This section covers all the Ws: who, where, why, what, when, and, erm, how. 
A daily record of the plans made and the decisions taken. 
Click on the articles below for the latest news.

260 I mentioned in an earlier post that Colour Create not only printed the stripes for our car and the JPS logos for Carl's, but they also created the desktop cut-out and the comic book of our trip. What I didn't mention was that they did this extra work for free again; honestly, I'm amazed they are still in business!!! I emailed Barry and Kevin to say thank you again for everything they have done for us to help make our trip so memorable. As always, they were really humble

I mentioned in my last post that I also snagged a few more donations for the pot, which pushed the total up even further. We raised yet more funds as Kristen, our Communications Manager in the office, organised a Great British Bake Off competition in which staff were asked to bake a cake, and everyone else was encouraged to donate money to buy a slice. The theme was to celebrate the NHS's birthday, and they also added our trip to the brief, which was lovely. As I did the jo

The rally has finished; it is now back to reality and back to work. It hasn't been so bad going back to work, as our Communications Manager was covering our trip and promoting it heavily via our intranet and our digital magazine - thank you, Kristen! I also sent my 'Dear Diary' messages to my colleague Alan, who brought them up at each morning's huddle (a quick meeting where a member of each team gave an update of any work that the rest of the organisation needed to be made

We have been home for a couple of weeks now, and it is almost time to put this part of our life behind us and focus on the future, so what better time to look back with a top 5? Today it is the Top 5 Best Moments Of The Trip. 5. Three Abreast On The M57 We spent two years meticulously planning this trip. Still, one of the best moments for me happened completely spontaneously and affected me much more than it should have. After the torture of immigration at Portsmouth, we set

We have been home for a couple of weeks now, and it is almost time to put this part of our life behind us and focus on the future, so what better time to look back with a top 5? Today it is the Top 5 Cities To Revisit In The Future. 5. Namur Before the trip, I didn't actually have a clue where Namur was; I didn't even know what country it was in, to be honest, so I had zero expectations. Namur is a beautiful, medieval city in eastern Belgium that sits where the Sambre and M

We have been home for a couple of weeks now, and it is almost time to put this part of our life behind us and focus on the future, so what better time to look back with a top 5? Today it is the Top 5 Laugh Out Loud Moments. 5. The Padded Coathangers We decided to take part in the quiz on the ferry home, and our hostess asked us to choose names that were clean and could be shouted across the bar. No problem, our usual team name was wheeled out: ladies and gentlemen, your Pad

We have been home for a couple of weeks now, and it is almost time to put this part of our life behind us and focus on the future, so what better time to look back with a top 5? Today it is the Top 5 Surprising Things On The Trip. 5. Charity Support When we decided to use New Start as our charity of choice, I'll be honest, I was a little nervous. I want to confirm that Ellis' wife, Sarah, is okay with it, that New Start is okay with it, and that people will support a relati

We have been home for a couple of weeks now, and it is almost time to put our adventure behind us and focus on the future, so what better time to look back with a top 5? Today it is the 'Top 5 Bad Things That Happened On Our Trip'. 5. The Rain The cars were prepped and looking spectacular right up to the point when the heavens opened as we headed to the M25, and they got a liberal sprinkling of road muck. The sun was cracking the flags when we entered France, but by the tim

As mentioned in my last update, I have post-rally blues, a situation not helped by the rally bills now trickling in. My phone provider delighted me by letting me know my latest bill is available and will be sent out this week - thanks. Then I got a message in French from Bip&Go to say they wanted some coin off me, but not all of it - let me explain. The whole Bip&Go setup is confusing to me; the website asks questions in the wrong order (nationality > postcode > street name

The guys at Bust Rallies HQ had a dig around the back of their digital camera and eventially found images of our little convoy crossing the finishing line in Casino Square, Monaco, opposite the famous Café de Paris Hotel, surrounded by Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Porches. Not going to lie, we were really disappointed not to have these pictures, as making it to Monaco with the other competitors was the culmination of the rally, something we had all worked really hard to prepar

I contacted Lisa at New Start to confirm that we had successfully completed the rally and to provide an update on the money raised. I sent over a few pictures too of us at the start, the New Start logo on the car, us with 'Travelling Ellis' on top of the Alps, and us hooning about on the Monaco Grand Prix track. She replied with the following: Morning Robbie, Wow – what an incredible achievement! Congratulations to you and the whole team on completing 2,241 miles across 8 c

Dear Diary, Well, we made it. All the way to Monaco and back via Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France and Spain in the same time it takes to receive a delivery from Evri. There have been so many highs: the camaraderie between our three teams, the other Ralliers, the hotels (we chose impeccably considering they were booked when we were more than half cut), the stunning scenery, the food, the culture, but most of all, the little cars. The two Abarths and

Dear Diary, Many people warned us that the Bay of Biscay can be a cruel mistress, but she was a pussycat to us on the trip from Bilbao to Portsmouth. Honestly, it was like a millpond…only calmer! I’ve been on rougher coach trips than this journey. After a massive sleep-in, I checked the location tracker on the ship's infotainment system and found we were just off the coast of Normandy near the hilariously named town of Brest (sorry, I’m such a child). We met for lunch,

Dear Diary, And now, the end is near, and so we face the final motorway-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-road…. It is the last day, and just a short blast from San Sebastián to the docks at Bilbao to catch the ferry home. First things first, I needed petrol badly. The low-fuel light was glowing so brightly that it could be seen from space, like the light atop the Pyramid Hotel in Las Vegas. The filling station was around the corner, which involved negotiating the many, many round

Dear Diary, Today has been a good day. We moved the cars from on-street parking with the unfathomable instructions to an underground place where you pay on exit… we think. We went to a little cafe for a coffee and a breakfast sandwich. Despite pointing out our choices twice, we still got the wrong coffee and food. All part of the experience though, isn’t it? We got ready and went to explore San Sebastián. People told us that it was nice, but that was a massive understate

Dear Diary, I’ve been dreading today, not because we are leaving Séte (although that stings) or because of where we are headed (San Sebastián is amazing, apparently), but because today is the second-longest drive of the whole trip, 6 and a half hours. We set off early with Lisa taking over at the wheel and snaked our way through the old town trying to get to the motorway heading west. Immediately, we hit a problem: all three cars went different ways in search of fuel. Sake.

Dear Diary, Today I leapt up and went straight back to bed as I felt lousy; Lisa did the same. I think a combination of long drives, eating late and the odd glass of vino at midnight had caught up with us. We eventually dragged our carcasses out of bed, got ready and went to explore Séte. What a beautiful place it is. We visited the street markets selling delicious meats, fruits and cheeses, then headed to the main indoor market, which sold all manner of seafood, not just

Dear Diary, After a decent night's sleep, it was time to say au revoir to Nice and head along the coast to Seté. Well, we headed off after getting out of the underground car park, which was tighter than a clam with lockjaw. So tight, in fact, that my passenger-side wing mirror has a new battle scar, a little memory of the trip. Google Maps said it was a four-hour drive, with many, many toll roads which we could breeze through using our Bip & Go contraption, which worked fl

Dear Diary, Not much of an update today, as we were all hungover to death. A quick look at the banking app suggests a possible explanation for why we felt so bad: Lisa and I spent £350 in just 4 hours at that Irish bar. The others in our party weren’t shy either; we think we spent over £500 last night. As we couldn’t face washing, brushing our teeth or meeting the public today, we made our way to the roof ‘solarium’, which was fabulous. Think a rooftop bar without the, erm

Dear Diary, I'm writing this update while sitting in bed. After three days of running to a deadline, meeting the Rally crew, signing in and then heading out across Europe, it is good to have a bit of a break. As I always say, never underestimate the power of a good lie-in. Oh, and I’m so hungover. I'm hung like a horse over. I'm hung, drawn, and quartered over. I’m hungover and over and over. More on that later. The day started with a quick trip from Menaggio to Como, whic