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....