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THE JOURNEY One quarter of the world in three weeks! The course of the Mongol Rally will pit our cars against some of the most remote parts of the world. Thousands of miles of desert, forest, mountain, bad roads, no roads and adventure. As the crow flies, the distance to Mongolia from London is only a tiny 6000 miles. This, we felt was a bit puny. So we have used that marvellous invention, the detour. Our route adds up to about 8000 - 10000 miles and takes in a lot of unfathomably bad roads and some great scenery. The route is broken into 5 legs. At the end of most will be the opportunity to find a hotel, if we require one, and quench our thirst. It will also be an opportunity to stick stuff back on that we have been meaning to fix for the last five days. We are planning on taking the Southern Route, but I am still frantically running around finding visas. Henry is lucky as he is only coming as far as Turkey and the only visa he needs can be bought at the Turkish border. Stephen, wimp that he is, can only do the journey from Azerbaijan on which means he has another two weeks to organise them all! Anyway the countries we should pass through in theory are as follows: England, France, Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaidjan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgzystan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia and finally home via a brief trip to China and then back in the car to return through Moscow, vehicle condition permitting!!! The journey out there is expected to take around three-four weeks to complete. This is not, and can never be an exact assessment. The route is broken into 5 legs. The links which are hyperlinked mean we have a reasonable idea as to how we are going to get there and so if you click a map should appear! Joys of web design, huh! Leg 1 (Checkpoint High Tea) London to Prague We polish off our drinks at the launch party, leap into the cars and head for Dover, although I am off to a great friends wedding on the way, hoping to prove that a 2CV really is designed for trays of eggs and top hats. Once we hit the mainland we drive as fast as possible to Brussels where Henry and I are hoping to catch up with all of our Belgian friends for Sunday lunch. I am hopeful that I can then persuade Henry to play designated driver! We then drive on into Germany and then the Czech Republic. Somewhere in Germany we will meet Stephen who will load up the car with lots of his belongings... We will then hopefully arrive in Prague in time for tea at 4pm on the Monday. Leg 2 (The Trinity) Prague to Istanbul Checkpoint Byzantium - (Istanbul), A southerly charge over the miles and miles of mountains to the coffee shops and ancient winding streets of the old Ottoman capital and the bridge to Asia. Leg 3 (Checkpoint Seljuk) Istanbul to Samarkand From istanbul we push further east, into Georgia and Azerbaijan and then across the the Caspian Sea and into the Turkmen desert, into Uzbekistan and on to Samarkand on the ancient silk route, where a much needed beverage or three will hopefully be found. Leg 4 (Checkpoint Tsagaannuur) Samarkand to Tsagaannuur Winding north through the beautiful Mountains of Kyrgyzstan and into Kazakhstan for a dash north to the Russian border. Then on into the Altai region, described as the most beautiful part of Russia before entering Mongolia at it's western tip. Leg 5 (Checkpoint Chinghis) Tsagaannuur to Ulaan Baatar Now for what can only be described as the most amazing driving in the world. And you thought ripping across the desert was fun! There are a loads of routes across Mongolia, all of them incredible and very very little of it will have any sort of road surface. Your maps will be practically uselss, roads move all the time, every where has the same name, there are no sign posts, rodent holes replace pot holes, the fun just goes on. Imagine drining off road across a deserted green valley with wild aromatic grasses scenting the air as you go, what could be better? Once/if you get to the finish, which will be in the Ulaan Baatar area, all that will remain will be to sit back in the comfort of your ger and enjoy a well-earned drink as the sun sets over the mountains.

Many thanks for your support! We raised well in excess of £5,000 for our very worthwhile charities and we could not have done it without your support!

Many thanks for your support! We raised well in excess of £5,000 for our very worthwhile charities and we could not have done it without your support!