The wheels came off an East Molesey couple's drive of a lifetime to Africa, when their car broke down before they even made it out of Europe.

Paul Cavendish, 38, and his wife Rachel, 33, were taking on an epic three-week 4,896-mile (7,879km) journey from their home to Mali to raise money for charity.

The Timbuktu Challenge they were taking part in stipulated they had to negotiate the route in a car which was supposed to cost less than £100.

But even after bending the rules slightly, opting for a relatively lavish £500 1998 Isuzu Trooper, their journey hit a dead end when they broke down three days into the journey, 93 miles (150km) south of the Spanish-French border.

"We were driving through mountains when the clutch just packed in," said Paul.

"We were told it would take two weeks to fix."

"That was it, challenge over - we were gutted."

After trying to catch a lift with one of the 34 other cars taking part in the challenge, they admitted defeat, hired a car and drove home.

"It was the worst drive ever," said Paul. "But we will definitely do the challenge again next year and the organisers have said they will waive the entrance fee.

"Still we did better than some people - one woman couldn't get her car off the ferry in France."

Had they been successful, the couple would have arrived in the Mali capital Bamako after driving through the Sahara. They had intended to auction the car and sell everything they had with them to raise money for local charities.