Finish Line

Got in UB yesterday afternoon after doing last 1000km by ourselves, hit the sump outside Hovd and got a small crack in it so we lost all our oil, 10 hours later we got a tow to the nearest city to do a quick fix but lost a day and a lot of money. While we were there we saw the mongol rally graveyard for that town as there are drop off points along the southern route and Hovd is one of them. We have since heard that 50 cars have dropped out since getting across the Mongol Rally border and most of these cars end up in graveyards where they are fixed and then auctioned off.

Took us only 8 hours to get through the Mongolian border and we didn't see a road for 700km after that. It's mainly dirt tracks with river crossings meaning we had 3 days of not going above 30mph and constantly avoiding sand and rocks. We went through 5 tyres in Mongolia and just as many punctures which we patched together with Jacks repair kit.

We lost the convoy after we had to get a tow back to Hovd but now together again in Ulaanbaatar, they had their fair share of problems but the 6 of us made it to the finish line. Plenty of cars now at the finish line and we got in 180th,  we have heard 100 have dropped out already which makes it a good achievement.  Really glad we made it and been an epic adventure, looking forward to spending time in Ulaanbaatar.

 

 

 

Last Leg

Just about to finish Kazakhstan, driving to the Russian border tomorrow. We caught up with the convoy outside Almaty and it's been great banter with 8 other teams, including Let's Get Baatared who we lost for two days coming out of Tashkent. We've been with them since Goodwood and it'll be good to finish the rally together. So many teams on this route and similar time scale so we are picking up more as we go and hope to see a lot of people at Russian/Mongolian border.

The roads in Kazakhstan have got continually worse as we've moved north and the last 300 kms getting into Semey was the worst we've seen all trip but good practice for the roads ahead. Let's Get Baatared broke a rear spring on one of the craters in the road and there's been a lot of pothole dodging.

The final stretch is coming up and the teams we are with are heading for the arrival party on the 28th so we will have to be quick getting through Mongolia. 

 Milage so far is 7,500 miles so looking to get around 9,000 by the end of the trip.

 

 

Welcommen

Find out about the latest about the adventure here, not much to document yet thought!