Day 43 Ulan Baataar, Mongolia

**Day 43 Ulan Baataar, Mongolia**

Managed to make it to breakfast before they stopped serving. Next job is to book flights home - after an hours research we get them booked. We go back to the registration office and fill out forms and get a certificate for completing the rally. I feel quite emotional.

Then we try to empty the car. As soon as we open the car doors, there are people around asking how much we want for things even though it is illegal to trade on the streets. So we sell a lot of bulky items for a pittance - tent, sleeping bags, camping stove, table, chairs, big jackets we bought in Barnaul, jerry cans. We also give away the remaining food to a team who is driving back home. After we go for lunch and meet Jimbo who has been waiting for a week to get a spare part before he can start the journey back to Manchester. There we meet Gilly who is project managing building a school in UB. We chat for a while and she agrees to take us to an orphanage she is involved with which is run by a French nun who looks just like the nurse from Blackadder. The kids are great and we play for an hour or so  before saying goodbye. We empty the car some more & Gilly helps us sell stuff and takes the remainder including the Bog In A Bag (Dave's favourite gadget). We drop Gilly off at her apartment and she gives us a holdall to pack the rest of our stuff in. Good swap.

Back at the hotel we clear out the car and take everything up to the room. It takes us an hour to pack but at last it is done. Then we head back to registration, park the car for the last time and hand over the keys. They tell us the car will be cleaned up and could be sold the next day. As we head out we meet John from Emergency Disco Relief who has just arrived having been left by his teammate who had to get a flight home. We buy him a beer and then he gets the music on and erects the disco ball for the champagne arrival celebration. We have a bit of a dance outside. Still no sign of Emma, we get a text - she thinks they are a few hours away so we go to pub nearby with John, Cheese On Toast, Gareth of Department of Doing and an American. Plenty beer, food...still no sign of Emma. 

Day 42 - Sat 4th Bayanhongor to Ulan Baataar, Mongolia YES WE MADE IT!!!!

**Day 42 - Sat 4th Bayanhongor to Ulan Baataar, Mongolia YES WE MADE IT!!!!**

We get up early before dawn, hoping that we will make it to UB for the party tonight. After 20 minutes or so we see the sun rise. Fairly early on I realise I cannot find my purse. We had filled up the previous evening so maybe it fell out of the car when we changed drivers. Luckily I have some cash in my handbag.

Day 41 - Fri 3rd Altai to Bayanhongor, Mongolia

**Day 41 - Fri 3rd  Altai to Bayanhongor, Mongolia** We start off today feeling clean but by the time we've packed the car we are covered in dust again. We have our first river crossing of the day when the road just stops at the side of a river. Lots of large trucks are parked up with the truckers bathing in the river. As we hesitate they wave us across to assure us it is ok to cross. Safely over the other side we continue into the Gobi desert. Even though the windows are shut, sand is coming through the foot pedals in the floor - we continue to eat sand for the next hour or so leaving huge trails of sand clouds behind us. It is a long slog and tough driving, every so often the sand takes over and steers the car in a direction that you had not intended.... Around 4pm we reach Bayanhongor and decide it is too early to stop, so we continue on the road to Arveyheer. As we leave the town we see an ambulance perched precariously on the back of truck - with 4 in the back of the ambulance. The are being driven to UB and expect to get there on Saturday. We wish them luck - I don't envy them as the truck bounces along with the ambulance leaning at a angle. Just out of town we have the second river crossing today, some boys through stones to show us the way across. There is a road being built here but there is rubble across the path to prevent anyone from using it. After another 2 hours of driving on pretty dire roads we decided to camp up for the night. The mozzies attack as soon as we set up so for the first time we light the mozzy coils - they work well and we can have tea in peace. Tonight is much warmer than previously and the tent is quite cosy.  **10924 miles **

Day 40 - Thu 2nd Hovd to Altai, Mongolia

**Day 40 - Thu 2nd  Hovd to Altai, Mongolia**

Dave wakes me up at 6:30...I'm feeling a wee bit rough. I wash my hair in freezing cold water, it is so cold it makes my head hurt. We have breakfast in the yurt and chat with Tony who runs it. We set off knowing today is going to be a tough day. We've been told it is a bad road which has finished off 50 teams already this year. Soon after we leave we see something huge, as we get nearer we realise it is a vulture. The drive today has lots of interesting things to see - eagles, yurts, pastures with fields of goats; cows; very smelly camels; nodding horses.

The roads are bad, full of corrugations (which is worse  than bad potholes) making the whole car judder painfully. At one point we are surrounded by wasps and chased by them until we can drive more than 25 miles an hour, as soon as we slow down we are surrounded again - yuk. We are expecting Emma and Will (who is now hitching with her) to pass us since she drives faster than us but we see no-one all day. At one point in the day we realise that the multiple tracks have reduced to just one....oops. Eventually we make it back to  the correct road and continue on to Altai, as it begins to get dark. As we climb into  the mountains the fuel runs dry so we stop to refill from the jerry cans on the roof. At that point Will & Emma appeared behind us having set off 1.5 hours after us. They decided to continue driving while Dave and I decided to stop in the town that night. A shower was desperately needed....first one in 5 days!

**miles 10651** 

Day 39 - Wed 1st Tsagaanuur to Hovd, Mongolia

**Day 39 - Wed 1st  Tsagaanuur to Hovd, Mongolia**

We set off following our noses and compass, there was a huge surprise when we found a beautiful tarmac road just before Olgii, unfortunately it didn't last long and the road returned to corrugated rubble. We met an ambulance which had camped overnight and was making radiator repairs before setting off. Stopped at stream to have quick wash and refill our water container -  the radiator has been playing up since Russia and is losing water but we cannot find the leak. The countryside is vast with mountains all around in the distance. The roads change from rubble to sand then back to rubble again, we average about 20 miles per hour. We see quite a few eagles and also  the odd camel. We arrived in Hovd (this evening's destination) quite early for once. We pass the Mongol Rally camp and go looking for a bank. We need cash before we can get any fuel - credit cards don't work in most villages. At the first 3 banks no-one will change dollars. At the fourth bank we find an ATM and get some Mongolian cash and at the 5th bank they change some dollars - that should see us to UB hopefully. Back at the camp the Cooper Troopers car is there with the exhaust detached from the car, we have a beer with them and then order some food. A huge plate of stew, veg, rice and potatoes arrives - delicious! Next Emma arrives, later on Zero2Zero and in the dark the ambulance from earlier. The beer is flowing and a good night was had by all. Dave and I slept very comfortably that night in a yurt - very cosy.

**10385 miles** 

Day 38 - Tue 31st Tashanta, Russia to Tsagaanuur, Mongolia

**Day 38 - Tue 31st

Day 37 - Mon 30th Altai mountains to Tashanta, Russia

**Day 37 - Mon 30th Altai mountains to Tashanta, Russia**

Up early but no movement from the boys tent so we had breakfast and packed up. Arranged to meet Seb and Daniel 100 km further on. The scenery was fabulous - big mountains and we were following a large river. Stopped in Onguday for cash and some bread and was accosted by a Jehovahs witness - they get everywhere! We stopped by river and had some lunch then Zero2Zero caught up with us so we convoyed for the rest of that day. We camped that night near the Russian border in a very flat landscape a couple of km from the main road. It was silent and very cold; the milky way was quite visible since there was no light pollution; we saw shooting stars and (we think) satellites moving across the sky. The wind on the tent kept me awake since it sounded like someone was walking just outside our tent - very scary until I worked out what it was...

**10163 miles** 

Day 36 - Sun 29th Barnaul, Russia to Altai mountains, Russia

**Day 36 - Sun 29th  Barnaul, Russia to Altai mountains, Russia**

Sorted out funds in the morning - had spent up on both currency cards since I'd confused the exchange rates. Updated blog for previous day & set off, convoying with Zero2Zero but leaving Emma behind to sort out her car. In the afternoon we stopped beside a lake in the sunshine and Daniel made some coffee. Around 5 we found a place for camping just an hour from Onguday and played frisbee in a field full of mozzies. Pasta with veg sauce for tea tonight. It was a cold evening so we found some wood and lit a bonfire, drank beer until it got too cold and damp. We were quite cold overnight so worked out better sleeping arrangement for the following night.

**9931 miles** 

Bayanhongor, Mongolia

came across yellow mini limping along an hour from Altay; spent most of day crossing Gobi desert & eating dust; negotiated wide river following advice from truckers bathing in it. Stopping for fuel then another 2 hours b4 camping.@

Altay, China

early breakfast with Tony at Hovd base camp before tough driving day. First 100km ok, then 80 of bad stuff and a total 437kms... Just had 1st shower in 5 days. 2 days to UB fingers crossed.@