Archived Tweets

Tweets

[Because of timezone differences the dates may overlap a little]

2008

Nov 8

We've signed up to Twitter so it'll hopefully be an easy way to blog whilst on the rally. We'll also blog leading up to it as well.

Feel free to become a Follower directly on the Twitter site if you like, else you can read the stuff over at mongolrally2009.org

2009

Jul 14

Have got ninety percent of what I'm taking packed, bagged and boxed ready to put in he car on Friday morning.

Jul 16

Raring to go!

Jul 17

We're off (to the Ace Cafe).

Grabbing stuff from Halfords to stop the car leaking.

Jul 18

Cold. In a tent. Not even leaving England until tomorrow. So tired.

Today we got to foreign lands. Better.

On the train waiting to head to France.

274 Miles - Chunnel, Folkestone, Kent/England

315 Miles - Veurne, Belgium

Jul 19

573 Miles - Cologne, Germany

2:30am local time. Time to find somewhere to camp.

Prettty much 4am. We've found a very cheap hotel. Don't judge it's been a LONG day.

747 Miles - Weimar, Germany

Jul 20

In Prague. It's almost 3am. Very tired.

Nice sleep, shower and breakfast. Off into Prague to find the Kafka museum

Really quite warm.

Waking round the town square. Had some cannabis tea. Tasted quite nice.

1,010 Miles - Prague, Czech Republic

Back to the hostel to grab our stuff then a two and a half hour drive to the castle in Klatovy for a party.

After stopping to watch steam coming put of Tim and Debbie's bonnet we're now back en-route to the castle.

One of the cars convoying with us is seemingly in a BAD way. How long do we hold back and wait to see if it's fixable?

Or - at worst - replaceable.

Jul 21

6am. What to do with John and Cillian's potentially done-for car?

Awake. Two hours sleep due to music. Need to work out what to fo about John / Cillian's car.

Dodgy piston ring on the Terios? Could be. (apparently)

Disappointingly we find ourselves at Tesco.

The plan that has just been hatched is unbelievable. [2022 Edit - I don't remember what it was]

Headed to the bone church.

At a camp site by the bone church.

Jul 22

Ten hours sleep and a shower. Looks like it's going to be a hot day. Big arse lump on my arm from a mosquito.

Ambling towards Oolish border.

Crossed into Poland. Currently in Auschwitz.

Unsurprisingly walking through the gas chambers is pretty grim.

Just gone midnight. About 100k from Ukranian border. Camping by road. Up at 8am to carry on to border.

Jul 23

At a garage with team "I Mongol'd your mum". Another day. Another car with problems.

We're pretty close to the Ukranian border.

FINALLY queuing at the Ukraine border.

Through customs. Waiting on rest of convoy. Kept laughing at "Whitby" as for some reason it's unpronounceable in Ukranian.

The teams driving the ambulance and fire engine have been asked for $10,000. Each. In cash. To get into Ukraine.

Even some normal cars are being asked for 3000-4000 Ruros just because they have temporary V5 forms.

The "tax" for the ambulance has gone down to 9000 euros for both ambulance and fire engine.

We were pulled over by the cops one minute from the border. Kieran talked us out of a fine.

Spent a lot of time finding a lake in an area with unfinished roads and precious few signs. Lake no hood for camping. Now just looking f ...

I really would like to stop being bitten by Mosquitos. If that's okay with them.

Somewhere in Ukraine checking out a £10 hotel as there's nowhere to park.

Not park. I mean camp.

Miles 1,720 - Somewhere in Ukraine

1,936 miles since home. Kiev by the evenIng is the plan.

Jul 24

230km to Kiev ( or knib or Kyiv or whichever spelling they're using today).

Jul 25

Currently staying with Kieran's lovely friends on the edge of the Chernobyl exclusion zone.

Off to another town to meet Vasser.

In a Ukrainian forest listening to Irish bagpipe music played on Spanish bagpipes.

In town square. The whole community comes out to watch a mentally great coloured musical fountain. Ukraine is a truly wonderful country.

Jul 26

Up at 8am. Really need to get near the Russian border today.

At a service station guessing at what various meats might be. Have picked and they just put it in a microwave. Thems gonna be some good ...

Tastes like beef... and a LOT of mushroom. Bastards.

Lonely Planet Russian phrasebook contains such useful things as "Is that why you're single?"

Currently, about 100km from the Russian border looking for somewhere to sleep.

Jul 27

In a field on the Uzbekistan / Russian border drinking tea out of a bowl before going through the looking glass.

2:30pm and all we've had for food is a cup of tea. It's the infamous Mongol Rally diet.

Watching a man herd geese with a whip whilst waiting for more teams to turn up so we can cross the border together.

Trying to leave Ukraine. Three day transit visa but this is day five. May be s problem even though as Europeans we should get thirty da ...

A nod, a wink and a ten-dollar bribe... Now in no man’s land waiting to try and get into Russia.

Sat in room with various Russian peeps and filled out car related forms. Fours hours in total and we're now in Russia!

Russian border guard came over to find put why I was taking photos near a border. I showed him a picture of a dog and he went away again.

In the world's loudest bar trying to figure out if a photo is fish, chicken or some as yet identified animal.

Best guess having tasted it is that it's chicken mixed with honey puffs. Went to get some American mustard from the car.

Why does a drunk Russian man keep asking for my phone number? It's all getting odd.

We find ourselves in a Russian field. We were pulled over by the police but all is well.

It appears a prostitute has written her number on our windscreen in lipstick. Which is odd. I only wanted a cup of tea.

Jul 28

On the road again. Headed for Volgograd.

50km from Volgograd.

Russia is pretty grim. Vast swathes of grimness.

Driving round Volgograd trying to find a hotel. Any hotel. Just one. Please?

Half-past midnight. Waiting on some kebabs. Day in Volgograd planned for tomorrow.

1am. No sign of kebabs.

29 Jul

Waiting for a taxi to take us into the centre of Volgograd to go hat shopping.

It appears that the orphanage car is now flagged as stolen because of a documentation problem. If John has to go to sign it in the Ukrai ...

Have a visa to get back into Russia. Interesting.

Saw an AMAZING statue. Bought two Russian hats for Max.

Waiting for steak whilst John phones the Irish embassy in Ukraine about being a fugitive in Russia.

Between a fixer in Ukraine and the number for some top guy in the Irish government, it's turning into an interesting afternoon.

As it stands John isn't allowed to leave Russia. Which could be problematic.

On the plus side... the dessert menu looks nice.

John has gone to the airport to drive over "stolen" car over the Polish border. He'll then get a plane to Kazakstan and meet us there. ...

Kieran has had a police escort to the airport. Someone from one team has rabies and is in hospital. Good times.

Best make a cup of tea.

11:30pm local time. Very heavy rain. Deciding whether to push on for dryer roads and camp or find a cheap hotel.

Jul 30

Another morning in a field. Another lot of driving. Another push for a border.

Just driving up to the Russian/Kazakhstan border. Hopefully, it'll be a quick drive through. 3,548 miles since home.

Two hours in and waiting in no man’s land.

Words cannot describe what a properly miserable experience the Kazakstan border is.

Jul 31

A man is herding goats on a camel.

Apparently, the Mongolian border is closed. Border guards not getting paid.

In Atyrau, Kat found a hotel with wifi, showers and food. Not in that order.

In a hotel in Atyrau. Air-conditioning, chandelier. £12.

Aug 1

2pm. Someones car isn't starting so they're off to get some new spark plugs. Fingers crossed.

Why is it raining in Kazakstan? Surely that can't be right.

Must have been on this road for over four hours without a single bend.

Eagles are soaring above us.

We've just clocked our 4000th mile. We're halfway to Mongolia.

This road is amazing. Much smoother than the M4. Honestly.

Every 15 minutes or so people are camped out on what is essentially a motorway selling watermelons. I can't imagine they sell many. Look ...

Hot dogs wrapped in tortilla with American mustard. Best campfood yet. Wish I'd dropped less on the floor though.

Aug 2

Having spent yesterday travelling North to avoid an awful road; today we get to travel East towards Aktobe.

In a cafe in Aktobe. Seven hours driving in a straight line.

Really feeling sorry for John. Stuck in Prague and now the hostel has lost his passport.

The view of our cars out of the cafe window. [As per 2022, Picture now lost]

My tired face.

Another hole. At least this one flushes.

Time to get a little closer to Aral (not to be confused with Oral which is where we started off from this morning)

11:30pm and we've pulled off the main road, away from some shanty towns and into a... field.

Oh... and we just saw either a jet or a UFO. Not sure which.

Aug 3

On the way to Aral. About seven hours drive.

Last two petrol stations had run out of petrol.

In the World’s dustiest town. Just saw a pudgy faced baby.

Aug 4

Aug 4, 2009

Off-roading, 14 hour drive, Kazak family, vodka, gherkins, slept on cafe floor.

Finally in Aral. Took 18 hours and not 7.

Headed towards Baikonur.

Almost 2am. We're still driving. 16 hours and counting.

It's 3am. We may be in a landfill site. We have warm gin and tonic. It's been a LONG day.

Warmed by a pair of Andrew's trainers burning merrily on the path.

Aug 5

Not sure where we are. Not sure where we are going. Apart from that the jobs a good un'

Got petrol. Had a breakfast of lamb ribs (perhaps). We signed their fridge. First police stop of the day. Documents.

Due to a confusion surrounding pricing we now have way too many watermelons in the car.

In a four star hotel for £10/person.

Aug 6

Off to have a quick look at the market before pressing on to Tashkent.

Tarp on car roof no more due to possible bird strike.

Aug 9

Kyrgystan gets the vote for the most beautiful country.

Aug 10

On the top of a mountain. Car struggled to so 20mph in second gear. Slow going. Lovely mountains.

In Bishkek watching the second music fountain of the trip.

Someone did Mongoliain four days. That gives me hope.

Aug 11

Kryg/Kazak border this morning. Over 1000km to the Mongolian border. Need to get there for Thursday. Sounds like hard work.

Only an hour and a half to cross the border. That's worth a celebratory cup of tea! Today is a good day.

Three lanes on road but four lanes of traffic. People aren't taking any prisoners.

Aug 12

Time to break out the Immodium.

Just spent a nice hour with the Kazakhstan army.

Aug 13

One hour twenty minutes waiting our turn at Shamanaika border. Will be a long one.

Pretty much three hours to leave Kazakhstan. How long to enter Russia?

Sooooo bored of sitting in No Man's Land.

6 1/2 hours. Finally back in Russia.

16 hours driving yesterday. 5 hours sleep. Another long day ahead. Tough going.

Is it too much to ask that it's possible to buy egg and chips in Russia?

In shock news: Northern Russia absolutely freezing.

Aug 14

23 hour day. 1 hour sleep in car. Back inroads.

In a chalet type hotel just 500km from Siberia. Nice but cold. Two jumpers on. May have to put kettle on.

Had a nice morning playing catch with Mr and Mrs Kim's son by the river. Melon and tea for breakfast.

Having lunch with a helicopter pilot who flew over Chernobyl.

4:45am and time to get up for the drive to the border.

Aug 15

Apparently it's 8 centigrade but it feels absolutely freezing. So so cold. Uses to very joy weather I guess.

Only twelve hours twenty minutes to go... How time flies.

At the Russian/Mongolian border which doesn't open for another sixteen hours.

We hear that there's a foiot of snow in Mongolia. We're about 15 miles from Tashanta (maybe 50 from border) and there are certainly lots ...

Aug 22

Have booked into rough hotel for £4. A hundred wild dogs bark outside. Yes, a hundred.

Aug 23

Have arrived at the last town before UB.

Lots of signs to UB now. About 200km to go. Cooking pasta.

How can we not find a whole capital city?

9576 miles and have arrived in UB.

Aug 24

Off to the finish line this afternoon. Trying to figure out what to pack to bring home.

Feels strange seeing lots of people.

Looking at a menu. Steamed sheep's head is only three pounds for a full head.

I have ordered horse. May be a non-starter.

Horse penis gies well with gherkin.

We've still not visited the finish line so techicallly we've not finished.

At finish line chatting to equally tired teams.

Aug 25

Final full day in UB. Will try and head over to CNCF.

Bags packed. Off to CNCF.

I don't want to leave Ted the car behind.

About to go and sign over the car.

I'm sad to leave Ted the car.

Yesterday in UB.

Finish line.

This menu says Gordon Blue and not Cordon Bleu.

Waiting for food.... Hotel in about three hours. So tired.

Aug 26

Plane has landed at Heathrow.

Aug 27

The day after I returned. Slightly less dirty, still tired, two stone lighter and bad stomach.

Still at the border

It's 7am and SOOO cold. No sign of any border guards. The border finally opened at 9am. I went to a little box with the V5 form. Long wait to get a stamp on a small sheet of paper. You're supposed to get it stamped if you have been in the Altai region for longer than three working days - which we were. The man in the office pointed at the blank space where the stamp wasn't. I did the international dance for 'No Hotel. No stay. Just drive. Hello. Have been at the border since Saturday."

10am and a big bus drove past and went straight in. No sign of any cars being let through yet.

Finally... Finally... Finally we got through to the Mongolian Border and confusion reigned supreme.

Russian Border

Sixteen hours to wait at the Russian / Mongolian border. Lots of kids holding out their hands for stuff. Understandable perhaps but there's no gratitude and they just hold out their hands for more and more stuff and try open your car door to get more.

Occasionally people drive up to the border and put their arms through the barbed wire and have a photo taken. Not sure why. Perhaps it's their 'Look at me, i'm in Mongolia' picture - even though they're not, they're just in a part of the Russian border.

Uzbekistan

Slowly we plodded through the last bit of Kazakhstan.  Leaving Kazakhstan (although slow wasn't as painful as arriving).

We arrived in Uzbekistan very late and immediately went to get some petrol.  Scammed.  That early experience felt like a good description of the whole country.  Everyone out to screw you over at each turn (though it's to be noticed that the gas station in the photo isn't the one that over-charged us, that was a little way further down the road).

It was the early hours of the morning in what felt, thus far, like a pretty sketchy country.

We'd pulled over onto a dirt track and a police car pulled up.  The policeman wandered over and we explained through the international language of "we're trying to find somewhere to sleep".  Out of this car staggered a few drunk teenagers who promptly fell down into a ditch.  "Wait until I get back." he barked, dragged the kids into the car and drove off.  We then had a lively discussion as to whether to wait or scarper.  One of us (not me) suggested we stay as it mightn't be a good idea to annoy the police so soon into our arrival into their (rubbish) country.  Somehow - and i'm not sure how - that single vote carried and we kicked our heels waiting for the policeman to return.

After what seemed like ages he did indeed return and told us to follow him.  So through the early hours of the morning he sped through red lights and we dutifully followed him into the back end of nowhere before pulling up outside a large hotel.  It was, we were informed, his brothers (or brother-in-laws?  or somesuch.)  After sitting in the lobby for a while discussing who was going to be chief negotiator and quibbling over the price for a while we unpacked and went to our rooms.  We were the only guests in the hotel.  We locked the door and went to sleep.

Shymkent

A nice day spent in Shymkent before heading North towards Kyrgyzstan.

Towards Shimkent, Kazakhstan

We stayed on the M32 towards Shymkent. Got some petrol, had a breakfast of what we thought may have been lamb ribs and signed the garage owner's fridge. Got stopped by the police fairly early in the day and showed our documents.

On the way we continued to see people selling watermelons by the side of the road and figured it was about time to buy one.  Figures were drawn in the sand and as far as we could make out they were asking for about fifty dollars.  Perhaps they thought we wanted to buy the van.  We handed over the equivalent of a couple of dollars and for some reason this seemed to equate to about ten massive watermelons.  In a cramped car, or indeed even for a big car that's really nine too many watermelons.

Knackered we treated ourselves to a four star hotel.  £10 a person.  Bargain. *

(* Because two of us booked a double room for £40, then two more sneaked up and we shared the costs.  We are rebels.)

Towards Baikonur

Up relatively early and after some breakfast and a chat with our kind hosts we set off towards Baikonur (formerly known as Leninsk), the town set up to service the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

Every so often some graves would break up the monotony.  Seemingly always situated quite a way outside of the town they served they were relatively grand affairs.  As with Eastern Europe, you tended to get engravings of the deceased person's face etched onto the grave.

At some point (though tiredness prevents from remembering) we passed either through or very close to Baikonur.  I only remember vaguely as we'd stopped for gas at a service station and a child drew a picture of a rocket ship on the bonnet of our car.

By 2 am we were still driving. 16 hours and counting.

3am and we stopped to sleep. We're pretty sure it's a landfill site. We have warm gin and tonic. It's been a LONG day. Warmed by a pair of Andrew's trainers burning merrily on the path.
 

Foxes, Broken sump guards, gherkins and vodka

An amazing driving through some of Kazakh desert.  We drove into the darkness with desert wolves (not the technical name i'm sure) around us.

The sump guard that the local garage had kindly fitted was taking a real battering and after driving over a rough piece of ground decided it'd had enough and promptly fell off.  Kieran managed to get it back on again whilst I very helpfully took a photograph.

Finally getting to the edges of the desert we came across a house and the people sitting on the porch beckoned us over.  We joined them for a midnight feast of gherkins and vodka.  A lot of gherkins.  A lot of vodka.  We slept on the porch which was covered it a LOT of moths (I mean literally hundreds).  I HATE moths.

Endless driving

Pleased we have our petrol canisters with us as the last two petrol stations we passed had run out of fuel.

We stopped in the worlds dustiest town and saw a pudgy faced baby.  That passes for news at the moment.
 

Aktobe, Kazakhstan

Having spent yesterday travelling North to avoid an awful road; today we get to travel East towards Aktobe.  Exciting times.  After seven hours driving in a straight line we reached Aktobe.  Time to get a little closer to Aral (not to be confused with Oral which is where we started off from this morning).  By 11:30pm and we'd pulled off the main road, away from some shanty towns and into a... field (Oh... and we just saw either a jet or a UFO. Not sure which.)

Finding spark plugs in Kazakhstan

So then it's 2pm. Someones car isn't starting so they're off to get some new spark plugs. Fingers crossed because it'd be nice to be getting some miles done.

Why is it raining in Kazakhstan? Surely that can't be right.


Eventually we set off and the zen of driving kicked in.  We drove on a road that I kid you not didn't bend for over four hours (bar the curvature of the Earth, pedants).

Eagles are soared above us.

Most importantly for the day we clocked our 4000th mile. We're halfway (probably) to Mongolia (if not the capital).

What the road lacked in bends it made up for in smoothness.  REALLY smooth.  Good work Kazakhstan.

Every 15 minutes or so people are camped out on what is essentially a motorway selling watermelons. I can't imagine they sell many.

Stopping to eat (and on this trip we really don't eat much at all.) I boiled up some Hot dogs wrapped in tortilla with American mustard. Best campfood yet. Wish I'd dropped less on the floor though.
 

Driving through Kazakhstan

We'd heard news through the Rally Team grapevine that the Mongolian border guards weren't being paid and that the border was closed.  Not good news.  Not good at all.

On the plus side I saw a man is herding goats on a camel so swings and roundabouts.

In other news... No, there is no other news.  We drove - that's it.  Nothing happened.  Driving, driving and more driving.

Oh, we slept in a field.  That's not news, right?

Finally... into Russia.

The continued push to the border.  Finally, after many rubbish roads, we got to the border at 2:30 pm.  By 4:30 pm the other teams have caught up and we all drive to the beginning of customs together.

We took our V5, Ukrainian exit bit of paper and passports to the window.  The guy behind the glass pointed at our Ukrainian transit visa stamp.  "Three days.  You here six.  Little problem."  It was actually five but still obviously not three.  He sent us over for insurance and we filed over to a shed to get what probably isn't worth the paper it's written on.  Insurance for Russia $60 for two weeks.  We'll need to get more when we re-enter Russia.

We took our insurance back to the border guard thingy we could move on to the next stage.  No.  He pointed to the "three-day transit" visa again.  Despite our being Europeans and therefore entitled to thirty days is will still "a problem".  Back to our car. Phone calls were made and after fifteen minutes we were beckoned over.  "$20 make the problem go away".  Out first non-speeding bribe.  We probably could have sat it out but between three of us it was only about £4 each and didn't seem worth it.

Bribe paid we moved on to the second stage of trying to leave the Ukraine.

The guards were more friendly this time and were seemingly coin collectors (not a euphemism for thieves and wanted to swap an Irish Euro for a Ukrainian coin.  I gave them a sew on patch with the Union Jack on.  All was good and we drove the short distance to Russian border control.

As the registered owner of our vehicle, I was taken into a room to fill in a form.  The Russian guard was pretty helpful.  After a brief mishap with ticking a box saying we had no communication equipment (we had the CB Radio) and my using the internationally recognised mime for 'we only use our CD radios inside Europe) I was sent to another room where a big burly guy typed the details from the form into his computer, printed out another form and got me to sign it and then proceeded to stamp the hell out of it.  Oh, how they love stamping things.  Suddenly he thrusted the form at me and bellowed "BYE! GO!".  It was very hard not to laugh.  We drove through the barrier.  We were in Russia!  Only four hours to get through customers.  Not bad at all. 

We drove until about 11 pm until we found a bar and ordered food.

I popped out to the car to get some mustard (as you do) and saw one of the Irish guys chatting to a bunch of Russians.  One called Vladimir kept shaking my hand and saying "We best friends."  In the spirit of international relations, I said "Yes" and spent the next hours and a half getting asked for my mobile number.

He seemed very keen that we all go swimming in a local river at one in the morning in some town I didn't know.  It really didn't seem like the best way to spend the evening.

We left by 2 am or so to try and find a field to camp in.  We were flagged down by a policeman who just seemed curious and didn't seem bothered that women had drawn various things on our windscreen in lipstick.

At last, we found a field.  It was about 3 am.

Some Tweets from the day

In a field on the Uzbekistan / Russian border drinking tea out of a bowl before going through the looking glass.

2:30pm and all we've had for food is a cup of tea. It's the infamous Mongol Rally diet.

Watching a man herd geese with a whip whilst waiting for more teams to turn up so we can cross the border together.

Trying to leave Ukraine. Three day transit visa but this is day five. May be a problem even though as Europeans we should get thirty days.

A nod, a wink and a ten dollar bribe... Now in no man's land waiting to try and get into Russia.

Sat in room with various Russian peeps and filled out car related forms. Fours hours in total and we're now in Russia!

Russian border guard came over to find put why I was taking photos near a border. I showed him a picture of a dog and he went away again.

In the world's loudest bar trying to figure out if a photo is fish, chicken or some as yet identified animal.

Best guess having tasted it is that it's chicken mixed with honey puffs. Ride to get some American mustard from the car?

Why does a drunk Russian man keep asking for my phone number? It's all getting odd.

We find ourselves in a Russian field. We were pulled over by the police but all is well.

It appears a prostitute has written her number on our windscreen in lipstick. Which is odd. I only wanted a cup of tea.

Driving

You really don't appreciate how big the Ukraine is until you have to drive across the bloody thing (about 1000 miles west to east, well and no doubt in the other direction too).

Pretty much just a long push to the Ukraine/Russian border. All the hotels were full so we found a field and set up camp.
 

Two cars into one

Woke to a light breakfast. Went back to the car in its secure parking.  We pared down what we were carrying.  Took the roof rack off the Terios and put it onto the much small Micra.

It was HOT work in the baking sun.  With that job done the car was sent off to a local orphanage.  Little did we know the trouble this was going to cause us (well, John).

John joined us in our car and we set off further into the seemingly endless Ukraine.

Off to Chernigov

Pulled over for a late breakfast of orange juice and borscht. 90p or so. So cheap and so tasty.

Lots of the gardens we were driving past had livestocks. Cows, chickens and the like. Most gardens were also chock full of vegetables.

The bus shelters were decorated with colourful mosaics and each was as different as the next.

The Cyrillic alphabet is a nightmare. "P" is really "R" but oddly "P" is still the universal symbol for parking.

When we reached Kiev we split from the convoy with John in the ailing Terios and us heading North to stay the night with Kieran's friends in Chernigov (fifty miles East of Chernobyl). In the morning we'd transfer the roofrack from the Terios onto our Micra, Ted, and move as much of John's kit into ours. We could then give John's car to a local orphanage.

The apartment was in a block of flats with a large bomb shelter at its base. Apparently this is the norm. Lovely people set up with poppy seed rolls, potato and herb things. The simple meal of potatoes and eggs was quite the nicest thing i've tasted in a long, long time.

They left us alone to sleep (no idea where they went).

Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan gets the vote for the most beautiful country.

Kieran, my co-rallyer was not really enjoying the trip so far as we disagreed on the issue of whether it was best to travel in a big convoy for both safety and the camaraderie whereas I felt that a big convoy makes it feel like a package holiday with all the best experiences we'd had (sleeping on a porch in Kazakhstan and feasting with their family), we'd had because it was just a few of us.

The trip is changed, I argued, by turning up en-masse.  Keiran got a flight from a local airport and went home.  Just me in the car now, though thankfully continuing to tag along with Cat and Andy.  God bless Cat and Andy.

Volgograd

We got a taxi into town to look for Russian hats (as I promised to buy Max one).  We walked over to see the "Mother Russia" statue (or rather than better translation, the "Mother Homeland" statue).

We were wandering around looking at the sites (such as the Eternal Flame located at Mameyev Kurgan in the Hall of the Warrior Glory in tribute to those who died defending the city between 1942 and 1943) when word came through that because our newly acquired travel companion wasn't allowed to leave Russia due his giving away his car in the Ukraine.  The car had now become flagged as stolen   He was, we were told, now a fugitive in Russia.  We went to lunch.  Whilst waiting for steak whilst John phoned the Irish embassy in Ukraine about being a fugitive in Russia.  Between a fixer in Ukraine and the number for some top guy in the Irish government it was turning into an interesting afternoon.  The basic details from the embassy were for John to get out of Russia and fast.


I hung around with some of the teams in a square in front of the Museum of Tractor factory and Kieran sped him to the airport.  He was given a police escort, though i'm not quite sure why since the police were out to arrest John.  We also heard news that another team was rushed to hospital with rabies after being bitten by a dog.  Good times.

11:30pm local time. Very heavy rain. We tried to decide whether to push on for drier roads and camp or find a cheap hotel. Best make a cup of tea and ponder it was the plan.

In the end we stayed in yet another field.

Further into Ukraine... and bagpipes.

Back South from Chernigov we met up with with a friend of Kieran's who took us to a nice wood and played us various bagpipes.  A little surreal, yet nice.  I think we've all assumed that at some point we'll be listening to bagpipes in a Ukrainian wood, right? 

Ukrainian customs

Woke up at 7am with the intention of pushing on by 8am. Yet another convoy car with a problem. Two hours at a garage and they got a new clutch cable fitted for £30.

Drive. Drive. Drive.

Ukrainian customs. Pretty much straight through for us. We had a worry about John's Terios as Cillian had taken a taxi to the airport and to our utter disappointment we found that the car was registered in his name. Seemed to be okay for Ukraine but Russia could be a problem.

One car had only brought a photocopy of their V5. They had a l-o-n-g wait.

One team with an ambulance was asked to find $10,000 for a carnet. In cash. A fire engine was also asked for $10,000 in cash.

Our remaining problem is John's car being registered to Cillian. The current idea is to get some documents faxed to Kiev.

We headed towards Kiev with the intention of finding somewhere to camp. A team had mentioned camping near a lake so we drove around trying to find it. Quite a few of the roads were new and didn't appear on the maps. Some roads just stopped. Eventually, we found it. All tall grass, deeply rutted tracks and LOTS of mosquitoes.

After a bit more driving we found a £10 hotel. Soft bed/shower. Lovely.