Stage 1: Notes from the back of the cab

Dear FTFE Followers,

Welcome to the first of what we hope will be many regular blogs from the crew members of the Follow That Fire Engine Challenge. We will use this space to update you all on the thrills and spills of our round-the-world journey as well as the mundane daily routine of life on the road.

We will try not to bore you with reiterative references to the stunning scenery we have already been enjoying through the widescreen cinema screen that is Martha’s front window; however, on special occasions we may succumb to this temptation… such as right now as I write to you from the banks  of Lake Lucerne in central Switzerland, surrounded by the green foothills of the Swiss Alps, dotted with spectacular lodges and farmhouses… yesterday, we even saw a herd of delightful cattle, all chiming with the unmistakable sound of the alpine cowbell. Very chocolate box eh?

But just as I’m getting lost in the rustic reverie, team colleague Chris Moore pokes his head into the fire engine cabin to inform me, with the look of a garage mechanic who is just about to utter the dreaded expression (accompanied with deep disapproving sigh), “it’ll cost you” – that Martha is suffering a fuel leak. The precise seriousness of this issue is yet to be confirmed, but this incident is a perfect illustration of life so far on the fire engine. Just as you begin to relax into your surroundings and enjoy the sensation of being (dare I say it??!) “on holiday” some unexpected event will occur to remind you that this is, in fact, an expedition with a very challenging goal at its core – to drive a bloody fire engine around the bloody world!

Just to calm our friends and family at home, I should point out that we have not yet suffered any grave difficulties so far on our journey: mainly a few wrong turns here and there and some nasty business on the Swiss border with a frontier official who is obviously still cursing the day he didn’t get a better score in his police entry exams. He threw our precious (and expensive) carnet de passage document across the room, yelling “ce n’est pas mon travaille!” when he realised he was going to have to photocopy our vehicle contents list – he was like an angry Inspector Clouseau on amphetamines! The Swiss border control procedure (which I should point out, was assisted greatly by other very helpful staff in the Customs Control office) took approximately two hours to complete and gave us an early insight into the kind of issues we may face in future, less amenable, countries. Even an apparently simple question like “what kind of vehicle is it?” can take a long time to answer as Martha doesn’t fall into any predefined categories: she is not a goods carrying lorry; she is not a motor home; she is not a large private car and she is not a 4×4 off roader… she is a fire engine!

So: a quick summary of the journey so far: we progressed through from the UK (the europhic buzz from our amazing send-off from friends, family and the London Fire Brigade punctured somewhat when we managed to get lost within ten minutes of driving out of Greenwich!), France (thanks very much to the two Sues and another kind lady at the Eurotunnel) and onto to Belgium where we made camp in a sleepy little town called Jabbeke (also thanks to nice lady at the campsite who let us pitch there gratis when she realised we were on a charity expedition). That night saw a small amount of carousing in a local bar with some friendly Belgians as relief of actually having started the journey began to sink in. Day Two was a long grind on the motorway to Luxembourg, where we finished the day with a very competitive game of cricket (future FTFE crew members start practising now – these guys are serious!) and BBQ – thanks to Lux mate Chris Purdy for supplying sleeping bag to Team member Chris: honestly, how could he forget his sleeping bag?? Day Three saw us pass through four countries in a mammoth 10 hr stint from Lux to Lucerne in Switzerland, where, as you already know, I am sitting right now.

Martha is able to cruise at around 55mph, which means time passes slowly in the cab too: the hours are filled variously with silence, conversation on a variety of topics from the profane to profound, silence, loud music, power naps, the occasional yells of “Road trip!!!, Woo hoo!!” from our onboard vibesman Ross… and more silence. So far it has to be said that the atmosphere in the cab has been very chirpy and supportive and the Stage 1 team really seems to be gelling (everybody touch wood and cross fingers please!).

So here endeth the first update from the FTFE Challenge. We should apologise to all our followers who have been keenly waiting to hear how things are going. After months of careful planning, endless lists and assistance from the whole FTFE team to pack Martha with every conceivable item for our journey, we still managed to leave home without the laptop power cable meaning that we have been unable to blog until today. We give grateful thanks to the good people at Powertraveller, who have kitted us all out with their amazing and, unexpectedly useful, range of solar powered battery charging equipment.

Hasta pronto amigos!

George

P.S. For those concerned about the aforementioned fuel leak, we are now on our way to a local mechanic, where the leak will hopefully be sealed….

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