Well… plan is to cross into Egypt turn away from the coast before Alexandria and skirt round Cairo on the desert route to the resorts on the Red Sea and wait it out there.
We tried and failed ….spent 4 hours or so in no mans land before being sent away others were allowed to cross but I suspect they were all local. Will wait for a few days and try again.
Meanwhile we will have to leave our van, fly to Tripoli to try and sort out our visas. Luckily we have a friend who can help.

The scenic route to the border between Libya and Egypt,yes it was rubbish both sides of the road as far as you can see!
The Libyan authorities were very understanding and arranged for an escort (our friend Idris again) who found us somewhere to leave the vehicle and took us to the airport where we were escorted onto the fight to Tripoli and met at the other end by another escort …who took us on to our friends, Thank you Richard and Susan.

Interesting trek down from Djerba in Tunisia to the border….Still a lot of military presence on the roads and heaven knows how many times we had to produce passports etc, anyway we made it to the “safe haven of Libya” and on to Sabratah and the first of many Roman Ruins …spectacular.

Luckily we have friends in Tripoli who we stayed with for our first two nights to get the low down, thank you Richard and Susan. Everyone very friendly but the coast really is a rubbish dump. We then moved to Leptis Magna ( not a small town in Somerset as someone said..) which is quite simply awe inspiring



meet you at the sign of the penis….

Our guide Mufti was wonderful and managed to explain what things were and had some amazing computer simulations to show what they might have looked like when they were standing.

From Leptis we drove to Adabya the most filthy stretch of coast you can imagine the journey enlivened by the odd car crash and weird sight…herd of camels in an articulated lorry!

and a combine in the middle of the desert

We are now in Benghazi in a sandstorm and gather that Egypt is going to be exciting when we get there early next week. Mind you situation here pretty tense very different to Tripoli…. Hey Ho who said it would be easy!

The Road to Benghazi

Having decided to make a run from Tunis to the safe haven of Libya (?) and spent two days on the road explaining to militia, police and army who we were and what we were doing we made it to Djerba a well known resort island to find it closed… except for one all inclusive resort catering to the German equivalent of Saga …we negotiated a huge discount and are now safely..tucked up in an over 80’s resort listening to live umpah music…WEIRD but the wine is free.

We came for supper with Chad and Daria on Wednesday for some tourist tips…and stayed till today must be some sort of record for a dinner invitation. Thank you both for everything!

Chad and Daria’s lovely home…..

Lucy and I have decided to continue on with our trip down the east coast to Djerba so will be out of contact for a while.
Fingers crossed.

Interesting night last night….
To quote the BBC
“However the country remains volatile, and residents reported heavy gunfire at the Presidential Palace in Carthage, north of Tunis, late into the night. In the city, fighting also continued at the Interior ministry and the presidential residence”
We know we were just outside Carthage in La Marsa.

…..rumour …rumour and counter rumour just as we thought it was getting better, it all seems to have fallen apart again. Went for a walk on the beach in the morning with Tatiana, Spencer and Winslow.
Managed to do some shopping in the market lots of fruit and veg but couldn’t find bread Gunshots and helicopters buzzing round put an end to our lying in the sunshine by the pool in the afternoon.

Momentous day. Staying with friends in La Marsa north of Tunis so not in the van in a car park! I decided to go into town after two days in the house and last nights speech from the President about the future direction of the country and hearing the peoples voice…..Very peaceful morning in the centre of town walked down to Place du 7th Novembre reputedly 250,000 people on the streets a figure I can quite believe. Amazing optimistic atmosphere until about 3pm when things started to feel a bit ugly and so decided to head back. Rioting broke out on the way home and police used tear gas to disperse the crowds…not a comfortable situation made worse by the burning and looting of a house owned by one of the Presidents extended family close to where we were staying and the thick black smoke enveloping the area. Guess we are stuck for the moment but at least we are with friends!

oops blockage!

We had thought Tunisia would be the least exciting part of our trip…completely safe stable government etc etc…Not a bit of it… rioting on the streets!
Keeping a very low profile after a couple of days in and around Tunis visiting the Bardo museum and seeing the stunning mosaics, Carthage and Sidi Bou Said and a little run in with a mob of students in Hammam Lif, a suburb of Tunis.



Lots of press coverage but this gives a flavour Tunis unrest

Lucy and Daria making friends just in case…

We had a change over on Tuesday after Christmas and George, Fergus and Pippa went home and some great friends Rollo and Ros, Mark and Fiona and Caroline came out to join us (with their suitcases) for the New Year.

From left: Lucy, Ros, Rory,Caroline,Rollo,Fiona,Mark

We had a ball the weather was kind and we ate and drank too much. Rollo wins the prize for best fancy dress with a splendid “Berber…. cheap price” outfit! Mark wins the “I am getting a bit twitchy lets go to the beach” award and the girls collectively win the Berber cheap price bargaining cup.


Rollo and Rory the Berber Boys
Tomorrow we set off for Tunis in a ferry via Spain ( The Moroccan / Algerian border being closed)
Happy New Year to everyone