The end of the beast

"Altai, Mongolia" The 'Beast' has submitted' the suspension broke again making the ride unbearable which also meant the limited slip diff stopped working so every time we got to soft sand we dug her in, we dug her out twice yesterday. So we dropped her off to the charity drop off point said our fond farewells and paid 650$ for a lift 650 miles to the capital. We will then sort our flights home, so see you all soon folks and thanks if you donated money or helped in any way. Love Pete,Dave,Tony and Danny 'The WestCountryWanderers'

Khovd

"Khovd, Mongolia" Just made it to the second drop off point and she is still driving well. Got stuck in the sand for the first time took us an hour to dig her out with the help of a local and a load of kids! We love digging!?!? Pulled up at Khovd and had two lads called Tom and Will ask us to tow them to the next town which is 300 miles away so being suckers for punishment Here we go...........

Editors note: (Mike) Google Maps has is at 280km from Tsanganuur and 4hrs 4mins, they have done it in 4hrs 30 mins, with an hour of playing in the sand pit, I think they may have been breaking the speed limit. Watchout for mounted Yaks lads! (thats and average of 50mph)

Mongolia!

"Tsagaannuur, Mongolia" YESSSSS we are here. 3 hours to get out of Russia, 24 hours to get into Mongolia! We can't quite believe we have made it this far with the limping 'beast'. The roads so far can only be described as s**t, imagine the worst farm track or spoil heap ramp in winter x5 and add a couple of inches of the finest brown talc and you might be somewhere close. Then try and drive,steer,navigate,light a ciggy, text or even just sit in your seat while travelling as fast as you possibly can, it is crazy utterly MAD, proper potty,bats in the belfry baaaaaarrmy!!!!!! Tony's driving,Danny's navigating,Dave's pothole spotting on the roof seat! Pete's riding the 'Mini Beast' so we are all busy while trying to appreciate the most stunning scenery that this Planet has to offer I'm not joking it is breathtaking, jawdroppingly, spine tingling, goosebumpingly amazing.Wow.@


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Tash

"Tashanta, Russia" linped the the border as the steel mend broke about 50km short now to find a welder and crack on and get the 'Beast' ready for Mongolia as the border is closed till tomorrow. Here goes Adventure........?@

Broken Biyskits!

"Biysk, Russia" Danny drove all night on some terrible roads, Dave took over and the ride improved, tarmac smoother, tyres deflated we ripped on towards the Mongolian border 50mph reached with ease, who needs suspension we cheered as we tore around mountain pass after mountain pass!? 'Mongolia or bust' is the new chant, the 'Beast will go all the way East' you'll see...........

Rubtsovsk

"Rubtsovsk, Russia" Been crawling along all day at about 25mph but did manage to get through into Russia in a record breaking hour and a half and it only cost us a air horn and a bottle of water! We are now traveling through the night as our insurance runs out tomorrow (14 days from when we first entered Russia). Wish us luck guys you've never seen roads like it!

Pavlodar

" Pavlodar, Russia" Oh dear what a 24 hours Pete drove the beast hard to make up some time and guess what the other cart spring on the back broke, so we booked into a hotel to collect our thoughts and were ready to throw in the towel. This was until we realised the weeks worth of bureaucracy that leaving a fire engine in Kazakhstan involves plus many thousand pound.....!!!! So we have to effect a repair went to a couple of garages and it would take them over a week so we ripped the wheels off packed her up on wood and we drive for the border at 30 mph max, great to be moving dam hot here, story's to come I'm sure...................

Astana

"Astana Kazakhstan" On our way before sunrise chased out of town(swamp) by the mozzie equivalent of the africanized killer bee. On route found the team 'The Dogs Bol***ks' (Bedford Rascal with greenhouse on the back) broke down and looking despondent. We towed them to a garage 50km in Astana and roared out of town stopping only for essentials Russia here we come ...........

Absatar

"Atbasar, Kazakhstan" what a good day got up and had a cup of tea and breakfast with some of the lads then left the yard at 5.30 with the Foreman (Yura) who drove our 'beast' for the first 100 miles to his home town of Qostanay with music thumping out of our bass bin it was laughter all the way. We then got invited to his home and treated to a tremendous traditional breakfast pre-prepared by his wife,given a pot of honey by his mother and treated to a tour of his beautiful home city with his young son. Museum and ice creams followed. He drove us in the 'beast' out of town, set us on the right road,before jumping out with his boy hugs and handshakes followed and we sped out of town. Been driving hard for the capital ever since, just stopping to water the plants and have a sandwich. Heading east again feels Good.@

Ouch!

"Koctahan, Kazakstan" broken down big time. The back leaf spring on the right has snapped in half we limped to a town, parked outside a garage and stripped her down nd tried to mend. Within two hours we had over 30 locals around us scratching their Heads and laughing with us we were then dragged to a construction yard given a shower and a meal then treated to some kazak hospitality which includes lots of vodka.... Story to follow...