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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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.…
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).
Drive down to London went well v hot though. 150 odd cars caused mayhem in London :-) Now at Dover waiting for ferry.
Drove through the night, now 120 clix from Prague - 6 countries in 22 hours - all getting v. tired now but Party tonight.
Stopped by czech rozzers for driving through a no entry - ooops - wanted 500 usd, got nothing :-)
After a long & hot drive down we arrived in London around 6pm and headed off to the pre-rally shindig. The number of cars at Hyde Park the next day was awesome. We eventually tracked down our passports, but found we were still missing the all-elusive Turkmenistan visa. Assured that permission would be granted in the next couple of days,…
Said bye bye to Brett, skipped breakfast and hit the road, we are now hungry in Hungary.