Chesterfield restaurant owner celebrates 10 years in business by signing up to charity rally across Morocco tackling sand dunes and a tyre-change in the Sahara Desert

Marcella Kirk, proprietor of Maison Mes Amis on Chatsworth Road, and her friend Helen Tait Wright will be taking part in a 2,200 kilometre rally across Morocco in a 4x4 Land-Rover named Precilla.

The mission will include such tests as getting their vehicle up and down massive sand dunes, changing a tyre in the desert and navigating while the driver is blindfolded.

Helen will be behind the wheel for the vast majority of the rally but it’ll be up to Marcella to learn all the bits and pieces of their Land Rover in case something goes wrong during the eight-day event.

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Marcella says that the training hasn’t fazed her so far. She said: "I didn't scream, I laughed when we went down these huge inclines but that's because I trust her, she is a great driver. After we'd been round a few times she said 'right it's your turn now' and I took Precilla down some inclines I didn't think I'd do and I loved it.

"This isn’t Thelma and Louise; I am getting to go on this rally with someone who is highly experienced, to go with someone who's been across the Sahara twice.”

While the pair are full of excitement for what is to come, Marcella does admit to feeling a bit nervous, mainly about the possibility of letting her friend down, She said: "I don't want to get it wrong, I don't want to get the navigation wrong because she's relying on me. I know she can drive that car and I've never navigated."

The aim of the rally, which will attract teams from all over the world on October 1, is to raise 20,000 euros for Cancer Research.Marcella said that the appeal of doing the rally for charity is one of the main attractions: "The fact that we can raise a lot of money as well is an interesting factor. A lot of rallies are businesses, they usually make money, but this one is 100% to the charities, apart from the expenses, he money raised by you entering the rally goes to charity, that's quite pioneering.”

Her participation in the rally, which is organised by a French company, came about as a result of a long awaited catch-up with Helen. Marcella said: "I went home (to France) for the first time in nearly three years three weeks ago. We went for dinner catching up with everything she's done. She wasn't sure if she'd got the right navigator and, I'd had a few glasses of wine, I said I'd come."

Marcella added that the rally was the perfect way to mark a decade of her restaurant being open to the public: "What better way to celebrate ten years than me going off on an adventure, this place (Maison Mes Amis) was completely inspired by France and this is bringing it all back together for me."

The intrepid pair are now on the hunt for businesses, companies and others to come on board to sponsor them on this incredible adventure across the Sahara Desert and have set up a gofundmepage titled Maison to Marrakesh.