The Smoke that Thunders

This of course can only mean one place, Victoria Falls, Zambia in Africa, that's where the JoLon Imp, with drivers Terence and Geoff were.

Terence is writing a book on their trip, below is a short part of that book, if we pre order I wonder can we get signed copies?

Roy

 Our relative easy drive to Livingstone got us to the SMOKE THAT THUNDERS (Victoria Falls) early afternoon and we immediately scooted off up a dirt road following signs to the promise of a camp site where we planned to spend the night.

At first the road was wide dry and gravelly, narrowing as we progressed up the ever steepening climb. Within a few short kilometers the gravel turned to menacingly sharp rock formations that became frightfully uneven making the driving extremely challenging to put it mildly. I had frightful thoughts of having one or more of our tyres slash burst by the razor sharp track surface or worse, a wrecked spring that would surely have rudely halted our progress!

Typically whenever I began to worry about any aspect of the trip I would rub the side of my head continuously as I drove. In this instance however it was a severe case of nil head massage as I kept both mitts firmly on the wheel with full concentration on the job at hand. I was not sure what was going through Geoff’s mind at this stage but I was seriously super worried about the condition of the track we were negotiating. My mouth had become bone dry and my heart was ribcage rattle thumping until I actually pulled up on a particularly challenging sequence of rock formations that we needed to traverse.

“What’s the matter”? was Geoff’s gentle enquiry.

“I don’t know” I gingerly replied.

“I’m not sure if i like this track too much”.

Do you think we should turn back Geoff asked!

Well was i delighted he even suggested the idea and before another sweat bead could drop from my sopping wet forehead I immediately started to drive up the steep and rocky track pulling the Imp to the side of the narrow track so that we could engineer a three point (or as it turned out, a seven point) turn. Remember this was executed without reverse gear! The Imp had to be manhandled by both of us and all the time petrol was liberally spilling out of our overflow pipes due the acute angle of the car and the extreme heat of the fuel tanks due to the front radiator pumping serious heat onto them from early morning until bedtime each day!

It must have taken us a good fifteen minutes, a lot of jumping in and out of the car and more huffing and puffing than any three little piggies’ big bad wolf had ever employed to actually get the Imp facing down this treacherous and uneven rocky incline. Then of course we had to again pass over the horrible surface that had scricked me in the first place! At least the surface got better as we descended and we were again in the hands of an accomplished off-road driver in Geoff. I was a bundle of nerves for fear of damaging the car and that we had no spare cash to repair it if it needed fixing nor the time in our pockets to hang around fixing either.

Shortly and happily we got back to the tar roads of Livingstone where we again went in search of a campsite for the night.

Little did we know that the dirt track experience was just a tiny titbit of the real deal that would finally unfold in Kenya with the added conundrum of unseasonably heavy rains and road conditions that made the Livingstone dirt road experience seem like a walk in the park by comparison. The only difference however, a massive difference was that in the Kenyan situation there was no opportunity to backtrack!

TT

We are now into the very last week of the Classic Car of the Year voting period, if you have not yet placed your vote please follow the link below and then vote for the JoLon Imp.


Roy,

 I would love if all my friends and all my friend's friends and all their friend's friend's friends could pleeeez vote for my Hillman Imp that we drove from Joburg to England to celebrate its 50 birthday. its easy, just follow this link and it takes only 2 minutes. http://www.ccoty.co.uk/bgbt_voting.php (4 photos)

TT

Vote for the JoLon Imp please.

Click on the picture to view full size! a Steve White supplied picture.


This came in from the company running the competition, looks like we still have some waiting to do.

Roy

Hi Terence

Voting closes on Friday 27^th September so the Top 5 will be informed over the next couple of weeks.

Hope that helps!

Kind Regards

Nikki

Nikki Lambie Commercial Support Manager