AN EPIC JOURNEY.

Thames Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 20241, 18 February 1938, Page 3

AN EPIC JOURNEY.

IN A MORRIS "EIGHT." HOME FROM GOLD COAST. 8000-MILE RUN. 'The f.evy .motorists who drive i'l'Oin the Cold Coast of Africa, to Engianu usually go by the Sahara Desert through Algiers—a fairly straight-forward route). But Lieutenant 'Dobson, of the Royal Signals, decided to be different. He chose to travel east to Khartoum, across French Sudan, Northern Nigeria, French Equatorial Africa, the AngloEgyptian Sudan and the Nubian Desert, thence along the Nile Valley to Alexandria, and from Athens across six European countries to England. Tho Sudan Government expressed consternation at the idea, considering that as large foreign cars had constantly come to grief, an 8 h.p. cat could hardly be expected to traverse such country. Nevertheless, Lieut. Dobson, who had complete faith in tho car and in himself, set out from Kumasi, a Gold Coast town, with a companion and gear for Tenkodogo, a small Frontier town on the Ivory Coast. From here the travellers drove by a narrow, rough route through burnt-up bush country, arriving 800 miles from the start at the Niger River, which was crossed by ferry. Followed thousands of miles of arduous motoring over tracks of baked mud, soft sand and rocky terrain. The 500-mile stretch from .El Geneina to El Fasher was, it was- stated, impossible for a. car. So it was arranged that a lorry should follow on behind. The Morris quickly outstripped its consort,arriving at; El Fasher without mishap, although several times high rocks in the road had struck the petrol tank. When the lorry. did not arrivo the car was driven back, finding its erstwhile protector • incapacitated with a broken propeller shaft. The last 400 nufcs'Yun'Vb' ElObeid was;a nightmare, the 'route consisting entirely of soft sand aha taking three days. On this route' many brokendown vehicles were encountered. Finally, at 4000 miles, the' Morris arrived at Khartoum.

From here to Alexandria the journey was comparatively uneventful, though sandstorms and boulders made the going difficult at times. From Alexandria the car was shipped to Athens, and from there the road home ran through Greece. Jugoslavia, Hungary, Austria, Switzerland and France, surfaces generally being good, though iu parts little bettor than African tracks. Tlie car arrived back in England with its stock of spare parts untouched, except for three spring leaves which had been used on the route.