Day 41, 10,386 miles. Finished... surreal. Paris, (the truck) hanging together by duct tape after 6 weeks of trying conditions. Us, feeling much better after first shower in 11 days. Our arrival will be announced Wednesday night 7:30pm on Mongolian State Television, so please set your VCR's! Tomorrow, we see first hand where your generous donations went. A fantastic way to finish this incredible journey, which, without your support would never have happened.

Day 39, 9,972 miles. Currently awaiting our 5th (or is it 6th!?) puncture to be repaired. We are told that paved roads are only 150km away! As much as we are looking forward to this in one respect, being able to drive wherever we like 2/3 of the way across a country will be greatly missed & never forgotten. After a late puncture & strange noises last night, we stopped in a nearby ger village in the middle of the desert. The local villagers protected our exposed CV joint & found the culprit of the unhealthy noises. We then ended up having dinner of mutton & dumplings with one family, swapping stories and photos and playing with the kids (who were the recipients of a fair load of toys!) before camping next to their ger. It is true what they say about the amazing Mongolian hospitality.  read more »

Day 38, 9,720 miles. Feel like we could take on the McLaren pit team in changing tyres, having changed 4 in the last 36 hours. However, we won't be nominating ourselves for the British Orienteering Team, after getting quite lost 4 times in 2 days! From yesterday, we have decided to stick to the main 'road'. This however still resembles something much worse than the driveway of a distant country relative.

Day 35, 9,350 miles. Longest border crossing of the trip so far as we got stuck in no mans land with 4 others as the mongolians all went home. It was well below freezing but the sleep in the car was made a lot easier by the 2 bottles of vodka we shared with our new friends. Mongolia is incredible! It feels like we are driving around in a western movie back drop. Literally want to photograph every new scene. 4WD going well. Last night we choose a wrong track & ended up half way up a mountain. Thankfully wasn't too windy, but still about minus 5 up there. We had absolutely no idea where we were but all these tracks do get you somewhere, that and asking locals who appear about every hour, often wearing t-shirts while we are rugged up.  read more »

Day 35, 9,350 miles. Longest border crossing of the trip so far as we got stuck in no mans land with 4 others as the mongolians all went home. It was well below freezing but the sleep in the car was made a lot easier by the 2 bottles of vodka we shared with our new friends. Mongolia is incredible! It feels like we are driving around in a western movie back drop. Literally want to photograph every new scene. 4WD going well. Last night we choose a wrong track & ended up half way up a mountain. Thankfully wasn't too windy, but still about minus 5 up there. We had absolutely no idea where we were but all these tracks do get you somewhere, that and asking locals who appear about every hour, often wearing t-shirts while we are rugged up.  read more »

Day 35, 9,350 miles. Longest border crossing of the trip so far as we got stuck in no mans land and had to sleep in the car ad it was well below freezing. Still 2 bottles of vodka with other ralliers and sleep is amazing, feels like we are driving around in a western movie back drop. Literally want to photograph every new scene. 4WD going well. Last night we choose a wrong track & ended up half way up a mountain. Thankfully wasn't too windy, but still about minus 5 up there.

Day 33, 9,124miles. Just made it to the western frontier of Mongolia! Very excited to finally be here but in the same breath feel we could've stayed in Russia for another 10 weeks. In the 6 days we were there we barely scratched the surface, but what we did see was amazing. Barnaul, Lake Teletskoe, Katun River region & an amazing drive today on the valley floor of the Altay Mountains. Made us feel very insignificant! We have experienced both sides of the Russian psyche. 90% are dour and miserable as sin, even in their holiday resorts. These, we think, are what are known as alcoholics. The other 10% are friendly and helpful.  read more »

Day 28, 8,399 miles. Now in Russia, the Motherland! Driving into a Kazak city late last night, we were soon pulled over by 3 policemen. This was not what we needed after a 12 hour plus drive on very roads that resembled a war zone. However, as we are discovering on this trip, expect the unexpected. The 3 policemen were excited to meet us and genuinely interested in our lives and journey. They gave us a sirens on escort direct to a 'bus station', which was actually a hotel in disguise. Perfect. After a few photos, we then jumped into their police van and they took us to a 24 hour cafe where we ate Kazak lamb stew and they drank tea.  read more »

Day 26, 7,400 miles. Now in Kazakhstan after a collective bribe of $10, 5, one pack of cigarettes, one Gillette razor blade, one stubbie holder and the clincher, a tennis ball! Convinced them out of taking a golf club though. This country feels huge, grassy steppes as far as the eye can see. Goats, sheep, cows and horses all over the plains... and the road! The cops' hats here rival an English bobbies in height and second to the animals they are the most populous bunch. Camped by a bridge last night & awoke to a policeman who may or may not have thought we were terrorists wishing to blow it up. When he implied he wanted money, we feigned ignorance & offered him freeze dried porridge, at which point he walked away shaking his head.  read more »