Adventure Cube reaches Sahara Desert
- Monday, 7 January 2008
- 2 Comments
Adventure Cube bedouin in the desert
The Adventure Cube, a car that can be driven, slept in and cooked in, has reached the Sahara Desert and back in an ‘endurance run’ by its creator, Barry Stimson.
The Adventure Cube was the latest vehicle to be put on trial by Stimson who has already driven to Arctic Russia and Nordkapp with his son, Tom in buggies he designed.
Stimson and Tom drove from Spain to Gibraltor, took at boat to Africa and reached the Sahara, a few days later in November 2007. The pair found a campsite in the desert sand dunes at Merzouga.
Stimson said ‘The only way to ‘fine tune’ a design is to use it.’
'The Adventure Cube performed faultlessly. The beds were comfortable and the swing out galley and seating worked well with the ‘Bedouin’ sun shade. The top box and awning were also a nice piece of equipment to have.'
Stimson’s account: Journey to the Sahara Desert
We set off for Africa in November 2007, driving through Spain to Gibraltar in miserable weather. Then by boat to Africa. We arrived at the Moroccan border control 3 days later, to begin the drama of simply getting into Africa.
This took about two hours or so but we were then off on the long haul up to and over the Errif Mountains. We were happy when we dropped down out of the cold to the town of Meknes, where we stopped the night on a deserted campsite.From here on we went south through the Atlas Mountains. The roads were deserted as snow warnings were out. As we climbed the snow became a bit more than 'interesting', but by the end of the day we had dropped down to Mideit.
From here on the villages became more busy and chaotic. Loaded down carts – donkeys – mules - vans with sheep, chicken or other livestock carried on the roofs, and there were people everywhere. The road simply seemed to be treated as a wide 'walkway' in these towns and villages. When I was last here twenty years ago, with my wife Caroline in a 'Trail Finder', kids would hold out their hands asking for 'dirham' if you wanted them in the pictures. Now they demand 'dirham – dirham' if you don't want them in the picture.
Four days later we arrived at the oasis village of Taouz where the dirt road simply fizzles out into desert tracks, shown on the map as only suitable for 4x4's, camels and mules. We were now in Paris Dakar Rally country. We did find a campsite in the desert by the dunes at Merzouga. This was our base camp for five days to take pictures and evaluate the vehicle.
About Barry Stimpson
Barry Stimson has been in the business of designing and producing award winning vehicles for land, sea and air for over thirty five years. He also works as a design consultant for a number of companies.
See www.stimsondesigns.com
January 13 09:16
paul pearn
Where can I buy an adventure cube?