15395/04A FATHER and son team from Malmesbury will be setting off on a journey across two continents in the Plymouth to Banjul Rally.

Sam Drew, 19, and father John Drew, 55, from Bristol Road, Malmesbury, are to set off on Friday on a journey of a lifetime. They will also raise money for charities in The Gambia.

The idea is to buy a car and then drive it 3,699 miles to The Gambia and give the car away for an auction.

With cars worth more in The Gambia than here, their £100 Volvo 740 estate could raise up to £700.

They will drive to Gibraltar before taking a ferry to Morocco and then drive through the Western Sahara, through Senegal and to The Gambia in 20 days.

"Senegal is going to be quite nasty. We will be escorted through and it will be interesting to see what it's like," Sam Drew said.

"I'm also looking forward to driving along the beach. I've seen the videos and it looks like so much fun.

"I'm looking forward to the partying and, generally, the whole experience. There's a town just before the Sahara and it's the last one that serves alcohol and it's our duty to stock up. We've worked out the car can hold 5,533 beer cans and us."

He said he was not too worried about the car breaking down as his father is a mechanical engineer.

"If something major breaks and we cannot fix it then we will have to travel with another team, but we want to get there with a working car and hand it over."

Another crew from Malmesbury has applied to take part in the Paris to Dakar rally next year in a 15-year-old fire engine.

Andy Nurden, Martin Maisey and David Massey will depart next January.