Twists and turns

Cor blimey this malarky can be testing...having been lulled into a false sense of security by an easy and trouble free 1st day, we had the kitchen sink thrown at us yesterday. Having broken down as we arrived for lunch meeting, we spent 5 hours on dusty twisting tracks taking us across dried river beds etc (aprox 6 stops to fix something) then had 180 km on tarmac, the last 90 of which were done at 20mph and stopping every 5 mins. As it got dark we had the toss up of having enough power for the lights or the engine. The lights eventually had to win and it was touch and go all the way. N did a fantastic job driving, and coaxed us along in gear for 400 yards, then coasting for 200 etc until we had to stop for 2 minutes to let the fuel top up again and on we would go once again.

We arrived completely bushwacked and very late, but what an experience and we've had huge support from all our fellow travellers.

Great day today cruising on tarmac and car running beautifully (removed filthy fule filter from the main tank - or at least our new BF's, the support crew did), listening to N's ipod, so couldn't have been more of a contrast. Tomorrow the real fun (?) begins and we will be out of touch in the wilds of Mongolia on nothing but bumpy tracks. An incredible experience already, we're with a fantastic bunch of people, and fingers firmly crossed for the next leg.

more like the real China...

Bizarre scene as the circus of 130 cars hits town, the locals are aghast with the sight of it all. Some of the drivers ham it up with fancy dress, and period dress to match their motors. But there is universal smiling from them all as we pass. (Probably just giggling that we "foreign devils" can only afford funny old bangers, when they drive swish new ones.) But the locals are all out wavingat us at every street corner. Even the police smile and wave. Great atmosphere everywhere. The sights are incredible...as we are right off the beaten track. Yesterday for instance, we had to do a last minute diversion through coal towns (pollution, my goodness), and tiny farming communities. Poverty? sure. But very peaceful atmosphere looking after their crops, animals. I have a very different picture of China, and the Chinese from this trip. All positive. My good ness though, we should all start learning Mandarin, these guys are moving fast.
And now to Priscilla, as we have named the car. Priscilla was not good to us yesterday. Not good at all. My goodness we had a challenging day as we drove from Datong to a yurt encampment in Inner Mongolia. We must have stopped 30 times. BUT...Tim and I have advanced our knowledege of mechanics 100-fold. We changed fuel filters, adjusted alternators, and numerous other tasks. Had to. Result was that we limped home at 11.30 last night, that's about 6 hours after most. But one lot got back at 3.30am. Not fun driving in remote China, when you feel the car is going to die at any minute. But we made it. We slept in a yurt, and woke up to a surreal scene of being waved off by Mongolians, for our drive to Erenhot which is our last town in China before we cross the border into Mongolia tomorrow. The good news is that Priscilla went like a dream today (Tim will explan more about today). I attach a pic which show the scene. Now time for email backlog.

2 tips

There are two tips we are now in the fortunate position of being able to pass on to any would-be rallyers. 1, try and have a car that doesn't need to be worked on until 7.30 pm the night before the start - it's just not a particularly good way of relaxing, and 2, try and avoid being too keen to buy the guys that have helped you out a beer later that evening, leading to a bottle of whisky being demolished and a 2.30 bed time, when you have to be up at 6.00am.

What a fantastic day we've had today though. Just incredible with a big send off at the Great wall and then a wonderful drive with endless cheering and waving crowds along all the roads.
Went to see the Hanging Monastry which is built on stilts into a rock face, and had a great drive all day. We've even managed to map read so far.. A long and dusty day, but staying in a nice hotel in Datong and have covered about 420 Kilometres. An early night seems to be beckoning.

frustratingcity

ok so there are 130 cars here, all set for this epic tour across the wild of china, mongolia, russia and the Baltic States, and there;s only one car that that doeesn't seem to work....and it's ours.

So in 36 degrees of heat all day, we've had more opinions that you can dream of, give us their views on how to fix our car. Vapourisation of fuel, timing of sparkplugs, quality of fuel, Bermuda triangle, Falon Gong, you name it, we have have had it. Every single theory has been thrown at us, so eventually with more of the rally crew round the car, than is feasibly poss to assemble under one bonnet, finally at 1930 we had a Eureka experience, and the car seems to work. Wirth 2 trips round the car park, we feel up'n'running. Both of us now have grey hair. We leave for the Great Wall (the start line) at 6 am. Aaaargh.

I have attached some pics of some of the cars on the rally. Amazing cars. But the car with all the red shirts peering into our bonnet......is ours.

Well, the first 10 minutes were great....

And then we broke down! Absolutely fantastic and horribly familiar. A very kind fellow Ford Pilot driver mucked about with our distributor and we managed to limp from the car pound back to the hotel where a hoard of mechanics spent much of the afternoon playing with the engine and removing the side panels surrounding the engine to help cool it - it now looks like an extremely slow drag car.

Apart from our poor showing, the drive was pretty special, with the roads of Peking covered with an incredible selection of classic cars and masses of looks and waves and cameras marking our progress into the city. There are some truly amazing cars here with quite a few suitably eccentric looking drivers - the leather flying helmet and goggles sort. It's unlikely to be a dull trip, and everyone we have met has been extremely friendly and helpful. Just as well, as we need all the help we can get... The rally starts on Sunday and so we have one more go testing our beast tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

Butterflies in stomach....

The short holiday here in China is drawing to a close. We leave Xian to head back to Beijing this morning, having been to see the Terracotta Warriors here. Quite incredible. Kate and Harry go back tomorrow, after what has been an incredible holiday for us all. China is mind-boggling in so many ways, we've just loved it.
Reality about the journey ahead is now biting.
The rally starts on Sunday, when we leave from the start line at the Great Wall. Lots to do before then, however. Today we have to collect loads of official papers from the Chinese authorities (permits, driving licences etc). Tomorrow all the participants collect their cars from the warehouse near the port. First time that we get to see 130+ cars, and the dreaded moment when we press the starter button. Will it fire?! Then on Saturday, we have the formal scrutineering of the cars, and all of the briefings. Lots of chat about car mechanical matters, no doubt, which will leave Tim and I rather silent. Then a hurried recap on how the trip meter works, what do these navigation signs mean, where is the charger for the satellite phone, should we buy some more pot noodles and on and on.

We should be so lucky...

Hard to believe we've got lucky already - here are a couple of chicks we've picked up. They seem to like us, and we haven't the heart to tell them we are leaving on Sunday. ....

Pre-match thoughts from home

First of all, let me make one thing absolutely clear - this was all Barton's idea. When we are broken down and lost and tired and hungry somewhere in the middle of the Gobi desert it will all be entirely his fault. The triumphs, such as finding our way out of Beijing, (I think it best we take our triumphs one step at a time) will almost certainly be down to my remarkable map-reading skills and mastery of the Chinese language.

I see that the Pekingparis website describes this as 'Driving the impossible'. That's pretty much how I would describe driving into Andover - and I've lived 8 miles from it for the past 5 years... So, no mechanical or navigation ability, and a car that has so far failed to negotiate more than 70 miles without breaking down; this has all the makings of an interesting journey.

"Before" pictures

A couple more pics to show our beauty in her gleaming state before she embarked on her ship to China. The photo of the engine bay is particularly for Tim's benefit, to remind him of the HOURS that he spent under that bonnet, in order to get it into the state that it's in. A born-mechanic. (The truth is that I still think he reckons the engine is in the boot). We all head to Beijing this week, and have a few days r'n'r with wives, then go-time. Gulp.

First blog

Your first sneak preview of the beauty we are taking on this adventure. To get a real picture of the event, best you look at www.pekingparis.com