The Jackson Rowe Sahara Explorers The three intrepid Directors turned Sahara explorers arrived in El Rashidia in the early hours of Saturday 1 February. After a few hours sleep we woke to meet the Skycar expedition team who had made their way to southern Morocco by less orthodox but possibly less unreliable means than Air Moroc. Once Skycar had been hosed off we set off in a convoy of 4WDs, motorbikes, Mercedes Unimog, a huge Paris Dakar support lorry and Skycar across the desert. We spent the morning driving towards the lunchtime oasis, stopping several times for photos and to swap vehicles. Despite the apparently deserted desert, each time we stopped groups of children appeared plying gifts. They were naturally happy to take the local currency and also euros, however one of them was heard to say 'sterling is dead' when someone offered the Queen's currency. That evening we were fed exceptionally well and were entertained by local musicians and by a flamboyant display by expedition leader Neil Laughton's attempt to decapitate members of the party when opening bottles of Mumms champagne. After a spot of post dinner star gazing which tested our boy scout knowledge of the galaxy. We slept in traditional Berber tents under 50 blankets as the overnight temperature was set to plummet. Not that the daytime temperatures were what might be called Saharan. However that ensured that the customised Skycar expedition jackets saw plenty of use. Steve Hoad was concerned that the sponsors logos were too subtle and needed to be balanced by some more obvious recreations of his Hydro Cleansing and Jackson Rowe's logos on the back. Understated they were not! The Skycar team were clearly jealous of not having such unique clothing! Skycar had already flown on their route from London. Most notably across the Straits of Gibraltar which, according to Neil, was a hair raising episode in itself and saw him come within 1.5 seconds of bailing out. Thankfully he didn?t and he was able to land the vehicle safely in a car park in Morocco. Sadly, the para wing had sustained some damage in the process which meant we were unable to see it in flight during our trip. On the Sunday the Jackson Rowe contingent set off for a trek in the desert to the top of the Cathedral dunes which were within sight of our camp. Steve decided to take the route by motorbike with Charley Borman as guide. Watching them tackle the dunes and soft ridges made us realise how hard work that mode of transport was. However, due respect to both of them especially to Steve who had not been on a bike since he was 17. Another bonus to Steve was that the bikes were Hydro Cleansing orange! So, with our minder Dave breaking himself away from the Skycar team (and believe me he managed to eventually) we set off to conquer yet another summit. Whilst not quite as high as any of the 3 Peaks it took about as much energy walking through the soft sand. After lunch there was time for a photo call for those with cameras and more importantly for the press photographer Neale Haynes who was with the journalist from the Mail on Sunday. Both of whom had been travelling with the expedition thus far. There was also a Channel 4 film crew with the expedition who are filming for a 2 part programme to be screened sometime in the summer. That afternoon we travelled back in convoy to our hotel. Driving along roads with desert on either side and through towns we must have looked like a strange assortment of vehicles. Wherever we stopped we instantly attracted attention. After a final dinner at Hotel Xaluca, it was an early night as breakfast was at 3.30am the following morning before catching an internal flight across the Atlas mountains to Casablanca for our main flight back to a snow bound UK. It was a once in a lifetime trip with some wonderful memories and with new friends. A quote from one member of the expedition was 'it was a pleasure to get to spend some R and R time with you and the Jackson Rowe boys, you are all a real laugh and this feeling was echoed by many others on the trip'. From a Jackson Rowe perspective the trip was a huge success by raising our profile as part of the Skycar Expedition. We can expect national media coverage and we have a story to tell our clients and contacts, many of whom have shown a high level of interest in this exciting project. Bob Hearnden Related links: http://www.parajet.com/index.php?id=4&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=5&tx_ttnews[backPid]=2&cHash=bcc43ae7ea http://www.skycarexpedition.com