Back in the USSR

The rest of our time in UB was pretty blurry, there were too many reasons to celebrate. Birthdays, arrivals and another finish line party meant a lot of Chingis Khan vodka at night and a few too many headaches in the day time.

Unfortunately Tom had to get a flight home as he ran out of cash but not before fixing the car one last time.

We collected our Russian visas and packed up the car to go through into Russia the next day, we were once again accompanied by Adam and Tom of Jizzy Disco though they were having car trouble as soon as we got out of the city.

The border crossing took most of the day and it was getting dark when we finally rolled into Russia.

We planned to drive through the night but  unfortunately Jizzy Disco's car was not up to the the task, continually stalling and eventually refusing to start all together so we camped up for the night.

We managed to get it rolling the next day and pulled into the first mechanics we saw, hoping it would be a quick fix we waited for most of they day with them but as it became clear it would not be done till the next day we were forced to say goodbye with the plan they would catch us up.

We passed Ulan-Ude that night but could hear we had encountered another bearing issue, we had lost the grease cap earlier that day and it was getting drier and drier.

At about 11pm it finally gave in, luckily we managed to pull in before the wheel came off and better still we were just 400m from a mechanic. We went to find the workshop early the next morning and were greeted by Sasha the owner of Pit Stop Auto Service. He came and collected us in his pick up truck and him and his team got down to work straight away.

Sasha and his family were some of the nicest people we've met on this trip if you're ever in Illyinka with car trouble he's the man to go to.

We were quickly introduced to Sergi, head of the main hospital in Ulan Ude (at 27 he is the youngest man in all of Russia to hold such a position) . He spoke excellent english and helped us translate with Sasha.

The part came in towards the end of the day just in time for Jizzy Disco to catch us up, we set off again ready to get Russia out the way.

Unfortunately lady luck had other plans for us, just 5km down the road the same wheel came off and we watched it roll off the road until out of site, meanwhile our back left brake kicked sparks leaving a gouge in the road. A nut had been left off to hold the bearings in place, pretty crucial if you like your cars with 4 wheels.

It was impractical for Adam and Tom to wait around for us so we sent them on and pitched up camp in the field next to our car.

A few hours later just as we were dropping off to sleep we heard one of the more unwelcome sounds you can hear in Russia, a police Siren.

After our experience with police in western Russia we feared the worst.

Fortunately they turned out to be the two nicest policemen we have ever met. One spoke very good english, his name was Igor. He told us that it was a dangerous area and we should not leave our car here, we mentioned Sahsa's name then Sergi. It turns out Sergi is the man to know around Ulan Ude and one phone call to him mean Sasha was contacted and was on his way.

Igor invited us into his car out of the cold and we asked about his career. He had been a policeman three years, we asked if he enjoyed his work. He replied "not yet". It was clear he found the crime around there depressing, he explained it was just neglected kids with alcoholic parent. He didn't like having to carry a gun: "I want to protect life."

He then asked us where our wheel was, we explained we had no idea but that we thought possibly in the field opposite. Without another word he fired up his Lada and drove down a bank (scraping the bottom all the way) and into the field .

We spent about 10 minutes driving around the field trying to spot the tyre before we got lucky, after it was stashed in the boot we got back in the car and back on to the road. A surreal experience as any we have had on this trip.

Sasha soon turned up full of apologies and as we climbed into the truck he suggested a night of Vodka. How could we refuse such a kind offer? After dropping us off he went down to the shop and returned with food and vodka. We drank all night with him and his father Nikolai (it turns out we speak pretty good Russian when we're a few bottles deep in good company).

The next day we waited again for the parts to come in and the day passed pleasantly. Life goes on at an easy pace in Ilyinka, despite the bitter cold and hard work.

By the evening we again said our goodbyes. This time we made it a whole 60km before the wheel came off on the otherside. We had a phone number for Sasha and called him trying to explain where we were and pleading for him to come find us. After waiting an hour we decided he must be waiting till morning, we settled in for a cold nights sleep in the Polo.

We were awoken by a knock on the window, Tom a fellow rallier driving home was on the otherside. He kindly offered to drive one of us back to the mechanics to see what was happening. Gaz hopped in while Neel and Dan tried to get a little more sleep.

When we arrived we found Sasha had already left and an hour later the car turned up at the yard. Tom went on his way and we're hoping to catch him in Poland.

We were now running very short on time on our visas and something drastic was needed. It was a near certainty that we could not make the border on time but we wanted to be as close to the end date as possible.

We needed something big, something different, something never before tried. With this in mind Sasha decided our best option was to create the worlds first VolksLada.

We would put the rear struts and brakes of a Lada Samara on our car and weld them in place. It sounded like something the A team might do were they stranded in eastern Russia and we're all suckers for a plan coming together.

We agreed and we got to work dismantling the rear of our car.

The next day was spent hanging around, we could not source all the parts till the next day so we got as much done as we could  before another night of Vodka and Beer with Sasha, Sergi and Sasha's colleague "Spiderman" (an ex soviet sniper).

The next day we were driven to Ulan Ude to pick up the final parts and by the evening (after a final delicious meal with Sasha and his family) we were on the road again.

We were really up against it time wise now so we opted to drive constantly stopping only for fuel or toilet breaks. We were powering through, getting a good 1000miles a day done till we reached a town not far out of Omck (our midway point) when a tyre got punctured (I hasten to say it was our first puncture of the trip and was on one of the Lada wheels at the rear, the rest are still the same ones we left goodwood on). We lurched into a mechanics yard and were driven to have it replaced while another  mechanic replaced our front right spring which had also given out. They charged us nothing for the work and were extremely hospitable, our second impression of Russia was much better than the first.

More bad news however followed swiftly after we got back on the road. Dan got a phonecall from home to say his Grandfather had died. We stopped for lunch and decided the only rela option was to drop him off at the airport and sort a flight for him in Cherlebinsk.

We were there by late afternoon and a couple hours of later myself and Neel rolled on as a duo.

We drove constantly till the border with no more car trouble. We arrived in the small hours of Sunday morning. We had crossed two tthirds of Russia in less than four days.

They saw our visas were out of date and printed off the nessecary paperwork to take to a bank on Monday and we were sent back in to Russia to settle down for the night in a car park. The next morning we drove aimlessly to find a hotel (which turned out to be just 5 minutes walk from our car park) we booked in and mooched around the town.

Monday arrived, we checked out paid our fines at the bank and got through the border fairly hassle free. The Ukraine side was a little trickier (the car is registered to Dan and we had nothing to explain the circumstances). After a few hours however they let us through and we again drove through the night to just short of Kiev to get to the next morning.

Thats where I'm writing from, it's a beautiful city and its a shame we can't spen more time here but home is calling after so long away.

We're making some stops to see friends in Germany and The Netherlands and will be back in about to week.

Look forward to seeing everyone on the return, much love from Neel and Gaz

x

 

 

Khovd to the finish line

From Khovd we made our way to Altay. The roads were some of the worst we experienced, it was like driving on a washboard with constant ridges, th car shook so much we were waiting for the dashboard to fall off.

We convoyed with Shads Inc and the daylight passd without much incident except to stop and help some Mongolians who's land cruiser had broken down.

As evening approachd both of us picked up a problem. Our strut had come through its holding and was bangoing on the parcel shelf so it was just a matter of time before it broke through we stopped and wedged in a piece of wood and metal till we could get a weld. Shads Inc petrol tank had ruste through the joints and was leaking from the top. After many attempts to fix it we had to give up and try and drive till they were dry. The roads continud to deteriate and th noise of the back strut banging around was horrendous but by 6 the next morning we made it to Altay.

Lot's of pleasant suprises awaited us there, almost all the teams we had met along the way had been broken by the washboard roads and were in a garage in town. They'd been getting fixed up for the final stint to Ulaan Bataa, luckily for us our fix took no time and by the next afternoon we were rolling again.

We convoyed with a bunch of teams out and camped up in the dsert that night. The next day we had our first rivr crossing which went extremely well, we opted to push the cars across rather than risk the engine taking water in and we all got across with no drama. Sadly trouble was waiting just 10km down the road, One of the teams in our convoy (Fear and Roaming) had their back wheel was sheared completely off the chassi. They were driven back to the last town wher they found a truck carrying a digger agreed to come collect them.

Getting the car on was one of the most incredible things we've seen (photos to follow). only one ramp was working to let it off the trailer, it had to usee the scoop to lower its self down as ramp cam as well, they then tyd the seat belts over the car through the windows and hooked a chain through to lift it on to the trailer.

Whn they were safely on board we made a push for Bayankhongor and tried to drive on through the night. To say we got lost is and under statement. When we woke up the next morning after giving up a few hours later we couldn't even see the road we had somehow driven off.

Luckily in Mongolia you are never far from a man on a horse to point you in the right direction and we were back on track an hour later.

The next major city was Ulaan Bataar and that was enough to keep us going all day after some more horrendous roads we finally made it back to tarmac (which is one of the most underated surfaces on the planet)and ploughed on. At 100km out we made our final fuel stop and drove on.

Night had fallen and as we ran through the hills we waited for the bright lights of a city round very curve.

When they finally arrived it was incredible, all the other cities in Mongolis have been about 3km across, but this time the lights stretched out for mile upon mile.

We finally made it to the finish line bar as other teams were returning from the party. It was great to see so many of the teams we had met along the way and a messy night consisting of alcohol, kareoke and a fruitless search for a hotel was a fitting celebration to end our trip.

Since then we have been to a shooting range and caught up with the other teams trickling over the finish line.

Tomorrow we're sorting out our russian visa and will be fixing the car up for the return leg.

Hope everyone at home is fit and well.

Love from Dan, Tom, Neel and Gaz

Kazachstan, Russia and Mongolia again

So the last blog ended on an accidental lie.

Our ever-present bearing problem continued from Aktobe till we reached Astana.

After leaving Aktobe in the same shape we entered we drove on till we found another large city. There we bumped into a few Rally teams including the Super Mongol Wonder Squad who we agreeed to meet up with to camp later that night.

After driving into the evening we saw them pulled up on the side of the road, the rear suspension had given in. We camped up with them and found a town to have it fixed the next day. We left late afternoon until we reached a roadside cafe. A few people were a bit hungry so we pulled in.

It turned out to be a big night out for the locals and after some food (bit of an understatement, they laid out the biggest spread we've seen all night) we got on the dancefloor and threw down some serious shapes.We drove on to just outside of Astana to enter the next morning.

Astana has had a lot of money pumped into it in the last few years and it is a beautiful and modern city. We quickly found the auto district and foundall the parts we needed literally an hour before the parts were going to be shipped from the UK.

A local called Dimar heard us having a little trouble with translation and offered to come help. After returning to his work for an hour he returned and helped us for the rest of the day. We had a great night out in Astana but had heard from other teams we needed to get a second customs stamp in our passport so had to wait around another day and night.

Fortunately for us Dimar had a friend who worked in immigration at the airport and he made the enquiries the next morning as we went for lunch together.

Just before lunch we were asked to interview for a Kazach motoring magazine, we're pretty much minor celebritieies in Kazachstan now.

Some friends of Dimar's joined us for lunch and invited us to a sauna where his friend would give us a free massage. 7,000 miles are pretty hard on the back so we gladly accepted. After a breif conversation in Kazach, Dimar informed us that they had decided the sauna was to far away but luckily his friend and his girlfriend were trained masseuses and that they would give us a massage at our hotel.

It sounds weird and it was, but we were all feeling pretty relaxed by the end.

The last two days in Kazachstan were pretty uneventful the border was easy (we even had a game of table tennis with the guards)  and our exhaust fell off at the front (minor decrease in power, major increase in cool noises).

Russia passed much more smoothly than our first trip there no stops by police but unfortunately Super Mongol Wonder Squad broke their drive shaft and we had to continue without them. After one more brief stop in Barnal we made an all night push to our final border.

The drive to the Mongolian border was one of the most beautiful drives we've had all trip, ever corner provides another beautiful sight. It was a sunday 6am when we arrivedand after a quick sleep we stopped up in front of the gates.

Throughout the day more and more teams arrived and by the next morning there were almost 30 teams lined up.

There arent many times you see that many teams around so we all saw an excuse to get some drinks in and make some new friends.

After a final Russian customs stamp we waited to get out the Russian border into 20km of no mans land.

We were most of the way through the paperwork when the border guards decided to go for lunch. After an hour wait they returned, literally pushed two buttons and stamped our paper work and we were done.

The Mongolian side took nearly no time and we were elated to have made it to our target country. We made our way to Olgy for the first night and stopped in to a hotel for the night with a man named Morat and his family.

Today we have made it to Holdz after some unbelievable roads, literally like driving on a rumble strip at the best times and trhough craters at worst.

Our next target is Altay and we'll probably blog again in Ulaan Bataar!

Kazachstan!

After a good nights sleep in Voldograd we went to the bank to sort out ll the boring stuff.

Next up was a trip to the statue of Mother Russia, it's the largest free standing statue in the worldand is absolutely incredible. The sheer scale is mind blowing and with the sun setting behind it it was an amazing site.

We then drove to 10KM from the Kazach border to settle down for the nightr before crossing the next morning.

After a quick oil change we tried to sort out our ever present bearing problem. It starteed rubbing as we crossed into Russia and the noise was steadily increasing. Weran into a young guy called Alex in a town just near the border. Luckily for us, he spoke fluent English. He had learnt in order to become a teacher butfound that he was piaid more being a welder. He was on his way to work but offered to take us to a mechanic nearby and translate.

It ended up taking about four hours but Alex kindly stayed with us the whole time. WE couldn't find any spares to fit so greased up the bearings and hoped for the best.

We then crossed the border and were on Kazach soil by about 8pm local time. It wasn't long before we had seen our first camel and been held up by a herd of goats crossing the road but pretty soon we rolld into a town wit a hotel and supermarket.

After making enquiries at the hotel we found there was no room at the inn so cooked up a feast in the car park and drove till we found a suitable field to camp in.

 There is so little light pollution  out here the night sky is just incredible.

The next morning we decided to to head to Atryau to try and replace our bearings. Sadly the 89 Polo Derby never really caught on in these parts and while we could find any part we could ever want for a MkIII Golf, Polo bearings remained elusive.

As evening arrived we made our way to a lake we could see on the map in a town called Inder. As we drove into town (a few wrong turns aside, we found it fairly easily) we pulled over to ask the locals for directions.

It was a friday night and they were in high spirits, loud but never aggressive. We were speaking to a few guys our age (one of whom claimed to have three wives) when the police turned up and asked to see our passports.

Adam of Jizzy Disco (who we have been convoying with since Czechout) handed his over, the cop spoke no english except for being able to read the word 'tourist' which he repeated and repeated, never smiling.

He pointed at his car and Adam started walking towards it but he shook his head handed back his passport and told us to follow in the cars.

Our luck was never good with Police in Russia  and as the pulled away driving at about 15kph we started assuming the worst, as he drove us dfown a pitch black side street we were gettinga bit twitchy.

He steppd out his car knocked on our window and getsured us out the car, he then pointed t the building in front and told us it was a hotel in a quiet part of town where the locals wouldn't disturb us.

Breathing normally again we had a few beers, laughd off our pessimism and hit the hay.

 After a swim in the lake the next day we headed to Oral, one of North-WEst Kazachstan's biggest cities.

We pulled over to the first shop we could see and were quickly approached by a TV crew and asked to interview for Channel 42 news. We explained what we were doing but became a little more creative with the explanation as time went on (I think Tom from the other team may have told them we were a band called The Towers of London).

A young guy called Sasha approached us he spoke excellent English and, like Alex, offered to translate to us for the day.

We spent the day trying to find the parts and asking about Sasha's life. He told us he dreamed of becoming a doctor but that he did not have the money.

After touring Oral in search of parts we couldn't find any again but were told of the mythical 'Master', leader of a biker gang and mechanic group, Sasha took Neel and Tom to the workshop.

It was filled with guys in tight pants and mullets and the master himself could only be distinguished by his bandana and what can only be described as presence.

They said to bring back the car the next day and they would do what they could.

We spent a night camping by the river and returned the next morning. They spent most of the day on the car and as we drove away we realised the bearing was exactly the same.

It was time to say goodbyw to Sasha who stayed with us the whole time. We had spoken the night before together about putting $100 between us and the four Jizzy Disco boys to Sasha to put towards his medical training.

He said he could not take but as we insisted he said he had only one dream: "I have always wanted an iPod" he told us.

When he said he wanted to be a doctor he must have meant Dre.

 We drove on and after a few hours were diverted off the road as there was work up ahead.

The replacement road was insane. It was made up of chalk but where all the lorries ahd been pummeling it down it had reached the consistency of finely sieved flour

It was long before our car stopped working and we were out and pusing, i was too dusty to do any work where we were asmore would get in and couldbreak the engine more.

Jizzy disco go in there car and went and scouted the road ahead, we pushed the car half a kilometre wondering wherer they had got to and found them stopped up ahead.

They had been grounded by te calk all getting caught under their sump guard. after 20 minutes of digging they got rolling again only to get stuck 5 minutes later.

A trucker towed them out we pushed the Polo as far as we could before they returned and towed us back to the road where we began to try and repair it.

Nothing we could do would get the car going again so we towed on to a truck stop to spend the night.

The next morning after a further look it became clear theis was not a job we culd do in the middle of nowhere.

Jizzy Disco towed us over 100 miles to the nearest town, a place called Kobda.

We stopped at a petrol station where a local said he could lead us to another master mechanic.

When we pulled up the apprentices had the enginge stripped away in under an hour trying to diagnose the problem.  We weren't making any progress when the new master himself arrived.

He quickly diagnosed the problem. The chalk hadgot into the cam belt got compressede and knocked it out a tooth or two. The valves had been smashed and three out of eight were bent.

We needed a full engine rebuild.

We had held the Jizzy Disco boys up too long as it was trying to sort bearings and shocks, they decided it was in their best interests to go on with out us. It was a sad departure and we went to camp by the local wiver wondering if this could be the end of our trip.

At the crackof dawn we were back at the mechanics and he began stripping the engine away. In the UK if a valve gets bent its thrown out and new ones are put in. The maste, knowing he couldn't get spares, reshaped them by hand and sight with a hammer.

We had the most amazing day with him and his family, his wife cooked us lunch, he took us swimming as we waited for a new head gasket to arrive and we played catch with his son.

When the engine was reassembled it fired into life straight away. It's hard t describe the relief we felt at that moment. For the parts and labour it cost less than 100 quid. The hospitality was pricelss.

It was a sad goodbye  but we were along way behind schedule, we have promised to send him back some ratchet spanners and some photos. If any of us head this way again we will certainly e dropping in for a visit.

We got to the next big city (Aktobe) before darkand decided to plough on. Unfortunately after some wrong directions we were back in Aktobe to spend the night campin after having to drive back on ourselves 150km.

We decided to have one last crack at the bearing problem today and the first shop we rolled into are now replacing bearings, front shocks, struts, the works.

Thats all for now update again soon!

Ukraine and Russia

Since the last blog we've had a busy few days.

After leaving Odessa we drove into the evening to Maiklov.

As mentioned before the Polo didn't get on so well with the potholed roads, Gaz took a rail track  little fast and the back left shock went.

We pulled into the first carpark which was luckily a petrol station and next to a police station. Here we encountered the Ukraines friendliest police officer, Bagdan.

He told us that everywhere would be shut by now but that at 7am he would be back and would help us find a welder.

Trying to make the best of a bad situation we cracked open the home brewed Romanian wine we'd bought on the roadside and ended up having a pretty good night.

By nine the next morning a welder had turned up taken the part and sorted us out and we were back on the road for about 20 quid.

After about half an hour disaster could of struck again when we lost our other shock. Again luck was on our side and we managed to get to a truck tyre service where as well as getting the second shock welded a mysterious hero found us new higher shocks that fitted giving us bettter ground clearance than ever and a set of spares should the worst strike again. The whole job and parts cost us $150

We powered through for the night till we were about 10km shy of the Russian border and decided to have a rest and face the horror of beauracracy the next morning.

When we arrived at the border we had yet another lucky break, a tv crew were filming the border guards at work and we got through in no time at all with smiles all round.

We hadn't been driving through Russia long when we saw what we assume was a war monument it was huge, we'd just set the cameras up for some good Convoy snaps when a police man came and asked for driving permits. Dan and Tom of Jizzy Disco handed theirs over and were asked to follow him. He told them we had illegally crossed a line and that to have their permits returned it would cost $100. He made it fairly clear where the money was going when he took off his hat and showed them the money it was filled with.

Some fast thinking on Neel's part meant we put in a false call to the embassy and claimed that they had told us to get a reciept. The guy chucked back the permits and told us to get out sharpish.

We drove all day and into the night and found our way to Voldograd we found a hotel that was a little out of our budget. While the others were enquiring for another a guy came and chatted to us, he had great tnglish and recommended one round the corner.

After trying to find it unsuccessfully we drove back and he hopped in the car with us, translated for the receptionist, checked our rooms were up to scratch before asking for a lift home.

He then chose to reveal he felt he should help us as he used to work for MI6 and was ex-KGB. We're choosing to believe this is definitely true as it makes a much cooler story.

Trying to cross into Kazachstan today and we'll write again asap.

Slovakia, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine

After Budapest we drove down to the Romanian border.

Only one incident to report on the way down after filling up on petrol and supplies we found we were a little short on money to pay. After some fruitless attempts to explain to the guy we would leave some of the food it became clear we were becoming less and less welcome . He made the international sign for a gun at us and pointed under the counter, luckily the boys in our convoy coughed up a few extra, we payed and left sharpish.

When we did get to the border we were let through pretty painlessly but the first time they bothered to have a look around the car.

It was about midnight when we got through the visa and we pulled into a side road to camp for the night. We were tired enough to get a good nights sleep though some of the boys were a little shaken up by a run in with some stray kittens.

The next morning we got on the move again and realised pretty quickly how much Romania had to offer. Beautiful, smooth roads and incredible views round every bend.

Romania is the true Borat country (all the bits of the film said to be in Kazachstan are filmed there) and we saw our fair share of horses dragging cars while men in panama hats stood by stroking their moustaches.

We decided to try and take a trip to Dracula's castle but in true Chapeau Nouveau style somehow managed to completely bypass it.

We ended up in a smaller town a few hundred kilometres away and found another castle. It was pretty amazing and driving up to the top gave us a chance to test out the car's off road capabilities. Our little Polo passed with flying colours.

We camped out next to the castle with incredible views of the stars and an amazing red moon rise.

The next day we got another big day of driving under our belts all the way to the Romanian border and after a farewell meal with the McWhippy boys we crossed into Moldova. After buying a 7 day insurance card, changing our money etc we planned to find a campsite we drove for about three minutes and found ourselves at the Ukranian border.

Three rally teams were up ahead and had been held up for eight hours so we felt pretty pesimistic of crossing before sunrise.

The guy implied he needed a "present" so a $20 note slipped in between the passports and the V5 got us through in no time at all.

We drove through the night and morning to reach Odessa which is where we are writing this from. Its an incredible town with roasting sun, a stunning beach and beautiful girls!

Unfortunately the roads haven't been up to the same standard with ridiculous potholes so we're attempting to get a ferry today over to Circ on the Crimea.

Write again soon, love for Dan Tom, Neel and Gaz

Since th last one.

After the last blog we drove to a national park campsite with a beautiful lake, beautiful chiled night with fire and chilli.

The next day we got a late start again and made it to Budapest by midnight, parked our cars at the campsite and went straight out for a cracking night in an open air club.

We´ve been trying to sort out our carnets and international driving permits today, other than that its been plain sailing (aside from the odd insane trucker)

Apologies for these blogs being so brief, too much to tell and not enough time! 

The first 4 days

Well weve made it to the Czech republic, heres the storz so far.

Day before departure we loaded the car up and  found we had a bout an inch of ground cleance, with bigger tzres we had a bit more but found one had anail through it. Drove down to Goodwood lopsided on three 15 inch tyres and one 13.

Made it in one piece had a few beers and caught up with some teams.

Next morning Tom and Dan went to Kwik fit and sorted the wheels out, we drove to Goodwood for the festival of slow.

All the cars were looking great, photos to come.

After our parade lap we drove down to Dover got the 19.45 ferry.

Got to just outside Brussels on night one and then powered on to the Czech republic the next day after a 16 hour drive.

Great night at Czechout  part, incredible location and a beautiful castle.

Today taking it slow with some sore heads.

 Will do a more detailed blog asap.