tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12814535956724634112024-03-04T21:54:48.063-08:00Mongol Rally 2012Rachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04466381023033679631noreply@blogger.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281453595672463411.post-15365674463692106982012-09-17T11:53:00.000-07:002012-09-17T13:04:27.313-07:00Sightseeing in China<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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After finishing the Rally and spending sometime chilling out
in Ulaanbaatar, it was time to head out to China to do a little sightseeing
before heading back to Blighty.</div>
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In a first days we visited most of the major sights in and
around Beijing, including Tianamen square, the forbidden city and of course the
great wall. Now I’m back in England with sensiblily speedy internet (and
allowed access to blogger) I can upload a selection of pictures!</div>
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Memorial in Tianamen Sq.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Rory at the national opera house<br />
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Just a tiny part of the Forbidden City<br />
<br />
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Walking on the great wall! </div>
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After a few days seeing the sights of Beijing Rory and I
(Ant and Zoe having flown home) set off on a crazy train journey encompassing some
of China’s most polluted cities! First we headed out to Xi’an the ancient
capital and home of the famous terracotta warriors. Getting the train out to Xi’an
was an interesting experience. Once we’d managed to communicate that we wanted
to go to Xi’an leaving today the operator told us the only tickets available
were for third class seats on the slow train (which takes 20 hours). Without having
any other options we bought the tickets and set out for the train station. Catching
the train itself was quite straight forward, although the Chinese system of not
allowing you onto the platform until the train arrives meant we had a mad dash with
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rather uncomfortable seats we set out to get ourselves upgraded, the prospect
of sitting on uncomfortable chairs for 20 hours was not appealing...</div>
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From Xian we set out to see the terracotta warriors, I hadn’t
realised this is still an active archaeological dig. The warriors themselves
are really quite impressive although I wasn’t fond of the 2km hike though
tourist-tat-sellers we had to pass by to get there.</div>
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After Xian we headed out to Chengdu, a mere 12 hours train
journey, we toughed it out on cheap seats for this one! From Chengdu we set out
to see Dafo the world’s largest carved Budda! Apparently the local people had decided
to fill in the some treacherous section of nearby river with rock from this
cliff face to even out some rapids. And at the same time why not carve a giant
Budda into the rock...</div>
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Our next stop was Chongquing where we had berths on the
public ferry for a 4 day ‘cruise’ on the Yangtze River. The public ferries on
the Yangtze are more aimed at Chinese people than foreign tourists, and thus we
weren’t always entirely sure what was going on. Every morning we were woken up
by a creepily cheery announcement and music <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>over the tannoy system. Since it was all in mandarin
we had no idea what was being said however we were both reminded of Battle
Royal ...</div>
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Every day we pulled in for various excursions to temples, side
gorges or markets, as the only white people on the boat we frequently got asked
to have our picture taken with the other folks on the boat! The final stop was
the three gorges dam near Yichang, as the largest hydro power station in the
world it is quite an impressive sight. I remember learning about this project
for geography GCSE and therefore was a little bit aware of some of the
controversies that surround it. Of course none of this is displayed at the dam
site itself which talks about the construction of the dam ‘increasing the
magnificence of the gorge’ and dam completion achieving the ‘cultural and social
aspirations of the Chinese peoples’.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwNgV2NVkyMajXO5iVxWJ9_ftoIffarhR6GP67m1IbXSvIBMw_SiTduLvYr038smmyZ4Z23kEbrG0TiLGdH1yzqvC0xaEd8-oWtU-lw8KJAM5w9Iut28t95pUx8hxuyz5pkFWPxOYb0hLY/s1600/IMG_2630.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwNgV2NVkyMajXO5iVxWJ9_ftoIffarhR6GP67m1IbXSvIBMw_SiTduLvYr038smmyZ4Z23kEbrG0TiLGdH1yzqvC0xaEd8-oWtU-lw8KJAM5w9Iut28t95pUx8hxuyz5pkFWPxOYb0hLY/s320/IMG_2630.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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After the cruise we headed back to Beijing on the overnight
train to spend our final day looking around the Temple of Heaven before setting
off to the airport to catch our flight. Too many hours later (including a 4
hour delay at Doha), we arrived tired and worn out in Heathrow, after a
fantastic two months!</div>
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Rachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04466381023033679631noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281453595672463411.post-84519802457013975142012-09-13T00:56:00.001-07:002012-09-13T20:16:23.007-07:00A Big Thank You to StefanoOne night while in the pub with my Ukulele, before the rally started, I met Stefano. As with everyone I met this year I regaled him with our plans for the rally. Right there and then, not knowing me Adam, Stefano asked if he could help out. What a lovely guy. <br />
<br />
Stefano works as a graphic and website designer and offered to make a logo for our team, (we already had the website up and running). I eagerly accepted but what I wasn't expecting was the amount of time, care and effort that Stefano put in for us. Trying to get the three members of the team to agree on a logo when none of us knew<br />
what we were on about was no mean feat!<br />
<br />
It was an absolute pleasure working with Stefano and we thank him for all his hard work and his generosity. You can contact Stefano and view his portfolio at <a href="http://www.thinkwhatif.it/" target="_blank">www.thinkwhatif.it</a><br />
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Roryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16987065726936033107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281453595672463411.post-11551719582638627092012-08-26T23:05:00.001-07:002012-08-26T23:21:31.801-07:00Many thanks to Preferred CommunicationsA big thank you to Carlyn and the team at <a href="http://www.satstar.com/">Preferred Communications</a>. They provided us with a satellite phone for the trip and they were an absolute pleasure to work with. In the end several teams benefitted from our satphone and fortunately it was never needed to call in any emergency services!<br />
<br />
"Preferred Communications is a leading provider of global communications since 1994. Our products include:<br />
<br />
Satellite Communications (voice, fax, video and data)<br />
<br />
GPS Vehicle Tracking Systems<br />
<br />
Rugged Mobile Computers<br />
<br />
GPS Synchronized Clock Systems<br />
<br />
Cisco Small Business Products and Services<br />
<br />
We provide equipment, airtime service and installation and are an authorized dealer for many of the world's leading satellite service providers."<br />
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Roryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16987065726936033107noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281453595672463411.post-15021619928251418212012-08-26T03:08:00.000-07:002012-08-28T03:24:28.584-07:00Finishing: In which everyone breaks down<br />
<br />
In my last post from Oglii, I foolishly uttered the words ‘if we have no major breakdowns’ I should have known better…<br />
<br />
Having left Oglii we carried on through Mongolia’s dirt roads to get to the next town Altai there is a mechanics and a drop off centre there where which are listed on the Mongol rally guide. As we passed through we looked on smugly at the other teams having car trouble and our convoy team headed off into the desert. Some 40km out of town, Red Dog Racing hit a roack which punctured both their sump guard and the sump. If (like me before this trip) you don’t know what a sump is be assured it is a vital piece of car. With oil spilling onto the desert there was no way Red Dog were going anywhere with out our help. This is how I found myself doing my first ever car tow on a potholed sand track in the desert, while team Infinity scouted the route. Returning to the garage in Altai was pretty depressing however the mechanics there pulled off some mechanical wizardry to fix the sump. After this we noticed the engine mounts on Red Dog’s car had also sheared and more work was required to get them back on the road.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
With a schedule to meet, we left Altai with team Infinity hoping Red dog would catch us up in a couple of days. Once we were back in the desert Beverly was motoring along and unfortunately hit a ditch too hard. As we jumped out of the car and saw oil spilling onto the sand we feared for the worse. Being over 100kms from the nearest town it would be a long slow tow if our sump was broken. As it turns out the sump was intact, just the oil filter had broken. This would have been equally catastrophic if it hadn’t been for Ant’s genius buying of a spare oil filter before we left the UK. Ben (from Infinity) and I set about making emergency cups of tea, whilst the other fitted the spare filter. Without losing too much time we were back on the road again.<br />
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<br />
<br />
<br />
A few hours later checking our map against our co-ordinates we appeared to be off course, however according to another map we were exactly on course. With the road getting worse there was some debate about which was the best way to go, but eventually decided to stick with the road we were on. Progress was pretty slow due to the condition of the road however noticed that Infinity’s car was moving much slower that us. Having pulled in behind them we noticed that their rear wheels were splayed, we flagged them down jacked them up and checked under the car. The axel support was fractured and their rear wheels were in danger of falling off. This was not something that could be fixed easily, while we were pondering the best course of action, team Red Dog appeared out of the desert. We were so pleased to see them again as well as reuniting our convoy team it meant we could get Matt’s opinion on Infinity’s car. I’ll use this point to add a big thanks to Matt from Red Dog, as a super trained mechanic he’s been magically fixing up all our cars since our convoy team met back in Astrakan.<br />
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Unfortunately this break was not one that could be fixed with cable ties or duct tape, the best course of action was to limp on at 10mph and hope Infinity’s wheels stayed on until we got into the next town. We stuck with them on the road so we could help out in case the car terminally broke down, we decided to ignore the Adventurists advice and drive into the night at 10 mph you can avoid every pothole and bump in the road. We got to a river crossing at 11pm where we camped for the night.<br />
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The next day we had to get towed across the river by tractor , fortunately Beverly’s air intake was quite easy to access and raise up, so we didn’t flood the engine. Some slightly too fast driving from one of the tractors meant that Red Dog’s engine got water in it, and we still had Infinity’s broken car to fix. To cut a long story short Uber Faff ensued, but at the end of the day Infinity’s car was in the garage being welded back together and Red Dog were also still rolling. To make the most of the fading light we split with the convoy and headed into the final stretch of the Gobi desert.<br />
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We awoke at the crack of dawn to get going as swiftly as possible, if all went to plan we could reach UlaanBaatar that evening. A few hours into the drive we heard a bad crunching sound from the back of the car. A speedy jack up revealed that once again we had broken a suspension spring, more cable ties were added we rallied on. The stereo was cranked up to drown out the noises coming from Beverly. Once we got closer to Ulaanbaatar the roads turned to tarmac (with varying amounts of pothole) and our speed dramatically increased. We made it in to the finish line at about 8pm, we were pleased to be there but having received a text from the rest of our convoy we found that they were only 3 hours behind us we only stopped off briefly before getting back on the road to surprise them on the way in so we could all roll in to Ulaanbaatar together in triumphant celebration. <br />
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Since arriving we’ve now handed over our car keys so they can be sold for the charities, it’s interesting to hear that the cars are worth more here than we paid for them in the UK in spite of all the damage we done to them over the last 6 weeks. <br />
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Over all we’ve had one amazing adventure getting to Ulaanbaatar, no doubt you’ll be fed up with us talking about ‘this one time on the rally’ for many months to come…<br />
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A big thanks to Ravi, Harvey and Ben from ‘To Infinity and Baatar’ and also to Adain, Matt and Rich from Red Dog Racing, we had the best fun convoying with you guys!<br />
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I’ll add some more pictures later, when we have better internet, and also some posts on all the things we didn’t say whilst on the road so as not to worry various people.<br />
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<br />Rachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04466381023033679631noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281453595672463411.post-26797989380744989192012-08-24T05:26:00.001-07:002012-08-24T05:26:34.639-07:00Finish Line!!!WE MADE IT!!!<br />
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More to follow...<div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW9lNZBuoH2aqA6IjGXW_peZukkvA2JhUSkea_Ah1_dgCGF4m4kZX7pcP7woiZOAUT8Cv_6ThOwXYucimQkuyVRtqvYDinadWTmj7mnv2HEQHnTJEmW-BdiKsZq-VP8hAhmBkNsFD3LQt-/s640/blogger-image--1833123222.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW9lNZBuoH2aqA6IjGXW_peZukkvA2JhUSkea_Ah1_dgCGF4m4kZX7pcP7woiZOAUT8Cv_6ThOwXYucimQkuyVRtqvYDinadWTmj7mnv2HEQHnTJEmW-BdiKsZq-VP8hAhmBkNsFD3LQt-/s640/blogger-image--1833123222.jpg" /></a></div>Roryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16987065726936033107noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281453595672463411.post-39325243466390227152012-08-18T08:25:00.000-07:002012-08-18T08:33:36.213-07:00Hello from Mongolia!After getting some new suspension springs fitted, Beverley (did I mention we named the car Beverly?) now has a much smoother ride and is ready for the Mongol roads, which is good because that is where I am writing this from!<br />
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After leaving Almaty we rejoined Red Dog Racing, briefly rescuing them from a flat battery situation, and made a large dent in the distance through Kazakhstan. Since we were cutting it close with some peoples Russian visas we opted for the fast road through the country without stopping for much more than fuel. We had intended to camp just short of the border however a friendly policeman found us searching for camp spots and escorted us to the nearest hotel, probably out of concern for our safety. Unfortunately the hotel only had one double room left, so we managed to squeeze all 7 of us into the double room… cosy.<br />
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The next day we successfully re-entered Russia, where we were reunited with ‘To Infinity and Baatar’ after leaving them in Kyrgyzstan. Team convoy reunited, we headed for the Mongolian border arriving at about 6pm. Leaving Russian was reasonably straight forward, my folder of organization paid off when they wanted to see some of our old Kazak documents. The No-mans-land between Mongolia and Russia is quite spectacular with rolling grass hills, since we didn’t expect to make the Mongolia side in time we were looking forward to camping there. However when we reached the Mongolian side we were ushered into a concrete holding pen where we found several other team waiting for the border to re-open in the morning. Sadly we have no photos of this due to border restrictions.<br />
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The main hold up at the Mongolian border is just for the car paperwork, so we were allowed to walk into the border town to buy dumplings and change money etc. After a somewhat chilly night camped on the concrete we got underway with our paperwork and queuing finally being allowed across at 3pm, some 21hours after arriving. We left just as the rain turned into snow, the road conditions where no too bad however and tonight we find ourselves staying in a ger in the town on Olgii. It feels pretty good to have finally made it to Mongolia, we’re not sure how regular the internet will be over the next few day but we’re hoping to make the finish line party on the 24th August if there are no major beakdowns between now and then.
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<br />Rachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04466381023033679631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281453595672463411.post-37100792762877302522012-08-13T06:27:00.000-07:002012-08-14T11:07:10.936-07:00Kyrgyzstan and suspension issuesSince our last post 90% of the convoy have lost partial bowl control, this lead to some speedy emergency stops by the side of the road, such is the nature of foreign travel. Anyhow shortly before we hit the border we sheared our rear left suspension spring such that it was rubbing against a part of the car. With a little help from Red Dog Racing we fixed the spring back into place using about 20 cable ties. We gingerly carried on, with confidence in our fix growing with each mile. It turns out you can literally fix anything with cable ties.
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Leaving Uzbekistan proved to be a bit more challenging than entering as the border guards did not seem to be in the mood to do any actual work. By contrast the Kyrgyzstan side of the border was super quick and friendly.<br />
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The next day we headed over the Kyrgyz mountains towards the capital Bishkek, this turned out to be my favourite drive of the trip so far. The roads were levelled and tarmaced meaning we could enjoy the mountain landscape passing by. Inevitably it wasn’t long before I got pulled over for speeding, however in a masterful display of smiling and ignorance we got away without paying any fine.<br />
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Our little convoy briefly grew to 5 cars before dropping down to 2 as we parted ways heading for different borders. We’ve also got and extra person in our convoy team as we picked up another rallier who’s car has died.<br />
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We intended to drive around the edge of the Issy-Kul lake in Kyrgyzstan and then head up over the border into Kazakhstan. Unfortunately when we arrived at the border we found the Kazaks had closed the border a couple of years ago - Doh! We turned around and headed back to Bishkek to cross the main border into Kazakhstan. We are now in Almaty (the old Kazak capital) getting our suspension springs replaced.<br />
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Rachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04466381023033679631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281453595672463411.post-32762544394709587062012-08-07T12:11:00.000-07:002012-08-07T12:11:12.142-07:00Into Uzbekistan<br />
6-7 August<br />
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After camping by the gates to hell we headed back through Ashgabat, where we got lost yet again, and then toward the border with Uzbekistan. We knew the border crossing closed at 6pm so it was a bit of a race to get there in time. Fortunately our little convoy were the last cars to be allowed across the border saving us from camping in no-mans land. Since the guards wanted to go home we had a fairly easy ride getting through the border, apart from a little incident where the border guard wanted to share a cigarette with me (Rach).<br />
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The next morning we headed for Bokhara one of the ancient cities in Central Asia. The architecture was amazing with many tiled mosques and old city walls. After some time wandering around the market we headed on to Samarkand where we’re staying tonight. Tomorrow we’re going to look around Registan, before moving ever onwards.<br />
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Also as an FYI we’ve decided to have a slight change in our route and head in to Kyrgyzstan, since apparently we don’t need visas to go there any more, also after several day of above 40 degree heat we are excited to be heading into the mountains. <br />
Rachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04466381023033679631noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281453595672463411.post-30618124253434315542012-08-05T22:23:00.004-07:002012-08-05T22:26:28.725-07:00Long time no updatesHi everyone. Sorry we haven't been updating the blog so regularly. We've been in the backwaters of Kazakhstan and then in Turkmenistan the internet is severly limited, we've only just found access to Blogger.<br />
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We'll put up some photos as soon as we can, but for now we've just put up the text posts. Please keep scrolling down.<br />
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Phone signal is also not happening, hopefully we'll get signal again when we reach Uzbekistan in a day or so.<br />
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Also just to let the friends and family of Red Dog Racing and To Infinity And Baatar know that they are convoying with us and are safe and happy!Roryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16987065726936033107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281453595672463411.post-14520601511285941922012-08-05T22:13:00.000-07:002012-08-14T18:06:46.460-07:00Special thanks to CPP Ltd<br />
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We would like to send our particular thanks to <a href="http://www.cppltd.com/">Corrugated Plastic Products Ltd</a> for donating extremely <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"></span>generously to both the Lotus Children's Trust, Mongolia and Mountain Rescue England and Wales!<br />
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"></span>CPP Ltd handles the design, manufacture, fabrication, assembly and supply of bespoke re-usable product <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"></span>handling systems. Their product range and capability is very diverse; from stackable boxing, to re-usable and <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"></span>collapsible pallet systems, to steel coil packaging.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Proudly displaying the CPP logo, as Matt from Red Dog Racing comes up with a plan to keep our suspension going.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"></span>If you know someone that is looking for an environmentally friendly and cost effective product handling system, <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"></span>then please get them in touch with CPP Ltd; they will be very happy to provide a high quality and effective <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"></span>solution using their extensive experience. I cannot recommend them enough!<br />
<br />
Antony<br />
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<a href="http://www.cppltd.com" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEichRG89KtTaRGGDIm0_l8tWjskXbP3AUGNOKH9JqaZR_Xl6Oq4lhiLYyjdcA_gLpbxU1H1t-hZqy1_4npTcu57CtkJMEGf18PBiXxObavSbvBmz6ufX-vBd4MjcSYV_zwiCo8eTbG2CEgf/s320/CPPLOGOMS1.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Roryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16987065726936033107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281453595672463411.post-17788384420738836522012-08-05T21:49:00.002-07:002012-08-05T21:49:48.312-07:00Gates to Hell<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">4 August<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">One of the
main reasons for going to Turkmenistan was to visit the Gates to Hell. This is
a burning gas crater in the middle of the desert. Some years ago a soviet
company were looking for oil when they found a gas pocket. To try and get rid
of the gas the threw in a grenade to burn of the gas. 45 years later it is
still burning. The first problem we had was trying to leave Ashgabat, there are
no road signs and we drove round in circles for a couple of hours trying to
leave the city.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The drive
up to the crater was relatively smooth. We turned off the main road at dusk
where we paid some locals with a 4wheeldrive to take us and our camping gear up
to the crater. The gates to hell truly are an impressive sight, as you crest
over the rise you see a the glow coming up out of a hole in the desert. Because
we are in Turkmenistan not England there are no safety barriers and you can
literally walk right up to the edge. Naturally we all did this, and then took a
step back as the wave of heat hit us in the face. We spent a lot time mocking
up photos in silhouette against the flames before camping nearby. In the
morning we were told to use the crater as an incinerator to take care of our
rubbish. I guess this at least keeps the camp ground clean! </span></div>Roryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16987065726936033107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281453595672463411.post-19907232441062569422012-08-05T21:48:00.001-07:002012-08-05T21:48:26.007-07:00The race to Ashgabat<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">2-3 August<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">A few days
later than expected we arrived at the Turkmenistan border, we knew this had the
potential to be a difficult border to cross, but still hadn’t anticipated how
difficult Turkmenistan makes things for foreigners. We had to buy our visas at
the border and pay in advance to get the car into the country. Not to difficult
you might think…. Think again. It’s not possible to get Turkmen Manat outside
the country and there are no money changers on the border. So inspite of having
a large stack of Kazak Tenge and Euros they wouldn’t accept our money. It turns
out they do<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>take US dollars. But we didn’t
have enough. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Luckily for
us team ‘to infinity and Baatar’ had a healthy stack of dollar, so we very
gratefully borrowed some of their dollar to get over the border. We entered the
country at quite a remote border pass, so we had miles to drive oover salt
flats and past an abandoned sodium sulfate works at Bekdash..<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We pulled
into the sea for our last night by the Caspian, in what happened to be a
Turkmen holiday resort. We were taken around by the locals who were as friendly
as the Kazaks, the beak had some hot springs, the guys were taken off to the
mens side where they had an ’interesting time’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I chatted in broken English to some of the girls on the ladies side.
We<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>re-convened as we’re fed fresh fish
and chocolates by a local, before going to a slightly awkward disco.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In the
morning we moved on to Turkmenbashi where w hoped to be able to exchange some
money to pay back infinity, but no joy. The lonely planet guide told us that
there was one bank in the capital Asgabat where you could use foreign cards to
get money. So all three teams filled up using ‘Infinity’s money and began the
long drive to Asgabat. Fortunately fuel is subsidised in Turkmenistan so it
only cost the equavilent of £4 to fill the tank.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The drive
into Ashgabatr was not terribly pleasant,having turned inland from the Caspian
we there was no cooling breeze. I sunck into Red dog racing’s car to cathch an
hours worth of Air-con before taking my turn driving in the heat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We finally go into Ashgabat at 11pm and spend
about 3 hours trying to find a hotel. We eventually succeeded and after long
showers went straight to bed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In the
morning we had a bit of a goose chase around town trying to find the bank that
would give us. Money, we eventually managed although they only accepted Master
card. Relieved to be able to pay back ‘Infinity’ we re-stocked on food and
water and headed out of the city. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Ashgabat is
acompletely insanse city, the last dictator they had decided everything should
be clad in marble, even the drains are marble. Everywher you go there are<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>golden statues of the great leader and
pictures of him hanging up everywhere. We have some pictures of the city but
not to many because if the police catch you taking photo they make you delete
them.</span></div>Roryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16987065726936033107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281453595672463411.post-72297863416461005292012-08-05T21:47:00.001-07:002012-08-07T11:33:03.052-07:00The road to Shetpe: We did it so you don’t have to…<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">31july-1August<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I wrote the
last post in the car very shortly before the tarmac ran out. Between Belaya and
Shetpe the road is recommended as 4-wheel drive only by the lonley planet
guide, all 3 teams knew this, what we weren’t expecting was just how awful the
road actually was. Not only was there no tarmac but there were pot holes the
size of cars. Progress slowed to a crawl, we averaged somewhere between 10 and
15 mph, even this was too fast in some parts. The road stretches on for some
200miles, it took us two full days to cover this section.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Halfway
through the first day on this forsaken piece of ‘road’ we discovered that you
could cover more ground by driving on the dust tracks forged by the lorries by
the side of the road. Most of the other vehicles we saw were driving on these.
The main problem with this method is the volume of dust kicked up by the cars
as we went along. Everything in the car is covered in dust, since we had the
windows open to keep cool. During this period we also discovered the joys of
riding on the roof rack!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">On the
second day, we approached a sign saying ‘the dangerous section’ we continued
with trepidation. As it turned out this was the easiest part as the road
surface was almost levelled and we headed down a 10% slope. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">After
finally reaching Shetpe we the road surface improved marginally and we carried
on to the Turkmenistan border. All three cars in our convoy had taken a
battering, we’re all very grateful to Matt from team red dog racing for helping
us check out the dings we’d put under the car. We spent another night by
Caspian, to wash off and watch a spectacular sunset.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>Roryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16987065726936033107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281453595672463411.post-49047260820535220612012-08-05T21:46:00.000-07:002012-08-07T11:34:51.590-07:00Kazakhstan first impressions<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">30July<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Since our
last post we have been convoying with the two team we met in Astrrakan. Teaming
up has exponentially increased faff levels, however japery and banter is also
on the up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We crossed
fairly quickly into Kazakhstan, the road surface immediately decreased, to
about 50% pothole. Ant did an excellent job of weaving through the good bits of
road. Just 10 minutes after entering the country the convoy got stopped by the
police apparently it was illegal for us to be driving without headlights on (in
the glaring sunshine). While the drivers were taken off to pay a $10 fine, the
only policeman that spoke any English stayed behind with the passengers to
chat. The whole exchange was quite friendly and we were soon back on the road. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">As evening
fell we turned off the main road on to dirt track into the nearest village
after some confused pointing with the local we were directed to the water. We
made camp by the edge of the Caspian Sea about an hour before sunset. I tried
to go for a swim, however after walking about 100m into the sea it was still
only up to my knees and I settled for paddling instead. The Kazak people are
some of the friendliest people we have come across, as we set camp some
families wandered over to say hello, take our picture, and make conversation in
broken English. After watching the sun set behind the Caspian all went to bed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The morning
greeted us with slightly improved road surfaces as we are currently in oil
country. After a game of French cricket we continued making our way around the
Caspian. The Kazak steppe is both flat and barren, we pitched our camp in a
windy spot leading to some dust in our dinner.</span></div>Roryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16987065726936033107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281453595672463411.post-32988258110671527312012-07-28T14:35:00.000-07:002012-07-28T14:39:00.222-07:00Now in our 15th countryPhew-we’ve had a manic few days, making progress on our route!<br />
<br />
After Minsk we headed straight into Ukraine, taking just 4 hours at the border this time however the quicker border was made up for by slightly shoutier guards. Unfortunately the insurance buying place was closed so we had our first night camped in the car, while we waited for the hut to open in the morning.
Insurance bought we headed into Kiev. The Ukrainian roads we’re slightly less pot holey compare to Belarus however, they drive like Maniacs. Overtaking into oncoming traffic is common place; on several occasions we thought we were about to witness a serious road traffic accident. For all the mental driving Kiev is a fantastic city, one which we’d all like to go back to. The historic centre was particularly pretty, unfortunately we were too busy attempting to navigate to take many pictures.
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The next day we carried on through Ukraine, it’s really quite a big place and seems to be quite affluent in many areas. As night fell we tried to find a wild camp spot, as soon as we started to pitch the tent we heard dogs barking, and after a while saw a flash light searching for us. We quickly embraced the brave tradition of running away. After another uncomfortable night we resolved to find camp spots earlier.
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<br />
The Russian border was the order for the next day. We had researched this the day before to find a previous team had been stuck there for 99 hours! We approached to border with trepidation, and were pleasantly surprised to be entering Russia within 2 hours. That night we found a nice early camp spot by a river somewhere in Russia.<br />
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As we drive further east navigating by compass is becoming more necessary due to the sheer lack on road signs and the fact that Cyrillic is difficult to read at driving speed. We are also pleased and a bit surprised to report that so far we have not met any corrupt officials: Rory has been stopped by the police who after checking the paperwork was correct allowed us to continue. Also the weather is hot, really hot, we got so sweaty that tonight we have caved in and are staying in a hotel in Astrakhan, to get showers and air conditioning. In doing so we had the pleasant surprise of meeting two other teams staying in same hotel (Red Dog Racing and To Infinity and Baatar), these are the first other ralliers we’ve met since Goodwood, so it‘s been nice to catch-up and swap stories.<br />
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Tomorrow we attempt the Kazakhstan border…Rachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04466381023033679631noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281453595672463411.post-67757257846017933972012-07-24T12:59:00.002-07:002012-07-24T13:02:26.151-07:00Cracks, Jets and Monuments<br />
Whilst driving through Lithuania, we came across an airfield with a series of Ex-Soviet fighter jets as gate guards. Naturally, we had to take a closer look at some post World War 2 to Cold War aviation history.<br />
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The three jets included a MiG-21 (shown below); the worlds most produced supersonic fighter. It was originally produced in Russia in 1959 and is still in service with some air forces today.<br />
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Also included in the line-up was a MiG-25 (centre of the three planes above) and capable of speeds up to 3.2 times the speed of sound. A Sukhoi Su-15 also featured (below), a type made infamous when it was used to shoot down Korean Air Flight 007 in 1983, a passenger carrying Boeing 747.<br />
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As an update on our previous post we made it to <a href="http://www.carglass.lt/" target="_blank">Carglass</a> in Lithuania, ok we didn’t really have a chip on our windscreen so much as a large crack growing at about 7cm per day… clearly we needed a new windscreen. We hadn’t been very hopeful that we’d be able to get a new screen, Suzuki’s don’t seem to be very common in Eastern Europe.<br />
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The guys at Carglass confirmed we needed a new windscreen and no they didn’t have one in stock. However one of their other branches had a Chinese import which they could get over within the hour. Nice. While we waited for the windscreen to be fitted, we were driven to the local market where Rory got a new hair cut! The car was ready to roll before we knew it and we were back on the road to Belarus. Thanks to Marius Hoppenas and the team at Carglass Lithuania we were really impressed with the speedy and courteous service we received.<br />
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Unfortunately speedy is not a word we could apply to the Lithuania-Belarus border crossing, to cut a long story short we started queuing at 6pm and finally cleared Belarus customs at 3am. The next day we headed into Minsk for some sightseeing. Next stop Ukraine border…<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFntL9vFtU-rKfTJrHRlE7WWAr_vm2Bc_8tzc095aN70L8xxEOGa532HoEcW-OBoXpIOufTCU8oO-zvMHA0v33IwVQXluoeiMTaAx3VbVhV3XpwcvjQC84dlFl1u-FWSDGtBp9xHpx0u7C/s1600/DSC04282rot.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFntL9vFtU-rKfTJrHRlE7WWAr_vm2Bc_8tzc095aN70L8xxEOGa532HoEcW-OBoXpIOufTCU8oO-zvMHA0v33IwVQXluoeiMTaAx3VbVhV3XpwcvjQC84dlFl1u-FWSDGtBp9xHpx0u7C/s400/DSC04282rot.JPG" width="265" /></a></div>Rachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04466381023033679631noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281453595672463411.post-58455141416502984432012-07-22T23:34:00.002-07:002012-07-22T23:53:35.328-07:00Rallying on!<br />
Since our last post we’ve been making our way South and East, before leaving Sweden we noticed our back wheel was sticking a little bit. On further inspection we discovered that the handbrake was binding onto the rear left wheel. We found a garage in Vidsel where the local mechanic Alexander managed to release the cable for us.<br />
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We’ve passed south through Finland marvelling at the many expanses of water that cover the country. In usual style as we got to the port in Helsinki we realised we’d just missed the ferry. We faffed about for 2 hours trying to find somewhere to eat, it seems eating out is not a common thing to do in Finland. Eventually we found a yha where we got pizza before getting on the ferry to Estonia. After a remarkably calm crossing we camped on an unused road on the outskirts on Talnin.<br />
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In the morning we crossed into Latvia where we stopped for a couple of hours by the beach, before heading into Lithuania. Petrol has now become much cheaper much less than £1/l , as has everything else, last night we had a traditional Latvian dinner involving pigs ears, ‘pixie’ chicken and strongmans roast plus for super cheap. This monring we are headed to Autoglass (Lithuanian equivalent) to see if they can fix a chip we found on the windscreen before attempting the Belarus border crossing.<br />
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</div>Rachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04466381023033679631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281453595672463411.post-82926371386829554802012-07-22T12:49:00.001-07:002012-07-23T04:21:37.679-07:00Illuminate Design - Many Thanks<br />
Our thank go out to Robin and the team at <a href="http://www.illuminatedesign.co.uk/ID/Home.html">Illuminate Design</a> for their support in our adventure to Mongolia. They have kindly supplied us with four spot lights for our car. We have filled them full of sealant, rigged them up, run the cables and, because of my technical-theatre-ness, frosted them too!<br />
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"Illuminate Design deliver a new approach to the provision of technical services to the entertainment industry.<br />
They offer a forward thinking technical and production management team which can add that little extra to any show or corporate event that might have been missing in the past." I had the pleasure of working with Illuminate Design on the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Pageant in Battersea Park, London and cannot recommend them enough. Professional, accomodating and very friendly.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.illuminatedesign.co.uk/ID/Home.html" imageanchor="1" target="0" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="83" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbaRHSRSxqown732IfGas5vAsrlcypItGF1oJi3sDXGcU6xt6xNH0tVewjBKK_fFJXRjYK_zYlT9PANLEDa8wIR0t3lALOSs7HU_2Fs3OEkC_uNfJKzPKEX6V3cruZ_CDXW7XK2YS-AiTF/s640/logo+white+back.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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When we arrive in Ulaanbaatar we will donate the spot lights to The Lotus Children’s Centre, one of the charities we are raising money for. You can support them too by clicking <a href="http://www.icgradualprogress.com/p/charities.html">HERE</a>.<br />
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</div>I C Gradual Progresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05343727089062935831noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281453595672463411.post-44968671358305037882012-07-19T05:18:00.003-07:002012-07-19T05:18:55.099-07:00Storforsen<span lang="EN"> Apologies for use of kayak jargon in this post<br />
We couldn’t let our trip through Scandinavia go by without a visit to Storforsen; the largest rapids in Europe. <br />
These big volume rapid fall over 50m in the length of 600m, we could see the spray being kicked up from some distance away, above the height of the trees. The rapids themselves were incredible, the sheer power of such a volume of water falling so far is phenomenal.<br />
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After we picked our jaws up off the floor we had a quick game of fantasy line, however just imagining someone attempting to paddle it was enough to make me feel slightly queasy. Essentially for any route down the rapid one would encounter a terminal hole followed by another terminal hole above a steep drop with a further terminal hole at the bottom, lather, rinse and repeat several times and you sort of get the idea.<br />
We spent sometime trying to capture Storforsen on camera and video, but I don’t think the pictures really do it justice, you have to go and see it for yourself. These were by far and away the biggest stoppers any of us had ever seen. The first picture is just upsteam and out of sight of the second picture, and there is still much more gnar both up and downstream of these pictures.<br />
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We spent another night in a mosquito infested campsite. Inspite of covering all exposed skin, (I even wore purple nitrile gloves for cooking), we have all been bitten a lot. Rory however has the most bites, possibly due to his aversion to marmite making his blood the tastiest. </span>Rachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04466381023033679631noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281453595672463411.post-13898133529938472112012-07-18T12:33:00.001-07:002012-07-20T01:54:53.955-07:00The Arctic Circle, we made it!<span lang="EN"> After a Looong day of driving we finally reached the Arctic circle at 1.30am!<br />
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The final stretch of driving involved duct-taping an iPhone to the dash to keep a check on our GPS co-ordinates. The suspense was immense as the road has several bends that took us back south before heading north again. however the constant daylight kept us awake (even if it did have a bit of a jet lag feel to it). We saw a few moose and with Rachel's careful driving avoided any too intimate meetings!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIz99NQ8yOViuj1f608d2JMhe0xTyeEqnqRq14PrVXfr8IAnoinkWdZPfr0XDXD4b5RSWSv6vdt6YICmj2FTh5yx2E3aP6wHR9T5nUctvqPwGdQHZQ3q5x4jNKlKIJ-gnxZ6wP-MFFG3a6/s1600/DSC04009.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" hda="true" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIz99NQ8yOViuj1f608d2JMhe0xTyeEqnqRq14PrVXfr8IAnoinkWdZPfr0XDXD4b5RSWSv6vdt6YICmj2FTh5yx2E3aP6wHR9T5nUctvqPwGdQHZQ3q5x4jNKlKIJ-gnxZ6wP-MFFG3a6/s320/DSC04009.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><em>Here we are at the arctic circle polar station, its about 1.30 in the morning and look how light it is even with the overcast sky</em><br />
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We pitched camp within the Arctic Circle with a mostly successful, midge avoidance speed entry to the tent. <br />
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Today we got up at a leisurely pace after the previous late night and headed to Storfossen (we will post regarding this at another time as there is only so long we can park outside the hotel and steal their wifi).<br />
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So far as we know we have reached the most northerly point of any Mongol Rally team (unless anyone can correct us)</span>Rachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04466381023033679631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281453595672463411.post-64033599977878885422012-07-18T12:14:00.001-07:002012-07-18T12:14:13.322-07:00Heading North<span lang="EN"> (16th July)<br />
To achieve our aim of getting to the Arctic circle, we’re spending some days driving North. Happily the weather situation has vastly improved, which makes for much more pleasant driving and camping.<br />
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After crossing the border into Norway we made a quick detour to meet up with Maggie (who studied at RADA with Rory), and visited her family at their summer home near Svinesund. We stopped off for a quick dip in the fjord, this was believed to be a sufficient substitute for a shower, and thus we are all now super clean.<br />
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It should be noted that while getting changed for a swim, Rory found a slug, inside his shoe, right at the end, it had been there All Day- poor slug. Every morning we now have a shoe-slug check.<br />
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In the evening Maggie’s family kindly invited us into their house for a lovely dinner. The house itself had stunning views over the fjord and was built by her great-grandad and his brothers in the 1930s!<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjONQpi6VgO9g2FtVqcONj9-9EkbRM3GwsN4zrWwlXU2t0cZ3TFF-d2u0adAJLvYmfWx7CUJmFLZxazb50W6501j9kfRNDOjiiWWAYQLOtwq98GyEPlQDa7WqHIdVfz1PFktBWt3DOTzxt8/s1600/IMG_0203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" hda="true" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjONQpi6VgO9g2FtVqcONj9-9EkbRM3GwsN4zrWwlXU2t0cZ3TFF-d2u0adAJLvYmfWx7CUJmFLZxazb50W6501j9kfRNDOjiiWWAYQLOtwq98GyEPlQDa7WqHIdVfz1PFktBWt3DOTzxt8/s320/IMG_0203.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
We continued the drive north, while we aren’t in the Arctic Circle yet it certainly doesn’t get fully dark at night. Current position 62.42 degrees North and counting.</span>Rachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04466381023033679631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281453595672463411.post-42131319952256488522012-07-16T05:13:00.001-07:002012-07-16T05:21:37.618-07:00We are go<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">
We set off from London Friday, before we even escaped the M25 we have to pull onto the hard shoulder for an emergency stop (roof issues). Undeterred we carried on to good wood in the sheeting rain, on arrival it was raining so hard we got instantly soaked just getting out of the car. We pitched camp alongside some other teams in a field that was rapidly taking on swamp-like qualities. The rain continued well into the night, (the good news is that we now know our tent is solidly waterproof).</div>
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The next morning we packed up camp and headed onto Goodwood race course during a brief break in the rain; here we met Rory fresh from the previous nights graduation. The rain returned along with the arrival of various parents and supporters, all attempts at organised packing were abandoned in favour haphazardly shoving everything into the car. Many thanks to team ‘4 Stags’ for letting us use their undercover garage!<br /> <br /> </div>
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<span lang="EN"> <br /> <br /> <br />Surprisingly soon it was time to say our hasty goodbyes before climbing into the car for our lap of honour around Goodwood Ant drew the lucky driving straw. Halfway through the lap the rain returned in earnest and didn’t stop until we got on to the ferry. The bad weather made for a fairly rough crossing, however we celebrated leaving the country with a small mountain of food provided by assorted mums.<br /> </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfMkoTvYhrQhIJv2HjUBMlWNZXP-PpRI3S76TV2cOjLjS5tBEhS-pY4pjYSMyOJXuBY3Qi1IM8WUz9gf7fMms3zL-t7xUy0FOK_I1fybbzjbmHBz4T_NoTKQUVOzaQXxzToofnKG4T4RG7/s1600/IMG_0155.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img $ca="true" border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfMkoTvYhrQhIJv2HjUBMlWNZXP-PpRI3S76TV2cOjLjS5tBEhS-pY4pjYSMyOJXuBY3Qi1IM8WUz9gf7fMms3zL-t7xUy0FOK_I1fybbzjbmHBz4T_NoTKQUVOzaQXxzToofnKG4T4RG7/s320/IMG_0155.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span lang="EN"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">
<br /> <br />Once off the ferry France quickly became Belgium; Flemmish roads it seems are not really coping with the soggy weather. After a couple of cheeky aquaplanes from Rachel, we set up camp for the night in another sodden field somewhere west of Antwerp</div>
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<br />Morning greeted us with small specks of actual blue sky, and we set off Eastward, we’re currently somewhere in Germany heading up towards Denmark. (actually uploaded from via Mcwifi in Scandanavia)</div>
</span>Rachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04466381023033679631noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281453595672463411.post-8315916398675814992012-07-09T11:13:00.002-07:002012-07-09T11:24:23.635-07:00In which we attempt stunt* driving<div class="MsoNormal">
It's now only a few days to go before we set off and the team spent the
weekend <s>getting prepared</s> trying our hand at stunt* driving! Our local
supermarkets came up with the goods, donating a small mountain of boxes for ‘packing’
purposes. </div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“who needs a tent; we
could sleep in these boxes like a tramp!”</i></div>
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After scouting out a couple of potential locations, we snuck
into college to make use of a quiet back road. Boxes were put together and we started
to build a wall. Annoyingly the unfortunate weather blew the wall down several
times, fortunately however we had a Joanna to hold the wall steady while we stuck on
the I C Gradual Progress logo.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBsPXRRdA8134mVr1WFzj8pubq_6CWNi1t5pNQzh2VYFZnizGV3JnZ_ohuZcMWQ-gD1Bm6Qbfcf41LNg5_UCHRN8w1cei9P6P5vupbLwxN6zItNzGOXKgU8ZaVXVPvC_1wV297Rz6yb0N2/s1600/DSC03672.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBsPXRRdA8134mVr1WFzj8pubq_6CWNi1t5pNQzh2VYFZnizGV3JnZ_ohuZcMWQ-gD1Bm6Qbfcf41LNg5_UCHRN8w1cei9P6P5vupbLwxN6zItNzGOXKgU8ZaVXVPvC_1wV297Rz6yb0N2/s320/DSC03672.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Once cameras were set up, we drove down the wall.</div>
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The video footage will be combined into our final trip video (the
driver face-cam may have recorded a small squeal as we sped towards the wall). Oh
and we took a cheesy team photo too! Check out the free T's we got from Lotus and Mountain Rescue.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrua_TYUNz8TOapNui3BExulp4OXYZOH-jEOU1W2aBijX4RoZV_Ab5tZjzezzyJGJfPX0zLdV8fE9dAV2iB5kTgLUddP_J7KlQw7Sy772PkkaPi3Un9PZyprliOjuEbLLWSHzI4bRHEBk2/s1600/Copy+of+DSC03633.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrua_TYUNz8TOapNui3BExulp4OXYZOH-jEOU1W2aBijX4RoZV_Ab5tZjzezzyJGJfPX0zLdV8fE9dAV2iB5kTgLUddP_J7KlQw7Sy772PkkaPi3Un9PZyprliOjuEbLLWSHzI4bRHEBk2/s320/Copy+of+DSC03633.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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*driving over some card boxes may not actually count as stunt driving but in any case we had a lot of fun.</div>
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</div>Rachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04466381023033679631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281453595672463411.post-83597709418852210242012-07-05T07:59:00.002-07:002012-07-05T07:59:50.322-07:00We have a roof rack!<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Over the last few weeks we’ve been in touch with the lovely
folks at Wilco racks. For people who don’t know, these are the guys who build
the excellent roof racks for the ICU minibuses. While they don’t usually do
cars, they kindly recognised our charitable endeavour and have built us a
custom designed roof rack for the Ignis. Today I went to pick up the result...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFdPZ4EvNZxR1ntHx6vInS6J1CgyL4ZhYVEPKENR8mlPCkCAfzp4N_wdS_XVZRzzxhz_Ai_T7ddrXbKlrM8xkg6sV3vV686WaBPhQVcX6ukOLV2BtYNqfq3xM_MFVSzI5JyxghLx0sEduo/s1600/P7056338.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFdPZ4EvNZxR1ntHx6vInS6J1CgyL4ZhYVEPKENR8mlPCkCAfzp4N_wdS_XVZRzzxhz_Ai_T7ddrXbKlrM8xkg6sV3vV686WaBPhQVcX6ukOLV2BtYNqfq3xM_MFVSzI5JyxghLx0sEduo/s320/P7056338.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
I'm really pleased with this piece of kit, it's way sturdier than any of the roof option you can get on the highstreet and hopefully it will hold all the extra stuff we can’t fit in
the boot all the way to Mongolia!<br />
Many thanks to the team at <a href="http://www.wilcoracks.co.uk/node/2" target="_blank">Wilco</a>.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGy2uUlWoUusUU7FfJPDEU3uHT8SkcdouCWtlmBCiiwv6w0I6UaRh7zpPgE_4TTpcD0-G4fuX-iqo9_w3Mn-GkHwXSQAxTEdrwnlfHU-EhvQf7eXZdd4KPb_6Vrciw8okgTeEh75SeTCIB/s1600/P7056337.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGy2uUlWoUusUU7FfJPDEU3uHT8SkcdouCWtlmBCiiwv6w0I6UaRh7zpPgE_4TTpcD0-G4fuX-iqo9_w3Mn-GkHwXSQAxTEdrwnlfHU-EhvQf7eXZdd4KPb_6Vrciw8okgTeEh75SeTCIB/s320/P7056337.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Rachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04466381023033679631noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281453595672463411.post-33818831285303068572012-07-03T09:08:00.002-07:002012-07-06T03:12:27.290-07:00Car Preparations (Part 1!)With less than two weeks to go before the "Festival of Slow" at Goodwood, I thought it was time to start giving the car a good clean and a thorough check over!<br />
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Sadly the car arrived in a less than clean and tidy state on the inside, so I would like to say a big thank you to my mum (Frances) for following my vacuuming with a shampooer. (Sorry Rach, but there is no longer chocolate embedded into the rear seats!)</div>
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Of course, I couldn't write this without also acknowledging Becky, the perpetual distraction - shown here helpfully modelling the boot space mid cleaning:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidZLc4t4zrBov2pM3TU6zkuEG2v0SwbmUJPPGw1b4AOz-_zuWoTHdn5432VaQY-uNiQu8QHtr2JqKwr3nc4vUavfia_CPNALvRbtl0-9un4-jDzUoveXMtUmvT_i7ZycyMH4FYMr77GCQ/s1600/DSC03588.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidZLc4t4zrBov2pM3TU6zkuEG2v0SwbmUJPPGw1b4AOz-_zuWoTHdn5432VaQY-uNiQu8QHtr2JqKwr3nc4vUavfia_CPNALvRbtl0-9un4-jDzUoveXMtUmvT_i7ZycyMH4FYMr77GCQ/s400/DSC03588.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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It would appear that at some point in the car's past someone used the jack in the wrong place, damaging a join in the body work. Unfortunately, this also bent part of the actual jacking point in the process, which made it difficult to get the jack in place properly:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuNQmVgmYYEawBku3xq1sGpXhtWO2xp06WsM-W5rll4hxCol86L9aMvP4FOcq3xLVk44OdmvMT2qx-Uit4swa7oWRjCcq_Tsp4de-s1lFn45LW81Ot_bHamBi0HtpokUf0VDYeGZB8Yx0/s1600/DSC03599.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuNQmVgmYYEawBku3xq1sGpXhtWO2xp06WsM-W5rll4hxCol86L9aMvP4FOcq3xLVk44OdmvMT2qx-Uit4swa7oWRjCcq_Tsp4de-s1lFn45LW81Ot_bHamBi0HtpokUf0VDYeGZB8Yx0/s400/DSC03599.JPG" width="265" /></a></div>
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Careful application of a 2 lb lump hammer via a die (piece of wood) put it right though:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDNLDKv8U1eaPfz0cPqzeHm3q3L9A3iiBFcep1FLOiDuSXIZwZEZ-vccn4E8QjWodU2XoPV8GbDbvzU9Eh0jzZxwPLEWyNxXTFtac32qQID1MbS42k-6TH4dOr3HpKHXCHnFBv8P1dBQA/s1600/DSC03602.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDNLDKv8U1eaPfz0cPqzeHm3q3L9A3iiBFcep1FLOiDuSXIZwZEZ-vccn4E8QjWodU2XoPV8GbDbvzU9Eh0jzZxwPLEWyNxXTFtac32qQID1MbS42k-6TH4dOr3HpKHXCHnFBv8P1dBQA/s400/DSC03602.JPG" width="265" /></a></div>
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The second problem of the day was one of a (very) stuck wheel nut. It also turns out that the car's own wheel wrench is not very strong - it bent surprising easily. Not to be outdone, I found a stronger, longer wrench - but failed again and had to look for a bar to extend the wrench. It would appear these are either missing in action, or buried in the garage - so I had to improvise with the peculiar sack-truck contraption below*:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSleUD1Di8a_ESKHm05h534Bui6r7WyCOEEKpvaaM2b32OnO5ZXn5F3POJi-fqpyAzwBAlTYXVpGhKZ2I75fb9wuc2SN7KNwGEA3F26oYRuFt_8bqhdLIwbX55ZEu_BOsy08wMbqSBzOs/s1600/DSC03607.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSleUD1Di8a_ESKHm05h534Bui6r7WyCOEEKpvaaM2b32OnO5ZXn5F3POJi-fqpyAzwBAlTYXVpGhKZ2I75fb9wuc2SN7KNwGEA3F26oYRuFt_8bqhdLIwbX55ZEu_BOsy08wMbqSBzOs/s400/DSC03607.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Despite applying approximately three times the torque to which the wheel nuts should be done up, I still couldn't get it to shift. There is now a thread un-locking solution (hopefully) working its way in. If that doesn't work, it's going to be an embarrassing trip to the garage! (I hasten to add that I had no such issues with the other 15 wheel nuts...)<br />
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Otherwise, the car appears to be in a very good state mechanically. A set of new windscreen wiper blades and re-fixing the number plate using bolts (instead of peeling sticky pads) finished the work for the day. Once we've fitted a new alternator belt and the new roof rack, we should be ready to go!<br />
<br />
Antony<br />
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*Before someone points it out, the wooden block is just to hold the sack-truck up for the photo, it isn't a pivot point!</div>
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<br /></div>Antonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06602973562294262594noreply@blogger.com2