Story added: 26th September 2025

Coverage from Canaryball Rally 3 

Follow coverage from this year’s Canaryball Rally as an epic team of fundraisers from Norfolk explore Europe’s most scenic landscapes on this once-in-a-lifetime journey.

Departing at 7am on Monday, 29th September from The Nest, our team of drivers will cover 1,872 miles across five countries, including Switzerland and Belgium before returning on Friday 3rd October.

Sponsored by DMD Installations and Ovamill, this is the third installation of Canaryball Rally and promises to once again deliver lifelong memories whilst raising ten of thousands of pounds to support the Foundation’s life-changing work in Norfolk.

Following along as we document the team’s progress throughout the week 👇 . You can show your support by making a donation here.

Day One Recap | Monday | Coats, Chaos & Channel Tunnels

Norwich > Troyes, France

They say all great adventures start with a bang and ours started with 14 brightly coloured cars, a surprising amount of multi coloured clothing, and a man called Dom forgetting his coat.

7:30am. The Nest.

A slightly foggy Norfolk morning greeted the brave souls of Canaryball Rally 3, but spirits were high (and tyres were freshly pumped). With 14 rally cars lined up like something out of a budget Fast & Furious: Norfolk Drift, we hit the road, fuelled by coffee, adrenaline, and the collective hope that no one’s sat nav would send them to Norwich instead of Northern France.

And we were off!

Sort of.

About 20 minutes in, the live tracking app pinged with the first hiccup of the day, a car had mysteriously vanished from the radar. Had someone taken a wrong turn? Engine failure? Alien abduction?

Nope.

Dom had forgotten his coat.

In a rally spanning four countries, involving over 1,800 miles of motoring mayhem, Dom decided the most strategic moment to realise this was… after setting off. Cue an emergency detour and what we assume was a world record for the fastest coat retrieval in Norfolk history. One hero, one jacket, and a mild telling-off later, we were back on track.

Meanwhile, our support crew were proving they have the easiest job and the best Instagram game with snapping glorious photos of the cars as they went by.

The Canaryball Scavenger Hunt was also launched, a chaotic blend of dares, tasks, and point-scoring madness. Want to win? You’d better be ready to hug a stranger, sing karaoke in various languages, take a photo of a French man with a very large baguette, or convince a passing lorry driver to honk in the name of charity.

By some miracle (and a lot of cruise control), we all made it to the Channel Tunnel early. Yes, early. A rally first. Either we were super organised or all very excited about French pastries, probably both.

Once in France, the real challenge began: 250 more miles to Troyes, navigating unfamiliar roads, unfamiliar road signs, and very familiar arguments over the pronunciation of “Troyes”. (Is it “Twa”? “Troys”? “Troy-ez”? No one knows. We went with all of them.)

After a long day, everyone rolled triumphantly into our first hotel. The evening drinks were flowing, the laughs were plentiful, and the leaderboard? Still wide open.

Tomorrow, it’s on to Day Two. More miles, more mayhem, and hopefully no more forgotten clothing.

Miles done so far: 453

P.S. Dom has now got his coat. It’s become a sort of mascot.