9:33am Tuesday 7th October 2008
By James Tourgout
GLOBETROTTING bobby Steve Blackmore has reached Bulgaria on his trip to Africa.
The Weymouth policeman and a 10-strong team have hit the road in a red double-decker bus to raise money for charity and take medical supplies to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia.
They have crossed the Channel, driven across Belgium, Germany, Austria and Serbia and are about to make their way through Bulgaria to Turkey.
And Steve has chronicled their road trip so far on a blog on the Dorset Echo website - including fears that they had broken down just outside Weymouth soon after setting off.
Steve, 39, said: "As we struggled up the Ridgeway to a predictable query of 'are we there yet?', there was a definite smell of burning.
"We pulled over in Tesco car park in Dorchester to investigate.
"Here we were, eight miles into the trip with everything out of the back, the bus jacked up and the wheels off.
"With a bit of fiddling, Bill declared it fixed.
"We had the wheels back on and everything packed again in minutes."
The hardy travellers continued their road trip with no more problems, taking turns to drive.
They hope to raise £5,000 for the children's cancer charity CLIC Sargent.
The epic journey will come to an end after four and a half weeks, when the bus will be left in Addis Ababa to be used as a medical centre.
It will also be crammed full of essentials - including six boxes of medical supplies, dozens of football and rugby shirts, pens, pencils and exercise books. Steve and the crew are heading through Bulgaria for Turkey where they will cross the Bosphorus for mainland Turkey and the Middle East.
Steve said they had successfully dealt with a flat tyre and cash machine problems but may have picked up a speeding ticket.
He added: "The rough plan was to find a hotel in Belgrade.
"For financial reasons we lowered our expectations and pulled in to a Serbian truck stop.
"There was a wedding going on in the hotel/restaurant next door.
"A lively affair with a truly awful five-piece brass band. It sounded like Serbian heavy metal. The beer and food were good value but I can't recommend Macedonian wine I'm afraid."
For more information or to sponsor Steve and the team, see www.the38bus.co.uk.
Steve will also be posting a blog on the Dorset Echo website at dorsetecho.co.uk/features/blogs
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