And on into France

Crisscrossing the Moselle River, as we left Germany. Yet more vineyards ahead

Holiday chums? (For those that warned me that "Hugo Upton" was on the rally. Evidence)

What a welcome sight. Paris is in sight now....

Just to add to Tim's comments. Prob our penultimate blog. Definitely an end of term feeling around the whole rally entourage. But today was a relatively easy day. Around 420 kms from Koblenz in Germany to Reims, here in France. (The day before was 560kms from Potsdam to Koblenz).

I returned from my few days in UK to find that my partner has progressed enormously. He can now well and truly multi-task. Drive, map-read, change the ipod playlist, and wave at every girl that vaguely might cast a glance at this rattly old croc (the car, not Tim). All at the same time. Was my position going to be redundant? Happily, after he, while navigating, asked me to do a hairpin U turn on the mtorway yesterday, I think I've earned my place back in the team.

One of the tragedies is that we just don't have time to see much of the beautiful cities we visit. Arrive late, tired. Often work on car etc. Tho, of late, Priscilla has performed like a beauty. Still nervous of any bump, sound etc. But, as we STILL are approached by other contestants who admit that they didn't think our car was going to make it out of the carpark in Beijing, we are keeping our fingers crossed for the 15okms to Paris tomorrow.

Dinner in Reims tonight with Michael Campbell etal, who sadly, with Robin W retired his car way back in Mongolia, and flew home. But has driven out to join us all for the last 2 days. He got a great reception.

Families, friends all heading out now to Paris to see us all arrive at La Place de la Concorde.

Should be fun.

Beijing, 34 days ago, seems a lifetime away.

Reims

Well, here we are in Reims - what about that then? Another day, another country, and nearing the end of this extraordinary jaunt. China and Mongolia seem years away and it's all been a bit tame recently with flat and smooth roads. The endurance has turned from tough driving to trying to wake up and get going early in the morning (Strawberry blond is merciless in this department) after a few too many 'one for the road's. Very enthusiastic hospitality from our fellow travellers is beginning to take it's toll, but good fun.

Paris, all going well, tomorrow. What an incredible and overwhelming feeling that will be, provided the clutch and possible over-heating can handle a long city run.

We will be there.

A quick note of thanks to all of that have posted comments - really kind and fantastically encouraging at the end of some pretty tiring days. Can't wait to see you all.

Now I've got my master technician back, I can chuck something onto this blog thing, so a quick catch-up.

I first noticed that is was a little quieter in the car, less conversation, less dance music and, worst of all, a lot fewer laughs. A little bit more 'where the hell am I?' and then I looked to my left and saw my strawberry-blond co pilotwas no longer with me and had naffed off to Blighty. A rather grumpy German had told his navigator that he was a sack of potatoes in Ullaaam Baatuur which hadn't gone down terribly well and the navigator packed his bags and flew back to the fatherland, so he's been on his own ever since. Well, I've been looking forward to my sack of potatoes returning to me which he finally has this evening. The things he'll do to get out of a bit of map-reading...

it's been a great few days and I've had a lot of support from our fellow travellers. Poland was very beautiful, and it was another weirdly emotional moment passing into Germany today. Another huge milestone for Priscilla who's beginning to think the whole joke's wearing a bit thin. Apart from most of the bodywork, the interior is now giving up the ghost and door surrounds and fabric are all hanging off. If we ever come to sell her, I'm not entirely sure we'll get away with the 'one careful owner' tag.

Beginning to tune in a little to planet earth now, and really looking forward to getting back to everything, but still loving every minute. Us and another Ford Pilot (great guys who have had an unbelievable experience and only been on the rally about 5 days, otherwise running 2 days behind us) are the only two cars not to have got a Bronze medal. Very exciting and we have had heated discussions about who should really be winning our own particular competition!

All good fun and can't believe that the impossible dream of Paris might just come off after all. Clutch still knackered, but otherwise all well and so fingers still firmly crossed.

Stepping back into reality for a few days

I came back to UK for a few days, for something we are working on at Oxygen. That meant, my hero Tim had to do three days of driving, solo. (Looks like he tried to blog yesterday but was thwarted. Ha, so...not just ironing then that you need me for, eh?). He had to do Vilnius to Mj^g*k>@w+b (some unpronounceable town in Poland, from there to Gdansk, and today to Potsdam (outside Berlin).

Rather sweet, I think we've really missed not doing those days together. But needs must. He will comment on his four days, but for my part, it was verrrrry strange getting back into the old routine again. Landing at Heathrow, and driving kate on the M25 in our old Merc estate was rather like an out-of-body experience. Driving to Petersfield? Yes, but hadn't I just driven from Peking? Out of habit I found myself STANDING on the brakes, as we came out of the Heathrow tunnel. That's how you get Priscilla to stop, so instinctively....

Anyhow, as ever England looks just so beautiful, and it was so lovely to see family etc.

Then horror, the reality. Monday morning I have to get on the commuter train to London. Like a goodytwoshoes, I do my prep work for the office, then gaze out of the window and reflect on the last four weeks. Lots of things swirled around, but the ones that stuck....



- the universal generous-spiritedness of ones fellow human beings. Whether in Mongolia or Estonia. Whether fellow competitors or local mechanics. It is incredibly heatening to have experienced that. Some exceptions, of course. The Russian police being the glaring example.. But I have had a lump in my throat on more than one occasion as we we have experienced the genuine glow of warmth, support, and enthusiasm from all the people we have encountered as we have covered all these kilometres .

- The tenacity, the sheer dogged determination shown by many people to keep their cars on the road. Some, sadly had car problems that just were impossible to fix. But many had problems that with a bit of ingenuity, sign language, and losing valuable time in far-flung places, they managed to rejoin the the rally. I think we both take a very valuable lesson from seeing how others overcome adversity.

- Lastly the whole rally circus itself. I sat next to a nice old guy at dinner a week ago. A veteran rally goer. Had I done one before, he asked. No. Would I do another one, he asked? But before I answered, he cautioned me that any other would prob be rather tame after this one. This had been way and above the most challenging he had ever experienced. So methinks, I'll leave it at this one. The rally mechanics, marshalls and medical staff have been a constant support. Always smiling, always willing to help, when sometimes, particularly in Mongolia, they were stretched to absolute breaking point. The organisers though are less impressive. The general view is that they learnt their skills in "customer service" from Russians. We've been on the rally for over 30 days, and nobody has been up to us to welcome us. Friends who were stuck behind the rally for 23 days, yes 23 days, and were they ever contacted by the rally office to check they were ok?! Some of the competitors get v wound up about this. Tim and I, however are on our own rally. We just wanted to get to Paris. We were always bemused by those wanting to get a gymkhana-type rosette/medal to put on ones bedroom wall. Not wrong, but just not for us. Our challenge was that neither of us had ANY idea what went on under the bonnet. Nor did we have any experince of navigating with grid references through deserts etc. But now we've cracked both. We've had a rather puerile campaign recently of trying to amass as many penalty points as possible (co-pilot disappearing to London for three days, hah, that sends the counter off the scale). So we should be the last car to limp across the line in Paris on Saturday, all being well. Can't wait.

Flying solo _all going really well, cant get any text on,so will report soon.

Tale of two Rallies

Cars queuing up to do the Timed sections on gravel roads through the forests

Main square in Tallinn, Estonia where they allowed all the cars to park for a while. Well deserved beer too.

Three photos which just give a tiny impression of the quite extraordinary reception we all got from the Estonian villagers as we did our timed sections yesterday. One of the highlights of the whole trip. Lump in the throat time, getting that show of enthusiasm.

Just to prove that despite not being able to iron, he is very handy with a wrench now.

We left Latvia this morning and have arrived in Lithuania. There are very clearly two groups on this rally now. Those that are keen to win/get medals. And those (?at least half now) that are just wanting to limp into Paris, so are not watching their stopwatches all the time. Guess which rally we are on?

However, we did one off-road trial section this morning, but judged the road surface to be too Mongolia-esque, so hit the main roads after that.

Right call, as when we got to the hotel here and did our inspection, we found that our 5 day old rear shock absorbers had once again punched right through the floor. So we rely again now on the main suspension. Should be ok now on Polish/German/French roads.

Tim has a challenge now, as I fly back to UK tomorrow morning till Wed evening. Work reasons, all positive, but that are just unavoidable. He assures me will cope ok on his own. What a star. He gets a day off in Gdansk on Tues, then I meet him in Berlin/Potsdam for the run till Paris on Saturday.

Great day

What a lovely day we've had. Blue skies, really beautiful countryside, and, just to confuse the marshalls, we have done most of the right things today - time trials down gravel tracks, a couple of circuits round a race track (just what Priscilla was built for...) and got more stamps in our time card than you can shake a stick at. The reception all along the way has been staggering and it seems the deeper one is in the countryside, the better the welcome, so hundreds of people along the route waving with huge smiles and taking photos. Very uplifting stuff and wonderfully encouraging. Roads are new and smooth, and it all feels much more prosperous than Russia. Perhaps for the first time we can thank the EU - at least we can see where the money's going, and our suspension is deeply grateful!

Brilliant to have finally at least partly trained Nigel, but STILL not getting my clothes laid out in the morning as I'm used to. Perhaps the fact that they're the same ones as the day before (and sometimes the day before that) that is the problem. We both commented on what a nice easy day it's been today. Only driving for 9 hours, and it's felt a breeze. Feels incredible to be doing this - we have to pinch ourselves - and loving every minute. Will try and chuck some more photos on later.

Great day

Crossing the border into Estonia

The heros at the backstreet garage in Perm, who worked all night to mend our suspension leaf

Priscilla preening herself in St Petersburg in fron of the Hermitage. Annoyingly (but thoughtfully) the garage there valet cleaned her, so we have no more Gobi desert patina...

On the drive from St P to the border with Estonia. I had expected more churches along the route through Russia, but methinks Mr Stalin wasn't too keen.

Just incredible, that as soon as we enter Estonia, and stop for some "Food" and "Coffee", that lo and behold we find that Daily Bread, like Oxygen, has become a household name globally.

....and this one's for you, H. I am just sick and tired of having to wetnurse your husband. Iron his shirts, pack his bags. I knew he was no mechanic or map-reader, but oh dear...


First of all, a thank you to all who have written comments back to us on the blog. It's been fun doing the blog, and great to hear back from you too.

We crossed into Estonia yesterday. Again feeling slightly like naughty schoolboys we left St Petersburg, 24 hours BEFORE the appointed time. We just felt we had spent 3 days there already getting the car fixed, and were getting cabin fever to move on. I sense the Rally organisers are used to having cars catching up (one/two three days late etc), but not used to people heading off much in advance. We had a great day, tho, as we had no queue at the border.

Wow, once again, the difference when you cross the borders. From pot-holed roads and shabby houses in Russia, to EU-financed smoooooooth tarmac in Estonia. From grumpy service in Russia, to all smiles in Estonia. Etc Etc. (We had start differences on each of the China/Mongolia, the Mongolia/Russia borders too. Fascinating.)

We all head off tomorrow morning to drive to Riga in Latvia. Lots of time trials, and gravel roads, to test Priscilla's new suspension out on. She goes really well now. Maybe she needed 5,000 miles to run herself in?!

We have had our challenges with her (namely would she even be able to make her way out of the Shangri-La car park in Beijing etc), but compared to the extraordinary challenges that some of the drivers/teams have faced/overcome, we have had it easy. Some cars have just had such catastrophic/systemic probs, that retirement was unavoidable, but Tim and I are still dumbstruck and in awe of the challenges that some have overcome, to keep in the rally. People having been a week, yes, A WEEK behind, having been starnded in some god-forsaken town, with no mechanics/support sytem etc, and yet have been able to draw on the incredible ingenuity and goodwill of the locals, (whether Chinese, Mongolian or Russian) to help them on their way. And then, for them to have to drive 28 hours a day to catch up. Inspiring.

Tallinn is charming, and quite rightly is so proud to be a nation-state once again. The cars congregate in the centre of the medieval square in a minute, so we'll post some pics later.

Onward & upward

Perhaps our main lesson over the past week or so is how far you can get in Russia only knowing two words: 'thank you' and 'soup'. One has been slightly more useful than the other, however with a lot of gesticulating we have managed to get the cracked axle welded, spare hydraulics installed after the two huge holes in the back of the car were patched up and everything greased to within an inch of its life. A wonderful feeling.

We are staying in a large grim hotel 25 mins from the city centre (the problem with travelling with 100+ cars is that we have to stay in places with huge carparks - never a good sign), the one redeeming feature being that this fantastic garage is just round the corner. It has been incredible being here ahead of the herd and being able to go straight in and have them setting to work immediately. The mechanics were brilliant and couldn't have been more helpful.

Having had a couple of days off, we are now itchingy to get back on the road and continue the adventure. No idea how many cars are still going, and still not entirely sure how many miles Priscilla feels she has left in her, so nothing taken for granted, but really looking forward to Estonia. As Nigel has mentioned, it has been amazing travelling through the two 'communist' superpowers and seeing the progress, which is staggering. China feels to us the place where things are really moving. Moscow seems to have money coming out of its ears - endless new Hummers, Maybachs, thuggish bodyguards etc. St P appears to have remained pretty much as was. It has the beauty, but the cash is firmly in Moscow. If there was a smileometer it would have shown a slow steady descent throughout the journey so far with the Chinese being the outstanding winners, although the support from passers-by throughout has been incredible. It's been very strange travelling in taxis here and getting no attention, so can't wait to get back in the old jallopy!

Onward & upward

A flavour of Russia

A few pictures from the last week, as we have eaten up the miles in Russia....

The police, and the police stations that dot the whole road network. They pull you over for no reason, and are a law unto themselves in terms of the fringe benefits that they extract from many hapless drivers. Shame.

The reality of suburban Russia. Pretty grim tower blocks, that are identical in every city we have been through

Police, army, nurses....anyone in uniform...all fascinated by the rally.

Camera phones being pointed our way, the whole way from Beijing, all eager to get a glimpse of Tim.

Ditto waves from cars that pass us (and most do). Terrifying sights of drivers balancing their camera phones on the steering wheel, to get pics of each car

Very difficult to convey the essence of Russia. We have been very pleasantly surprised by the generous-heartedness of most we have encountered. And my goodness the country has changed so much since I was last here in 1992. I had only seen Moscow and St P then, so it has been so good to see rural Russia, and some of the smaller cities. The gap between the Moscow rich-kids and the old folk in the run-down villages in Siberia is just so stark, it's raw. But the place is moving. It is absolutely fascinating, knowing that it was a communist superpower 20 years ago. The feared Russian bear.

It has been a complete eye-opener for Tim and I to have been able to see up-close the two countries that in our youth were characterised as the then "Axis of Evil", (namely China and Russia). The warmth from the people of both counties has been extraordinary. Sure, it's influenced because they get a real giggle from seeing these old cars. They often comment that it seems strange to buy an old car like this, when you can get 2 new Japanese cars for the same price. At times, we have been tempted too.

Bizarre scene yesterday in Moscow, seeing a Ferrari dealership and a Ralph Lauren shop, within a stone's throw from the Lubianka (the feared ex HQ of the KGB).

Back to reality tho in St P today, trying to get the garage to fix the apparent crack where the suspension meets the rear axle. More on this later.

Reunited

Our fears that the car might have disappeared without trace and poss ended up in some Russian autojumble....were unfounded. Bizarrely they all seem to covet shiny new BMW's here, than 50 year old Ford Pilots. How can that be?
The sight of the truck coming down the long St Petersburg avenue towards us was just a huge relief. We almost kissed the poor driver who manfully brought her 1500kms, on just dreadful roads almost nonstop for 48 hours. The rest of the rally get here tomorrow night, so we take her to a garage this morning, to try and get her (poss terminal) suspension probs sorted.

Will pen some thoughts on Russia, and some more pics, later.

Spring time!

Well, the good news is that we've finally found the ultimate solution to our cars unreliability (although the engine's been going brilliantly) and how to avoid bouncing and rattling our way across the awful Russian roads - it's called flying, and it's fantastic! Much smoother, and a little faster and can't believe we didn't think of it before. Would have saved a lot of bother....

After approx 26 hours in a run down lorry repair garage in Perm Priscilla finally decided that enough was enough and a rest was needed. The spring was finally repaired by these wonderful mechanics working non-stop through the night (BMW in Hungerford have a lot to learn..), our charades has come on in leaps and bounds, but repairing the large cracks at either end of the axle was a step too far for them. We've now trucked the car straight to St Petersburg, missing out Moscow, and that should give us a couple of days to get someone to sort out the axle and we can then hopefully re-join the rally for what should be a great trip through the Baltic States. In a moment of inspiration we decided to fly. It's a shame to not be driving, but we just couldn't take the risk of the whole of the back of the car suddenly collapsing, and so have had little option. Our experience is still nothing compared to many others, so still counting our blessings.

To be honest it's been lovely stepping out of the travelling circus for a couple of days - one can over-load on war stories and tinkering talk after a while.....

Paris, one way or another, here we come!

Change of plan

Tim will explain....

Uh oh..

Just as we thought the car was really now run in, we have encountered a wee problemo. Driving on Russian tarmac roads is (when you can find them) is particularly hazardous as immense potholes loom up with no warning, and when the road is narrow, and you can't dodge them, even at 20 mph, they make for an awful crunch. It seems we paid the price for one of these yesterday while drining to this city, called Perm. We noticed as we parked at the massive Soviet-style hotel that the car was sitting on her heels a bit. A journey to a recommended backstreet garage, and sure enough, the rear suspension is broken. The main leaf has snapped. One car in front of us in the bay, a glorious 1927 Mercedes, with similar ailment. Won't take long apparently, we got here at 5pm last night, but at 5.30 am this morning, their car is lowered and Priscilla takes her turn. Incredible, these guys are prepared to work all night to get these rally cars back on the road. I stayed with the car, so that Tim could get some sleep to drive today, but it's now 11.30 am and the car is still not finished. They do an amazing job, taking the suspension apart and welding a new leaf in , all on the garage floor, with min safelt equipment. So the rally has moved on and we must catch up. We are not (and cannot be!) in a hurry, and we are in the hands of these kind mechanics, who speak not one word of english. Tim's and my Russian is limited to "thank you", and "soup" so we wrestle a bit when it comes to "shock absorber". Oh well.

More pics and observations about Russia once we are on the road.

Oil change

Well, here we are against many of them, if not all the odds, in Yekaterinburg where the Romanov's met their sad fate in the basement of a house. We have just visited the memorial to them and seen the most moving statue of the family with Nicolas cradling his young son. Driving west has been fascinating as Asian Russia starts becoming European Russia at pretty much this point. The roads are pretty dull with only the odd pot hole or rough patch to liven things up, at which point, without our hydraulic suspension, we bounce along and it becomes just like steering a boat in choppy water. Some things however remain the same and the Russians STILL haven't invented a word for either service or smile. Their inability to even have a stab at either beggars belief and is a constant source of amazement and amusement to us. It seems to be a primarily urban thing, as the country folk are full of waves and heart lifting huge grins and thumbs-up.

We occasionally get pulled over by the police and have found that the best way to totally confound them is to be terribly cheerful and say 'yes thank you' to everything they say - however stern they are being. They eventually give up, maybe take a photo, and let us move on. Another car was fined 3000 rbls (£60) and when I asked why they said they didn't know, but the policeman had a gun! Fair enough, but we'll stick to our strategy for the moment and see how we go.

Today has been another 'rest day' in the loosest sense of the word. More like playing with the car all day day. We have however continued our mechanical education and changed our oil, adjusted the clutch (much better, but not perfect so we keep fingers firmly crossed) and put the side panels back on the car. Right couple of tinkerers we're becoming....

Just got back some clean clothes from the laundry - a worryingly exciting moment, and I can only feel sorry for the filters on the hotel's washing machines. Thinking of hotels, they are extraordinary places. The facade and lobby are always glistening with polished marble etc. You then take a smart lift up to the 4th floor and enter a prison wing with dilapidated floors, grey flaky paint and a bathroom you only enter in desperation. Anyway, it's a thousand times better than a tent in Mongolia, so no complaining.

All really well, and we are taking each day at a time and enjoying it all. Michael and Robin, if you read this, we miss you a lot - any chances of re-joining us in the Baltic states???

Some Russian pictures

Some pictures from when we took a detour today to look at a typical village in Siberia. This is the true underclass in Russia. The state of the housing stock in these villages is grim. But they still smile and wave at us as we pass.

Tim will prob post a blog tomorrow about our Russian experiences....

Some Mongolian pictures

1. Lining up to go through the Mongolian border into Russia

2. A nomad horseman in Mongolia

3. One of the campsites in the desert

Omsk it is

Arrived in Omsk after a 600+ km run through Siberian countryside. Very flat. Lots of trees. And then more trees. Roads a damn sight better than Mongolia ever dreamt of, but you have to be mighty careful of hidden holes, lumps, which as we now have no shock absorbers make you wince when you get it wrong. Which we both do. Tim and I sharing the driving, which makes it so much easier. Some cars are set up with one person doing all the driving. Mad, but each to their own.
We set the alarm this morning to make an early start, having spent all day yesterday preparing the car. Great plan. We then lost half an hour taking the wrong turn out of the car park. Hilarious... but after that we had a happy day crusing through Siberia. Ipod into the music sytem so the miles get eaten up quickly. We left before most cars, as our only gameplan is that we just want to get to Paris. We politely decline to get involved in all the competitive stuff (time trials, penalty points etc), and with 30 cars (out of 130) now looking to have had to withdraw already, we have coined our car as the Tortoise. Anyhow she went ok today.
The reception we get along the route still is extraordinary. Cameras out everwhere.
More Siberia for the next few days, so after the surreal and challenging experience we had in Mogolia, this next few days will prob be relatively boring.

As you can see, we can now publish a few more pics, which give some idea of it all

1. a typical but rather surreal scene where the nomads seem to be able to catch Hollyoaks too.....

2. Michael and Robin who we all sadly miss, as their car packed up

3. Tim taking a "comfort stop" in the desert

The Oxygen brand does indeed seem to be global

Incredible evidence of brand loyalty that we have come across, whilst on our travels. Marketing budget has paid off....

Shake rattle & roll

At last a moment to write a quick note. So much has happened since we last had computer access that it's hard to know where to start. They call this a 'rest day', well it's not what we had in mind at all. I don't know what happened to the lie-in, top up with oil and then a good lunch followed by sight seeing and putting our feet up, but we've spent the entire day removing half of Mongolia's dust from every corner of the car and then bolting back at least some of the parts that have been shaken loose, checked brake pads, put new spark plugs in and re-mounted our radiator fan that had come away from the original mounts on the radiator yesterday causing a hole and leaving us negotiating the city rush hour massively overheating, just making our way to the hotel with steam pouring out of the bonnet. We've now found the clutch is on the way out, so I'm sure that will prove interesting. The mechanics cheerfully say you can easily drive a car without a clutch. Ok, then what do we do when we get to a town then tough guy?

I'm afraid that, contrary to what I'm sure were a lot of peoples expectations(?) , we are not in the running for a 'gold medal' position, but the good news is that we developed a brand new strategy about 4 days ago, and are now going for the maximum penalty points. We're doing pretty well and, having been 4th place in this particular competition N has just told me we have achhieved pole position. Not bad, and we are naturally thrilled.

Our aim is to somehow or other get to Paris and that's quite enough of a challenge. Incredibly pleased to still be going at all in fact. Really sad to loose some great people already and Hugh and Paul who helped us hugely at the beginning (they are driving another Ford Pilot) arrived at 4.00am this morning on the back of a truck having not slept for 5 days.

All good stuff and we are loving every minute. On we limp....

Tough week

Finally, we have arrived in Siberia (Russia), after what was one of the most challenging weeks that both Tim and I feel we have ever been through. In fact the rally organisers and some of the hardened rally participants feel it was one of the most gruelling that they had ever experienced. Not only for the individuals, but more importantly, for the cars. Tragedy struck in that numerous cars did not make the crossing into Russia. Only 87 cars (out of 130) made it under their own steam at the appointed time. Some others (? 10) have been trucked over to get to Russian workshops.
The roads in Mongola were appalling. No words can describe them. It is a very underdeveloped country. I understand now why they are a nomadic race. They pitch their gers (tents)wherever their animals need to graze. Very few villages. No need to travel to villages. No need for roads then! Our cars were just crucified by these conditions. How our own car survived, goodness knows. We got up at dawn from our tents, started doing repair work to just about every nut/bolt/screw that had been shaken loose, then drove all day, with aid of GPS to find our camp site, usually in the dark, buy our fuel, get some food down, and climb into sleeping bag, for a few hours kip, till next day. The scenery in Mongolia is incredible. Harsh, wild, almost lunar at times. The people in the towns were very curious but lacked the charm of the folk in the country. Always delighted to have their photo taken etc.

Abiding memories?
- The incredible reception we have had from locals all along the way. People waving, clapping, and we must have had camera phones clicking at us just everywhere. Policeman using their camera phones. Posing beside our car etc. Soldiers similarly. Hysterical.
- The dust which just got everywhere in the car, and meant everything just got filthy. The brave ones who drove in open cars were a sight to behold at the end of each day.
- Lastly, the contrast between Mongolia and Russia. The place where we crossed the border has only been open since 2004. It is in a remote mountain village where the locals are Khazakh (Khazakhstan is only 100 miles away). It is very primitive, and very dusty. No vegetation. After exiting Mongolia, you drive through ? 5 miles of no-man's-land to the Russian border. Then within 30 mins drive you see the other side of the Altai mountains, which are just idyllic. Picture-postcard, Switzerland-type beauty. TARMAC roads, which I just cannot tell you how much we appreciated.

The cameraderie of the participants is inspiring. Everyone is willing to help. Which makes the tragedy of losing those people who have had to fly home, all the more poignant. We miss them.

So, now back in mobile phone/email contact, we have Russia to cross over the next 10 days. Been working on the car all day today, as we have ? 600 kms to drive tomorrow. She is slow, and is only working on 7 of her 8 cylinders/ Clutch is going. Radiator had a hole. But she's going, so no complaints.

Tim will do a note before we leave. In short, an amazing experience. Loving it.

The Gobi desert

I think we both vaguely remembered something about the Gobi desert from schoolboy geography lessons, but knew not much more than it was somewhere in Asia. On Wed/Thurs we crossed it in Priscilla, and had one of the most memorable drives of our lives. Bizarrely if you look at one of the fold-up maps of the world, and look at Monglia, it quite clearly shows a main road going from Ulan Bataar (the capital) to the Chinese border. The reality is that the road stops halfway, at an old Russian airbase. No more tarmac after that. In fact very few tracks as the wind blows the sand over any tracks pretty quickly, as we found out. In short, we bumped and slid, mostly with no sight of ANYTHING, except sand, the odd camel, and very occasional yurt. We then had the surreal experience of seeing a huge sandstorm descending on us. Scary, as we could barely see beyond the end of the bonnet. Always nervous that the car might die on us. We took it in turns to navigate/drive, but the GPS came up trumps in giving us co-ordinates to head for at regular intervals. Seeing the marshal's flag and car in the swirl of the storm was a magical moment that I shall never regret. The, we eventually found the campsite, and at 11 pm had to pitch our tent. For that, read we had to take them out of their wrappers and read the instructions about to assemble the ruddy things. Ugh, the laughs and frustrations..... Anyhow, we crept into our little one-man tents, and slept like babes, till at 6 am I heard yet more sand beating on my tent. Sand? No, that sounds like rain. Rain in the desert?! Sure was. Incredible, but mercifully it lasted an hour then sunshine returned. Lots of tweaking under the bonnet, adjusting things that were summarised in my "Auto Repair for Dummies" book. Then off again, for an incredible second day, this time across much smoother sand. Magical as you just drive wherever you point the car. No tracks to foll0w. Great driving

We arrived in Ulan Battar at 7pm last night, and spent all day, reapiring damage, servicing things etc. We discovered that the shock absorbers had taken so much grief, that they had burst right through the bodywork. Not reapirable in the time, so the next 30 days will be a bit bumpy. No prob, as many cars have much worse probs. 4 cars (of the 130) already have retired. Lots and lots of stressful people today, worried that their car may not make it. One of the two ambulances following the journey rolled over yesterday. Total loss, and we were one of the first on the scene after it happened. The 2 inside were shaken but not injured.

We have a big send off by the Mongolian Govt in the main square tmrw morning then head west into deepest Mongolia, and head for the border with Russia, which has only been open since 2004. It's very near the Kazakh border too, so it apparenly very Muslim etc. Next blog prob from Russia mid next week. In short, still loving it, but still more challenging than either of us had ever experienced. Astounded that we are building our mechanical knowledge so quickly, and out of necessity. Tremendoous cameraderie amongst the competitors, and the support teams are just heros.