Drive down to London went well v hot though. 150 odd cars caused mayhem in London :-) Now at Dover waiting for ferry.
Let the Madness Begin
So after many many months of talking we are finally on our way :-) Keep following for updates from the road. Next stop Ulaanbaatar! (well, London actually, but you get the gist).
We’ve Got A Squeak
It's mad panic at the moment - trying to get everything ready for the off in 33 hours time - eeeek. We've just spent hours trying to get everything into the car boot. We're obviously trying to take too much, but there's nothing we can really leave behind. We've also noticed that the car's developed a bit of a squeak.…
The Mongolian Mad House
In an attempt to get organised for the big off next Friday, our house is upside down. Every nook and cranny has some rally related item crammed into it. Everywhere I look there's rally stuff, everything I touch is rally stuff - but I'm sure it'll all be worth it in the end. Someone said to me today "you must…
HMS Caledonia Summer Fair
A BIG thank you goes out to everyone who came down to see us at the HMS Caledonia summer fair today, it was a great success despite the weather. We had loads of fun, and more importantly, raised lots of money for charity. Remember, every penny donated goes to charity, we are covering all our own costs. (Note: Our JustGiving…
Mini-Pre-Adventure
Well we've made it back from Land's End safe and sound. We set off on Friday evening and made it to the lake district for about 10pm, I'm sure we could have done it a lot quicker but we took a long and convoluted route that added about an hour or so to our journey - it was nothing to…
Another fool joins the team
Then there were three ... well ok, 2 and a half. Our mate, Brett, has decided to join us for the first leg of the journey, he'll be jumping out at some point though, probably Bratislava. Brett was the swine that introduced us to the Mongol Rally way back in August 2004. Initially I thought it was a great idea,…
Automotive Makeover
Black paint turned out to be quite expensive, so we settled for a rather subtle shade of red, with a white stripe. We are getting some very strange looks as we drive down the road now, I can't quite imagine why ;-) The car has now been checked over and serviced by our friendly mechanic, Stevie, from Babcock Lauder Training, who…
The Mongolmobile
So with 8 and a bit weeks to go we finally have a car. Our chariot of choice is a 15 year old Ford Fiesta Popular aka "the banger", which we picked up from Newcastle on Sunday. It's a rather stylish two tone red with designer bumps, scrapes and rust spots, although we are thinking of painting it black. It'll…
Cooking on Vodka
We've been really busy over the last few weeks. Hunting for a car, jabs from the doctor, travel insurance, health insurance cards, international driving permits, it's amazing how much time all these little things take - and the biggie is still to come - visas. We've been in the local paper too. The Dunfermline Press did quite a good write…
The Reality of Travel
Malaria, Typhoid, Hepatitis, Cholera, Diphtheria, have I missed any? Oh, Tick-borne encephalitis (Adam calls this one Tick Borne Enchiladas :-)), Japanese B, Rabies ... and they're the ones you can get jabs for. I hate to think what else is out there. Worms, Leeches, Scorpions, Snakes ... I SAID I HATE TO THINK WHAT ELSE IS OUT THERE - right,…
Butterflies & Jerry Cans
We've still not started looking for a car yet ... and with only 14 weeks to go it's now starting to hit home what we're doing. Every time I think about it I feel like I've swallowed a swarm of butterflies and need to go to the loo. So there's no car yet, but we do have two 20 ltr…
Are We Really Doing This?
Whayhay ... at last, after several months waiting and two false starts we've finally signed up for this year's Mongol Rally. It should have opened for signup over a week ago but each time they delayed it at the last minute. Of course I couldn't just sit back and wait like everyone else, I had to email Tom at rally…
Our Adventurous Website
This post is in memory of our original website, launched in preparation for our Mongol Rally adventure in 2006. In 2016, on its tenth anniversary, it was completely overhauled and relaunched. Welcome to our new, new, website … Welcome to Our Adventurous World.
Zakopane
It might have been quicker to drive, but it was much cheaper to jump on the local bus for the 2½ hour journey down to Zakopane. It was a nice timeout after exploring Krakow and visiting Auschwitz, half watching the countryside roll by and half with my nose buried in a book. Zakopane lies at the foot of the Tatra…
Auschwitz-Birkenau
We'd both been choked with the cold for a couple of days, and it was cold, damp and dreary outside. But we caught the bus from Krakow to Oswiecim and asked the driver to shout when we arrived. He did, though he needn't have, as the rest of the bus were here to visit the same place we were —…
Kraków
I have visited Krakow many times over the years. In fact, Krakow is probably my most visited city outside of the UK. With fond memories of feeding the pigeons as a child, and of horse drawn carriage rides around Rynek Glówny, Krakow has something that just keeps drawing me back. The picturesque old town square, with the Sukiennice cloth hall…