Bailey of Bristol leisure vehicles has successfully completed a 9 day and 2,735-mile intercontinental caravan and motorhome adventure to the Sahara Desert.
The Sahara Challenge was the latest in a series of marathon endurance tests designed not only to demonstrate the strength and durability of Bailey products but also to show the fantastic time and truly special places you can visit during a touring holiday.
This time the company took two Bailey caravans (a pair of Phoenix+ 642 models) pulled by Ford MS-RT Ranger tow vehicles and one Ford-based Bailey motorhome (an Adamo 75-4T) from the ‘World’s End’ in southwest Portugal through Spain and across the Strait of Gibraltar into Morocco.
Once in Africa, the team travelled south over the Atlas Mountains to the northern edge of the Sahara Desert before returning home.
Some of the iconic sites and landmarks visited along the way included the cities of Rabat, Marrakesh or Casablanca, the ancient Fez Medina, the UNESCO heritage site of Aït Benhaddou or the rugged scenery of the Dades Gorge.
This is the second time the Bailey Team has taken on this challenge after the first attempt in March 2020 was halted for safety reasons following the arrival of Coronavirus.
Bailey managing director and member of the Sahara Challenge team, Nick Howard, said: “One of the big values of this trip, other than the enjoyment of Africa and the new experiences, is that we get to test the vehicles in real life.
“It is well known that we do Millbrook accelerated life testing in the UK, but to bring the caravans and motorhome here on tour and see how they performed in the real world is vital for us so we can learn first-hand how they perform.
“There are many things we’ve learned along the way in terms of how to make things fit better or how to stop squeaks and rattles, but overall, the products have held up exceptionally well”
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