We've reached Ulaan Bataar with one less man and one less vehicle. The progress on suzie (the minibus) is very confusing with the head office of customs saying yes and the border guards saying no but the ambulance has made it in one piece after 6 tyres

12 hours at the border and they are through....nearly. Unfortunately Big Suze (minibus) has had to be left at the border due to a minor technical point and the team have to go back to pick her up tomorrow. As there's now not enough room in Tally, Mike and Katie are currently hitching a lift with team Space Panda and everyone's pushing on to Ulan Baatar - before a few head back tomorrow to pick up Suze. But hopefully they can find a hotel and have a kip before then.

Having driven through the night the team reached the border at around 7am their time (1am our time)!! They were in for a long wait and sleep - not been told if they've actually crossed into Mongolia yet, will update when I know.

Next stop Ulan Bataar!

Middle of the night drive through Ulan Ude

I just had a text from Barney, so thought I'd update. They are currently sat on a little beach on the southern tip of Lake Baikal cooking curry. They've been having a bit of a relaxing/sunbathing day. Tof and Si made a raft and went for a little adventure on the lake.

They have acquired a large group of people around them who are trying to ply them with drink (as it seems is the Russian way). So they are moving on after eating - on their way to Ulan Ude near the Russia-Mongolia border.

They made it to Irkutsk over the weekend, and have stayed by the lake for a little rest before heading for the border

The team have passed Kemerovo & are planning on reaching Krasnoyarsk by tonight (their night as they are now 6 hours ahead)

After ariving in Omsk around midday, both us and Team Space Panda found a small supermarket, stocked up and persuaded some local Red-Bull sales ladies to take us to a good spot to camp.

They took us to a lovely spot by a river where 4 team members tried their hand at fishing, and unfortunately failed.

Both teams cat-napped for a few hours trying to make up for last nights long drive.

We set off around 5pm heading for Novosibirsk which was reached at 7am the next morning.

The plan is for a day of rest and relaxation after two hard nights drivng before a major drive towards Lake Baikal tomorrow.

Having driven all night the team have made it to Omsk. They have also met with another rally team The Space Panda (who they have decided to travel with for the forseeable future). They are currently having a well-earned break before pushing on further

Ok Martin is now coming home from Mongolia. He can get an emergency passport reasonably quickly but it means he has to go back to the UK. It would take 10 days for a replacement passport that would allow him to continue on to Mongolia but the team don't have the time due to visa restrictions.