Reddesertfox:
Mmmmm…What a terrible picture your comment drawsIt must be Saturday afternoon in Saudi, haven’t you got a stoning to go to or are The Mullahs playing away from home today
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john od:
met a driver other day say’s he used do uk to south africa and back via middle east crossing over into west africa to run down. did drivers do that or was he pullin my pudding
When you see him again tell him to go on Britains got talent, he could be a ventrilloquist, but instead of using a puppet he could talk out of his arse 
mushroomman:
Reddesertfox:
Mmmmm…What a terrible picture your comment drawsIt must be Saturday afternoon in Saudi, haven’t you got a stoning to go to or are The Mullahs playing away from home today
Steve…Not sure about the Saudi stoning, they normally save it for a Friday, but most of us (unlike Saudi) are on the new weekend, now Friday/Sat. Back on duty tomorrow for another 8 week stint. therefore all will be pleased to have a little less yapping from the Fox… 
the driver recond that he did it with an merc , as a b wagon had do a shunt then connect both trailers pulling in africa, thats where i thought ooohh you liar, took 6 mths round trip. i thought containers would be better but hey i was only a T form charlie back in the 80’s
great reply, puddin doing alright now. never want to dowt drivers especialy when you see the books about driving in north africa / middle east and further but thought i would check it out with those that would know as im ex T form charlie
mushroomman:
chazzer:
As far as I’m aware it would be nigh on impossible to do a commercial truck run from say Libya, Egypt or anywhere along the north coast of Africa to South Africa mainly because of the volatility of many of the countries en route and any deviation from course would mean all the paperwork having to be changed and the extra time involved would’nt make it financially viable. However I do know that they used to and probably still do run from north to south with overland tourist trucks and back in the early eighties they used old army Bedford 17 tonners with four wheel drive, a lad I knew drove one down with a bunch of aussies and it took him several months.
ChazzerHi Chazzer, is this the kind of ex army Bedford that you were thinking about in the background ?. I think it was the Bedford R.L. 4 wheel drive model sometimes refered to as a five tonner.
The one in the photo was taken on the campsite next to The Kano Club in Nigeria in 1975 and was driven by a Welshman called John Finch Davis. John drove for Encounter Overland who along with a company called Siafu and another one called Kimbla Travel were among the pioneers of Trans Saharan travel in the early seventies.
A.F.A.I.K. with the outbreak of The Angolan War in 1975 which lasted until 2002 it was impossible to drive down the West Coast of Africa.
Taking paying passengers overland was nothing new as one Trucknet member SPARDO was driving coaches overland to India in I.I.R.C. the late 60’s, hopefully he will correct me if it was the early seventies.
The Bubbleman posted a photo only last week on Scrapbook Memories of a company called Sim Jones from Ledsham who said that they were doing a run to Nigeria in a Scania, I did ask if anybody knew if they ever actually went but as yet nobody has confirmed that they actually did.
DREVA posted a copy of a Long Distance Diary ( which hopefully he will repost on here as it’s well worth a second read ) about three of Wake Brothers who went overland to Kano with what sounded like a complete disaster but you have to admire the guys for even trying it.
Another member called Boyzee went to Tammerasset which is about half way across the Sahara Desert in the seventies and he has posted some brilliant photos on a North Africa thread sometime ago ( I doff my Pith Helmet to you Boyzee sir
I am not sure if there is now a bitumen Trans Saharan Highway and the roads must of improved over the last 35 years but economically, it would be cheaper and quicker to send the load in a container by sea.
Sorry to hear about your pudding JOHN O.D., I hope it’s not too sore
Hopefully the roads in Cameroon, West Africa have now improved.
SOUTH AFRICA, believe a quarter of what you hear and half of what you see! The rest is (ZB )
( With apologies to Gavin McArdleRegards Steve.
Hi mushroomman, it was exactly that type of old ex army Bedford my mate drove, fair play to him for doing it as he’d never even driven a truck abroad before.
chazzer
I was in Ghana, Burkina Faso & Togo last year doing driver selection, and the roads in some parts are still well below standard. Needless to mention the standard of hygene…