"Twas the night before departure" was Ken's caption for this photo of the Renault van outside his home on the evening of January 2, 2010. The next morning he collected David from Aysgarth before meeting with the rest of the team ready what proved to be an eventful but not always easy overland journey to the Gambia.

The team consisted of:  David Pointon (a founder trustee of the charity); Ken Nicholas, a Wensleydale ambulance technician who first went overland to the Gambia with David in 2006; David Milner of Leyburn; and Janet and Bob Hughes from Swaledale. The two David's and Bob are members of the Rotary Club of Wensleydale which had given considerable support to this venture.

Despite the snow at the beginning they had a pleasant, uneventful journey to Portsmouth where they caught the ferry to Bilbao. David reported that the Bay of Biscay was like a mill pond when they crossed it. By Wednesday, January 6, they had reached Mijas near Malaga where they enjoyed the warm hospitality of Bob's brother and sister-in-law, Peter and Margaret (on right in photograph) .

The team also had a wonderful time in Gibraltar the following day thanks to the Rotarians there. Their hosts were David Lelliott and Lizeth Herrera and they enjoyed a meal with several other Rotarians that evening. Below: From left -Pam, David Pointon, Ken, David Milner, David and Lizeth, and Bob and Janet.

By the evening of Friday, January 8 they were in Chefchaouen in Morocco and woke up to a snowy view of the hills.

Two days later they were in Marrakech where they had a rest day in that fascinating city. Their journey then took them over the Atlas Mountains and through the desert, travelling via Tiznit and Laayoune (El Aaiun) to Dakhla which they reached on Sunday, January 14. They started early the following day for the Morrocan/Mauritania border.

But between the time when David and Ken checked the visa requirements for Mauritania and their arrival at the border post the rules had been changed. Instead of obtaining the visas there they were told they had to go back about 1,000 miles to the Mauritanian consulate in Rabat, Morroco. The Mauritanian border post was not a comfortable place to spend a night sleeping in the vehicles but as David said: "We are not going to drive through a minefield in the dark." The no-man's land between the Mauritanian post and the Morrocan one is an old minefield and those driving through it must keep to the well-used routes. They did have sufficient bread with them so Janet was able to make sandwiches using tinned sardines and cheese.

They returned to the hotel with a sea-view that they had found in Dakhla and there three of them stayed while David Pointon and Ken flew to Rabat to get those visas. The journey southwards did not get underway again until Friday, January 22 and after a long and tiring day they reached Nouakchott in Mauritania. It took them three days to drive through Mauritania and then they had a rest day in St Louis in Senegal. They also had a very enjoyable evening at Les Paletuviers at Toubacuta - their last stop in Senegal before crossing into the Gambia.

On Thursday, January 28, they received a warm welcome at the school for the blind at Serrekunda and were able to deliver the equipment and toys they had brought from England. The toys  and some teaching aids had been donated by three Dales Schools (see More Gifts).

David held teacher training classes the following week and the head teacher commented: "We were very grateful to David and friends for organising such training for us. We learnt a lot from him (as he) shared (his) vast experience. On Friday the children were presented with toys to take home. They were very happy and excited. Some of the toys which are useful for learning materials were distributed among the classes for teachers to use them with the children during class lessons."

For more photographs of the team at the school see Memories - a gallery; Teacher Training; and Toy Time Gallery.