Mersey Basin Campaign Blog

Travelling Fishy has reached Burma...

Samantha, the intrepid salmon who travelled to Ulan Bator with Green Team 2CV in summer 2007 is currently travelling the world with a variety of companions. You can keep track of her journey by joining Samantha's very own Facebook group at www.travellingfishy.com.

According to the latest festive update, Samantha and her current guardian, Jo, spent the run-up to Christmas in Burma and Kunming. Here are the most recent pictures of one very adventurous Mersey salmon's trip:

 

An update from Mongolia...

Just a quick update from Graeme and Mark of Green Team 2CV, whose trip from London to Mongolia in an environmentally-friendly 2CV we followed on this blog in the summer. The boys left the solar panel from their car, along with the laptop which they used to stay in touch during their journey, over in Mongolia, for use on local projects run by Mercy Corps. Anna from Mercy Corps has sent the following update to show how the equipment is being used:

I have good news – I have received an update about your solar panel and laptop and have attached some photos for you to see.

They have both made it to a school in a province called Dundgobi where Mercy Corps work. The school itself has recently had some repairs carried out to it, funded by Mercy Corps, but the facilities are very basic. The school also has the poorest student body in the area because a lot of children come from very poor herders' families and are housed in a rather miserable dormitory in the school. So the new equipment that you kindly donated is reaching the poorest children in Dundgobi and really making a difference to their lives.

The solar panel has now been placed on the roof of the pupil’s dormitory to provide electricity when the normal power supply fails. The School director said,

"The solar power source has been installed in the student dormitory. It’s kept ready and is used when local power is disconnected. Electricity is particularly bad in the winter, but since the Gobi Desert region has so much sunshine, the solar panel allows the students in the dorm to study even during the frequent, and long power outages."

The laptop is also being used by teachers and pupils at the school to help them with their studies. They are keen to communicate with the school here in the UK that wrote them letters.

I hope the pictures attached make it all come to life a bit more. There are shots of the solar panel on the dormitory roof and children working under a electric light – powered by the solar panel, so that they can continue their school work. There are also some shots of children working on the laptop.

 

A salmon on the Yangtze

An update from the other side of the world for fans of our globetrotting salmon, Samantha: you may remember that back in August, Samantha embarked on a mission to be the first Mersey salmon to complete the Mongol Rally. Along with her co-drivers, Graeme and Mark, a.k.a. Green Team 2CV, Samantha successfully made it to Ulan Bator. Once there, she met backpackers Mal and Lu, who offered her the chance to travel on with them to the Orient. They've now toured China, and as you can see from the pictures, Samantha has paid an emotional visit to the River Yangtze, as well as taking in some of the sights.

Check out Samantha's Facebook group at www.travellingfishy.com

a salmon's progress....www.travellingfishy.com

I've just spoken to Graeme Mullin from Green Team 2CV, who arrived back at Envirolink NW's Warrington office this morning, fresh from Ulan Bator, Mongolia. Graeme and his colleague Mark Whitworth managed to complete the Mongol Rally 2007 in an eco-friendly 2CV - in fact, they arrived at the British ambassador's reception with a whole day to spare.

Key to this success was travelling companion Samantha, the wooden Mersey salmon whom Mersey Basin Campaign asked to accompany the team. Samantha was representing the salmon who have returned to the cleaned-up River Mersey. However, with a typical salmon's determination to swim upstream and take on an impossible journey, Samantha has decided to remain overseas after the trip. Following a chance meeting in an UB bar, she is currently forging ahead to Japan, in the company of two backpackers, Louise and Malcolm.

They have established a group on Facebook where you can follow Samantha's progress (also known as www.travellingfishy.com). If you're a member of Facebook, please join the group and support Samantha's quest. Let's see how far this intrepid Mersey salmon can travel - and indeed, whether she will ever make it back to the banks of the Mersey!

We're going to let Graeme and Mark relax and get used to life after the rally for a few days (not to mention finding their missing luggage), but check back soon for their exclusive post-rally debrief.....

They've made it!

Newsflash! According to our sources, we understand that Graeme and Mark, a.k.a. Green Team 2CV, have arrived in Ulan Bator, their final destination. Well done! The team were due to attend a celebratory reception at the British Embassy.....and all the evidence says that they did indeed manage to get there in time. More from the lads as soon as they've come back down to earth, I'm sure.......

Green Team speeding along!

The Green Team has made good progress over the weekend.  Speeding through Russia where the roads are much better and on schedule to reach the rally celebrations in Ulaanbaator.

Whatever's happened to the Green Team?

After almost of week of no news we now have updates on the Green Team.

The ferry crossing to Kazakhstan took 30 hours. Then after a very boring 12 hours they got through customs.  Kazakhstan is hot with camels and sand dunes and the roads have enormous potholes.

Yesterday, the potholes got the better of the 2CV and with a broken chassis the boys were giving up.  But that wouldn’t have been a very good ending to this intrepid tale, would it?

Canadian oil-drillers came to the rescue!  The chassis was welded back together and the Green Team was reborn.

This is the stuff adventures are made of!  Long live the Green Team 2CV!

Latest news from the Green Team 2CV

The team left Belgrade on 27 July.  They have journeyed through Turkey into Azerbaijan.  On 31 July they reported that they were 4 hours from Baku.   They have travelled through temperatures of 42 degrees C (and remember this car has no air-conditioning). Mark has found out that the dates are incorrect on his visa and the car now has no lights.  But apart from that – everything’s absolutely fine!

(Hope Sammy the Salmon is ok in all that heat).  Well done Green Team – keep going.

Green Team 2CV reach Belgrade - and pause....

on the road to London....

early car trouble for some fellow rally-ers...

the car has reached the Czech border.

News just in from Green Team 2CV on the Mongol Rally - Graeme, Mark and Samantha the Salmon are currently spending a couple of days at a hostel in Belgrade, waiting for some early car problems to be ironed out. They seem to have passed through Prague unscathed, and above we have photographic proof that they didn't cause too much trouble at the Czech border.

Check out Graeme's account of the journey so far here....

See live text updates here...

Good luck, Green Team, we've got our fingers crossed for you - hope the car trouble is sorted out soon so that you can hit the road again.

No news is good news?

No news yet from our heroic Mongol Rally drivers, Green Team 2CV. However, other drivers have been texting in to the Rally homepage, so you can get a flavour of life on the road to Ulan Bator. Graeme and Mark will be sending us a report next time they're able to get online, and the blog will bring you an update as soon as we can!