Welcome back to the continuing misadventures of the Battlestar Team. Last year we rode the mighty Battlestar Fiesta all the way from Hyde Park to Ulaanbaatar, finishing in just under three weeks. Many valuable lessons were learnt such as; 40 rolls of three-ply is exactly the correct amount of bog roll to pack for this length of journey (as I had always suspected), Bruce can go for 10 hours without saying a word and you don't need a map if there's only one road. Although it is important to be going in right direction. How best to put this shallow pool of ill-gotten travel knowledge to the test? By embarking on this year's attempt at seppuku - driving to Cameroon!

This time the chaps at The League of Adventurists are challenging 100 teams to drive from Hyde Park to Cameroon (still don't know whereabouts in Cameroon but I'm sure that'll become apparent - it doesn't look that large on the map). 'Mongol Rally rules' apply, i.e.

1. The car must have an engine less than a litre
2. Any route you like
3. You must raise money for charity
4. You're on your own

Sadly rule number 4 will exclude Messrs McGregor and Boorman from taking part. Our trip will probably be a little different from their recent jaunt as I can't see us employing fixers in every country; including France. Nor we will we be followed by a couple of Toyotas rammed full of douchebags. It's pretty unlikely if our car breaks down that BMW will send us a new one and I can pretty much guarantee if we recieve an escort from any national guards, it'll be to some sort of large holding facility where we can expect to spend a good portion of out time picking up soap. Other than than it's likely to be quite similar. If you haven't already bought the DVD of 'The Long Way Down' and don't know what I'm talking about, maybe this review will help.

So far our preparation has been me writing this. We have no car, no route, no time off work and little clue. We thought we'd get the site going early this time to chart our dismal progress and to hopefully generate some ideas. As opposed to last time this site's vaguley interactive - you're free to write hilarious witisisms at the end of articles or sign up and venture onto the forum and have your say about just how much toilet roll you'd pack. In case you were wondering why we need to confirm your email address; it's so we can haunt you with viagra spam for the rest of time.

Hopefully when we leave Hyde Park in July the site will serve as our blogging tool as before, but until then keep on checking back as we'll be writing about which routes are most likely to get us shot and exactly what type of crap mobile we'll be getting shot in.

Rik