Today we arrive in Bamako!

We found some guys in a garage who could use our suits so now the race is over for us. Fjord Riders lives on. The Niva has managed extremely well in difficult terrain and in sand we have the lightest car to pull out when stuck. We have not followed the race route all the way. It is no fun sitting, eating and living in your car all day when you are on a trip like this. The days we have really done the whole etape we have arrive at two, three in the night and then the start is at seven the next morning. This is nothing for Fjord Riders and we have done excactly what we wanted to do, this also have included some very nice off-piste driving.

Now we are trying to sell our car and it seems to be a little difficult to sell a Lada in Africa. Let us hope for tomorrow. It is by time the Africans discover this little wonderful car!

Today we gradually leave the Sahara Desert and enter the Sahel steppe. It is still a lot of sand but vegetation and dry riverbeds increase in numbers. There are animals everywhere and one have to be very cautious when driving. Mules, camels, cows, goats are crossing the piste with no warning. With more vegetation there is also more settlements. During the day we pass a lot of small villages. Some places there are lot of kids waving and asking for gifts but we finally stop at a very small village where people are very calm and and curious. They seem to be very happy to receive paper, pens, reading glasses, soap, disinfection and other small items that we bring. We are now in Mali navigation gets very confusing. In the end we are completely lost. All bigger tracks are gone and we are passing riverbeds and rocks until we are totally stuck. We ask for direction several times but all roads seem to end nowhere or they split up in tiny tracks. After some nice guys hang on the Lada and show us out of the area we finally reach the bigger track and in the dark we slowly move closer to the first city of Mali. There we meet Team Bilnor who already had some food and are ready to continue. Morten and me are totally finished so we find a small Auberge where we have som food and a bed.

This was a long day and some really nice desert driving. We start of quite Ladavise by two times having to stop for repairs of the cooling system. A good thing that we brought some extra hooses so we can replace the once that are leaking. Since we are a big team driving together Bilnor, Fjord Riders and Dusty Fox we manage to repair the Lada very effective and by noon we actually are doing quite well in the competition. Somehow we finnish with our repairs just in time to reach every geocache after all the others have been walking round searching for some time. We can just follow the others and tick of the points. Anyway the drive for competition quickly dissapear when we get out of the desert and see the open sea. We decide to skip the rest of the point and take a bath. Fresh and cold but well deserved. After bathing we drive on the beach and further through the chaotic traffic of Noukachott.

This day we also stop a few place to hand out some small gifts too people living in small tents along the piste. It is really a shaking experience since the people are really desperate and way too poor. It is not fair. Their are screaming and dragging us desperately. After giving a football, some shoes, pencils and papers and glasses its getting too difficult and we continue the route with a tear in our eyes. Anyway I have to point out one thing: before this race I felt a bit concerned about driving a rally in one of the poorest countries in the world, as we would only play around in their country. But by giving some things it feels a bit more ok, we also pay alot to lokal salesmen and someone have said that the Budapest Bamako make about 2% of the tourism in Mauritania. Also when the rally drive by people are quite fascinated and interested in what we do. I think people here see us as adventurers and not only as tourists.

Life in the Lada is like being in a running garage. There is allways something to fix. The last days we have changed the coolingbelt fixed the doorlook and the windows in addition to the leaking hooses and the change of the gearbox. Everything is breaking down but everything is also repairable.

Today we drive into Mauritania. Most of the day is spent to get through all the different offices to get all stamps and papers ok. It is chaotic and a bit difficult to understand where to go and in which order. Slowly we progress and after getting out of Morocco we drive through "no mans land". Here is a lot of mines along piste. It is important to not get of the tracks. We manage fine through the soft sand and arrive at the Mauritania border. Here is a new round of offices and after giving away some tea and Euros we are free to go. We go to Noahdibou and its a very poor city. Chaotic and real African. On this picture you see another Lada Niva friend while crossing into Mauritania. To the left is a proof of how dangerous this place can be. A wreck of a car which hit a landmine.

Western Sahara. This was also a long day with mostly paved roads. We had a few geo-challenges and one of them took us down to the beach. It is fun to drive the Lada in sand. Our Swedish friends in team "Dusty Fox" swam out to a shipwreck where the geo-challenge was supposed to be hidden but they didn't find it. We see some United Nations camps and a lot of morrocan military. In the entry of every city there is also a police checkpoint where we have to show our passports and give some information on our trip. In the evening we reach the campsite south of Dakhla. Tomorrow we will cross the border into Mauritania. It will be a few quite hard stages into the desert.

Today Team Bilnor wanted to do the off-road piste while Morten and me stayed on the paved roads. We had a nice and calm day and we spend some time in a market and went out to see the old ruins that was made for "Star Wars I". In the evening we cached up with the cars who made the off-road track and Team Bilnor is happy with their day. Today we all sleep in a big camp. It's a nice atmosphere as the last beers and Hungarian spiritousa is passed around. Finally the temperature is comfortable even in the night and we all sleep well in our tents.

This morning we drive through a harsh and stony desert. There are many rivers along the piste but the rivers are not like the ones we are used to in Norway, - filled with running water. Here, it is water maybe once a year during rainy season. For the moment there is no water, only humid earth. Here and there there are a few persons, one is stuck with his moped, empty on gasoline. Others are caring for their donkeys, camels or goats. We stop a few times to give them some water, bread or olives. These are natural gifts in this harsh environment and also what they ask for. After passing the stony desert we arrive in an area with oasis. There are palm trees and small villages along the route. We pass Forum Sgid which originally was the campsite for yesterdays etape. We are now some hours behind the rally but no worries, we are here for the adventure not for the competition. Today both me and Morten and Team Bilnor are happy to take time to stop a few places and spend time among some people not only in the car. We eat kebab and buy some supplies as dates and tea.

Today is the first real African day. We meet at 7 o'clock an when the start is set some cars quickly disapear into the desert. Some take this race very seriously. We are not in a hurry en already at the first village we stop to have a little break, buy some bread and water. In the beginning of this day we have some really rough terrain. Big rocks and bad tracks. The funny thing is that while we are humping and bumping around in our 4-wheel drives we meet local trucks that come with their cargo. No problems there. We pass lots of different terrain, a river and lots of sand. Sometimes the sand are soft and we have to deflate our tires. After some time we get a good momentum and pass many difficult sand pistes. Along the route we have to stop at some checkpoints and write down the letters we find there. Navigation is always incredible difficult as there are many small roads in all directions and we all the time has to follow the GPS. Its really not easy and we get lost many times. After passing an old forgotten village we pass a field of dunes. Its an adrenaline bomb and all the time you have to care to have good speed to get over the small sand dunes. Since we are many cars we help each other pushing when we get stuck and it feels like a little miracle when we arrive at the other side. The Lada manage extremely well and even better when we deflate the tires. On the other side of the dunes we come to another river and with some recognition we find a place to drive through. It is becoming dark and we still have a long way to go so in the end we decide to take a guide. We are very near the Algerian border and with 200 km left to the next city we think its the best solution for us. This day was maybe one of the most exciting days of my life. With the beautiful scenario and the thrill of driving in dunes I am hooked. Its hard work but an adventure like nothing else.

The border crossing into Morocco goes remarcably smooth and after changing some money and filling up the gasoline reservoir we head south. Our first impression of Moroccan driving etiquette is positive. People want to help out and show us the way. We are driving through some beautiful sceneries in the Riff-mountains and later the Atlas. The temperature slowly decreases as we are climbing higher and higher. At the top we are at about 2000 meters and we are in a snowstorm! Late in the nigh we arrive in Merzouga which is the first real desert in Morocco with sand dunes. We find a really beautiful hotell/kasbah here and enjoy a nice berber dinner. Thanks to Morten skills as a salesman he quickly get friends with some berbers and soon our take is full of friends. As the evening passes the bargaining continues and Morten is very appreciated. He is trading like real Berber and for them this is a way of life and great fun. At two o'clock in the night the deal is set and We buy a used but beautiful, indigo Touareg chache for Knut. In return they get a Budapest - Bamako t-shirt 50 Dihram (5 euros) and a bottle of Pastis.

This is a day with a really long route and quite some pressure to come in time for the ferry from Almeria to Nador in Morocco. It's not a very interesting day and be now we are quite borrowed with higways. Things change a bit when we drive through spain and the further south we go the crazier the trwcukdrivers behave. They drive their 8 tonns truck like thy where a normal car and one have to really watch out on the road to avoid accidents. In the end it turns out to be a real race to reach the ferry and the last three ours our GPS tell us that we will be there 5 minutes before the boat leaving. No problem with spannish time and when we finally sit on the ferry we enjoy some well deserved beers. We are on our way to Africa.

Today we are waken 9.30 by Team Bilnor calling us on our cellphone. They are already on their way into France. We are still sleeping io the other side of Italy, one country and 5 hours behind. This is also obvious when we start driving since we spot no other cars of the Budapest - Bamako race. A few hors later when arriving in France we get our hopes up again.

The other cars have probably done some geochallenges in Italy today and we slowly starting to catch up. We reach Montpellier at around 24.00. Tomorrow will be a long day.

At 7.30 we meet at the Heroes Square to load some of our charity items into the bus designated for this task. Team Bilnor has brought some really big boxes with hospital equipment and even the Lada had room for a computer and some medical equipment.

The Budapest Bamako is a big event in Hungary and all people we meet have heard of the race. Lots of people also come to wave us goodbye this freezing cold morning. Morten and me are very happy to dress up in our Fjord Riders driving suits. The suits has shown to be not only nice when its cold, but also quite functional when driving the Lada, which any minute might need some attention.

While driving out of the starting area we are given the race-sheets which tell us how to earn some points in todays etape. After stopping one hours to get our video eqipment up to date we head for the challenges and it show out to be really fun. The coordinates we have been given take us into some nice offroad terrain. Actually it is very hard to find the places since the route given by our GPS not always is possible. After finding one of the geocahes and failing on two we decide its enough offroad driving for us and go to get some gulasj at a small restaurant. It taste delicous.

Bresica in Italy is supposed to be the finnish of this etape, but since we are in Slovenia we decide to have a nice dinner in Ljubljana. Because of the dinner we are now a bit behind schedule and since the Lada is not really a car made for paved roads, the speed is quite slow. We are now about 5 hours behind the other competitors, but this will soon change when we reach the desert.

This has been an adventures day, and we are now sure there is some kind of "Lada Good" up there who look after us.

Also we now know that driving a Lada in Hungary was not a bad idea. The mechanics we find here are some real eastern european masters of improvisation. After one hour our gearbox is down on the floor and a new one is loaded out of a truck. While Morten and me enjoy ourselves with screwing apart the old gearbox a new one is carefully fitted into our Lada. Several of other problems is also solved meanwhile, and like a little miracle we are back in the game. Half a gearbox and a lot of experience richer.

We are now in Budapest and the Lada is parked at the square where the race will start tomorrow at 9 o'clock. We have been out drinking lots of bears and all the Norwegian teams have met for a real Norwegian "nachspiel" at our hotellroom.

Tomorrow the race start and we head for Bamako.

Shit, the worst nightmare is happening.

Only 120 km from Budapest in the middle of the night Lady Lada Niva gives up. 5th gear fall out and all kinds of strange sounds start filling the cocpit. Soon all gears are crazy and we finally manage to park next to a shopping mall.

It's freezing cold and we are preparing for a sleep in the tent when two policeoffisers show up and give us a lift to a hotel. Tomorrow we will either have to fix the gearbox our self or we have to find a garage that will do it. This has to happen before midnight because then we will have to be in the big square of Budapest for the start of Budapest - Bamako. By the way, rumors say that Team Bilnor now are at their hotel in Budapest and ready for action.

What a beautiful start of the adventure of Fjord Riders.

At three o clock in the night we arrive in Prague. We are visiting an old friend of Knut, - Kristof and his girlfriend Vendula. Even if he Kristof is supposed to be at work at 8'o'clock next morning he and Vendula greets us welcome and we stay upp all night drinking lots of snaps

Next morning Vendula takes us for a sightseeing and we see the wonderful buildings of Prague. Its freezing cold and it doesn't help that we only brought summer clothing. Its supposed to be warm in the Sahara.

Thank you Kristof and Vendula for a really nice time and see you next time!

Tuesday night Morten arrive in Malmö together with our friends from Team Bilnor. On wedensday we leave for Budapest, a journey that does not start very well:

Morten and me decides to go in front while Team Bilnor still are running round in Malmö buying snus (Swedish kind of chewing-tobacco) All Norwegians do this when they come to Sweden, but since the Lada is not a fast car we think they will catch up later. This never happen and after several wrong turns of both the Fjord Riders and Team Bilnor we finally end up in two different ferries going to completely different places in Germany.

That is the Last we have seen of Team Bilnor...

"Lada is a name of a small, fast sail boat, typical for the river Volga, where the Lada-factory is situated. The Lada-boat goes back to the vikings, who used to colonize the slavic territory by coming from Scandinavia through the place where St. Petersburg is today. They where using the vast inland waterways of Russia for trade and soon took over the language, religion and some habits of the slavs but they where actually the founders of the first statehoods that eventually became Russia. As a funny detail of this history and the traveling vikings, the cars made by Rover in England and the ones made by VAZ/Lada in Russia have about the same little ship as a logo. "

With this background history you now knows that the Norwegian Vikings again explore the world in their Lada, this time in the name of Fjord Riders.

Suddenly I realize that we are only one week from leaving while the to-do-lists still are long as the road to Budapest. On top of this the engine suddenly started overheating yesterday.

The weather in Malmö is not very nice at the moment. One day it is raining, the next days it is freezing cold. Anyway things have to be done and since I have no garage they have to be done in the streets. I am really looking forward to leaving this behind and getting warmed by the sun in Sahara.... - knut