Finished

After 11,165 miles and 41 days we've arrived in Ulaanbaatar.....the bar was closed!!!!....but has since reopened.

It was one hell of a journey, the road was rocky at times but Frankie and the team held it together somehow.

We'd like to say a THANKS to everyone for there sponsorship, we raised over 2000 pounds for The Christina Noble Children's Foundation. 

And also a MASSIVE THANKS to our corporate sponsors; **Rothuas** for the beer (which came in very handy in Europe) and the Fleeces (which were amazing in minus temp's in Mongolia).  To **Wayfayrer** for their incredible (and I'm not just saying that) meal pouches which saved us so many times.  **Trailblazer** for their great Silk Road guide and **Precision Profiles** for the Aluminium we used on the sump guard, without which we won't have made it to Mongolia, in fact I'm not sure we would have made it past Turkey.

And last but not least **Chris Davies** and the boys at **CAM Autos (Newport)** for building and fitting the sump and tank guard and all the other prep on the car.

Miles from anywhere!!!!!

Miles from anywhere!!!!!  On the worst roads in the world......

We're in Mongolia

Very quick update, we have made it into Mongolia. We past the 10,000 mile mark today. The roads are bad but not as bad as we expected. Currently at the Ger Camp in Hovd with about 8 other teams enjoying a cold beer. The Russian/Mongolian border took 24 hours, we camped in the customs pen. Frankie is going well apart from a broken fan and a snapped key. Everything else is well.

Almaty

Made it into Almaty today, a Kazakhstan oil town with far to much money and no taste.  Heading north tomorrow with the aim of reaching the Russian border on Wedneday.

Arrived in Bishkek

We've made it to Bishkek having crossed the Pamir's mountains and some of the worst roads so far - the car wouldn't have made it wasn't for the sump guard. We past 8000 miles this morning and hopefully she'll be good for the remaining 2500 miles across Kazakhstan and Mongolia.

Thanks again for all your text and messages of support, sorry we can't answer them all (the internet is somewhat slow in these parts, in fact it's nonexistent in most places) and a **really big thanks** for all the donation to our charity cause.  We are almost at the 2000 pound mark, so any additional help would be very much appreciated.

Onwards to Kazakhstan and Borat country tomorrow.......

About to start the Pamir Highway

Made it into Dushanbe in Tajikistan after 9 hours on mountain roads, sump guard performance top noche!  Heading off tomorrow into the wilds of the Pamir mountains on the 2nd highest main road in the world, lets hope little Frankie does as well as her did today. My mobile phone does seem to be updating via SMS so we will be on radio silence for about a week.

Old City of Bukhara

We are at the halfway point in the trip, we've covered 6,427 miles and are currently exploring the ancient city of Bukhara on the Silk Road.

The Trip So Far

We've driven 5,876 miles in 18 days across 12 countries (Wales-England-France-Belgium-Germany-Czech-Austria-Hungary-Romania-Bulgaria-Turkey-Iran) most of it on good road with Bulgaria being the exception!  The weather has been HOT to VERY HOT with Iran being in the mid-40's most of the day, in fact the wax spine of our Lonely Planet melted as did the dashboard clock.  The car, which has been named Frankie after Sir Francis Burton the 1st Brit to cross the Silk Road and also as our number plate is FKZ which is sort of a Frank and the 'IE' has been added as she's a girl.  Anyway, her is doing us proud the moment, apart from one small overheating problem on a very big hill in Turkey and the washer motor which stopped Day 1 we haven't had a problem.  Although it hasn't seen real action yet, the sump guard has already taken a few large bumps including one from a crazy Bulgarian ginger cat (RIP) - so thanks **Chris** and all at **CAM Auto's** in Newport, the real work starts now. Also a big thanks to a couple of our sponsors; **Rothaus** for the kegs of beer, they made it across Europe from the CzechOut party to Istanbul and were enjoyed by many along the way.  Also a massive thanks to **Wayfayrer** for their meal pouches, the food in these pouches is amazing they have saved us on more than once, in fact I enjoyed an excellent curry at the Iran border last night. On the Scam-ometer we are down $30, on the Bribe-ometer is are down $10 (although I was speeding!) and on the Paying Fixers-ometer we are down $20.....not bad going given that some teams are in the $100's on bribes already. The highlights of the trip so far have been; Transfagarasan Highway in Romania, Istanbul, Cappadocia and the friendliness and hospitality of the Iranian's. The really hard stuff starts now; the roads will soon turn to dirt with pot holes the size of small cars (and we are a very small car), the petrol will become harder to find and the food will be getting shall we say more interesting (more Wayfayrer meal pouches I think!).....we have about 23 days to cross 5 Stan's, a corner of Russia and Mongolia. We will endeavour to try and keep these updates coming but the internet is not that common in yak herding villages. And finally, THANK YOU all for your sponsorship of our charity.  We have almost raised 2000 pounds, which is fantastic and will go a very long way in Mongolia to helping the children that the Christina Noble Children's Foundation support. Thanks Huw & James