ready for the road.

Then the noise came back, not the same noise but more of a heavy squeeking. Eager to get on and convinced it couldn't be the clutch we pushed on. 37 miles later there was a big bang then a lot of rattling from under the footwell and looking in my mirror and seeing a large piece of metal skipping along the motorway confirmed we had a big problem.

We pulled into the side of the road, which isn't a safe place on an English motorway let alone a Tunisian one. I walked back up the carriage way and picked up the missing pieace which was part of the front Universal Joint off of the front prop shaft.

We now know that the Universal Joint had sheared off of the prop shaft leaving it spinning with the wheels and beating against the foot well and chassis, not a good situation at all.

With no form of recovery in Tunisia we were stranded at the side of the road and it was getting dark so we phoned nice man at the Land Rover parts shop. He listened to the problem and told me to stop being such a girl and fix it. I'd already found out that the car would still move forward with Diff lock engaged but because of the loose prop shaft made a huge amount of noise and was damaging the chassis so we decided to remove the whole front prop shaft and drive back to Tunis with Diff lock engaged essentially just using the rear wheels.

Being beside a car on the side of a motorway is risky but being underneith one is even more perilous so I tried to be as quick as possible while Charlie looked out for anything that might hit us. I was onto the last bolt when a dude turned up, apparently in Tunisia if you break down you just wait and eventually someone will come with a truck and pick you up. Being taken back to Tunis with a local was a much better sounding idea than driving a damaged Monty back so we obliged.

To say that it was depressing to be in a break down lorry going back to Tunis is a bit of an understatment but we were and there wasn't a lot we could do about it. We phoned the garage and he agreed to stay open for us. A quick look back at the garage showed it was relatively simple to fix. We booked into a hotel and went to bed.

Monty was fixed (again) this morning by 12pm and we set of again. It's going to take quite a few trouble-free miles before we feel confident in Monty again and as we drove along the motorway out of Tunis every bang squeek and wobble made us a tad nervous.

The day went well and we got a fair few miles behind us, we're now in Sfax and ready to tackle the Libyan border tomorrow.

Date: 12/10/09

Location: Hammamet (N36.24236 E10.33664) and Tunis

Miles travelled: 50 miles

Weather: 26ºC - 30ºC - sunny with big storm clouds too

Today we mostly listened to: Prince (today), Arcade Fire (yesterday)

Useful info: The campsite we stayed at was called Camping/Hotel Samaris (just outside of Hammamet) - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

So we spent a fine day in Hammamet yesterday walking along the beach and running in to huts everytime a big storm cloud came over.  We ate lunch in a nice hotel (blowing the days budget in one go).  We must have walked for about 5km in total so feel like we've done our exercise for the week.  We went back to the campsite around 5ish and made dinner whilst it was still light.  Scrabble and more gin followed.  I cant remember where I heard this exactly but I think tonic has quinine in it (or maybe it used to) which is good for repelling mosquitoes (or maybe it was for preventing marlaria, i cant quite remember).  Anyway, it didn't work for me as one of the little buggers got through my trousers and bit me on the bum - massive red lump there now which looks so fetching with the bikini.

Our peaceful little campsite was also invaded last night by a french contingent who were on their way from (or to) Tatouine (the star wars place).  Ric got excited about some of the cars - I particularly liked the yellow one with a picture of a palm tree on it!

We packed up early this morning and left the campsite around 7.  We headed back along the road we came down a few days ago back to Tunis.  It is incredibly frustrating to be going back instead of forward but the clutch needs to be looked at and Tunis is probably our best bet.  We got to the Landrover dealership which was closed over the weekend.  Half an hour of not understanding the mechanic and him not understanding us and we were no further.  Eventually we managed to work out that it was going to take 50 days for him to order in the clutch part we need!  How can a Landrover Dealership in a Capital City not only not have this major part in stock, but also not be able to get in for 50 days!!!!  Anyway, we got the name of a chap that might be able to help us.  We visited him this morning and whoop whoop, he has the part.  We then found a mechanic around the corner who is currently fitting it for us.  Ric is with him now trying to gee him along a bit to get it done for tomorrow.  We need to leave here soon as it is beginning to feel like we're in the Bermuda Triangle - we just can't get out!

Date: 10/10/09

Location: Hammamet (N36.24236 E10.33664) Click to view

Miles travelled: 96 miles

Weather: 29ºC Sunny all day then Thunderstorm in the evening

Today we mostly listened to: Elbow - Seldom seen kid

Our main mission today was to find the Land Rover Dealer (N36 43.665 E10 14.390) so that we can take Monty there first thing tomorrow to get the clutch, which doesn't seem to be getting worse but isn't getting better either, fixed.

After deliberating over our two "official" Tunis maps we found a route and set off. Unfortunatley these maps are a bit like the ones you get at theme parks showing you where the rides are and therefore not exactly accurate. There are roads on them that don't exist and roads that exist that aren't on them, so we ended up driving around for an hour or so looking for it.

We eventually found it and drove in. The security guard helpfully told us that contrary to the website it was actually open today but only before 12 (We got there at 1pm) and that, again contrary to the website it's not open tomorrow (Sunday)........Gggrrrrrr. This means we're definately going to be late for our Libya border crossing because we now won't even be able to get into the garage before Monday. We decided to phone our Libian tour guide to check whether we could be a day late to the border, he confirmed this would be fine.  Crisis averted (we should probably worry less!) Having already done Tunis we head to the coast to a place called Hammamet which isn't too far from the garage but is far enough from Tunis for a change of scene.

Hammamet is a town on the East coast with a very nice beach. The Medina is quite nice but the rest of it is a bit shabby and geared mainly for tourism so feels a bit deflated out of season. Nevertheless it's on the coast and has a beach so we stay.

We're now at a camp site just out of the town (N36 24.239 E10 33.667) in quite a built up area. It appears to be the olive tree garded of a hotel that the owner has opened up for campers. We have the place to ourselves which is rather nice.

We popped out and picked up a courgette and aubergine for dinner which Charlie made into a really nice vegetable curry.

Once dinner was finished we played scrabble (I won!) and watched a huge thunderstorm pass overhead. Despite the rain it really made for a great evening. I was extremely content sitting under the awning playing scrabble and watching the lightning, the half bottle of Gin we got through with our Gin & Tonics (with limes from a tree next to the car) may have helped too though!

Date: 09/10/09
Location: Gammarth, near Tunis
Today we mostly listened to: Funny wailing music in taxis
Miles travelled: 10 miles between Gammarth, Tunis and Sidi Bou Said
Weather: 30ºC Sunny

It took us about 2 hours to get through Tunisian customs on Thursday night.  It then took us another hour to find our hotel, which was only 15 mins away from the port - doh.  We stopped to ask a lovely policeman for directions and he proceeded to escort us in the general direction of our hotel getting us back on track - so far the Tunisians we have met have been very nice and helpful people.

Our hotel is lovely (a bit too nice really so we feel we are cheating) but it has secure parking and there isn't really anywhere to camp in Tunis so we'll let ourselves off for now.  We awoke early this morning and after a few hours uploading photos and looking for a mechanic to fix Monty's clutch we headed in to Tunis town centre to visit the Souk.  It was quite nice actually - not as much hassel as we've had in other North African souks.  Having said that, we did take our eye off the ball and lulled into this false sense of security we somehow ended up on a tour of a carpet shop and buying a small rug.  We also managed to get up on to the roof-tops above the souk to get a great view over the city - see pictures on flickr.

After the hot, sweaty atmosphere of Tunis Medina we decided to head out to Sid Bou Said on the coast.  It is a quaint town with white and blue buildings right on the med - all very touristy, but quite nice to spend a couple of hours there.  After that we headed back to the hotel for a dip in the pool, dinner and another early night.  Tonights entertainment was a crappy Steven Segal movie with Arabic sub-titles (truely awful and worse than Night at the Museum 2).  Tomorrow we go in search of a place to camp further down the coast and close to a landrover mechanic we have managed to locate.  Got 2 days to get Monty fixed as we have to be at the Libyan border on Tuesday as the visas are quite strict and we can't keep Farhat (our guide) waiting!