A team of people from the Isle of Man and Australia will be travelling across 17 countries from next month.

Going from Andreas to Athens from July 9, Team Mad Manx will embark on their third motoring mission when they travel in two fur covered, old cars across the world in 21 days.

The countries they will journey through include Switzerland, Austria, Slovakia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia and Albania, amongst others.

From the island, wife and husband Fern and Adam Callister, Sam Waters and Amy Senogles will take on the challenge, accompanied by Rachael Murray and Dominic Walsh, from Australia.

The group plan to leave without any set route – not a huge departure for them as they took on a similar journey through India in 2016 in colourful tuk-tuks, which took 18 days and raised £4,000 for Hospice Isle of Man.

In 2019, the team hit the road once more in ‘The Mongol Rally’ when they travelled 12,000 miles in eight weeks, reaching Mongolia after journeying through 21 countries.

Fern Callister, from Sulby, said: ‘This is something we’ve been thinking about during the lockdown, planning an adventure and as soon as the world opened up we were ready to go.

‘Obviously we’ve done stuff like this before and now we’re doing our own spin on a trip to Europe in 2022.’

Asked why they are covering the cars in fur, she added: ‘You’re bound to get some really interesting interactions. We did the same for the rally too and people were really interested in it. It lifted the spirits really easily, it’s quite an unusual but joyful thing to look at.’

The 34-year old explained why the group had chosen to take on the challenge, saying: ‘We wanted to have some fun but also raise some money for some important charities too.

‘I think we’ve all really missed travelling so now the world is getting to a new normal it’s really exciting to be getting out there after being isolated for two years.

challenge

‘The challenge of it as well – you don’t know what to expect and what you’ll experience on the road, it’s an adventure.’

This time they will be raising money for Manx Children’s Art Therapy, providing art therapy for young people with chronic illness and mental health needs at The Children’s Centre, as well as The Children’s Centre Isle of Man itself, which supports young people and families when they are faced with challenges in their lives.

‘The fact that we’re raising money adds some engagement from people who are backing us,’ Mrs Callister said. ‘We’ve been overwhelmed by support on the Isle of Man. The cars were given to us for free through the generosity of the Manx public too.

‘If any businesses want their names printed on the cars, we’d love to hear from them.’

A fundraising page called ‘Team Mad Manx’ has been set up where people can donate.