GAME OVER!



Well well well... We may have crashed the Charolastra vehicle out of the rally (Mongolian desert roads having got the better of us - totally lost the back end, then rolled the Citroen a few times) BUT, we completed the mission. Hurrah! Slipped a Kazakh, driving a Russin 4x4, a few hundred greenbacks to drive us the last 1,000km to Ulaan Bataar - job done! (Unfortunately Steve has the obligatory busted ribs & back/spine muscle compression injuries- and the insurance company are being complete tools - but c'est la vie. Given the fact teams have died on this rally, we consider that being able to walk away from the above carnage is something of a result.)

So, below is Team Chrolastra at the CNCF Blue Skies ger refuge centre in Ulaan Bataar, with Helena and Hatty, taking delivery of the medical supplies we procured. (Some local red-necks at the crash site robbed a lot of stuff from the Citroen, but we managed to salvage the following - with much thanks to Team 'Yes We Khan' [Steve spent that day ko'd]  - 1x 1KW Electricy Generator, 1x months supply vitamin supplements for the refuge centre, 1x months supply condoms for the CNCF outreach programme & several boxes of misc. medical supplies. Get in my son!)



A big thanks to all at CNCF - had to laugh at the kids doing Tae Kwan Do, seriously fekkin' stressful trying to dodge flying kicks from the kids, whilst suffering back injuries from crash hehe!

 Happier times - Altay mountains in Russia, just passed the 10,000mile mark (look at the GPS)... 


Wam, Trav, Team Charolstra plus Rory & the boys  - picked up an RPG, 2x AK47's, 1x Russian sniper rifle, 1x monster machine gun (???) plus 3x handguns for a few hundred dollars (then spent the day blowing up shit haha!). Good times!


Finish line:


Some people who deserve big love from Team Charolastra:


Roll 'em...

'Team Beer Bongolia' (who deserve an award for services rendered to debauchery ;-) )

Team 'Yes We Khan' (who pulled us from crash wreckage and salvaged the  CNCF supplies)

Team 'Yak to the Future'

Team 'Just Desert(s)'

Team 'The lost and the Curious' (the very beautiful Nick and Beatrice)

Team 'IScream' (the legends Wam and Trav)

Team 'Masters of Disaster'

Team 'Department of Doing' (Gareth, you crazy Welsh sheep worrier!)

Team '2 Girls in Tutus' (big love to Emily for putting us injured boys up for the night!)

& of course, all our love to Team 'By Jimny' (can't wait to see you boys again - can't believe we both wiped out the rally vehicles for feks sakes!)

Right then, time to wrap this lil' blog post up. We'll be back in Belfast tonight (and Pat McG, if you read this I'll see you down at the Irish News on Sunday 12th Sept. - thanks for all your assistance regarding this rather crazy situation). Time now for some serious R&R - the novelty is rapidly wearing off the rib injuries haha! So apologies for this rather succint blog post - we will update this place once feeling somewhat better - we have so much content here right now it's crazy (pics/vids etc.).

Keep yer eyes on the sky!

All our love,

The 'lastras

xo

PS - Big love to Fiona at CNCF HQ London. We are gutted we didn't end up crossing paths at Ulaan Bataar (due in large part to the accident), but I know we'll see you again. Much love, the 'Sheath Police' haha!

Oh, and check this out, we won ANOTHER award  at the rally wrap party in Ulaan Bataar - but can somebody actually confirm for us what this was for? We missed the MC announcement before we got up on stage to collect the bottle of bubbly. Seems the Charolastr'ians are somewhat infamous now... ;-)

**::EDIT::**

Just found this on Wam's Facebook page. Absolutely brutal pic of the Charolastra rally vehicle, taken maybe 1 hour after the crash. Compare it to the first pic above, and be amazed at the job those local red-necks did in incompletely stripping it. Impressive. Though they're still complete bastardos for pilfering our CNCF stuff... :-(


And finally, finally **FINALLY...**

A big thanks to our sponsors, both corporate and individuals, in making this mission possible! Give yerselves a pat on the back and get yer 'warm 'n fuzzy' feeling on hehe! Especially:

**Tayto, Stena, McCleans, the Mongolian Consulate NI, CNCF & of course the Irish News. **

Darius, Xerxes and the last Shahs knees-up!


Team "Charolastra" & Team "Iscream" at highest pass on Pamir Highway (Koi-Tezek if we remember correctly, somewhere around the 5000m ASL mark). Gettin' a brew on ;-)

Soo, caned the Pamir highway in a $400 Citroen. We still can't quite believe that - this is infamous as one of the toughest drives on the planet, and we managed it in a Berlingo with 3x bolts holding the back end on. Here's me whaa indeed...


Above, Persopolis, Iran. Meant to post this ages ago and couldn't. Between us, Team Charolastra has seen some pretty awesome stuff (Nazca lines, Ankor Wat, Maccu Piccu etc. etc.) but Persoplis wins hands down! Alexander the Great (we can't get thon raker Colin Farrell out of our heads, when that name is mentioned - bloody Oliver Stone!) turned up, bitch-slapped Xerxes then decided to put the feet up for a few months before sackin' the place. Good man. We can kind of see why, beautiful...

Random pic alert froim now on. First 'net access in AGES so we have a lot of other business to take care of here (stolen phones, Visa cards not working etc.), and this Kyrgyz bandwidth is making us lose the will to live, with regard to updating this place. Please bear with us comrades, Spasiba ;-)


Tunnel through Aborz mountains - hypnotic light shafts.


Kid Charolastra fan ;-)


Bit of a motif out here - asleep on the job ;-)


Sunset, main highway, Mary, Turkmen.

Right gotta go and take care of the above situations. Been stranded in Bishkek for 2 days now - car still not fixed! Maybe 1 or 2 more? Has really fekked up our schedule - means we have to try and cane it through Kazakhstan in 24-48hrs. Possible? We'll see. Hopefully the luck of the Charolastra holds ;-)

For now our main point of contact is Barry's I-Phone.

See sms updates below for succint detail of last few days. Every 24hrs around here just keeps getting more insane... In the best possible way of course!

Ciao

xo the 'lastras!

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

Found the best squat toilet in Asia. Priceless. Give piss a chance... As the sign says... ;-)

Dzhalal-Abadskaya, Kyrgyzstan

Nite out on the fermented milk = Steve robbed of $50 & mobile fone. But that's what we signed up for ;-)

Dzhalal-Abadskaya, Kyrgyzstan

Sarah, cancel my mobile contract ASAP!!! :-(

Dzhalal-Abadskaya, Kyrgyzstan

Absolutely heartbreaking to see first-hand the carnage on streets after recent 'ethnic cleansing'. Words fail us :-(

Narynskaya, Kyrgyzstan

2X Tayto tee's got us off $$$ shakedown, & Charolastra comedy vehicle got us off speed ticket :-) The Gods are smiling upon us. Ciao xo

ОшÑÐºÐ°Ñ ÐžÐ±Ð»Ð°ÑÑ‚ÑŒ, Kyrgyzstan

Enroute Sary Tash, aussies snapped wheel off. Bad times :-( Lets see what tomorrow brings. Crazed here as usual... Buenos noches x

Murghab, Tajikistan

On the 'Roof of the World', Yeah! Citroen got its' medicine, hitting Kyrg border with team 'IScream'. Aussie beer hounds ;-) 5000m ASL. Ciao x

Gorno-Badakhshan, Tajikistan

Afghanistan border. 300 miles of Pamir = broke suspension & windscreen, tyre blow & cops steal Barrys phone. What. A. Day :-(