Africa trip moves closer for intrepid pair

The pair have acquired a white 1997 Land Rover Defender 10 and it is currently being worked on at a garage in Coleshill.
There is still a significant amount of work to be completed on the car, but the pair are confident that it will capable of completing the mammoth trip.
Carl said: "We've been working on it a lot and it is steadily improving. It is sometimes hard to fit in the work on the car with all the fund raising we have to do as well, but things are going well and we think that we will be leaving at the beginning of October."
Car and Tom will drive through Europe before reaching Africa, and will then travel through the continent stopping off at various points along the way.
They are also set to try and climb Mount Kilimanjaro when they reach Tanzania, before they continue on their journey.
Their final destination is Die Hel in South Africa, and they have dubbed their trip To Hel and Back because of this.
Carl and Tom estimate that they will arrive back in the UK around one year after leaving, and they will be leaving regular updates of their trip on their website, www.tohelandback.org.uk.
Carl added: "It is a bit of daunting prospect but it is something that we are both looking forward to a lot. We still have funds to raise before we go, and we are planning on having a big event in a pub soon as a send off, and as a way of raising more money."
The pair are set to raise money for Alzheimer's Research Trust and Link Ethiopia, and details on how to sponsor them can be found on their website.