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Three young men, with about 2 1/2 years of driving experience, having barely driven 9000 miles between them are attempting to journey accross 1/3 the surface of the Earth. From Goodwood, England, to Ulaanbataar, Mongolia, the route will pass through 5 mountain ranges, 3 deserts and a lifetimes worth of political controversy as we attempt to raise money for the many thousands living in poverty in a country that is 4 times larger than the whole of the UK.  

For us this will be the trip of a lifetime, covering thousands of miles in countries whose cultures are significantly different from each other. However, it is important not to loose sight of the real objective of this trip. We have chosen to raise money for the charity Mercy Corps Mongolia, who exists to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive and just communities. Please take a gander round our website as we 'prepare' for the big send off on 24th July, and where regular updates to our blog and photos will take place throughout our trip.

Mongolia

the last week or so we have spent travelling through Mongolia has felt almost like a whole another trip, and almost as long as the previous 4 weeks, but straight away from arriving in the country you see why the rally has been set up to head to Ulaanbaatar (UB). Mongolia has a population of 2.5 million people, 1 million of which live in UB. there are also c. 2 million horses (wild and domestic) and in some parts of the country, the population density is 1.5 people/KM. the terrain is almost completely desolate, whether it is snow-covered mountain ranges or vast open plains where nothing grows. we were expecting bad roads, and according to the lonely planet, if venturing outside UB a ruigged 4x4 is essential. But at times it really was following a bearing and using the lay of the land around you. it has been an amazing experience, mainly due to not knowing what you will come accross each day and really not knowing whether the car was going to survive. somehow, for all the problems sheila has had before mongolia, the only slight worry once here was a slight leak from the sump which was easily manageable (a change of driver!) and breaks playing up due to air in the system, but on these roads breaks arent much of an issue. the higher springs on the rear suspension gave a good 2 inches of height that meant river crossings and deep tracks were not at all a worry for her!

we entered Mongolia on the western border from Russia at a place called Tsaanganuur. due to a backlog of teams at the border (it was shut on the weekend), we endered up spending 2 and a half days getting accross- one night on the russian border and one in no-mans land. therefore around Tuesday lunchtime we left the compound and started the 1800km trip to UB. we travelled to the first large town after the border, Olgiy. we stocked up on provisions and benzin and waited for a new addition to our convoy, 4 lads in a Jimny who fancied there car now finally in mongolia! this meant there was now 6 cars in the convoy. we travelled out of town and camped up hidden from the main 'road' as we heard teams had had there cars broken into whilst they were sleeping. the suzuki wagon (the rambling truth) had broken both their rear springs and struggled on the off roading, but we replaced them with some that they bought (the wagon and the agila are pretty much the same car, so Adam and me both had the skills to fix their suspension from our own experiences!)

Wednesday we covered 400km, heading for Khovd where the mongol rally western mongolian camp had been set up that offered a night in a ger (mongolian teepee like temorary houses) and supper and breakfast for $10. we had beef stir fry for supper and then had some cultural music on traditional instruments that was probably the first cultural experience we had had since Iran!

Thursday was another long day driving and the Jimny boys had flights booked for Sunday evening and were keen to have a night in UB before they left. we all said that we didnt want to rush mongolia and do as much as possible, but considering outside UB there is such a sparse population, apart from seeing the country by car there was not alot of other activities on offer. As you can imagine the towns along the way were more way points for benzin than places of interest, and we spent every night camping which was always the plan and even Adam said he was starting to enjoy it by the end! it was another 400 odd km to Altay and the early start was definately needed. after adam showed all the ease of spinning the car (as it has been so dry it was like driving on sand) the convoy was quickly halted by one rock on a track that was hit by 4 out 6 cars (the jimny and sheila's height proving massively useful again!). the suzuki ended up with a 2 inch whole in the engine finshing their rally, 'road to nowhere' in an hyaundai accent put a whole in their sump that meant they had to get a weld on and ended up two days behind us. amazingly, both the other accent (not mobile- colours on the 60's porsche gulf) and let's get baatared's fiesta hit the rock, but incured no major damage apart from a new shaped sump on the porsche and a lower capacity fuel tank on the fiesta (but no leak) and hand break line cut.

we left the accent and suzuki waiting for a recovery truck as the 4 of us headed on towards altay. we had been on the side of the road for about 3 hours and so had to push on and there was nothing we could do for the cars anyway.we made it to altay about 10 pm and camped up for the night just outside town.

The jimny's back left had dropped on thursday and upon further inspection we found half a spring lodged horizontaly between the brackets, meaning that they needed a new spring. we spent friday morning with them getting that sorted, which is when we also found 2 cracks in the chassis on the rear of the car...so much for a quality off-road car! the cracks were not in pivotal places though and even they had gone through it would have just been the back bumper to fall off. sheila also had her first (out of 3) punctures so it was nice to finally use one of the new wheels we had bought and carried for 4 and a half weeks. we then set up for the third stint of about 400km (each of the three days we averaged about 50km/hour (30 mph) showing how slow progress was. but we had been told that after Bayanhongor where we were headed there was 200km of decent dirt road and then 400km of beautiful tarmac into UB, so we could see we were getting close. but just as you think you are going to make it, of course something goes wrong. the jimny, sheila and the porsche made it to Bayanhongor at around 8pm friday night, having lost the fiesta on one of the plains. the problem with the mongolian roads is that there are many tracks to choose from, and of course being guys it was great fun taking diffent tracks to get ahead. but on this occasion, the fiesta disappeard behind a small dune and did not reappear again! after waiting half an hour, we moved on thinking they had taken a more northern route and it would joing up later. the plains are absolutely massive and very often tracks cover large parts of it but all end up converging onto the main road into the next town. almost 24 hours later at about 2pm saturday the fiesta finally turned up having lost its roofrack, starter motor, hand brake, rear breaks and a wheel. fortunately they had met up with a convoy behind us and camped with them over night which is what we assumed, but with no phone signal it was a slightly nervous few hours saturday morning.

the aim was to make UB for saturday night and we had 600km left, 400 on good tarmac. however we all agreed we would rather get into UB at a good hour, so we covered the last 200km of dirt track saturday and camped in Arveyheer. the jimny had left early saturday morning so the convoy was down to 3 cars, the porsche, the fiesta and sheila. the fiesta had had more problems on the way to arveyheer, and was now using a screwdriver and jubilee clip to hold the rear axil onto the chassis. Bodge job of the trip!! apparently people had been talking about it at the finish line party even before we hit UB.

we woke up early Sunday morning keen to cover the last 400km  to UB. it gave us all a chance to drive each others cars, with the fiesta a terrifiying experience with the back slipping all over the place (and cut out if revs fell under 3000), but the porsche was a thing of beauty. going from and agila 1lt to a 1.3 lt accent seemed phenominal and so fast, which we never thought we would say about a 1.3!

we pulled into UB at around midday and after a fair bit of navigation errors found the finish line. unfortunately the finish line was a great anti-climax (a running theme with the company) but it was great to actually have covered the 8500 miles, especially when at times we did not think the car would make it.

we set up a bit of a street stall and sold alot of items from the car that would otherwise be taken by the police after we handed the car over. pretty much a car boot sale, the locals loved all that we had to offer. the jack (along with the springs easily the best buy of the trip) was a star buy along with the tent, jerry cans and battery. overall we made 106,000 monopoly money ($100), but we were quickly shut down by the police otherwise more could have been made!

the cars are now auctioned off, with all the proceeds going to the charities. it is quite easy to see some of the previous years cars driving around UB, looking in pretty good nick! we were told that sheila should fetch about $3000 which is great news and apparently the porsche has already been sold. we parked outside our hotel on sunday and came back to find a note on the porsche and sheila about whether they were for sale or not, unfortunately the fiesta was not wanted!!

we are now spending the last few days in UB relaxing and booking flights and travel plans. Nick from the porsche is now training it to Beijing and from there cycling round the rest of the world for 14 months which is pretty amazing. he had one ride while out in mongolia and got a puncture so hopefully his luck will be better!

 hope that you have all enjoyed our sporadic blog  and we do apologise for that! all the stories im sure will come out when we are home along with the thousands of photos we have all taken between us. of course thank you so much again to all that donated. our target is 1000 pounds so if you have not donated already and you can spare any money please donate. see the mercy corps section of the website to see where it is going.

Adam will be back in the UK early Saturday morning at Heathrow terminal 4 so all those who have thoroughly missed him im sure he'll be glad to see you! I am yet to sort out my next plans but should be back in about 1 week/10 days.

Thanks again everyone, and see you all soon.

Adam, Tommy (& Paddy!!)

Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Russia

Firstly, sorry this update has been a while and sorry it is only going to be brief. we are currently in Barnuel, Russia heading for the Mongolian border where we have been told to expect a delay of 12-78 hours and snow and freezing temperatures!
 
we left Bukhara and travelled straight to Tashkent where we ended up staying 4 days due to visa problems for Paddy. the city is very nice and we were with a good group of us so it wasnt a bad stay at all, but by the time we got going again we were happy to be moving on. Unfotunately Paddy was not able to sort his administrative problems and we had to say our farewells and move on, as our Russian visas were due to run out fairly soon and adam and me did not want to risk causing problems with Russia.
 
therefore, Adam and me crossded into Kazakhstan on Monday hoping to catch up with our convoy that had left the day before. we were able to meet up with them the first night where they were camping. the great thing about Kazakhstan and Russia is that it is all common land unless sign posted, meaning that camping on any bit of ground is legal. Tuesday we drove to Almaty, the financial centre of Kazakhstan in the far SE of the country. the whole convoy was very keen to crack through Kazakhstan as there is not much to see and members have flights quite soon after getting into mongo0lia and there was already rumours of long waits to get into Mongolia. so both Wednesday and Thrusday were spend as long days in the car on fairly bad roads trying to cover the 1000km from almaty to Semey, the border town to Russia.
 
Sheila, as you have seen from previous blogs, is not keen on these non UK roads and of course there was another problem to be fixed. this time both rear suspension springs snapped! fortunately there was now no-one sitting in the back seat so the ride was not too uncomfortable, but the exhaust was hittin gthe road a few times on route! a quick stop in Ayakoz (middle of nowehre) and 2 hours and a random guys house and Sheila was fitted with cut down truck springs so hopefully these will last, but comparing them to the old springs they are pretty beefy! we are really hoping that will now be the last of the problems and Mongolia will throw up no further surprises!
 
the road from Ayakoz to Semey was one of teh worst of the trip as we had been warned and took even longer as another car in convoy (Let's get baataared) rear suspension snapped meaning things were very slow. the problem was fixed with some piping just outside Semey though so at the moment all cars are looking good!
 
we crossed over the border into Russia last night (easiest border so far very surprisingly) and camped up. its great to be back on good roads for the next 400 od km before mongolia so a bit of a respite. as you can imagine we are now bumping into teams everywhere heading for the border and it seems we will do from now on.  we are going to camp in Russia tongiht on the way to the border and try and reach it tomorrow lunchtime.
 
sorry it is such a short update, and i hope to do another before UB, but in case i dont get to i'll do a proper round off once (/if!) we make it to UB. we hope to be over the border monday/Tuesday and then in UB by probably next sunday. you can bomb it and reach UB in 3 apparently, but of course we want to spend as much time as possible seeing the country.
 
Speak soon
 
tommy x

Eastern Iran and Turkmenistan

firstly apologies for leaving it a week before updating this, since we left Tehran we haven't really been in a situation to sit down and write an update. Also sorry for not being able to get any photos up (I think Adam tried again on his last blog), the website just doesnt want to upload them. You'll be glad to hear though that we found out what we had fixed in Ankarra- the head gasket! ominous signs indeed...

we left Tehran last Saturday planning on reaching the Turkmenistan border for Sunday afternoon. It was a shame we were in Tehran on a Friday- the Muslim Holy day- as almost everything was shut. Tehran is not a pituresque city by any means and reportedly has the worsed air quality in the world as most people are still using leaded petrol. But it was great to be able to have half a day to relax and speak to the other teams we had met up with from the border.

from Tehran we travelled north over the mountains to the Caspian Sea coast. on the way we were pulled over by an Iranian man (we have got pretty used to being waved and beeped at whilst driving but this is the first time we had been pulled over) who asked us to go for a drink with him. we ended up in his office (he turned out to be a property developer) drinking orange squash, trying to understand what he was asking us (hardly spoke any english). He finally called a friend who spoke English and put him on to me and tells me our friend wants to develop property in London and where we able to help?! the man on the phone then asked what we all did for a living and I told him we were all students (I didn't feel Molyneux Rose needed any Iranian property developers!) and his reply was that he was an Iranian Air Force officer and wanted to come and have lunch with us and show us around his friends buildings...all very odd but nice enough, of course like the rest of our time in Iran we never felt at all threatened by anyone.

we headed up to the beach and took a swim, of course staying in the male only part of the beach with tarpulin lining each side and into the sea about 50m. where the tarp stopped in the sea was a rope which wasnt to be crossed (so you couldnt look into the female section of the beach) and a boat with police on it making sure! not quite Tynemouth beach then...

we spent saturday night in Garjan in Northwest Iran before heading off early to the border which was about 300km away. on the way we passed a convoy of 4 cars on the rally pulled over (speeding) and stopped to say hi. turned out we had met a few of them in the iranian embassy before the rally and ended up joining them to head for the border. down the East of Iran is a very natural border of mountains that we had to drive through. of all the mountains we have seen so far on the trip this range was by far and away the most awe inspiring, moving from lush green hills to biblical sand covered mountains. the Iranian border post sat right on the top of a mountain and the views were just amazing. sure you will see the photos once we get home! fortunately in Iran the roads are all in excellent condition so navigating through the hills was not a problem, nothing like what we have had the last 4 days or so!

although we thought we had left plenty of time to get to the border with the half 5 wake up we still managed to get stuck in no-mans land as Turkmenistan shut on us after we stamped out of Iran! fortunately they let us back into Iran and about 10 teams ended us camping in the customs area of the Iranian border...no problem! we made it through the border monday morning and head for Ashgabat, which is the capital of turkmenistan.

the lonely planet described ashgabat as a cross between Las Vegas and Pyongygang and it couldnt have been more right. it also said that to be in ashgabat in July and august was either insane or very unlucky dues to the heat that can get above 50 degrees! so far for the trip our record has been 44.

turkmenistan is a nuts country. they have a national curfew of 11pm, the largest bank note is worth less that 50 cents US, we were told we could be find for driving into Ashgabat in a dirty car, they have a gas crater in the desert that has been burning for 15 years and their Kim jong-il-esque leader Turkmenbashi (who died in 2005) was everywhere. he is said to have had 2.2 bn dollars in off shore accounts just in case the country turned on him and changed the days of the week to members of his family. Ashgabat seems to have been made from just marble and gold to honour this man. hundreds of palaces lining perfectly flat roads and gold plated statues everywhere of Turkmenbashi. a very surreal experience and seems like Las Vegas because every building seems to be 10 x bigger than it needs to be and outrageously exstravegent. most of them seemed empty aswell!what was also interesting was the complete mix of people. after spending 5 days in Iran with a tiny mix in people's looks, Turkmenistan (as with uzbekistan) had a huge range of people from Russian (looking), to chinese to indian to mongolian...a real mixing pot. 

we spent a night in ashgabat with the convoying enjoying a few beers (5 days in Iran took its toll!) and Tuesday headed for Mary which was a city half way to the border. as we expected 5km outside Ashgabat the roads became much less enjoyable. the road we took was the main road through the country from Uzbekistan/Tajikistan to Iran but the condition it was in was hilarious. at one point we were on a dirt track with container lorries booming down back at us. from Ashgabat to Mary was about 320km and overall with stops and some DIY car repair it took us 9 hours. althought we will probably hit some bad roads later on in the trip, i cant see any roads being as bad as this one!

we stayed in a lorry park and headed for the Uzbek border on Tuesday through the desert which was absolutely vast. fortunately the roads were much better than monday so we were able to get a good pace on. we were down to 4 cars now which included 4 newcastle graduates and sheffield mechanical engineers so we were feeling confident we could handle any car trouble! as we got the border one of the teams with us, a guy and a girl, told us that there visas for Uzbekistan didnt start until the 15th august (it was the 11th), but were confident they could blag it over....not even the Turkmenistan officials who said they havent seen the Uzbeks let anyone through without an in date visa for 2 years swayed their enthusiasm! the last we saw of them was them being taken out the passport control and bumping into a team behind us later last night we hear they are now stuck in no-mans land until the 15th! as you can imagine the turkem/uzbek border is not the costa del sol...

we arrived in Bukhara last night and have spent the day here. already we have seen much more culture than the 3 days in turkmenistan which has just been ravaged by Turkmenbashi. you can tell there are many, many more tourists and lots of tour guides around. Sheila has developed a bit of an oil leak coming out the pressure sensor (i will be a mechanic by the time i get home!) so we have taken it out and have found a similiar size bolt that is (for now) doing a job and we will just have to keep an eye on it. we went  to a garage today and last night once we got over the border and both times there was at least 12 locals and about 5 of us all trying to fix it...in the end the guys in the convoy did the work and we payed the locals for use of thier garage!

sorry its a long one and hopefully we should be on here a bit more regularly now. we are all quite shocked by the news of a death of a rallyest...every team we bump into (we reckon we will see more and more teams now we are on the route of those crossing the caspian by boat)has heard and seems to know something different,but it seems to have hit everyone that these things can happen.

thanks so much again to people who have donated-Jess, Becky and Sam- and please donate if you are able. we head to Samarkand tomorrow and Tashkent on Saturday before hopping over the border for the long slog up Eastern Kazakhstan to the nothern border.

love to all

Tommy

Iran

Upon heading for the Iranian border, we stopped at Erzurum for the obligatory trouser change, que mass sweating! At customs, we were 'lucky' enough to be accosted by a friendly Turkish tout, whom insisted on accompanying us through the crossing, to make our lives easier, and his pockets heavier. However, his face told a rather different story when we managed to convince him of the correct exchange rate turning our Turkish Lira into Iranian Rials. We also ran into four other teams, our first since Istanbul, who we ended up sharing a hotel with after searching fruitlessly around Maku for a place to stay, must have been something about the signs in farsi...?

After a much needed night's sleep, we decided to take the scenic route to Tabiz. The scenary that followed was stunning. At first, we witnessed a somewhat typical arabic countryside, with rich vegetation by the river and vast desert beyond. However, upon climbing into the mountains, we meandered with the river through a ravine, and the prospect of a cheeky dip in the water was almost too tempting! Our eventual arrival in Tabriz brought about the usual excitement of navigating through a busy city, minus proper lanes, indicators and street signs, but we eventually managed to find a hotel and parking right on the main strip. Drawn in by the waft of caramalised onions on the street, we enjoyed a trypical iranian supper of beef (with all the trimmings) served on flatbread, at $7 dollars for the three of us, no one could compain!

The journey to Tehran the next day was again hot, long and sweaty - the seats on our car will never be the same (look at the stains on tommy's shirt for proof!) - but we eventually arrived into Tehran around 8pm after some ground breaking nav from Adam (yes, that's right!) and some cool-as-a-cucumber driving from Tommy! As luck should have it, the hotel we pulled up at had another rally car at it as we were greeted by some familiar faces from the border crossing... good old lonely planet!

Today has been spent wondering lazily around the streets of the city. Unfortunately, being Firday, many of the shops are shut, so we decided to engage in the trypical practice of smoothies in the morning, follwed by chai and shisha in a VERY local 'pub' (minus the drunkards of course). We are off early to the Caspian Sea tomorrow, hopefully reaching the Turkmenistan border on Sunday... we will try and upload some photos, but the website contiues to be stroppy.        

In a bit boys and girls,

 Adam x

Ankarra

Sınce leavıng ıstanbul, we have had to cross our fırst bıg hurdle sınce leavıng home and that we were hopıng wouıld not happen for at least another week or so...the car breakıng down! ıt ıs a great story and for us what seemed to be a nıghtmare at the start turned out to be what wıll probaly be one of the lastıng memorıes of the trıp.

we left ıstanbul about noon to travel the 300 odd km to Ankarra ın the heart of the country. as we travelled further the heat was stıflıng- we hıt 40 degrees a couple tımes the last few days. we stopped for lunch and checked the water for the car and fılled ıt up to the mark. as we contınued to drıve through the afternoon, Sheıla (we fınally agreed on a name for the car) was really strugglıng up the hılls ın the heat and we were all gettıng a bıt nervous, although all the lorrıes wıth us were also strugglıng so we carrıed on.

 About half an hour later, takıng on yet another hıll, the engıne started to tıck pretty loudly and adam (who heard the same sound apparently when he ruıned hıs beloved corrolla) got us to pull over. queue the smoke from the bonnet etc and all looked pretty omınous.

 of course the warnıng trıangle was straıght out along wıth the hıgh-vıs vest whıle we worked out what to do. after about 10 mınutes a car pulled up after a pretty half-hearted attempt to wave them down. a man stepped out and started lookıng at the engıne and the coolant and ın our best turkısh we descrıbed what had happened. after pourıng a load of water ınto the water coolant he jumped ın the car (we were on a dual carrıagway wıth a central reservatıon at the top of a hıll) and along wıth the rest of hıs famıly and us turned the car back down the hıll onto oncomıng traffıc (but on the hard shoulder) to try and jumpstart the car! as our frıend ın ıstanbul saıd when he took us down a bus lane whılst dırectıng us to the hostel 'thıs ıs Turkey, there are no rules!'

of course thıs dıd not do anythıng and all the water that had gone ın was now spread along the hard shoulder. he fınally gave up about 400m down the hıll and then called us a recovery vehıcle to pıck us up. agaın another example of how selfless Turks seem to be.

we were pıcked up about an hour later (the drıver dıdnt even batter an eyelıd that the car was facıng the wrong way) and took us the 70km ınto ankarra to a garage on the outskırts. ıt was dark by thıs tıme and we dıdnt really know what to do, but we got to the garage and the owner (Rıza) was there wıth a mechanıc. as soon as we got there we were told to sıt at a table wıth them all and we were gıven çhe and fruıt etc. the mechanıc ınspected the car and knew straıght away what the problem was (we have a pıcture of the offendıng artıcle that we wıll get up ın the gallery- any help as to what ıt ıs would be apprecıated!)-he showed us the same part of another car.

we settled wıth the recovery drıver and dıd our best to fınd out how much the repaır would cost. after more çhe and tryıng to converse ın turkısh (everyone we dealt wıth over the last few days spoke no englısh) they bought out the leftovers from there supper, and so we were gıven a sort of veg goulash and bread and pastrıes sıttıng outsıde the garage. funnerly enough ıt was one of the nıcest meals we have had! 

Rıza then sıgned to us that we could sleep ın a sofa area they had ın the garage and that he would sleep outsıde to make sure we were ok. we were all really taken aback by the genorosıty of everyone there and they would not let us lıft a fınger- we trıed to clear dınner but they told us to sıt down at bought us more çhe! 2 hours before we were sat on the sıde of a dual carrıagway wonderıng ıf the car was goıng to be fıxable and there we were wıth food and a place to sleep for the nıght at no cost.

the next mornıng Rıza (who was fast turnıng ınto what seemd our grandad) got us all up for breakfast -cue more food and çhe. by thıs poınt we were startıng to thınk we mıght be gettıng quıte a good deal from a quote of 300 euros for the fıx as our engıne was sıttıng on the sıde and what seemed most of what goes under the bonnet also on the sıde! they sıad ıt would take two days to fıx the car, and from the tıme the car arrıved at the garage to the tıme we left on Sunday to fınd a hotel there seemed to be at least one person workıng on ıt.

we were drıven ınto town to a hotel to stay ın sunday nıght as they saıd the car would not be ready untıl monday evenıng. so we wasted our tıme ın Ankarra (really ıs nothıng to see there apart from the cıtadel that we walked around) and got to bed pretty early as none of us slept especıaly well ın the garage as the were workıng on cars untıl lıterally 5 am!

we were expectıng another full day ın Ankarra to waste, but as we walked out of the hotel after breakfast, one of the famılly frıends was standıng ın the foyer wıth the key to Sheıla and wıth her parked round the corner! I dont thınk any of us have been much happıer so far thıs trıp seeıng the car all repaıred! we quıckly go to the bank and pıcked up some pastrıes for the guys at the garage and drove back. When we arrıved we were really greeted lıke old frıends. all the guys there seemed really happy to see us arrıve ın the car and as we shook hands we touched heads each sıde (ımagıne kıssıng on the cheek but touchıng temples ınstead).

the roof rack had been taken off the car so we put everythıng back on(we actually left most of our stuff ın the car and gave the guys the key- at no poınt were we worrıed about anythıng gettıng taken whıle we were away) and Rıza got out some stıckers and put them on the car (our second sponsor!!) we also gave them mongal rally stıckers that they proudly put on theır own cars!

all ın all the repaır cost 250 euros whıch as ı mentıoned seems (between the three of us) a fantastıc deal. we saıd our goodbyes and headed east for Iran.

as we had lost a nıght ın ankarra we decıded to really plow on towards Iran. There ıs one we that goes from Ankarra to the border through some spectacular scenery- the drıve thıs mornıng from Erzıcun to Erızum (probably wrong spellıng, see spot websıte) was defınately the best drıve yet.

we have about 400km to the Iranıan border that we plan on gettıng to today. Adam ıs startıng to get a bıt grumpy as all he has worn for the last week ıs short rugby shorts, but ı thıunk trousers wıll be a shock to us all!

they say that eastern turkey has a very mıddle eastern feel and you can really see that here, goıng from ıstanbul whıch was very ınternatıonal to where we are now where 95% of women are fully covered (not burqas but faces showıng) and the scenery ıs large arıd hılls and mountaıns and lush green valleys wıth rıvers and settlements.

we are also becomıng more of a commodıty as of all the cars we pass on the roads, 90% of people are starıng at us!

thanks to everyone for theır comments and thank you also to those who have donated, Soph C, Luke, Mum Phıl (fındıng some great locatıons!) ıt really means alot so thank you.

hopefully the next update wıll be from Tıbrız or Tehran, lets hope the border crossıng goes smoothly!

Gateway to the East

Hı everyone hope all ıs well at home. We are currently ın ıstanbul and ı have just spent half an hour tryıng to get on here and my emaıls because on a turkısh keyboard an 'ı' ıs ın the place of an 'i' and so none of my logıns were workıng. But here we are! Also apologıes ın advance for lack of punctuatıon thıs keyboard ıs mıssıng commas.

 we left Belgrade and headed for Sofıa takıng a great road through the countrysıde and hılls. bulgarıan border was very easy to get through wıth no-one even askıng to see ınsurance or regıstratıon detaıls of the car. Sofıa ıs a pretty run down cıty wıth not alot to see but for a stop over ıt was fıne. found a great hostel (voted 4th best ın the world apparently!) and alot of people were ınterested to hear about our trıp.

 Early Thursday started the long journey to Istanbul whıch ıs about 700Km from SOfıa. the trıp through bulgarıa was stunnıng- vast plaıns wıth mountaıns ın the background. we got of the motorway and took a mınor road to the border (a navıgatıon error!) that went through small Bulgarıan towns whıch as you can ımagıne were very poor and run down. many people usıng donkey drawn carts whıch slowed progress a lıttle!

we reached the Turkısh border and got through fıne. we bumped ınto another team there from the US whıch was cool as we hadn't seen another team sınce Tuesday (ıt seemed alot longer!) they were tellıng us they had some frıends headıng for IRan and due to beıng from the States were made to hıre a guıde for there whole tıme ın Iran to rıde ın theır car wıth them costıng about 500 pounds! so we are feelıng pretty lucky we dıdnt need that.

We were on a bıt of a hıgh after navıgatıng Sofıa and fındıng a hostel and thought Istanbul would be as easy. apart from havıng 12 tımes the populatıon of Sofıa Istanbul ıs an absolutly massıve cıty that stretches for mıles. so quıte soon ınto gettıng ınto the outskırts we were startıng to get pretty lost! what we also dıdnt account for was the Turkısh way of drıvıng. to drıve ın ıstanbul ıs rıdıculous. ıt really ıs anythıng goes and the shear volume of cars on roads that are pretty dodgy made for an ınterestıng experıence! but after half an hour and alot of swearıng adam was tearıng round the streets horn blarıng and cuttıng people up lıke a true local. 

we pulled over to ask for dırectıons (that Tommy wasnt too happy wıth) and asked a group of local men. one of them ended up gerttıng ın our car and dırectıng ıs about three quaters of the way to where the hostel was before we dropped hım at a metro. he wouldnt accept any money for the trouble and was very happy to help. and that has summed up the local people here. for some reason my perceptıons of turks was completely dıfferent to how they are. everyone ıs so nıce and frıendly and always happy to help.

we spend frıday relaxıng ın the cıty as we hadnt stopped sınce we left goodwood. we went to a real local turkısh baths that great and although there was alot of crackıng and groanıng we all came out pretty relaxed! ıt was a very surreal experıence lyıng ın the baths lıstenıng to the call to prayer from the mosque next door.  we also went to a barbers and got haırcuts and a shave (the beard was never goıng to materıalıse even ıf ı left ıt untıl mongolıa!) and got used the way of lıfe here whcıh ıs very slow and relaxed. completely opposıte of theır drıvıng!

we are headıng to ankarra today and wıll probably try and get a good few mıles under our belt over the next couple days. we aım to be ın Iran by Wednesday and from seeıng Istanbul we are all so excıted about gettıng there. ıstanbul ıs a very ınternaıonal cıty but the tuskısh culture cannot be mıssed so as we head east that wıll only get stronger. alot of çhe (tea) and shısha wıll be consumed over the comıng weeks!

love to all

Tommy

The Beginning...

The Beginning of the Journey....

Sorry we have only just got on to write this, the plan was always to try and get through Europe as quick as possible to spend more time in the East.

So it all began at Goodwood last Saturday with a fantastic send off and a trip round the circuit before heading onto Dover. Fortunately there were hundreds of teams taking part so that calmed the nerves of a few worried parents! We made it to Dover (passing teams that were struggling on the hard shoulder!) and took the ferry accross to Calais. From there we took the hour or so to Lille where we had organised to meet up with Ashy and his team and it was up to them to find us a place to stay. Needless to say this of course did not happen, and after a few introductary larger shandies meeting his team mates we ended up in the car park of the tourist office for the night...

Early Sunday we conveyed out of Lille, through Liege in Belgium towards Frankfurt. A pretty chilled out day although some pretty suspect driving by members of both teams...Paddy forgetting they drive on the right in France as we tried to find our way out of Lille...lucky for it being a Sunday morning no major incidents occured! We reached Frankfurt and found a cheap hotel to all stay in and a secure car park for the cars.

Monday was the day of the Czechout party in Czech Republic, and for some reason believed it to be near prague. Only after glancing at the infomation we were give did we realise it was actually a long way away from Prague! with no signs for it and a pretty suspect map marking it we drove deep into the Czech backcountry. The scenery as you can imagine, and as it will continue to be, was outstanding. We got to the campsite at about 7 and was great to see most of the teams together again and hear the stories that people have had already!Apparently one team got shunted into outside Brighton and had their car written off...such bad luck.

The party was set in an old castle, with food on for us and everthing, was a great night with a few antics to speak of! 

Tuesday morning was fairly relaxed as no-one was getting up early...Paddy was asleep until about 1130 when we started taking down the tent with him still inside. There were alot of teams heading to Prague and we had to resist the temptation and crack on South. We left Ashy and his team mates heading to Prague and looked to try and reach Vienna for Tuesday night. it has to be said that Paddy slept solidly from the Czechout party to Vienna, about a 5 hour trip! As we started the drive we realised how far it was to Istanbul and how we really wanted to spend a few days there. So Tuesday night we stopped in Vienna for supper and a walk around the centre where we found some impressive old buildings before heading on.

By the time we stopped driving we were about 100km south of Budapest heading for Belgrade. we kipped in the car at a rest stop/service station with Adam taking his usual spot on the tarmac (as he had done in Lille) while Paddy and me stayed in the car. At about 5 Adam was waking us up complaining about being too cold (1 season sleeping bag-error) and the midges and just generally how he wanted to get going. So we carried on, needless to say with Paddy again asleep the whole way in, crossed the border into Serbia and reached Belgrade about 0830 this morning. 

We are know heading down to Sofia (Bulgaria) before driving to Istanbul tomorrow night to be there Thursday and Friday night. I realise this blog is fairly straight forward with little trouble so far, I am sure we will find the going much slower over the next couple weeks so we are thankful everything is holding up! The car (yet to be named) is doing very well, not the quickest in acceleration but can hold her speed well on the motorways! We don't reckon we will be seeing to many more teams know- we havent planned to meet any yet- but from speaking to people at the party and finding mutual friends the world really is a very small place!

A massive thank you to Sophie De Haast, Sophie Cartwright and Luke Ashford-Hodges for your donations, really appreciated. Any more would also be greatly received. Also a huge thank you to Penny Rogerson for her donation of a tank of petrol (at England Prices) that will stretch a long way come Turkey/Iran!

Keep track of us on the website: http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0soQMTkq2dY3tzoEd5Du9hxii6MT2KAQO 

Hope everyone is well, and will look to update the blog a bit more regularly from now on before we hit the stan's.