Looks like we made it.....

It started to dawn on us that we had perhaps bitten off more than we could chew when the pot-holes became the size of small lakes in Northern Kazakstan. Unfortunatly (despite an initial stretch of good road) the roads in Russia were even worse and so with over 1000 miles still to go we had no choice but to reduce sleep and increase driving.

The fact that this stretch of hardcore driving started with a hangover and a night sleeping rough in the cars in a Russian city (Novabrisk) didn't help matters and with only 4 hours car sleep in another Russian city (Krasnoyausk) Wednesday night we decided that 24 hour driving was the only realistic way we could make Ulaanbaatar by the 27th.

To compound matters further it seems that the Daihatsu Sportrak is more Muswell Hill Hairdresser than serious off-road vehicle. Promtly following the immortal line from shef, "this is where the cars really come into their own" the suspension snapped on all three. With no time to find a mechanic the next couple of hundred miles were driven in the pitch black through fog and rain at a conservative 30 mph as we kept our fingers crossed that nothing else would break.

By early yesterday morning we were all halucinating at the wheel and more in need of a bath, a bed and a square meal than ever before in our lives. However, after 7 hours at the mongolian Border we finally made it into Mongolia!!!!

The last 200 miles were pretty euphoric and with Gagsy Schumacher leading the way we averaged about 50mph (this is actually impressive considering the state of our machines). By now the sore bums and rattling of the cars (Hooster sounded more like a tractor than a car) had almost become more of a reassuring companion than an annoyance - after all this was never supposed to be easy! 

We arrived in Ulaanbaator at about 1am last night. Much to our dismay the welcome fanfare we all expected hadn't materialised and we had to make do with a few toots on the horn (by us)! As we pulled up into a parking space we were picturing the typical comedy sketch of the four wheels and side panels instantly dropping off the side of each car! This gave Shef, AJ and Andrew about 4 hours grace before they had to jump in a taxi to the airport - talk about cutting it fine!!

.....so that brings to and end our trip that started out in Muswell Hill 30 days ago. On reflection its been a great experience and an achievment we will all treasure. Its a slight shame that the trip has ended in such a rush but we all knew that this was likely. Time now to look back on the last months events and who knows, maybe start thinking about the next trip..... Tuk Tuks anyone???!