Anyone ever watch Long Way Round? Ever wish you could go on a once in a lifetime journey like that? Well Ewan and Charlie are doing it again but instead they are going from John O’Groats to the southern tip of Africa. I think they just made Tunisia yesterday so theyve been on the road for about a week so far.

Once again they are doing the riding with Claudio the cameraman and the support team in tow and trying to raise awareness of the problems on route by supporting the UNICEF projects they visit. The thing I loved about the original was they were going to places I’d longed to visit but had never really seen on TV. Places such as Mongolia as a whole or Magadan have always been in my top 5 places to see and I think this was where my enjoyment of the program differend from alot of peoples. I just watched it for the places they visited, nothing at all to do with Ewan or the bikes. Now with them heading through Africa I’m curious to see the route they will be going and whats in store for them.

Apparently this one started being planned as they rode into New York at the end of their previous 3 month trip around the world but with all the troubles and hard terrain they encountered in Asia I was never sure Ewan would be up for it. Charlie got some practice is when he did the Paris – Dakar rally in 2006 but I think the other two riders may struggle.

Anyway the website is up now and you can follow them on thier journey by checking out their travel log and film thats being uploaded every few days to the BBC website. Should hopefully be on the BBC in September I think.

Now I think they are cheating with this pic. Thats taken at the start of Glen Coe at the Kings House Hotel looking up at Buachaille Etive Mor. Now as I understand it they went down the east coast so they could pop in on Ewans parents in Fife. So why tease us with the carrot of them driving down Glen Coe?

So my entries have been rather short of late. Plenty of reason for that though..overworked and all that jazz

So I’ve moved sections in work again…back to Russia and Iraq. My old favourites. The only thing is thanks to the xmas holidays theres a months worth of workto do and only myself and Carol to do it! It was only supposed to be a temporary thing before rejoining my old team and getting back to my Asia and Latin America officers. Well that wont be happening anymore…I’m off to Africa! Well not really off to Africa but I’ll be dealing with the officers out there soon…Nigeria, Sudan, Seirra Leone…They like giving me work in troubled places dont they! Should be happening in a few weeks so we’ll see how it goes.

We had our team event on wednesday afternoon. Instead of giving out bonuses to half the folk in the place they restrict that to the few that are liked and give out team recognition funds instead. Basically an attempt to keep everyone happy but not really spending that much cash. I think it worked out at 30 quid per head so it was a nice lunch at Di Maggios and then a couple of games of bowling with a handful of free drinks. I think I managed 6 pints before heading home and there was still 100 quid in the kitty at that point. Played crap in my first game and didnt break a hundred but managed a respectable 120 in the next. And despite a few cheats going on my team still managed to win the tournament

I was very guttered when I got home. Vonnie had been baking and and tidying and I conked out on the bed for half an hour before joining everyone in the livingroom. Don’t really remember much (I was absolutely shattered as well) other than my hangover kicking in about 9pm. Couldnt sleep because of it.

Early night was had last night as well with Vonnie inbed for 8 and myself in bed for 10! Roll on the paternity leave!