Princess Roo II

Back. Phew.

2008-08-26T12:55:00.003+01:00

We're back in London! Praise the Lord. Spent the weekend marvelling at the wonder of all things modern and organised, like Waitrose, smooth tarmac, cold water and heating. For once I am more than happy to be on British soil. Our luck turned at the very end of the trip...we got thrown off the transiberian railway in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere after just 7 hours for not having a piece of paper that doesn't actually exist - some row has errupted between the rally lot and Mongolian customs which means they are not letting any rally people in or out of the Northern border in Mongolia. Little blighters. Anyway, enough enough.

A massive massive thank you to everyone and anyone who sponsored us, we made it and we've collectively raised nearly half a million pounds for charity. Muchos gracias. xxx

Magnificant Mongolia

2008-08-17T03:16:00.004+01:00

Arrived in Ulaan Bataar on Thursday, whohay, yay, yippee, yeah!!! Sorry for not updating blog, but sim card died in all the dust and heat. Total mileage: 7660 miles, we came 40th out of 300! The far west of Mongolia is unbelievable, vast mountains, all about 3000m high, scattered yurts, thousands of wild horses, pristine, vast, open and welcomimg. Incredibly hard driving - on the first day over the western border it took us 15 hours to cover 40 miles...impossibly steep roads, car feeling like its going to roll any minute, deep trenches and ruts that lock the wheels, rivers to cross. Found a human skull just lying by the side of the road. Our slow going meant we had to extend our driving time to 5.30am - 8.30pm, which means we have about half an hour to put the tents up (except the damn op-up tent boys...grrrr), and occassionally we have enough energy to get the stove going. Strangely, even though we are driving in arduous conditions the cars are doing fine. Dust in the fuel ump of the Roo held us up for 2 hours, we needed to adjust the mixture as we climbed higher and higher and as the petrol quality went down, dust absolutely everywhere...ears, nose, eyes streaming all the time, in our food, inches of it in the cars. Didn't realise that Mongolia is the 3rd highest country in the world, so it gets pretty cold at night. We have our camping routine down to a fine art now...Ad and I can have the car packed in 30 mins. Had a messy night drinking fermented mare's milk...it tastes like a shot of stilton mixed with bleach, but makes a break from endless cup-a-soups. Now in UB, which is a mental place. We all miss the space and peace of the countryside we have been driving through for the last 6 days. Some highlights include comng across a horseman hunting with a golden eagle...he let me hold it - it weighed a ton and had a small black hood over its head to stop it flying away. Another highlight: being invited into a guur for a Mongol wedding then also, seeing a family moving house - 5 camels with the yurt packed up on their backs,goats leading the way, followed by cows then horses then dogs bringing up the rear. Dropped the Roo off at customs depot yesterday...a sad moment. She is probable going to be given direct to charity as she is in such a good state. Saw all the other carsa which are wrecks...can't understand how we managed to have a smooth ride. It was the finishing party last night, and today we prepare for the 6 day train ride toMoscow.CAnt wait to sleep, eat hot food and relax!

Low front

2008-08-06T10:10:00.002+01:00

Crossed into Russia for the final time. We're now in the top right hand corner of russia which borders with Mongolia. We are in the same time zone as Perth. Weirdly the landscape looks just like Norfolk. We are eating Borsch soup and milk soup - a Russian stew-like broth which is very warming and Shashlyk which is sort of like a kebab made out of non-descript meat. The Kazak/Russian border was our toughest yet...6 hours, sitting in a small windowless room being ignored, hallucinating with tiredness, plus the meanest looking Alsation sniff searched our car twice...quite nerve-racking. We've perfected our 'border faces' - look serious, stare at the cockroaches on the floor and be polite but not friendly. Then after a 20 hour day we crossed the border only to check ourselves into the grottiest place I've ever stayed; dirty bed linen, no water just 2 bottles of brown water next to the tap and cockroaches. Then had the most disgusting breakfast yet...no eggs so Jon ordered Cutlets...always a mistake. Ad and I didn't touch them. After this much driving the tiredness we are all experiencing is like jetlag. The other day I could only manage 1.5 hours of driving, Ad had to do the rest...it becomes painful to drive and we hit potholes and only just miss cows wandering into the road. Onwards.

Total eclipse of the heart

2008-08-03T05:23:00.003+01:00

Forgot to mention,as if enough good things didn't happen on my birthday, there was also an eclipse, which we only stumbled across because everyone in a cafe in Astana, Kazak were holding floppy disks up at the sun. Here is a picture of the weird shadows we saw.

Married to the family

2008-08-03T05:02:00.002+01:00

Yesterday was a funny day. Got up a bit hungover from birthday celebrations (where we drank all f our bribes), then we continued the drive. By now the landscape is mainly flat grassland for as far as the eye can see. After about 4 hours we sopped for fuel in a small corrugated iron petrol station and went in for a coffee only to find a full blown kazak wedding party going on inside, 3 days and 60 bottles of vodka after the actual wedding. We were immediately asked to sit down and join them all. Huge platters of mutton arrived and we all had to do shots and toasts to different things. After much translation by Jon it turned out we had crashed a Kazak mafia wedding. They all wanted ther picture taken with us, and Ad gave them polaroids which they loved. Now heading to Semey where the nuclear bomb testing took place between 1940 and 1989. Not hanging around tho, and later today we hit Russia again for 2 days. Missing everyone back home...it feels like we've been gone for weeks and weeks now x x

A Kazak birthday

2008-08-01T09:58:00.005+01:00

Currently north of India (this is the extent of our navigation skills at the moment, maps are completely redundant), heading towards the Mongol border in two days time. Am having the best birthday ever...this morning the boys drove one of the cars a short distance across the kazak steppe and ran a power shower from the cigarette lighter...10 mins of hot water after about 3 days without a shower. Then a weather worn old farmer appeared out of nowhere with a herd of horses and foals. Then Ad made scrambled eggs and did all the driving over the nightmare potholes and I sat and relaxed. Now we are sitting in a russian restaurant in Astana eating horse meat (No!) and salted watermelon. One of my best bdays x x x

Top 10 roadside sales

2008-07-26T20:22:00.002+01:00

I'm sitting waiting for my washing to dry. Here is a list of the best things we've seen for sale on the edge of the road:

1. Rocking horses, garden gnomes and giant plastic Statues of Liberty
2. Smoked catfish
3. Bowl of boiled eggs and jar of mayonaise
4. Lots of lovely turnips, onions, carrots and gherkins
5. Wicker chairs and wicker swans
6. Honey in many different shades
7. Rocking giraffes
8. Brushes and broomes
9. Sunflowers
10.Industrial gloves

Lorry Jewellery

2008-07-26T16:08:00.005+01:00

In a hotel in Volgograd, Russia having a rest and a shower after one night of camping and one night sleeping in the car, which was extremely uncomfortable (35 degrees, steering wheel always in wrong place). Had a very close shave on the road yesterday so have totally lost my nerve overtaking - which is a bit worrying given that we have 8000 miles still to go. The sheer scale of the drive is sinking in now - we can just about manage 350 miles a day due to heat, tiredness, stress and road conditions. We are driving all day, stopping a road cafes and stalls for a stretch then carrying on. Am loving it.

Anyway, recently in the Ukraine we were attracting a fair amount of flak from large lorries carrying logs and bales of hay so we decided to pimp the Roo up a bit and bought this:

Tears and Towropes

2008-07-23T12:59:00.000+01:00

Reached the ukraine last night after four relatively smooth days, having driven through france, germany, holland and polland. Only mishap was related to finding an errant sponge in the engine which caused the roo to break down on a roundabout and much hilarity. Now staying with Jon's family in law in Vimmitsa being plied with vodka, caviar and gawdy coloured cakes. Kamikazee driving by log lorries and Ladas, jars of pickled cherries being sold on the side of the road. Today we are heading for the black sea for some coastal camping. Next stop Russia.

Rally Eve

2008-07-19T01:44:00.002+01:00

It's about 1.45am and I've finally finished packing my 5 bags - technology bag, food bag, car bag, personal stuff bag and camping bag. Somehow it's all fitted into the Roo's tiny boot, with only a small amount of stuff going on the roof. Tonight feels a bit like Christmas eve. I'm a bit jittery and nervous. I can't believe it really is tomorrow, after all this time. Anyway, wish me luck lovely people. Not sure when I will next be checking in - we are supposedly leaving Hyde Park tomorrow at 12.30 and then getting to Germany THAT NIGHT. Then Krakow the night after, then Prague where there's the big rally party, then Odessa, then who knows where. I just wanted to say a big huge, heartfelt thank you to everyone who's given me money. You've all been more than generous. Next time, from some road side Motel Tx

What is it all about?

2008-07-04T13:04:00.004+01:00

Adam (the photographer coming with me) and I have got different reasons for doing this trip. I've got quite a few, but the main reasons is this: to understand how big the world really is. You can never really get that when you fly.

But when you're driving to a place, you eventually understand in real time, the distance you're covering, and therefore the size of the earth.

Does that make any sense? So, the thing I'm interested in is how many meal times does it take to get to Ulaan Bataar? How many sunsets will I see? How many biscuits will I eat? It's all about making distance a real thing, rather than an arbitary measurement. So this will be an important piece of equipment:

Time to think silly

2008-07-04T12:49:00.003+01:00

What with injections, visas, last testimony wills, oaths, timing plans (yes, for all you fallonites reading this!) money and then more money, the whole thing's got a bit too serious. After all this is meant to be fun.

Tomorrow we do a trial full pack and see how much stuff fits, or doesn't fit into our tiny boot space and roof racks. Then we pack again with 1/3 of all our stuff, and this is when it gets tricky. What is more important...Kite or chair? Inflatable canoe or inflatable bed? Haribo or dried mashed potato?

Either way, I've asked Tony to strap this to roofrack, so that when we're driving slowly through villages we can provide some entertainment:(a commercial bubble machine)

Q.

2008-05-15T13:14:00.003+01:00

Could I take Stanley with me? If I get him a pet passport...? I know he would love it. He's such a dog's dog.

Princess Roo in pieces

2008-05-15T12:34:00.005+01:00

Last Tuesday we broke into Princess Roo and the boys dismantled the whole front section of the car (technical term) in order to break the steering column and then start the Roo with a screwdriver.

It all got a bit technical for me, so I went for walk and found this amazing Moroccan tile shop on the same street, basically downstairs in someone's house on a residential street. Inside were beautiful hand-crafted tiles in the most gorgeous colours and intricate designs, as well as tile fireplaces and lanterns. Think I might get this design to put over the concrete someone poured over our fireplace in the front room:

Anyway, just as the steering wheel was off and all the parts laid out on the pavement we realised I hadn't brought any proof that I owned the car and wasn't trying to nick it (would anyone want to nick the Roo really?), and there were loads of police wandering around (it was Kensal Rise after all). Anyway, it was all a bit upsetting and stressful, and I felt a bit bad for Mrs Edwin that we're taking her car to bits, but it could be that one little bolt from it saves the day and gets us all the way to UB. Here is Paul taking the steering wheel off and me thinking it would be funny to drive it using the indictors:

Goodbye little Princess.

Good people do exist

2008-04-05T15:59:00.000+01:00

After having been feeling really low and depressed and generally feeling like a subhuman, my bag was returned to me with this note:How good is that?

Mishap on a grand scale

2008-03-31T15:33:00.000+01:00

So I'm kind of adopting a 'one step forward, two steps back' approach to rally planning. Went to a party last weekend at (cringe...) Aquarium in Old Street (that wasn't where we planned to go, it's where we ended up) and I managed to get my bag stolen, containing my wallet, phone, housekeys, utility bills, wait for it...passport and rally car keys. So now the beautiful Princess Roo is sans keys.

Anyway, next tuesday the boys are coming up to Kensal Green and are going to break in and hot wire the Princess and then drive her back to Potters Bar and strip her. Princess Roo is going to become our designated 'parts' car. ARRRGHHHGGH. I feel so guilty to Mrs. Edwin.

What will become of Princess Roo?

100 day action plan (well, sort of...)

2008-03-01T12:49:00.002Z

A group of us are doing the Mongol rally - a race from London to Mongolia, driving over 7 mountain ranges, 3 deserts, across the Caspian Sea and then through a load of scary sounding countries ending in stan - Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan (good scrabble word that last one). If this wasn't hard enough, the organisers have introduced a tiny but fatal rule. We have to do the race in a 1000cc car (think hairdryer on wheels).

My car is the lovely (but sometimes difficult) Princess Roo - a 1993 Austin Maestro Clubman. Picture coming as soon as I can get over to Kensal Green. I bought it from ebay for £126 from the lovely Mrs. Edwin Lilley, whose husband had owned it his whole life:

In the back of my head I wasn't sure how well she'd take the news about what we were planning to do with her car, but I decided to tell her and and she was absolutely thrilled, so I feel okay about everything we're going to do now. We'll keep her posted with our plans.

Anyway, in case you're wondering what on earth I'm doing, the point of this rally is to raise over £5000 for a number of different charities. This is obviously loads of money, but I'm naively hopeful I can do it. So, if you're feeling flush, click on the justgiving bar to the right and donate some money - anything you give will go directly to the charities and will be hugely appreciated by both me and them. Thanks a million, love Tamsin x