Thanks to everyone

Its been a long time coming, but here is our 'thanks' post. Only those that have been on the Mongol Rally can understand the 'rally fatigue' that has set in since we returned. The whole adventure was amazing fun, and an unforgettable experience - but having worked frenetically for 6 months prior to setting off on our journey - the prospect of fiddling with the website on our return was not a nice one.

Suitably recovered now though - we'd like to thank each and every person and company that helped us to achieve the impossible and take our battered Fiat Panda all the way to Mongolia. We took about 23 days to shift a 15 year old, 1 litre car, all the way from Hyde Park in London to inner Mongolia.

In the process, and thanks to you all - we raised over £3500 for the 2 nominated charities. We also learned a lot about the world and ourselves, met some fantastic people, saw wonderful cultures and landscapes and even learned a little about car maintenance too.

Thanks again.

Rally updates - all competitors

Now that we are into Russia, my mobile phone has ceased working as an emailing device - so the updates will probably be shorter from now on. A good way to keep in touch with how everyone is doing (not just us) is to look at the Mongol Rally update site, where people are texting in with progress.

The dash to prague

Late yesterday afternoon we arrived in Prague. It was the conclusion of a serious bit of endurance driving - all the way from the ferry in Boulogne, through France, Belgium, Holland and Germany and finally the Czech Republic. So far we've had no real problems with the cars. Highlights included a cracking night drive - even passing the Stella brewery when we took a wrong turn and ended up in Leuven. It was also great fun whizzing along the German autobahn as the sun came up. The only stops we had through the while night and day were for fuel and toilet. By the time we got to Prague we were all absolutely destroyed and so there was no option really but to find a room and stay the night. The first part of the journey was too exciting for us to think about sleeping so we didn't - and it had clearly taken its toll. So last night was spent having a couple of gentle beers, traditional Czech food, and a jolly good sleep. The net result was that we felt really refreshed this morning and much less like zombies. We've decided to make more of an effort to actually sleep whilst not driving - so we won't be totally dead on our feet in 36 hours time - hopefully! This morning we hooked up with the green panda team - who had got an earlier ferry than us originally and then disappeared in a blaze of rubbish car glory, not to be seen again til Prague. Today we set off with Poland in our sights - the first 'new' country for me. As i'm writing this now we've made it into Poland and are dashing to Warsaw. The roads are hilarious. In towns there's bumpy cobble stones and out of town its all rutted single track roads littered with a combination of lorries and really old fiats. Throw in a few trams as well and it makes for good fun. The country is beautiful. Quite flat, very rural, forests and the occasional rolling hill. The border guards were really nice too - only took thirty seconds and they wished us luck. Our under powered convoy isn't exactly scything through the traffic - though we are trying. Consequently we're likely to be driving Poland all day long, though i am hoping we'll creep into Lithuania late tonight. Amazing! The rally has already claimed some early victims. The legendary reliant robin had an alternator failure in Calais, which must have been gutting - but i've no doubt they're using their best French to try and resolve it today. One of the jeeps has bowed out with a clutch failure and the roamer home kissed goodbye to its gearbox. With luck on our side, we trundle on.

Dover

Then followed a leisurely drive down to dover, a fish and chip dinner and onto the ferry. It was delayed and so we didn't arrive in france til gone midnight. As i'm typing this - we've started a manic sprint across europe - hopefully culminating in a successful arrival in prague by tea time! Sounds bonkers, and on reflection it probably is. We should hit brussels in half an hour or so.

We're off!

We are officially off. The day began with free english breakfast in a hyde park hotel and then with a short drive to the start. There ensued chaotic scenes as forty mad pairs of travellers congregated in hyde park. Massive thanks to my family and friends for such an awesome send off. Taking the biscuit had to be my sister and here family who managed to turn up by suprise and produce an enormous banner saying 'ghengis can't but panda's can'. Class.

Translation service

Team mongolian Job thanks Maria Krüger for her translation service. We asked for a page of explanation about the rally and the charities to be translated from English into Russian - so that we would have something to show to local people who are quizzical about our silly, sticker-covered car.

The translation was done overnight. Thanks very much.

Sunny days

It seems we needn't have any worries about getting cold on the trip. Uzbekistan at night is currently warmer than our British daytimes, literally. And as furnace season approaches - the temperatures are creeping manacingly over 40 degrees C in Central Asia.

Bedfare

Sleep and cleanliness are two things that we can't expect a whole lot of once we set off - so we really hoped we could bank on a good night's kip and a wash on Friday night. Sadly, a leaving party in Wandsworth on Friday night left us facing the distinct possibility of a torrid night's sleep on a mate's floor in London. Thanks to Bedfare though, this is no longer the case. Goodbye "friend's floor" - "Hello 4* accomodation" at Hyde Park. Sarah Green, the MD of Bedfare has a background in farming and so was only too willing to help us raise money for Send a Cow. Thanks so much. Its going to be the best/only night's sleep we have for a month.

Directcarparts.co.uk

Fuel is a problem for our trip. Not only is it hard to find and hard to buy, but even if we manage that, it is apparently pretty crappy quality once we get past Russia. 'RON' is the measure of octane, and in the UK we enjoy a bog standard of 95 RON - and 97 if you're prepared to pay a few extra pence for the priviledge. However, once we reach the sunny climbs of Kazakhstan, it falls to just 72, and down to 68 in Mongolia. Running our car on that will be like trying to get drunk on Kaliber. In stepped directcarparts, who kindly offered a shed load of octane booster - which will effectively give us additional RON. They've given us enough for 3,000 miles - which should help the final third of the journey - when things get bad. Its like a poor man's turbo, and should see us roar past 30mph to the finish. Nice one Simon.