Cruise control...

Norbert has now safely made the trip slightly further North to Great Malvern where on sunday he was the guest of honour at a fundraising BBQ we had at the infamous pub, The Three Kings in Hanley Castle in aid of Save the Children. The BBQ was an unbelievable success and I must say a HUGE HUGE thank you to the chefs extraordinaire, Simon and Jez Barkley and also to Pippa Barkley. Their help and support has been invaluable and together we managed to raise over £500, far in excess of anything we could have hoped for. I must also thank all of those who came, despite the fact that the weather seemed intent on keeping the sun at bay and last but by no means least, a massive thank you to Sue who owns the Three Kings. This pub is an most definitely a renowned institution within Worcestershire and I would highly recommend that should anyone find themselves in the area, lost or otherwise, that they make the time to experience this idyllic establishment!

On Monday it was time for Norbert to finally 'get dressed'. I took him to our sponsors, APS headquarters in Great Malvern where I met with Lee from B1, the company who have kindly designed and printed the advertising artwork for Norbert. Lee's expertise and speediness led me to believe that he had done this before and when I questioned this he let slip he had indeed and his past project had involved a Bugatti Veyron...from then on I knew Norbert was in safe hands! Less than an hour later and Norbert now definitely resembles a vehicle about to embark upon the Mongolia Charity Rally! Pictures of the newly 'tarted up' Norbert can be found in our photo gallery.

And finally, today we are off back down to Oxfordshire to have our first taster of a mechanics course this afternoon...apparently it is advised that one should know slightly more than simply how to change a tyre and check the oil before embarking upon a 10,000 mile journey!? So here's hoping to Paisley and Jules being able to, by tonight, know how to change  an air filter (of course once having been shown where this curious component is!?) and knowing slightly more about these things you call fan belts...!? Photos to follow...