Day 16

Had a good sleep despite James managing to pitch the tent so that the only lump around was right in the middle of my back! We’re going to head to Tabriz today, maybe stay in a Hostel tonight and have our first showers since Istanbul.


Stopped to buy some water – about $1.60 for 6 bottles, seems pretty cheap. The shopkeeper and a passing trucker seemed very interested in our cars and the photos of Europe.


Due to Russell’s dodgy navigation, we’ve taken a wrong turn down towards Salmas, but we’ve decided to stick with it and drive alongside a huge lake for a while on our way to Tabriz.


Just stopped for a pee break next to a field of the tallest sunflowers I’ve ever seen! Some of them must be about 12 feet tall! TB4 doesn’t like to hot start apparently, so we’re stuck waiting in the sun until it cools down a bit.


Just got to the “beach” at Uromiyeh Lake, people seem to be allowed out in just shorts/trunks to swim. We’re going to slap on some sun cream and go for a swim. It’s a long walk across a salt flat first though.


Wow, that was bizarre! I had heard that you can float really easily in the dead sea, and this is just a big salt-lake, but I didn’t realize just how easily we’d float on it, it’s such a strange feeling! Downside: it tastes bloody horrible and you DON’T want to get it anywhere near your eyes! As we were walking back to the cars, all the water evaporated too, so we were covered in a film of salt. Never mind, there were showers next to the cars anyway. Now we’re off to Tabriz again.


Finally got into Tabriz and parked – just followed TB4 around in the mad city traffic. Absolutely love it here, lots of people waving at us from their cars, asking where we’re from and shouting ‘Welcome to Iran!’ I still can’t quite believe we’re in Iran! They all seem amazed to see us, it’s like being celebrities or something. I wonder how much of it comes from following such an oddly shaped car and how much is just because they rarely see Westerners.


Just been for a wander, found a shop with a very friendly guy serving, who actually teaches English in Tabriz and even offered to pay for our crisps and juice out of his own pocket! Then we found a very cheap hotel - $25 for all four of us! Nice clean toilets and even a shower! We’re just heading out for pizza at a place along the road now.


Pizzas were fantastic, stuffed now. Just checking emails then off to sleep.


Photos from the day

Day 15

Setting off for Dogubayazit this morning, just going to kill some time and head to Iran tomorrow.


Wow, what a bad road! There are potholes absolutely everywhere, we just stopped at an internet café in Igdir, it seems to be run by 3 kids, the oldest looks about 9! Just checking emails, and that Iran hasn’t been invaded recently.


Just got to an old mosque or palace in the hills behind Dogubayazit – Ishak Pasha – to have a look around, the main building seems to be under reconstruction but there are a few ruins further up the hill in the crags - which we decided to climb up to - and a big picnic area just below, where we saw a family carrying around a dead hen by the neck as we went up and then chopping it up for dinner as we came down.


We’ve decided that since it’s only 2pm and we don’t really have anything to do, we’re just going to go for the Iranian border. Exciting stuff!


Just arrived at the border, met another team – The Mongolites – on the way through Dogubayazit. Just putting on long trousers and shirts for the border, Iran’s pretty strict on appropriate clothing we hear.


FINALLY got through to Iran, a lot of sitting around waiting for things to get stamped and trying not to get ripped off by unofficial. Met up with the team in the Thunderbird 4 – Team Young Offenders – who seem like great guys. We’ve just bought some car insurance and are off to find somewhere to camp with TYO.  The other teams we met at the border (some Irish, some South Africans and the Mongolites) are all off to find a hostel, we might meet up with them on the road though.


Found a nice little flat spot next to a side road outside Maku. Going to have some bread & soup, a good old chin-wag and then some sleep. First night in IRAN!


Haha, just after we’d set up camp some guy in a pickup came over and said Hi, shook all our hands and then disappeared off again, he’s just been back (10mins later) and given us some cakes and buggered off again! I like Iran already.


Photos from the day

Day 14

Just as we were getting ready to set off, Turgut showed up again on his tractor, we managed to give him a photo because we found my camera last night. We said our farewells once more and then set off in opposite directions. We’re off towards Erzurum.


Just passed through Erzurum, didn’t stop though, it looked quite run down apart from a fancy looking entrance to the University. Now we’re heading towards Kars, I read about an ancient Armenian city near Kars, but I left the book on Turkey in the flat and can’t remember what it’s called.


We’ve just been in to Kars to get some food and cash. It’s a pretty small place so we got plenty of funny looks.
As we were driving out of town, we went past a sign for Ani, which I remembered is the city I’d read about, so we went to have a look since it was only 30km away.  We arrived and the walls looked quite impressive so we paid 5 lira each to go and wander around. We spent all afternoon there because the place was huge. Lots of ruined churches and an old palace too. There was an excavation team there too so we couldn’t go all the way to the old castle. We also saw a group of men in suits with a huge SUV with diplomatic plates and a trail of unmarked police. Could have been the president of Turkey visiting and I wouldn’t know!  Then as we came out there was a crowd of village folk around the entrance being told to get lost by a guard. Then they all crowded around our car and the kids asked us for some money. We drove off pretty quickly to head back to Kars.
Just stopped to get petrol and the guy at the pump insisted on washing our car for us! I had been growing attached to our dusty side-panels, but he power-hosed the engine bay too, which definitely needed a wash! And I doubt the car will stay clean for long anyway.


We’ve just come over a hill and got a great view of Mt. Ararat in the distance, it’s massive! It also turns out the guy didn’t do such a great job of washing the car after all, so we still have some of our dirt, it just looked very clean while it was wet.


Stopped at the side of the road to Igdir for the night, just off the road next to a phone mast (oh no! CANCER!) early night tonight, sunset was at about 7.30!


Photos from the day.

Day 13

Woke up at about 9.30 to heavy rain, didn’t want to get out of the tent and get wet, but it was too bright and noisy (we’re right next to the main road) to get back to sleep, so I’ve played solitaire on my ipod until the batter died (exciting times!)


Pretty lazy morning again, we tidied the car a bit and chatted with the other two teams, Don’t Panic and Matt-Nav & TomTom. They’re heading to Georgia today and we’re off inland towards Erzurum. Rachel got a text from Fiona saying the road had been very blocked and flooded in places.


The others have just set off, we’ve swapped numbers and might meet up again somewhere between Ashgabat and UB – Matt-Nav & TomTom are on a similar schedule to us – UB in early September.


We’ve been driving for a few hours now, followed the Black Sea coast for a while in the sun, it’s very mountainous on the right and lovely blue-green sea all along the left with some nice little towns along the way – a few signs of having been flooded earlier, but mostly cleared up now.


Then we turned inland into the hills and a strange valley where everything was green and there were a lot of houses looking precariously balanced on the steep slopes. A lot of the towns seem to just be being built, along with a new road and some hydroelectric stuff. We just keep getting higher and higher too.


We came out of the mountains and saw some big flat plains but we’re still really high up! We kept driving for a while and thought the car was losing power until we realized we were actually climbing again. This climb tool us to a peak with a huge monument and statue on it, so we got out and took some photos and it was windy and freezing! Now the sun is setting and we’re going to try and find some food and a place to camp.


We stopped in Askale to get some food, but the shop didn't have much, mainly cooking ingredients. We got bread, jam and some fruit juice, then carried on to find somewhere to camp.


We drove a little off the main road and then stopped at the edge of a field and got the stove out to cook our last Sainsbury’s can – Beans & Sausages! Halfway through cooking, a tractor stopped next to us and two men came over, Turgut & Hussein – neither of them spoke any English and we don’t know any Turkish, but we got on fine with charades, we managed to swap phone numbers and they gave us some chocolate. After a while, they set off again and James and I were talking about how bizarre it had been, when after a short while a car pulled up next to us. It was Turgut again, and he had a whole tea set with him! We drank the whole pot (must’ve been about a litre), let him scribble something on our car, then tried to give him a photo, but James lost my camera! What a great night!

Photos from the day.

Day 12

The rain has stopped. But the campsite now resembles a small lake. Glad we didn’t put the tent up, the other tents are all soaked and everyone’s had to move into their cars to sleep.

Lazy morning paddling/playing catch on the campsite/lake with the other teams. Just going to head East towards Georgia this afternoon, the other three cars are all heading for the ferry from Baku across to Turkmenbashi. We’ll head south towards Iran at some point.


We’re driving up a pretty high hilly pass now, the other teams all have bigger engines and are speeding off into the distance, we’ll catch them on the way down though. No roof rack, way less air resistance!


Just drove past a lorry which had smashed through the central reservation, it’s really foggy now, we’re right in the clouds.


Rudolph’s seriously struggling on the up-hill sections now, they must be steeper than they look! Still fine with any downhill bits. Sky still looking very gloomy, and we’re on to Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire on the audiobooks already! Probably will manage to get through them all unless something dies and our trip ends early.


Just stopped at services for snacks and it actually feels cold! It’s the first time since we left Britain that I’ve put my hoody on to keep warm! I had it on in Nuremburg, but that was more to keep the smell in!
Just passed a truck loaded with kids in the back, all grinning, waving and giving us the thumbs up. Much better than the stern looks we keep getting from adults.


Just said goodbye to the Aussies, they need to push ahead as Fiona needs to be back to teach in August. Now we’re following the other two teams to see if we can find somewhere to camp or sleep in the car. It’s dark already! (8.30) Must be because we’re farther south and a long way east for the timezone, haven’t changed the clocks since Romania.


Just stopped at a very fancy looking service station where we bought some fruit and bread. The friendly guard tells us there’s a campsite 30km down the road, so we’re off to try and find it (following team Don’t Panic).
Found the place no problem – quite a big campsite between the road and the sea, 20 lira per car, quite expensive but we got away without paying for last night so it’s not too bad. Had some hot soup and bread, the first cooking we’ve actually done all trip. No problems with the stove at all. Actually going to sleep in the tent tonight too, and maybe a swim in the sea in the morning.


Photos from the day.

Day 11

Waking up in a real bed without the sun in my eyes or the feeling of being cooked alive is luxury! I’m also clean after last night’s shower. It’ll probably be a while before I wake up like this again. We’re off to an internet café to find out where the Kazakh Embassy is in Ankara then to do the touristy thing and wander around Istanbul.


Managed to see a few big fancy Mosques but the Grand Bazaar is closed on Sundays. We also bumped into another team from Edinburgh, a pair of Aussies. They are convoying with another two teams and heading up to the Black Sea coast to find a campsite. We swapped numbers and might head up to meet them. We’ll need to get out of Istanbul first!


Just stopped at a McDonald’s on the motorway outside Istanbul after a bit of crazy drive. We got across the Ataturk bridge no problem, then got hopelessly lost trying to get on the Bosphorous Bridge, the biggest bridge I’ve ever seen, and the crossing from Europe to Asia. Eventually we got onto it by driving up a ridiculously steep road, our first first-gear corners, we saw someone’s wheel fall off on a bridge corner with no hard shoulder on the motorway, and some generally mental driving! Now we’re going to head north to meet up with the other teams.


We made it! Just spent ages driving around Akcakoca looking for the campsite the others were at, but there seems to be some kind of carnival on, roads are blocked and diverted. Eventually one of the cars came out to meet us and we followed them back.


It’s just started pouring down, so we’re hiding in the car. Haven’t put the tent up yet, so probably sleeping in the car. Didn’t expect rain like this in Turkey!

Day 10

Managed to sleep last night by just pitching the inner part of the tent and lying on rollmat with no sleeping bag! Not very shady this morning though, so I’ve woken up very early. James must have moved to the car while I was asleep. It’s already very warm, and not even 8am!


Waiting at the Turkish border now after a nice drive South up hilly passes, very green which is surprising for such hot weather. The road is pretty pot-holed and patchy, but very quiet too, we followed someone towing one of those soviet trucks for a while up the hill, but managed to overtake on the way down as it was just freewheeling.


Bulgarians at the exit customs seemed very friendly and thought it was very funny that we are driving to Mongolia “In this car!?” I’ve also just realized that the funny noise I heard on the road up to the border must have been our hubcap falling off. We’re down to two now!


Just stopped at a carpark off the motorway in Turkey for water and toilet and WOW! Turkey is amazing, it’s so different looking to everything I’m used to, looks like a giant almost-desert with a huge brand new motorway cutting right through the middle. It’s also VERY HOT! IF we stop and leave the car for even a minute, all the plastic (steering wheel, gear stick, etc) and anything on the dashboard is quickly too hot to touch. Despite the heat, I like it here. The border was quite quick and painless, not quite sure whether we’re supposed to have an insurance green card or not, but we’re in now, and don’t plan on crashing. We hope all the borders sell ice creams!


OH MY GOD! Istanbul is insane! First off, it’s HUGE, the city pretty much started when the signs still said it was 28km away! The biggest city I’ve ever seen by far! London might be close, but it’s so flat you can’t really tell. We drove around for a while too, which was absolutely crazy, you can’t go 10 seconds without hearing a car horn. People cross the road at the craziest times and it’s just so busy! We were looking for somewhere to park and not having much luck when James spotted a Holiday Inn with parking outside so we turned it. Oh my, it’s got five stars! We can never afford it (well, we could but don’t want to waste money, we only need a shower and some A/C) Anyway, we spoke to a doorman who was very helpful and suggested the place next door and sent us round with his friend “to help with price” So we went, and his friend spoke some Turkish then they asked us what we wanted (1 room, 1 night, 2 beds) The Room Rates board said 165Lira and we got it for 80. Now we’re just having some Turkish Tea (it comes in a small glass and is much nicer than English tea) and waiting for the key.


Got into the room no problem, the A/C works, just had my first shower in over a week (lovely!). There’s free wi-fi too, so I’m just going to check e-mails and things then head out for some food!


After a bit of a walk around the area, we found a nice place to have some kind of kebab, I can’t remember what it was called, James will know (it was doner meat, sauce and rice) which was lovely and pretty cheap too! Great night, lovely city. Bed time, Ahhh, Air Conditioning!!!


Photos from the day.

Day 9

I was woken up by the sun again today at around 8.30. It’s like the best of British summer first thing in the morning! Met Team Hairy Legs in the car park and had a long chat – They’d been driving all night and just pulled into the services for a bit of a rest – they’re heading for some holiday resorts around Varna, Bulgaria for a couple of days holiday, which sounds really nice.


We met another team in 2 Ford Escorts just before the Bulgarian border, one of their cars was having trouble with engine temperature and stopped for a while in no-man’s-land, where a Romanian cabbie who spoke no English told them it was the needle that was broken. The border was nice and easy again, passports, road tax, currency and off.


I don’t know what it was about Romania, but Bulgaria instantly seems nicer, and nobody we’ve spoken to seemed to like Romania much either.


Drove to just south of Varna and had a look around a beach resort at Obzor, I bet places like this in Bulgaria will be very popular with British tourists soon! A sign in the reception said the sea water is warmer than their pools! It’s going to be way too expensive to stay here though, and it’s not really our kind of place, so we’re going to head towards the Turkish border and find somewhere to camp.


Just stopped for something to eat in a ridiculously busy little holiday town called Kiten. It’s full of locals and has the feeling of a place like Blackpool, but much more condensed! Got some pizza and managed to check emails on my ipod, none too exciting, nice to hear from Mum though.


I’ve managed to take a wrong turn or miss a turn or something and ended up on a secluded beach off a small road down to another resort town, so we’re just going to stay here. There are loads of giant crickets or grasshoppers (is there a difference?) around. Arrived nice and early, but it’s still too hot to sleep!

Day 8

I just went for a quick walk and discovered that this tiny lay-by has a lovely little campsite with showers and a small river flowing by. If only we’d arrived before nightfall, this would’ve been a great place to stay!


We just got back from swimming and washing clothes in the river. The water is very cold, but the sun is so hot that it doesn’t matter. I feel clean again! I doubt it’ll last long though if the weather stays like this!


This afternoon has been a very hot drive! Stop/start A-roads mean a lot of time we’re just sitting in the sun! They seem to be building motorways all over the place! A lot of places here seem to have really badly rutted tarmac, which I’ve never seen before apart from on ancient Roman roads in places like Pompeii. There are also stray dogs all over the place.


It’s been nice to get into the mountains, it’s slightly cooler and there’s more shade around too, it’s also much nicer to look at. I was hoping it would be the impressive Dracula-country Carpathians, but I think they must be the Northern ones. If only I’d spent a load of time actually researching things to see along the way. Never mind!


Stopped for fuel just outside Bucharest, James is going to drive for a while. The city looks like it’s covered in a huge cloud of smog, there’s a dull grey strip along the horizon. A pack of dogs chased us into the petrol station.
We’re going to drive round Bucharest because it looks and smells horrible – there might be a lovely little city in the middle of all this industrial wasteland, but we’re sure we’ll see plenty of nice places in the next month and a half anyway, and I’ve never heard anything special about Bucharest. So we’re on the old ring-road, which is rutted and horrible, then we’re going to head for Constanta on the Black Sea coast. The new ring road is under construction, but this one is a total dump, it goes through a lot of slum areas, where people seem to like burning tires just for fun. I thought they were rainclouds from a distance, but it’s just tire smoke!


Been driving towards Constanta for a while now, looking for a service stop with some food, but none seem to have any (the motorway is new, half the services stations seem to be under construction) so we’ve decided to have some Sainsbury’s value Irish Stew and sleep in the car.


Photos of the day.

Day 7

Awoke at 6am in my sleeping bag and felt like my legs were stuck together, VERY warm! Managed to get back to sleep though and we’ve just emerged at 9.30 to a full lay-by! A police car watched us pack our tent away but didn’t seem to have a problem, so far so good.
We’ve stopped just along the road to get petrol and spent 7 grand! We have no idea how many Hungarian wotsits there are in a pound, but it must be a lot!
Just got back to the car after spending most of the day walking about in a VERY HOT Budapest, the thermometer in a big indoor market said 32C, but even the wind blowing up the river felt really warm. We managed to park in an underground car park, so at least the car is bearable. We’ve seen a few other rally cars around the city but all driving by or parked and empty.
I found out from a billboard that the Hungarian Grand Prix is this weekend, could have spent a fortune on tickets and sorted out the Kazakh visa here if we’d known, Early Christmas present or something.
I wonder if Hungary is always this hot in July or if this is more than normal, I suspect it’s the norm, everyone looks very brown anyway. It feels like being back in Florida, I could get used to this temperature, but I don’t know if I’ll like it any hotter!
Just realized the  Tesco Value water we bought 9 litres of in Klatovy is fizzy, Bollocks!
We made it to Romania! Our first proper border. The man said “Passports?” so I gave him them, then he had a flick through and said “Patrick?”, James said “urr.. yeah, James Patrick”, he said “Thomas?” I said “That’s me” he gave us a funny look, handed them back and said “goodbye”. Then we stopped just past the border because a sign said something about obligatory road tax, so we paid 5euros for a little sticker thing, changed 70euros into Romanian wotsits and now we’re off towards Bucharest (it will probably take two days).
Ok, it will take WAY longer than 2 days if the roads are like this all the way! They’re SHITE! Huge cracks every 2 yards, potholes every 10 and a giant lump of tar here and there for good measure!
So we got out of the town and the road got a lot better, but still the worst A-road we’ve been on. It’s dark, so we can’t really tell what Romania looks like, it might be lovely in the daylight tomorrow. We also might see some hills, it’s been pretty flat since Eastern Austria.
Just stopped in a lay-by for the night, there’s a hotel but neither of us can really be bothered, just going to pass out in the car.

Day 6

The party last night was good fun, despite the lack of bar staff and females, and the one bar that tried to rob us blind with a huge overcharge. James and I somehow managed to spend 200Kc between us (less than a tenner)!


Lots of sitting around in the sun this morning, it’s too hot to get back to sleep and the campsite’s way too busy to make an early getaway – We made the mistake of parking right at the back since we arrived quite early. So I’ve resorted to tidying the car up a bit.


Finally away from the campsite around 1.30, quick stop at Tesco Klatovy ended up lasting a long time, loads of teams in the car park to chat to!


We decided to head towards Budapest via Austria today, so we’ve been on Czech country roads for a while now, managed to get a bit lost in Ceska Budejovice, but ended up getting the right road in the end. Now almost at the Austrian border, using up the last of our Czech money on petrol (but it’s too cheap!) It’s VERY hot today, passed a road-side sign saying 35C a little back.


We’ve stopped for a toilet break just outside Linz, Austria. This seems lovely! Very scenic, the services here have FREE toilets, and we can make sense of road signs again!


Just had a really long stint from Linz to Vienna and onwards, it finally cooled down a bit as we got to Vienna because the road went round the North side of a big hill. We decided to go into Vienna and wander round like we had in Nuremburg, but it seemed a bit grotty in the centre (although some of the buildings were very nice) so when we tried to park and just met a steel barrier, we decided to just get back on the road to Budapest. This proved to be easier said than done, down town Vienna is a maze of one-way streets which all look the same, and the buildings are so tall it’s impossible to see any landmarks. We ended up missing one turn when we were almost out and having to go a long way back round. We ended up going into the actual center this time though, which looked lovely, Lots of big fancy hotels and old buildings.


The road out to the East was horrible, it’s like a giant version of Grangemouth just stuck on the side of the city.
Now we’re stopped just inside Austria, we hadn’t realized it was almost Hungary, but my phone got a text from roaming and went to T-mobile H. So we’ve bought a pass for the Hungarian motorways and are going to try and find somewhere nice to sleep.


Finally found a nice lay-by outside Tatabanya in Hungary, No Artic. Lorries, Clean Water, Toilets (Free again!). No Fuel or Restaurant means it isn’t too busy either. We’ve pitched the tent, had a wash and about to go to bed. Hungarian road signs are even easier than Austrian ones – because it’s such a different language, they’re just in Hungarian and English, with some in German as well.


Photos of the day.

Day 5

Just woken up in the noisy lay-by, it’s 7.30am. James is still fast asleep. Doesn’t look too far on the map to the party castle and campsite, I hope there are showers there.


We’ve just reached Klatovy, the nearest town to the party, which has a HUGE Tesco. So we went shopping. Unfortunately, Tesco Cz doesn’t seem to do clubcards, so no staff discount here. None of the staff speak any English, but it’s easy enough to work out what’s what – everything is pretty much the same, but they have more Tesco Value stuff and none of the Finest.


Czech Republic seems very strange, we get funny looks from everyone (except the other rally teams, of which there are plenty) but can’t explain what we’re doing because nobody speaks a word of English.


We’ve spent quite a while at the campsite now, explaining lack of kit to other teams (excuses like ‘we ran out of time and money’, and reasons like ‘We genuinely don’t think we’ll need half the stuff you have’) and flying the kite I found in the shed at Mum’s (the bowls set will have to wait, the campsite is too hilly!)


Great weather today, lots of sun and a bit of wind to keep the insects away. It threatened to pour down a while ago, but just spat for 5mins, then passed. Might have a bit of sunburn, but put the factor 50 on after a while, so shouldn’t be too bad.


Still no shower, James rigged up the tarp around the car so he could hide and have a bath in a mess tin (or something like that) but I was too lazy to bother, and had just put sun cream on anyway.


Photo of the day.

Day 4

Somehow we managed to sleep until 10am this morning, had a great sleep! I guess it’s because we had such a long day yesterday. We’ve just driven along to the next services to get some fuel and now on the road to Brussels, James is getting used to driving on the wrong side of the road.


Swapped drivers around Cologne so James could nap for a while, I spent quite a while following another team in a lada (with a V8 badge!) The Autobahns are pretty mad, you can be going along at 80 in the slow lane and have people flying past in both the other lanes – and Yes, Rudolph can go 80mph! I reckon the speedo got up to 90mph at one point, but it was down a long straight hill, and we were still in the slow lane!


For a while I thought something was wrong with the car, kept hearing strange noises that sounded like they were coming from the wheels or brakes, but then I realized it was just crickets! They’re everywhere!


A long stop-start traffic jam around Wuzburg made me tired of driving so we’ve just stopped to have a wander round Nuremburg (the one with the Rallies, not the racetrack).

The old part of the city is quite interesting, old city walls, an imperial palace, and some fancy looking churches, the railway station looked very grand too. Cities seem to be strangely proud of their railway stations.


James drove out of Nuremburg, I think I may have got the navigation a bit wrong, but we ended up on the right road in the end. Now stopped to camp in a lay-by off the autobahn, just had some dinner and ready for bed (11.45). Feels like I could use a shower soon!


Photos from the day.

Day 3

Just woken up at 6.20 am! The tent is nice and comfy for one! James slept in the car all night because the campsite was too noisy for him; I went to sleep in the car for a while but moved into the tent in the middle of the night. The car is surprisingly comfy – We’ve packed so light that there’s plenty of space to put the front seats right back and lie down. If we parked on a slight hill, I’m sure they’d be completely flat!

Just back from a Sainsbury’s trip to get some food and cash, going to have a campsite burger or two and pack the tent away to head along to the race track for the Festival of Slow.


There’s a lot of CRAZY cars here, highlights: Furry Fire Engine, Rolling Cones’ bright pink Ice Cream van, A Thunderbird 4 and many many more. The actual event seems more catered towards the teams who have their families here to wave them off, it’s not dull but I just want to get on the road now.


We just watched some Mongolian wrestling, a bit strange, and one of the brits managed to take down a Mongol, but lost in the best-of-three tournament.


Oh dear… visas… We’ve just been to the admin tent to get our passports and there’s some bad news: The Russian visa was only issued yesterday, so the adventurists didn’t have enough time to get the Kazakh visa done! Pretty annoying since they’ve had the passport and paperwork since the start of April, but nothing can be done about it now, they say they’ll refund the money, not sure that I believe them, but we’ll see. James has all of his visas and they are all for the right dates, so we’ll try to get my Kazakh one in Ankara, Tashkent or Bishkek.


Just waiting to do our lap of the circuit then we’ll be on our way to Dover, should have plenty of time to catch our 8pm ferry.

The lap of Goodwood wasn’t anything spectacular, we were restricted to around 15-20mph, I guess not many people can say they’ve driven a micra round a track as well known as Goodwood though.


On the way to Dover, we popped just off the main road to visit the village of Coombes and take a photo or 2 with the signpost!


James has decided to drive from here to Dover, it’s an OK road through some old seaside resorts with fancy old buildings, piers and a lot of motorbikes.


On the ferry now, it’s fairly boring, lots of wi-fi networks available, none good enough to load a webpage or check emails, never mind. We’re going to drive to a service station near Bruges tonight and sleep in the car. I’m feeling quite tired and James is drifting in and out of consciousness on the table.


We’ve just followed one other team into a service station just outside Gent, they’re from Vancouver! Had a little chat, pitched our tent – services are much nicer here than the UK ones, and it’ll be better to sleep flat. It’s raining a little, but not too bad, James’ tent seems pretty bombproof anyway.


Photos from the day.

Day 2

Early start today, but worth it for the hot shower and huge breakfast – Weetabix followed by a fry-up!

A lot of last minute packing and ‘have you got…’s and finally left James’ at about 10.45, the last goodbyes!

Starting to feel quite nervous now, we’re actually leaving for the Mongol Rally! It’s been a long time coming!

We spent quite a while in Dumfries getting more last minute supplies: Tarp, a folding shovel, some extra tent pegs, then on the road for real! First border of the trip: Scotland to England probably the easiest one, not much different to passing from Mid Lothian to West Lothian. Now we’re on the M6 though, and there’s a LOT of rain!

Just got to Junction 26 and the road’s turned into a car park, it’ll probably be like this for ages, at least until we’re past Liverpool and Manchester.

I’ve just had my first drive of the trip: Keele services to Goodwood, not too much excitement, TORRENTIAL rain around Birmingham, then a lot of driving round the Goodwood area looking for the campsite. We had just asked google maps the way to Goodwood, and completely forgotten to look up where the campsite is. We had pretty much given up to head back to Chichester when we saw a sign for the Mongol Rally!

Just had a chat with some of the other teams, but we’ve arrived quite late and after a long drive, so we’re just going to get some sleep – it’s going to be a long day tomorrow!

Day 1

Spent all morning frantically packing the last few things, and doing some last minute shopping, then off! It’s strange to think I won’t be back in the flat for over 2 months!

Nice drive from Edinburgh to Castle Douglas today, Joanna’s along for the ride too, going home to the farm for a while.

Got to James’ about 6.45, it’s very quiet because his mum and cousins are out seeing the new Harry Potter movie, so it’s only us and his dad here.

Busier now, 7 of us round the table for our last home made dinner for a while: Spaghetti and meatballs – Yum! I feel like I’ve overeaten, but perhaps I won’t be able to overeat on such good food for ages now.

Have printed off the last few documents we need and a list of addresses for postcards, going to bed now, just hope our passports are waiting for us at Goodwood and full of visas!