, Hong Kong

Colin left for London today it's all suddenly become very real no longer abstract

New update from Twitter

Just a few days to go before there are a lot more days to go http://t.co/JUvuKLeX

Essex, UK

I haven't even seen the car yet! Off to buy camping equipment today, oh and I suppose some maps!

Essex, UK

We leave tomorrow for Mongolia but we still don't have any maps or a GPS!

Chichester, UK

first stop after 4.6 miles ( including the starting lap) in Curry's looking for a GPS

Dover, UK

Missed two ferries, we are already 50% slower than first anticipated. No punctures yet. Mileage 129m

Dover, UK

missed the 4pm & 6pm ferries but we're front and Center for the 8pm one. I hope this isn't a taste of things to come!

Dover, UK

the Mongol Rally in numbers http://bit.ly/Lo8ziY

Lower Normandy, France

14 July 23:16 / 129 miles. Finally taking the beaches of Dunkirk and heading to Brugge (Belgium) shortly in search of lodging.

14 July 23:59 /...

14 July 23:59 / 156 miles completed. Entered Belgium, still raining, Martin has summoned the courage to go over 45mph

Vlaams Gewest, Belgium

15 July 09:50 / 196 miles completed. Raining, still. Heading to Nurburgring ring to set the lap record for a heavily laden 1.2L Polo.

North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

15 340 miles completed. Just crossed from Belgium into Germany so it's schnitzel time.

North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

15 July 13:15 340 miles completed. Just crossed from Belgium into Germany so it's schnitzel time.

Bavaria, Germany

15 July, 19:55, 567 miles completed. Beautiful sunshine and blue skies at last. Followed by rain and we concur the brightest rainbow we have ever seen. Running out of fuel but Esso saves us Destination Bamberg for the night.

Bavaria, Germany

15 July, 21:30, 620 miles completed. Stumbled upon this beautiful town on our way to Bamberg and decided to call it a night. Eating beautiful food. Colin's not on a diet not am I. Saw a car in flames on the motorway. Colin is adamant that he did not drive on the wrong side of the road Martin on the other hand has video evidence!

Bavaria, Germany

16 July, 09:30, 620 miles. Just leaving this lovely little town after the normal breakfast of cold cuts and cheeses. Off to Bamberg ( the most beautiful town in Germany supposedly) this morning then Nuremberg then Czech.@

Bavaria, Germany

16 July, 14:15, 694 miles. Just visited the site of some of the Hitler rallies at the Zepplin Fields and went to a museum that documents the rise of the Nazi party and their demise at the Nuremberg Trials. Colin has eaten all the biscuits. Martin almost got run over. Buffoon score Martin two Colin nil. Next stop the castle of Klenova in the Czech republic. Colin thinks we have covered 9.5% of our total distance Martin 8.0%@

Pilsen, Czech Republic

17 July, 08:00, 832 miles. Camping overnight not as great a success as we hoped. Compressor failed to inflate the air bed. Need to buy a foot pump. Tents easy to erect not as easy to put away. Left the cigarette lighter charger on overnight but not enough to drain the battery. Discussed taking south route through Turkey last night but I think we are still heading for Poland and Ukraine today

Pilsen, Czech Republic

16 July, 17:30, 832 miles. Arrive at the Czech out party grounds safe and sound despite a slight driving on the wrong side of the road incident. Tents are easy to erect, air beds not as easy to inflate as expected. Night night.@

Pilsen, Czech Republic

16 July, 17:30, 832 miles. Arrive at the Czech out party grounds safe and sound despite a slight driving on the wrong side of the road incident. Tents are easy to erect, air beds not as easy to inflate as expected. Night night.@

Vysocina, Czech Republic

17 July 15:45. 1000 miles complete. Cloudy but rain has temporarily abated. Apologies to the team with a bathtub on their roof as we may have inadvertently had a hand in the police pulling you over a few miles back - we hope it wasn't too costly. Next stop Slovakia, that is if we're not forced to stop first!

Žilina Region, Slovakia

17 July 19:30. 1197miles completed. Changeable weather, sunny, cloudy with intermittent cloud bursts. Decided not to stop at a town called Martin, opting to head a tad closer to the Polish boarder and the Nosferatu castle. Staying at our first Motel tonight, €34 a night with a surprisingly decent restaurant. Auschwitz tomorrow.@

New update on Facebook Team Page

Shared a photo: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=331102056976349&set=a.331102053643016.80811.330079223745299&type=1&relevant_count=1

New update on Facebook Team Page

Shared a photo: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=331116943641527&set=a.331102053643016.80811.330079223745299&type=1&relevant_count=1

Žilina Region, Slovakia

18 July 13:15 1290 miles completed. Sunshine at last. Beautiful rolling densely wooded countryside and great roads leading us through a succession of pretty rural villages This castle was featured in the 1920s film Nosferatu. Lovingly restored we were surprised at how much we enjoyed the one and a half hour tour. Next stop Poland

Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland

18 July 19:30 1340 miles completed. We enter Poland from the South through wooded countryside. Our destination a town that the world knows by a different name than the one on the signposts, Auschwitz. We are struck by how complete the camps are, a tangible vivid memorial to remind the world never to forget. Later tonight we turn on the TV to news that fighting against Adsad has reached the capital Damascus (much like it did in Tripoli near Ghadaffi's end) whilst Russia vetoes action, Putin visited Auschwitz, did he forget? Or is he one of them? Tomorrow another camp visit and then Ukraine .. Will the roads continue to be this good?

Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland

19July 12:30 1392 miles completed. Sunny and warm. Wow this place is beautiful. We look round the impressive Castle then find a BnB for the night as we decide not to head for the Ukraine tonight opting to visit the nearby famous Wieliczka Salt Mines. We are hampered however by a wheel clamp. Luckily the clamper was still nearby and he called his friend to declamp the clampees. Possibly the prettiest polish police person soon appeared to liberate the p@

Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland

20 July, 10:00, 1415 miles completed. Sunny and warm 24 degrees C. We are sad to leave beautiful Krakow behind us, we head east (of course) and have stuck a sun visor to the top of the windscreen as we anticipate many hot sunny days in our future. Next stop L'viv in Ukraine. Our forecasts for negotiating safe passage across the boarder, Colin 60 minutes, Martin 20 minutes. Our mission to make a Ukranian boarder guard smile. Updates to follow in an hour or two or four!!

20 July, 11:00, 1450miles completed. Sunny...

20 July, 11:00, 1450miles completed. Sunny and warm 25 degrees C. We have just hit some slow moving traffic for the first time the road is full or lorries ( that's trucks to the American audience). There's a McDonalds to the right of us and a CB Radio shop in front ( when was the last time you heard a CB Radio being mentioned?)

Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Poland

20 July, 16:00, 1580miles completed. Sunny and warm 25 degrees C. We approach the Polish boarder with Ukraine, our tank full of petrol our stomachs full of great polish food ( and Jaffa cakes!) The countryside changing from fields full of wheat to forests. We hear cigarette smuggling is rife so we have stocked up on a few packets of Marlboro red's just in case. At the last petrol station we were offered mobile phones. I'm sure we will find out why soon. We emailed ahead to book our Chernobyl visit only to be told 11 days notice is required. Oh well. Perhaps Colin can drive a tank instead.

New update on Facebook Team Page

This border crossing is hilarious, abounded vehicles and bewildered looking people everywhere...and the skinniest, angriest man I've ever seen, I seear if he doesn't calm down one of the guards is going to shoot him! And where has Martin disappeared to? He went off in search of customs a while ago with all of our documents. #MR

New update on Facebook Team Page

Got through the Polish-Ukranian border, or so we thought. We showed them the vehicle documents, got our passports stamped, I saw a gap , I went for it, but then half a km down the road there was another checkpoint - no customs stamps, so they've opened a back-route back into the border crossing for us to go back! Second time lucky? Let's see!

Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Poland

20 July, 16:00, 1580miles completed. Sunny and warm 25 degrees C. Just cleared Polish Ukraine boarder. Took two hours and one false liberation. Disorganised chaos to put it kindly. Cyrillic signs and no GPS might make progress more challenging. Next stop L'viv for the night. #mr #mongolrally

New update from Facebook

L'viv, Ukraine

20 July, 21:00, 1630miles completed. Sunny and warm 25 degrees C. There is an immediate tangible difference on the other side of the boarder. We see a horse drawn cart within minutes, there are less signs of luxury and the cars are much older. Less of the land seems put to use. We read horror stories about expensive ugly hotels but find the faded opulence of the grand Hotel George charming and good value at EUR 40 each. The doorman offers to keep an eye on our Polo (Steed) overnight for EUR 5. L'viv old town is charming with cobbled streets that are kind on the eye but very much less so on the suspension (we bottom out for the first time) Colin's quest for gypsy tears may soon be at an end! #mr #mongolrally

New update from Facebook

Dubno, Ukraine

21 July, 13:00. 1700 miles completed. Raining, again. We awoke to rain so abandoned our plan to have a rest day in L'viv, instead opting for a 550km drive to Kiev. The town would not release us but after driving past the same supermarket 4 times we were freed. 70 miles down the road we failed to notice our first speed trap, the policeman noticed us though. 86kph in a 50kph section of road. 15 minutes later, and with €40 of "money bye-bye" paid we were on our way once more. As we opted for the premium €40 service the policeman informed us that there was another speed trap 35km down the road: a buy one, get one free deal. #mr #mongolrally

New update from Facebook

New update on Facebook Team Page

Shared a photo: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=332447516841803&set=a.331102053643016.80811.330079223745299&type=1&relevant_count=1

New update on Facebook Team Page

Shared a photo: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=332452230174665&set=a.331102053643016.80811.330079223745299&type=1&relevant_count=1

New update on Facebook Team Page

Shared a photo: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=332450670174821&set=a.331102053643016.80811.330079223745299&type=1&relevant_count=1

New update on Facebook Team Page

Shared a photo: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=332450566841498&set=a.331102053643016.80811.330079223745299&type=1&relevant_count=1

New update on Facebook Team Page

Shared a photo: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=332450206841534&set=a.331102053643016.80811.330079223745299&type=1&relevant_count=1

New update on Facebook Team Page

Shared a photo: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=332450176841537&set=a.331102053643016.80811.330079223745299&type=1&relevant_count=1

New update on Facebook Team Page

Shared a photo: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=332449786841576&set=a.331102053643016.80811.330079223745299&type=1&relevant_count=1

New update on Facebook Team Page

Shared a photo: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=332449693508252&set=a.331102053643016.80811.330079223745299&type=1&relevant_count=1

New update on Facebook Team Page

Shared a photo: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=332449090174979&set=a.331102053643016.80811.330079223745299&type=1&relevant_count=1

New update on Facebook Team Page

Shared a photo: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=332448980174990&set=a.331102053643016.80811.330079223745299&type=1&relevant_count=1

New update on Facebook Team Page

Shared a photo: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=332448676841687&set=a.331102053643016.80811.330079223745299&type=1&relevant_count=1

New update on Facebook Team Page

Shared a photo: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=332828983470323&set=a.331102053643016.80811.330079223745299&type=1&relevant_count=1

New update on Facebook Team Page

Shared a photo: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=332828666803688&set=a.331102053643016.80811.330079223745299&type=1&relevant_count=1

New update on Facebook Team Page

Just seen Dynamo Kiev win away to Arsenal Kiev one nil ( I think) Martin has just eaten his 7th borscht of the trip Saw a Mongol Rally team car in the Hyatt They are not slumming it

Kyiv city, Ukraine

23 July, 11:00. 1973 miles completed. Our first taste of grandiose Soviet architecture replete with statues of Lenin. We visit a market and the plentiful caviar saleswomen pounce on us, it looks cheap, too cheap perhaps, but it tasted good. We like this place so we give ourselves and our car (Steed) a day off before throwing ourselves at the mercy of the Russian roads. As luck would have it Sunday hosted the local football derby, two time uefa cup winners Dynamo Kiev vrs Arsenal Kiev. It's raining hard and the stadium has no covered seating. The pitch is in excellent nick and we have excellent near pitch side seats for less than USD 5 each. One nil to dynamo. #mr #mongolrally

New update from Facebook

Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine

23 July, 19:05, 2,250 miles completed. Sunshine. After a couple of wrong turns (taken whilst trying to comply with police radar limits) we eventually enter Russia. The boarder crossing took us about two hours with time taken up with checking and double checking our documents.. Then checking them again just to make sure. Our offers of twiglets seem to grease the wheels of the Sovet machine enough even to make the once stern customs lady smile and even fill in our forms for us to sign. The roads on the 'other side' are decent enough to allow speeds of 80kmh but the geese strew across the road might have other ideas. Aiming for Kursk tonight, the lonely planet says we should not bother but it's getting late and Colin has driven all day.

Kursk, Russia

24 July, 10:00am 2315 miles completed. Perfect warm sunny day again. We are fed, watered and rested, and the very friendly hotelier has released us despite her clearly wanting to possess Martin for her own. Kursk was the scene of the biggest tank battle of WWII so hopefully there will be some relics along the way to amuse us. We're going for an ambitious 700km dash east to Saratov today, if we get there it will be the longest leg so far. Ukraine and Russia are into growing sunflowers big time. Today's trivia question: how many sunflower seeds can you harvest from a 1km square field? We're working on our answer now. Peace out. #mr #mongolrally

New update from Facebook

Saratov, Russia

24 July, 22:00, 2,820 miles completed. 500 miles today, 11 hours driving. Sunshine all the way. A long cross country drive earning our car it's grande tourismo badge. It also got a taste of the Russian roads to come with potholes and roadworks combining to make us bottom out a few times. We can confirm the Volga is a large river. Currently sitting in a very strange courtyard combining a bar a restaurant a windmill and a girl singing euro trash on a stage #mr #mongolrally

New update on Facebook Team Page

Shared a photo: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=333744386712116&set=a.331102053643016.80811.330079223745299&type=1&relevant_count=1

Samara, Russia

26 July, 10:00, 3,093 miles completed. Sunny, partly cloudy. Samara is on the mighty Volga, its like the seaside with its banks of sandy beaches lined with bars and restaurants. Lots of wooden houses. Russia men wear t-shirts shorts and flip flops ( t-shirts optional) women are dressed to indelibly impress. On our way to Ufa about 460kms away. #mr #mongolrally

New update on Facebook Team Page

Shared a photo: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=334261089993779&set=a.331102053643016.80811.330079223745299&type=1&relevant_count=1

New update on Facebook Team Page

Shared a photo: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4413466020752&set=o.330079223745299&type=1

Ufa, Russia

27 July, 10:00am 3395 miles completed. Perfect warm sunny day again. Highlight of yesterday's drive from Samara to Ufa was the bonding with the Russian police that started with a supposed illegal overtaking manoeuver and ended with a prolonged photo shoot and us parting with a jar of Marmite, meeting the helpful Igor who provided a 100 mile escort into town and missing a two hour time zone change. Today we will see the Urals for the first time. We have added a new accessory to the roof of Polo a Crocomander! Next stop Chelyabinsk #mr #mongolrally@

New update from Facebook

New update on Facebook Team Page

Shared a photo: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=334594476627107&set=a.331102053643016.80811.330079223745299&type=1&relevant_count=1

Chelyabinsk, Russia

27 July 6:30pm. 3660 miles completed (+265) We only have 265 miles to cover today so leave Ufa at 10am and head towards the Ural mountains where 'Europe' officially meets Asia. The drive is incident free as we've worked out that contrary to urban legend the Russian police are stopping people who overtake in dangerous places as opposed to the Ukrainian police who set speed traps merely to pick up some pocket money. The scenery changes a little with less sunflower fields and more forests. We take a detour through a small village to see how the locals eek out a subsistence living growing vegetables in the yards outside their wooden homes that have an idyllic charm to look at but life must be hard in the winter. We arrive at Chelyabinsk at a comfortable 6:30pm giving us time to enjoy the walking street which has a more international feel and a lively buzz. The decision has been made, we head to Kazakhstan tomorrow, will aim to spend 4 days there before driving to Omsk in Russia then flying back to London (and Colin possibly on to the US) for 10 days and will have to worry about Russian re-entry visa issues while we're there. #mr #mongolrally@

New update from Facebook

New update on Facebook Team Page

Shared a photo: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=334608853292336&set=a.331102053643016.80811.330079223745299&type=1&relevant_count=1

New update on Facebook Team Page

Shared a photo: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=334641759955712&set=a.331102053643016.80811.330079223745299&type=1&relevant_count=1

Chelyabinsk, Russia

28 July, 3:30pm 3818 miles completed. Overcast but warm. We awoke with a plan - to head south from Chelyabinsk in Russia and cross into Kazakhstan. The drive was pretty smooth, Russian passport control was surprisingly quick and painless and we cross over into no man's land The queue of a dozen or so cars in front of us moves quickly enough. Then we hit a snag, our entry visa into Kazakhstan does start until 15th Aug. They make some efforts to allow us in but to no avail. We do a u-turn and head back to the Russian border and are forced to use our second (and last) re-entry permit into Russia. Kazakhstan will have to wait until after our Aug 2-12 hiatus. #mr #mongolrally

New update from Facebook

Chelyabinsk, Russia

28 July, 7pm 3950 miles completed. Overcast but warm. We're back at the Holiday Inn Chelyabinsk! Our failed attempt on the Kazakh border earned us a buffoon sticker each but we weren't done yet. We were most of the way back to Chelyabinsk when we realised that we'd confused the Russian border guards so much on our way back in that they'd completely forgotten to stamp our entry cards meaning that neither they nor us had any record of us entering the country. After some deliberation we decided that it could be a big problem when we try to leave Russia so turn around and go back to the border crossing! The customs officer looked quite relieved that we'd returned to correct his mistake as that might well have cost him a posting in Siberia, but hang on, he is in Siberia already, a gulag then. We all have a good laugh about it, although this has cost us a whole day, and possibly means we don't get to Kazakhstan at all but we'll decide on that later. #mr #mongolrally

New update from Facebook

Shchuchye, Russia

29 July, 10:30, 4,000 miles completed. Overcast with spitting rain. Our second attempt at leaving Chelyabisk looks to be more successful than the first, we are heading to Omsk via Kurgan, Makushino and Ishim. Still no signs of the Ural mountains. The road seems to be getting less well traveled and the towns smaller and further apart, camping tonight? #mr #mongolrally@

Omsk, Russia

29 July, 24:00, 4,535 miles completed. Sunny with cloudy intervals, mainly dry. Yesterday Martin drove 292 miles and we ended up back where we started, in Chelyabinsk, today Colin drove 584 miles and we travel through one time zone and navigate 2.4% of Earths circumference to arrive in Omsk. Somehow we have managed to miss the Urals. Day off tomorrow to get a sump guard fitted to the Polo. Today we participated in a very long traffic jam and carried out our first roadside repair. #mr #mongolrally@

New update on Facebook Team Page

Shared a photo: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=335418029878085&set=a.331102053643016.80811.330079223745299&type=1&relevant_count=1

New update on Facebook Team Page

Shared a photo: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=335413343211887&set=a.331102053643016.80811.330079223745299&type=1&relevant_count=1

New update on Facebook Team Page

Shared a photo: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=335418966544658&set=a.331102053643016.80811.330079223745299&type=1&relevant_count=1

New update on Facebook Team Page

Shared a photo: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=335418333211388&set=a.331102053643016.80811.330079223745299&type=1&relevant_count=1

New update on Facebook Team Page

In Omsk Trying to sort our armour plating for the underside of the engine before we head into the wilds of Mongolia EUR 87 for parts and labour Not bad

New update on Facebook Team Page

Shared a photo: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=335755359844352&set=a.331102053643016.80811.330079223745299&type=1&relevant_count=1

Omsk, Russia

29 July, 24:00. 4,535 miles completed. Sunny with cloudy intervals, mainly dry. Yesterday Martin drove 292 miles and we ended up back where we started, in Chelyabinsk, today Colin drove 584 miles and we travel through one time zone and navigate 2.4% of Earths circumference to arrive in Omsk. Somehow we have managed to miss the Urals. Day off tomorrow to get a sump guard fitted to the Polo. Today we participated in a very long traffic jam and carried out our first roadside repair. #mr #mongolrally@

Omsk, Russia

30 July 10pm. 4,535 miles completed (+0). Warm and dry. We've booked our flights to Moscow for tomorrow. We'll spend a couple of days sightseeing then fly back to London for a 10 day hiatus (Martin for the Olympics, Colin on to the US for a wedding). We'll return to Omsk pick the car up on the 13th then continue the 'rally'. There's not much going on in Omsk, 1.5m people, not clear what they do for fun. #mr #mongolrally

New update from Facebook

New update from Facebook

New update on Facebook Team Page

Shared a photo: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=335824773170744&set=a.331102053643016.80811.330079223745299&type=1&relevant_count=1

Note for those about to...

Note for those about to drive in Russia
We came in from the Ukraine and are now in Omsk so have covered a couple thousand miles already
The Russian Police are very friendly. The icey cold looks when first encountering them easily break into smiles after a short while.

They seem far more concerned with illegal overtaking than anything else, there are central unbroken white lines in the middle of the road signalling no overtaking as well as sign posts with two cars side by side (one in red).

Even in very long traffic jams with no on coming traffic the locals wont overtake in these areas.

Speeding is i am sure frequently punished but everyone seemingly obeys the limits to the letter so if you find yourself driving kuch faster than anyone else it could be bacause you have enetered a 50 or even a 30 kmh speed limit zone (even on a motorway)

We have found that a smile, an apology and a small gift (fridge magnate or a jar of marmite) works wonders

Russia has been great to us so far

New update from Facebook

New update from Facebook

New update from Facebook

New update from Facebook