Magadan to Ardnamurchan by Defender, we must be MAD!!!!!!!!!
Discussion
Hi all,
This is just a quick post to let some of you know what we will be up to next year. We have planned a bit of an epic trip and are now in the vehicle prep and serious planning stage. Our trip as you can see from the title is for a "short overland jaunt" from the Pacific to the Atlantic, in many ways the title of the trip is soo appropriate. The background to this was that a good friend of mine took part in the London to Tashkent rally in a £350 Range Rover, now I wont spoil the story of their trip as I am sure he will post it on here at some point. Suffice to say that he came back with an appetite for something a bit toughter, but also better planned and in better vehicles, and so the plan evolved from an innocent text message to me this summer to where we are today.
Our plan is to ship 3 110 Puma's to Magadan on the Pacific east coast of Russia around May of next year, we then fly out and head home in August. The direction of this trip was based on the thought that it will be better to nail the really tough stuff while the vehicles and crew are fresh and with all the really tough parts out East the decision was taken to ship them to our start point. The plan is to pick up some well known adventure routes and also some routes that are less well known outside these circles and indeed one that is so well known it has taken months of research to establish its existence and viability.
Leaving Magadan we will head out on the Road of Bones to Yakutsk, this was the road that Euan & Charly travelled with their bikes in the back of a Kamaz truck, their problem was being too early in the year and still suffering from spring snowmelt hence our August departure. Along this route there are many great places to visit including some of the most horrific Gulag camps of the Stalinist era, an abandoned city and Oymayakon, the "Pole of Cold" with the record of being the coldest inhabited place on earth at -72 C. Fortunately in August it wont be that bad but their record low at that time is -18, so winter woollies at the ready.
From Yakutsk we head south on the Lena Highway ( I have no idea how they can use that term for such a rough dirt road ) crossing the Lena River and onward to the town of Tynda. This is the biggest town on the BAM railway, the Baikal Amur Mainline was a huge project undertaken to link the Lake Baikal region with the Pacific coast. Our plan is to travel along the route of the old construction road for about 1200km to the top of Lake Baikal. This is where the road of bones will start to look like a gentle warm up, the big issues are rivers, bridges and bears. We have been in contact with a some guys who went through last year so with luck and a good tailwind we should be ok. It is however going to be a fairly demanding stretch.
Having reached the top of Lake Baikal, traditional wisdom ( maybe the wrong term ) would dictate that you head west then south to Irkutsk and around the bottom of the lake to reach the border crossing to Mongolia. However noting that there is a road over half way up the east side I set about trying to establish if the path shown on our old Russian Military maps actually existed today. What I had located was the Bargauzin Valley, a 250km supply road built in 1974 after a mild winter stopped supplies for railroad construction using the ice road on the lake. I have only been able to locate two records of recent crossings by 4x4, and from the photographs and accounts we have read we will be looking back on the last legs as being a warm up. It will however cut a few days out our route and it is always nice to go somewhere new and less travelled.
From here we will head into Mongolia and a crew change opportunity at Ulaan Baatar, not to mention the fact that they have a Landy dealer!!! The trip across Mongolia will explore the open terrain of what is the world least densly populated country. Road are few and far between and nomads still make up the majority of the population. We have identified some nice lakes, and sights to visit on our way through what my culturally be the most interesting part of the trip.
Exiting Mongolia at the border town of Tsagaannuur we will enter the Altai region of Russia, this area looks more like the Swiss alps and should be truly stunning coupled with the luxury of tarmac this will be a lovely region to explore. From here we head towards Eastern Siberia, through Western Siberia and onward to Latvia. We will have another crew change opportinity in Riga before setting off through Lihtuania and down into Poland. One of my co-drivers is from Poland ( and speaks Russian )so we will be heading to his town for a brief R&R stop before pushing on through Europe to get the ferry back to the UK. Once back in the UK we will head up to Scotland, straight past home and out to Ardnamurchan. the reason for this it that as the most westerly part of the UK and jutting out into the Atlantic it punctuates the trip so much better than just finishing in the driveway.
Well that is the route as it stands, currently my Vehicle "Mad One" is at Devon 4X4 in the safe hands of the team charged with its transformation. I have enjoyed working with Chris on developing a specification that should provide us with the best chance of minimizing the problems and I am really looking forward to coming down to collect it and get it on its shke down trip.
During our adventure I fully intend to keep anyone sad enough to be interested in how we are getting on up to date via this forum, our blog site that we are establishing and by live GPS tracking. I believe Chris is going to be starting another thread soon to document some of the stuff that we are doing to this vehicle to get it ready for the trip.
This is just a quick post to let some of you know what we will be up to next year. We have planned a bit of an epic trip and are now in the vehicle prep and serious planning stage. Our trip as you can see from the title is for a "short overland jaunt" from the Pacific to the Atlantic, in many ways the title of the trip is soo appropriate. The background to this was that a good friend of mine took part in the London to Tashkent rally in a £350 Range Rover, now I wont spoil the story of their trip as I am sure he will post it on here at some point. Suffice to say that he came back with an appetite for something a bit toughter, but also better planned and in better vehicles, and so the plan evolved from an innocent text message to me this summer to where we are today.
Our plan is to ship 3 110 Puma's to Magadan on the Pacific east coast of Russia around May of next year, we then fly out and head home in August. The direction of this trip was based on the thought that it will be better to nail the really tough stuff while the vehicles and crew are fresh and with all the really tough parts out East the decision was taken to ship them to our start point. The plan is to pick up some well known adventure routes and also some routes that are less well known outside these circles and indeed one that is so well known it has taken months of research to establish its existence and viability.
Leaving Magadan we will head out on the Road of Bones to Yakutsk, this was the road that Euan & Charly travelled with their bikes in the back of a Kamaz truck, their problem was being too early in the year and still suffering from spring snowmelt hence our August departure. Along this route there are many great places to visit including some of the most horrific Gulag camps of the Stalinist era, an abandoned city and Oymayakon, the "Pole of Cold" with the record of being the coldest inhabited place on earth at -72 C. Fortunately in August it wont be that bad but their record low at that time is -18, so winter woollies at the ready.
From Yakutsk we head south on the Lena Highway ( I have no idea how they can use that term for such a rough dirt road ) crossing the Lena River and onward to the town of Tynda. This is the biggest town on the BAM railway, the Baikal Amur Mainline was a huge project undertaken to link the Lake Baikal region with the Pacific coast. Our plan is to travel along the route of the old construction road for about 1200km to the top of Lake Baikal. This is where the road of bones will start to look like a gentle warm up, the big issues are rivers, bridges and bears. We have been in contact with a some guys who went through last year so with luck and a good tailwind we should be ok. It is however going to be a fairly demanding stretch.
Having reached the top of Lake Baikal, traditional wisdom ( maybe the wrong term ) would dictate that you head west then south to Irkutsk and around the bottom of the lake to reach the border crossing to Mongolia. However noting that there is a road over half way up the east side I set about trying to establish if the path shown on our old Russian Military maps actually existed today. What I had located was the Bargauzin Valley, a 250km supply road built in 1974 after a mild winter stopped supplies for railroad construction using the ice road on the lake. I have only been able to locate two records of recent crossings by 4x4, and from the photographs and accounts we have read we will be looking back on the last legs as being a warm up. It will however cut a few days out our route and it is always nice to go somewhere new and less travelled.
From here we will head into Mongolia and a crew change opportunity at Ulaan Baatar, not to mention the fact that they have a Landy dealer!!! The trip across Mongolia will explore the open terrain of what is the world least densly populated country. Road are few and far between and nomads still make up the majority of the population. We have identified some nice lakes, and sights to visit on our way through what my culturally be the most interesting part of the trip.
Exiting Mongolia at the border town of Tsagaannuur we will enter the Altai region of Russia, this area looks more like the Swiss alps and should be truly stunning coupled with the luxury of tarmac this will be a lovely region to explore. From here we head towards Eastern Siberia, through Western Siberia and onward to Latvia. We will have another crew change opportinity in Riga before setting off through Lihtuania and down into Poland. One of my co-drivers is from Poland ( and speaks Russian )so we will be heading to his town for a brief R&R stop before pushing on through Europe to get the ferry back to the UK. Once back in the UK we will head up to Scotland, straight past home and out to Ardnamurchan. the reason for this it that as the most westerly part of the UK and jutting out into the Atlantic it punctuates the trip so much better than just finishing in the driveway.
Well that is the route as it stands, currently my Vehicle "Mad One" is at Devon 4X4 in the safe hands of the team charged with its transformation. I have enjoyed working with Chris on developing a specification that should provide us with the best chance of minimizing the problems and I am really looking forward to coming down to collect it and get it on its shke down trip.
During our adventure I fully intend to keep anyone sad enough to be interested in how we are getting on up to date via this forum, our blog site that we are establishing and by live GPS tracking. I believe Chris is going to be starting another thread soon to document some of the stuff that we are doing to this vehicle to get it ready for the trip.
stuart1969 said:
Hi all,
This is just a quick post to let some of you know what we will be up to next year. We have planned a bit of an epic trip and are now in the vehicle prep and serious planning stage. Our trip as you can see from the title is for a "short overland jaunt" from the Pacific to the Atlantic, in many ways the title of the trip is soo appropriate. The background to this was that a good friend of mine took part in the London to Tashkent rally in a £350 Range Rover, now I wont spoil the story of their trip as I am sure he will post it on here at some point. Suffice to say that he came back with an appetite for something a bit toughter, but also better planned and in better vehicles, and so the plan evolved from an innocent text message to me this summer to where we are today.
Our plan is to ship 3 110 Puma's to Magadan on the Pacific east coast of Russia around May of next year, we then fly out and head home in August. The direction of this trip was based on the thought that it will be better to nail the really tough stuff while the vehicles and crew are fresh and with all the really tough parts out East the decision was taken to ship them to our start point. The plan is to pick up some well known adventure routes and also some routes that are less well known outside these circles and indeed one that is so well known it has taken months of research to establish its existence and viability.
Leaving Magadan we will head out on the Road of Bones to Yakutsk, this was the road that Euan & Charly travelled with their bikes in the back of a Kamaz truck, their problem was being too early in the year and still suffering from spring snowmelt hence our August departure. Along this route there are many great places to visit including some of the most horrific Gulag camps of the Stalinist era, an abandoned city and Oymayakon, the "Pole of Cold" with the record of being the coldest inhabited place on earth at -72 C. Fortunately in August it wont be that bad but their record low at that time is -18, so winter woollies at the ready.
From Yakutsk we head south on the Lena Highway ( I have no idea how they can use that term for such a rough dirt road ) crossing the Lena River and onward to the town of Tynda. This is the biggest town on the BAM railway, the Baikal Amur Mainline was a huge project undertaken to link the Lake Baikal region with the Pacific coast. Our plan is to travel along the route of the old construction road for about 1200km to the top of Lake Baikal. This is where the road of bones will start to look like a gentle warm up, the big issues are rivers, bridges and bears. We have been in contact with a some guys who went through last year so with luck and a good tailwind we should be ok. It is however going to be a fairly demanding stretch.
Having reached the top of Lake Baikal, traditional wisdom ( maybe the wrong term ) would dictate that you head west then south to Irkutsk and around the bottom of the lake to reach the border crossing to Mongolia. However noting that there is a road over half way up the east side I set about trying to establish if the path shown on our old Russian Military maps actually existed today. What I had located was the Bargauzin Valley, a 250km supply road built in 1974 after a mild winter stopped supplies for railroad construction using the ice road on the lake. I have only been able to locate two records of recent crossings by 4x4, and from the photographs and accounts we have read we will be looking back on the last legs as being a warm up. It will however cut a few days out our route and it is always nice to go somewhere new and less travelled.
From here we will head into Mongolia and a crew change opportunity at Ulaan Baatar, not to mention the fact that they have a Landy dealer!!! The trip across Mongolia will explore the open terrain of what is the world least densly populated country. Road are few and far between and nomads still make up the majority of the population. We have identified some nice lakes, and sights to visit on our way through what my culturally be the most interesting part of the trip.
Exiting Mongolia at the border town of Tsagaannuur we will enter the Altai region of Russia, this area looks more like the Swiss alps and should be truly stunning coupled with the luxury of tarmac this will be a lovely region to explore. From here we head towards Eastern Siberia, through Western Siberia and onward to Latvia. We will have another crew change opportinity in Riga before setting off through Lihtuania and down into Poland. One of my co-drivers is from Poland ( and speaks Russian )so we will be heading to his town for a brief R&R stop before pushing on through Europe to get the ferry back to the UK. Once back in the UK we will head up to Scotland, straight past home and out to Ardnamurchan. the reason for this it that as the most westerly part of the UK and jutting out into the Atlantic it punctuates the trip so much better than just finishing in the driveway.
Well that is the route as it stands, currently my Vehicle "Mad One" is at Devon 4X4 in the safe hands of the team charged with its transformation. I have enjoyed working with Chris on developing a specification that should provide us with the best chance of minimizing the problems and I am really looking forward to coming down to collect it and get it on its shke down trip.
During our adventure I fully intend to keep anyone sad enough to be interested in how we are getting on up to date via this forum, our blog site that we are establishing and by live GPS tracking. I believe Chris is going to be starting another thread soon to document some of the stuff that we are doing to this vehicle to get it ready for the trip.
I remember you talking about this fab trip before on one of the threads. I love the name of your vehicle 'Mad One'. It was so nice of you to name it after me!!!!!! I am looking forward to hearing all about the trip and seeing all the fab photos that you will be posting!! Sounds like loads of fun and something I wished I had done or could do. I watched the programme with Ewan McGregor doing the trip just today on You Tube (I came across it by accident) and it reminded me of the trip you said you were doing so I checked to see if you had any more updates. Good for you. Your work must be OK with you taking four months off or are you self employed? Anyway, please keep us updated. You mentioned bears, if you want info on how to deal with them I am your man. If you come across a black one punch it on the nose, if it's a grizzly play dead! Or is it the other way round............??This is just a quick post to let some of you know what we will be up to next year. We have planned a bit of an epic trip and are now in the vehicle prep and serious planning stage. Our trip as you can see from the title is for a "short overland jaunt" from the Pacific to the Atlantic, in many ways the title of the trip is soo appropriate. The background to this was that a good friend of mine took part in the London to Tashkent rally in a £350 Range Rover, now I wont spoil the story of their trip as I am sure he will post it on here at some point. Suffice to say that he came back with an appetite for something a bit toughter, but also better planned and in better vehicles, and so the plan evolved from an innocent text message to me this summer to where we are today.
Our plan is to ship 3 110 Puma's to Magadan on the Pacific east coast of Russia around May of next year, we then fly out and head home in August. The direction of this trip was based on the thought that it will be better to nail the really tough stuff while the vehicles and crew are fresh and with all the really tough parts out East the decision was taken to ship them to our start point. The plan is to pick up some well known adventure routes and also some routes that are less well known outside these circles and indeed one that is so well known it has taken months of research to establish its existence and viability.
Leaving Magadan we will head out on the Road of Bones to Yakutsk, this was the road that Euan & Charly travelled with their bikes in the back of a Kamaz truck, their problem was being too early in the year and still suffering from spring snowmelt hence our August departure. Along this route there are many great places to visit including some of the most horrific Gulag camps of the Stalinist era, an abandoned city and Oymayakon, the "Pole of Cold" with the record of being the coldest inhabited place on earth at -72 C. Fortunately in August it wont be that bad but their record low at that time is -18, so winter woollies at the ready.
From Yakutsk we head south on the Lena Highway ( I have no idea how they can use that term for such a rough dirt road ) crossing the Lena River and onward to the town of Tynda. This is the biggest town on the BAM railway, the Baikal Amur Mainline was a huge project undertaken to link the Lake Baikal region with the Pacific coast. Our plan is to travel along the route of the old construction road for about 1200km to the top of Lake Baikal. This is where the road of bones will start to look like a gentle warm up, the big issues are rivers, bridges and bears. We have been in contact with a some guys who went through last year so with luck and a good tailwind we should be ok. It is however going to be a fairly demanding stretch.
Having reached the top of Lake Baikal, traditional wisdom ( maybe the wrong term ) would dictate that you head west then south to Irkutsk and around the bottom of the lake to reach the border crossing to Mongolia. However noting that there is a road over half way up the east side I set about trying to establish if the path shown on our old Russian Military maps actually existed today. What I had located was the Bargauzin Valley, a 250km supply road built in 1974 after a mild winter stopped supplies for railroad construction using the ice road on the lake. I have only been able to locate two records of recent crossings by 4x4, and from the photographs and accounts we have read we will be looking back on the last legs as being a warm up. It will however cut a few days out our route and it is always nice to go somewhere new and less travelled.
From here we will head into Mongolia and a crew change opportunity at Ulaan Baatar, not to mention the fact that they have a Landy dealer!!! The trip across Mongolia will explore the open terrain of what is the world least densly populated country. Road are few and far between and nomads still make up the majority of the population. We have identified some nice lakes, and sights to visit on our way through what my culturally be the most interesting part of the trip.
Exiting Mongolia at the border town of Tsagaannuur we will enter the Altai region of Russia, this area looks more like the Swiss alps and should be truly stunning coupled with the luxury of tarmac this will be a lovely region to explore. From here we head towards Eastern Siberia, through Western Siberia and onward to Latvia. We will have another crew change opportinity in Riga before setting off through Lihtuania and down into Poland. One of my co-drivers is from Poland ( and speaks Russian )so we will be heading to his town for a brief R&R stop before pushing on through Europe to get the ferry back to the UK. Once back in the UK we will head up to Scotland, straight past home and out to Ardnamurchan. the reason for this it that as the most westerly part of the UK and jutting out into the Atlantic it punctuates the trip so much better than just finishing in the driveway.
Well that is the route as it stands, currently my Vehicle "Mad One" is at Devon 4X4 in the safe hands of the team charged with its transformation. I have enjoyed working with Chris on developing a specification that should provide us with the best chance of minimizing the problems and I am really looking forward to coming down to collect it and get it on its shke down trip.
During our adventure I fully intend to keep anyone sad enough to be interested in how we are getting on up to date via this forum, our blog site that we are establishing and by live GPS tracking. I believe Chris is going to be starting another thread soon to document some of the stuff that we are doing to this vehicle to get it ready for the trip.
Mad One, sorry for stealing your name mate!!! but Mad One, Mad Too and Mad Three seem to be the obvious names.
If you want to follow this go onto www.devon4x4.com and it will be on their forum
If you want to follow this go onto www.devon4x4.com and it will be on their forum
This rallying lark is addictive isn't it 
www.ozrally.org
I started with the Plymouth - Banjul Challenge, then did the Mongol Rally. Then the Oz rally which was one I organised myself. Absolutely love it.....wish I could tag along in my Beetle saving up time and money for my next big one though 
www.ozrally.org
I started with the Plymouth - Banjul Challenge, then did the Mongol Rally. Then the Oz rally which was one I organised myself. Absolutely love it.....wish I could tag along in my Beetle
saving up time and money for my next big one though Hi mate, not being mean but I dont think it is any place for a beetle!!! it a long haul hardcore offroad rally the best of both worlds really.
Check this out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg7KMdM8e6s
Check this out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg7KMdM8e6s
stuart1969 said:
Hi mate, not being mean but I dont think it is any place for a beetle!!!
Yes you are! You're being very mean and you clearly haven't seen Pedro(even though I posted a link to my website above)
Here he is in the Baluchistan Desert
That big mountain behind the car is Everest - you might have heard of it!
I also crossed the Atlas mountains and the Sahara desert in a totally standard Beetle....after some guys in 4x4's laughed at me and said it wasn't possible. I hate when people have their heads so far up their own arses they think it's ok to belittle other peoples efforts. Not only did I do it but it was easy and I'd do it again tomorrow.
My next trip will most likely be the length of Africa winter 2012/13. I would be happy for you boys to pit your, apparently superior, machines against 2 mechanically inept girls in a 40 year old Volkswagon!
Oh and here are some photos of when I went the same route as Ewan and Charlie that you are talking about across Mongolia, in a friends Nissan Micra.
The Mini in our little convoy in the Altai mountains
and in Kazakhstan
You don't need to spend tens of thousands of pounds on a flash new 4x4 to do this things you just need to have the right mind-set, the determination to suceed!
You may have noticed the current Pistonheads pic of the week, it's a standard Beetle cabriolet completing the Peking-Paris.
http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyI...
I actually posted on your thread to wish you well and share experiences, I didn't expect to be laughed out of the room for daring to be different!
The Mini in our little convoy in the Altai mountains
and in Kazakhstan
You don't need to spend tens of thousands of pounds on a flash new 4x4 to do this things you just need to have the right mind-set, the determination to suceed!
You may have noticed the current Pistonheads pic of the week, it's a standard Beetle cabriolet completing the Peking-Paris.
http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyI...
I actually posted on your thread to wish you well and share experiences, I didn't expect to be laughed out of the room for daring to be different!
Edited by K17LER on Sunday 21st November 21:03
Hey,
Pedro looks really cool and I do admire the trips you have undertaken, and I really think it is amazing the trips some people have done in a whole manner of vehicles. Traditionally overland travel has been a bit offroad but not extreme. We have however decided to take a combined approach which will see us taking some really extreme routes. Indeed even with the hardware we are taking it is not a done deal. We have many rivers to cross exceeding 1m in depth and on some of the rocky sections of the Barguzin valley even our ground clearance may not get us through.
I mean it I am not being flip, if you wanna tag along feel free. Rather we met up on something more fun than futile.
Cheers
Pedro looks really cool and I do admire the trips you have undertaken, and I really think it is amazing the trips some people have done in a whole manner of vehicles. Traditionally overland travel has been a bit offroad but not extreme. We have however decided to take a combined approach which will see us taking some really extreme routes. Indeed even with the hardware we are taking it is not a done deal. We have many rivers to cross exceeding 1m in depth and on some of the rocky sections of the Barguzin valley even our ground clearance may not get us through.
I mean it I am not being flip, if you wanna tag along feel free. Rather we met up on something more fun than futile.
Cheers
If time and money were no issue then I would happily tag along. Dreamshack did the prep on Pedro and I'm sure would be happy to modify him further for deeper rivers and add a winch etc. If I put my mind to something then I will find a way and Mark likes unusual projects so is happy to indulge my insanity. He preps camel trophy landrovers amongst other things so knows the score when it comes to the kind of stuff you're talking about. www.marksdreamshack.com
We have spoken about prepping a Beetle to do a full circumnavigation, the Long Way round route but actually crossing the berring straight....he is an ex-REME engineer and confident he can adapt a Beetle to run on water too(they do float if the doors are welded shut(and there are no holes in the body). This won't be Pedro but another Bug built for purpose. Unfortunately it also requires someone to throw a lot of money at me in sponsorship as I'm not quite mad enough to set out across ice berg strewn seas in a Beetle without a support crew stood by in a boat. I'm crazy but not that crazy!
More of Africa and the Pan-American highway are certainly on the list though. My work are pretty flexible in giving me the time off as I use the trips to fundraise for various charities but time and money dictate that I can only do a big one every 2 or 3 years at the moment. I'd be away all the time if I could but I can't take much more than 3-4months off in one hit if I want them to keep paying me
We have spoken about prepping a Beetle to do a full circumnavigation, the Long Way round route but actually crossing the berring straight....he is an ex-REME engineer and confident he can adapt a Beetle to run on water too(they do float if the doors are welded shut(and there are no holes in the body). This won't be Pedro but another Bug built for purpose. Unfortunately it also requires someone to throw a lot of money at me in sponsorship as I'm not quite mad enough to set out across ice berg strewn seas in a Beetle without a support crew stood by in a boat. I'm crazy but not that crazy!
More of Africa and the Pan-American highway are certainly on the list though. My work are pretty flexible in giving me the time off as I use the trips to fundraise for various charities but time and money dictate that I can only do a big one every 2 or 3 years at the moment. I'd be away all the time if I could but I can't take much more than 3-4months off in one hit if I want them to keep paying me
Have had a look at more of your pics, it really is a cool Bug you have in Pedro!!! To do the whole of the Long Way Round weould really be great but few of our crew would be able to get the time off work to make that happen so we have to be happy with doing the first half backwards with a slight diversion with a couple of crew change opportunites for some of the guys.
I think Pedro would be fine on the Long Way Round route esp if you went at the right time of year ( Euan and Charly were a bit early in the year due to filming commitments!! ) that way you get the rivers at their lowest, we have been advised that August is the best time to set off west. I have seen an article with a Land Rover driving across the Bering Straits with some crazy flotation bags attached. If you want I can scan the article in for you. I would have to agree with you that I would not try it without organising some form of support crew on a boat. Having sailed for years I can imagine that the stability of a floating car is something that would be a little sensitive the sea state.
I will keep you posted as things progress, and when we get back we can give you all the info and contacts we pick up on the way across.
How was Mongolia?? I am really looking forward to that from a cultural standpoint as I have heard the people are very nice.
Stu
I think Pedro would be fine on the Long Way Round route esp if you went at the right time of year ( Euan and Charly were a bit early in the year due to filming commitments!! ) that way you get the rivers at their lowest, we have been advised that August is the best time to set off west. I have seen an article with a Land Rover driving across the Bering Straits with some crazy flotation bags attached. If you want I can scan the article in for you. I would have to agree with you that I would not try it without organising some form of support crew on a boat. Having sailed for years I can imagine that the stability of a floating car is something that would be a little sensitive the sea state.
I will keep you posted as things progress, and when we get back we can give you all the info and contacts we pick up on the way across.
How was Mongolia?? I am really looking forward to that from a cultural standpoint as I have heard the people are very nice.
Stu
stuart1969 said:
Have had a look at more of your pics, it really is a cool Bug you have in Pedro!!! To do the whole of the Long Way Round weould really be great but few of our crew would be able to get the time off work to make that happen so we have to be happy with doing the first half backwards with a slight diversion with a couple of crew change opportunites for some of the guys.
I think Pedro would be fine on the Long Way Round route esp if you went at the right time of year ( Euan and Charly were a bit early in the year due to filming commitments!! ) that way you get the rivers at their lowest, we have been advised that August is the best time to set off west. I have seen an article with a Land Rover driving across the Bering Straits with some crazy flotation bags attached. If you want I can scan the article in for you. I would have to agree with you that I would not try it without organising some form of support crew on a boat. Having sailed for years I can imagine that the stability of a floating car is something that would be a little sensitive the sea state.
I will keep you posted as things progress, and when we get back we can give you all the info and contacts we pick up on the way across.
How was Mongolia?? I am really looking forward to that from a cultural standpoint as I have heard the people are very nice.
Stu
It was August when I went through Mongolia and no, we didn't get bogged down all the time like Ewan and Charley. Remember the river they got to that was too deep to cross and they had to ride south for 2 days to get round it? Well it was still over bonnet height on the Micra when we went across, so you can imagine how deep in the water the Mini was! We got round the problem by paying some locals to tow us across with their lorry.I think Pedro would be fine on the Long Way Round route esp if you went at the right time of year ( Euan and Charly were a bit early in the year due to filming commitments!! ) that way you get the rivers at their lowest, we have been advised that August is the best time to set off west. I have seen an article with a Land Rover driving across the Bering Straits with some crazy flotation bags attached. If you want I can scan the article in for you. I would have to agree with you that I would not try it without organising some form of support crew on a boat. Having sailed for years I can imagine that the stability of a floating car is something that would be a little sensitive the sea state.
I will keep you posted as things progress, and when we get back we can give you all the info and contacts we pick up on the way across.
How was Mongolia?? I am really looking forward to that from a cultural standpoint as I have heard the people are very nice.
Stu
despite the banger rallies passing through twice a year and the Peking -Paris annually, the locals are still fascinated to see foreigners. They are incredibly friendly and you will be invited into many Gers to drink fermented yak milk and eat hard sour cheese. The mini and polo got stuck in soft sand(both Micras were fine) and wound up being towed out by small children with horses. As a thank you I gave them some sweets which prompted them to go back to their ger and come riding after us with a big bag of the sour cheese! This actually turned out to be a good thing as when we met more locals we were able to avoid the cheese eating by offering them ours first!
The fermented Yak milk is pretty nasty too but if they offer you homemade Mongolian vodka then that is gorgeous, it has a really lovely, delicate, flowery flavour.
One of my favourite countries and because of the lack of light polution the night skies are truly amazing. I really never realised there were so many stars in the sky! I was so overcome by it I fell asleep with my head poking out of the tent star-gazing and woke up freezing. I was suprised at how cold it was, I know Mongolia is high altitude but as it was august i didn't think cold would be a big issue - lesson learnt there! You'll be prepared for that though as you're going to even colder areas.
I used to have the web address of those guys with the floating land rover but can't seem to find it now. Would be interested to see the article, I was following their preparations but then got bogged down in my own rally prep and lost track. didn't know if they's done it or not. Time would be an issue for me on that one too, as well as finding enough sponsorship. I think it's probably best to get a couple more big trips under my belt first to build up sponsor relations and then see where I go from there. Next is probably length of Africa then the America's.
How long are you taking to do your trip?
Hi
Some of our crew are a little time poor so we will be pushing to make the trip in 6 weeks which will be tight. My crew are all self employed/consultants so we are not that bothered if it runs on a little due to unforseen issue. The other vehicles me be a little more pressed but we can always bring the vehicles back if they have to fly back to work. The main thing is that we enjoy the trip the terrain and the people. I want to spend plenty of time photograhing our venture as we are sure to visit some iconic places and meet may interesting people.
At school I never really bothered about history but the more I read up on the places that we will visit the more it sinks in that some crazy stuff went on out here. Take the uraniam mines at Budugychag, it is estimated that some 380,000 people died here & their bodies are dumped across the mountainside. How humbling is that!!! it is estimated that the death toll at the hands of Stalinist Russia eclipsed the Nazi fourfold!!!! that is a ridiculous number of dead. I watched some archive footage on Youtube on sat night where survivours describe what went on and why. Some of these people were sent here for telling jokes against the party.
I think the Magadan region and its history although dark will be very interseting, I guess there will be plenty of B&W photography on this section ( sorry if it is all rubbish digital but I aint good enough to go med format) I guess that will make the vibrant people of Mongolia such a pleasure.
Will keep you posted as things progress. Although I also like the idea of crossing Africa and doing the north to south route through America I would be embarrased accompanying Pedro in my big brash Landy!!!!!
Some of our crew are a little time poor so we will be pushing to make the trip in 6 weeks which will be tight. My crew are all self employed/consultants so we are not that bothered if it runs on a little due to unforseen issue. The other vehicles me be a little more pressed but we can always bring the vehicles back if they have to fly back to work. The main thing is that we enjoy the trip the terrain and the people. I want to spend plenty of time photograhing our venture as we are sure to visit some iconic places and meet may interesting people.
At school I never really bothered about history but the more I read up on the places that we will visit the more it sinks in that some crazy stuff went on out here. Take the uraniam mines at Budugychag, it is estimated that some 380,000 people died here & their bodies are dumped across the mountainside. How humbling is that!!! it is estimated that the death toll at the hands of Stalinist Russia eclipsed the Nazi fourfold!!!! that is a ridiculous number of dead. I watched some archive footage on Youtube on sat night where survivours describe what went on and why. Some of these people were sent here for telling jokes against the party.
I think the Magadan region and its history although dark will be very interseting, I guess there will be plenty of B&W photography on this section ( sorry if it is all rubbish digital but I aint good enough to go med format) I guess that will make the vibrant people of Mongolia such a pleasure.
Will keep you posted as things progress. Although I also like the idea of crossing Africa and doing the north to south route through America I would be embarrased accompanying Pedro in my big brash Landy!!!!!
stuart1969 said:
Hi
Some of our crew are a little time poor so we will be pushing to make the trip in 6 weeks which will be tight. My crew are all self employed/consultants so we are not that bothered if it runs on a little due to unforseen issue. The other vehicles me be a little more pressed but we can always bring the vehicles back if they have to fly back to work. The main thing is that we enjoy the trip the terrain and the people. I want to spend plenty of time photograhing our venture as we are sure to visit some iconic places and meet may interesting people.
At school I never really bothered about history but the more I read up on the places that we will visit the more it sinks in that some crazy stuff went on out here. Take the uraniam mines at Budugychag, it is estimated that some 380,000 people died here & their bodies are dumped across the mountainside. How humbling is that!!! it is estimated that the death toll at the hands of Stalinist Russia eclipsed the Nazi fourfold!!!! that is a ridiculous number of dead. I watched some archive footage on Youtube on sat night where survivours describe what went on and why. Some of these people were sent here for telling jokes against the party.
I think the Magadan region and its history although dark will be very interseting, I guess there will be plenty of B&W photography on this section ( sorry if it is all rubbish digital but I aint good enough to go med format) I guess that will make the vibrant people of Mongolia such a pleasure.
Will keep you posted as things progress. Although I also like the idea of crossing Africa and doing the north to south route through America I would be embarrased accompanying Pedro in my big brash Landy!!!!!
I know what you mean, I had no idea that Laos had been so heavily bombed during the Vietnam war until I planned the drive through there. One of the charities we chose to support was the Cope centre in Vientienne. They provide re-habilitation and prosthesis for victims of UXO. It's really shocking how many amputees you see in the country, all caused by unexploded weapons of war. The conflict was over more than 30 years ago, people are still maimed and dying because of it and yet the people who put the bombs there offer no help.Some of our crew are a little time poor so we will be pushing to make the trip in 6 weeks which will be tight. My crew are all self employed/consultants so we are not that bothered if it runs on a little due to unforseen issue. The other vehicles me be a little more pressed but we can always bring the vehicles back if they have to fly back to work. The main thing is that we enjoy the trip the terrain and the people. I want to spend plenty of time photograhing our venture as we are sure to visit some iconic places and meet may interesting people.
At school I never really bothered about history but the more I read up on the places that we will visit the more it sinks in that some crazy stuff went on out here. Take the uraniam mines at Budugychag, it is estimated that some 380,000 people died here & their bodies are dumped across the mountainside. How humbling is that!!! it is estimated that the death toll at the hands of Stalinist Russia eclipsed the Nazi fourfold!!!! that is a ridiculous number of dead. I watched some archive footage on Youtube on sat night where survivours describe what went on and why. Some of these people were sent here for telling jokes against the party.
I think the Magadan region and its history although dark will be very interseting, I guess there will be plenty of B&W photography on this section ( sorry if it is all rubbish digital but I aint good enough to go med format) I guess that will make the vibrant people of Mongolia such a pleasure.
Will keep you posted as things progress. Although I also like the idea of crossing Africa and doing the north to south route through America I would be embarrased accompanying Pedro in my big brash Landy!!!!!
You really don't want to be taking a big, brash Landy through Africa, it's really not the place. I know it may seem ideal for the terrain but I've tried both....when you arrive at a border crossing or police/army check point you will be sized up as to how much you are worth. Arrive in a battered old Beetle and you can get through with a "gift" of a couple of biro's, arrive in a flashy landy and you will be delayed until they have extracted what they feel is a reasonable amount of money or goods from you.
You shouldn't have too much trouble with the route you're taking through Asia, Russians, Mongolians and Poles are very hospitible people and they will most likely be offended if you offer them money. It's nice to take a few gifts though, so you can return the kindness, if they give you Vodka, offer them some Whiskey or whatever you have in the car. I suggest you find yourself a Scottish Whiskey company to sponsor you and donate samples as you're finishing there.
Ukraine was the only corrupt country we visited on that route but I don't think you're going through there. The police stopped us with a speed of 93 on the radar, there was no way we were doing that speed, they must have recorded it themselves earlier as I'm sure they knew the rally was coming. One car "paid" a 30 euro "fine" the other managed $4 and an "I love cork" sticker! You can bet it would have been more if the vehicles had been more expensive.When we were stopped in Gambia, driving a Disco, the police asked for 200euros! The only way we got out of it was by insisting that it wasn't our car. We told them we had driven there in an old Beetle but that was being sold for charity in Banjul, so we had borrowed the Landrover to take our donations to rural clinics. They still insisted we must have something for them, so we said no, that we were flying home the next day and didnt have any money left. Eventually they let us go but it showed us the different attitude compared to the bug!
If you're short of driver for any leg then give me a shout, a may be able to get away for a few weeks. I don't have much 4wd experience but might persuade my brother to give me a crash course in his defender. To be honest I think 6 weeks is pretty optomistic. We took a month London to Ulaan Bataar and you are talking about a longer distance on, in some areas, worse terrain.
K17LER and Stuart, I am enjoying reading about your trips (well the past and future ones) and am so jealous. I would do anything to do a trip like that but I can't afford to at present and don't know of anybody who would want to do the trip. However, I am soo looking forward to hearing all about your trip Stuart and I am going to follow it on the site you suggested. Also I am going to 'tour' it on You Tube. That will give me the feeling of actually being there. You said you were never interested in history before (neither was I) but lately I have had an ambition to become an historian or archaeologist and those places you are going to would be so fascinating. I am going to read up on them.
MadOne said:
K17LER and Stuart, I am enjoying reading about your trips (well the past and future ones) and am so jealous. I would do anything to do a trip like that but I can't afford to at present and don't know of anybody who would want to do the trip. However, I am soo looking forward to hearing all about your trip Stuart and I am going to follow it on the site you suggested. Also I am going to 'tour' it on You Tube. That will give me the feeling of actually being there. You said you were never interested in history before (neither was I) but lately I have had an ambition to become an historian or archaeologist and those places you are going to would be so fascinating. I am going to read up on them.
You don't need a lot of money to get started. The first rally I did to Gambia was in a Beetle bought for £99. All in, including buying and prepping the car, insurance, food, fuel, repairs, hotels and flights home I spent £1500 that was for 1 month on the road. There are plenty of shorter road trips you could do to give you a taste at rallying that also take in some pretty interesting history, the walled cities of Carcasonne in France and Toledo in Spain are only a few days drive away, a couple more days and you can be in North West Africa. Libya is rich picking for an archaeologists with Roman ruins like Leptis Magna and neolithic cave paintings tens of thousands of years old showing the Sahara as a lush green pasture land.....enough proof for me that climate change is natural and not a result of green house gasses.If you're interested in more recent history then head the other direction and drive to Berlin then on to Poland and the death camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. I went there when I was 19 and it is an incredibly chilling experience. It's somewhere I feel everyone should visit once in the life as a reminder of the atrocities human kind is capable of and why it must never happen again. Actually walking around that place, seeing the glasses, shoes, suit-cases, even hair of the people who died, seeing the conditions they lived in, walking into the gas chambers and unlike so many, walking out again. It gives you something history books never can.
K17LER said:
MadOne said:
K17LER and Stuart, I am enjoying reading about your trips (well the past and future ones) and am so jealous. I would do anything to do a trip like that but I can't afford to at present and don't know of anybody who would want to do the trip. However, I am soo looking forward to hearing all about your trip Stuart and I am going to follow it on the site you suggested. Also I am going to 'tour' it on You Tube. That will give me the feeling of actually being there. You said you were never interested in history before (neither was I) but lately I have had an ambition to become an historian or archaeologist and those places you are going to would be so fascinating. I am going to read up on them.
You don't need a lot of money to get started. The first rally I did to Gambia was in a Beetle bought for £99. All in, including buying and prepping the car, insurance, food, fuel, repairs, hotels and flights home I spent £1500 that was for 1 month on the road. There are plenty of shorter road trips you could do to give you a taste at rallying that also take in some pretty interesting history, the walled cities of Carcasonne in France and Toledo in Spain are only a few days drive away, a couple more days and you can be in North West Africa. Libya is rich picking for an archaeologists with Roman ruins like Leptis Magna and neolithic cave paintings tens of thousands of years old showing the Sahara as a lush green pasture land.....enough proof for me that climate change is natural and not a result of green house gasses.If you're interested in more recent history then head the other direction and drive to Berlin then on to Poland and the death camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. I went there when I was 19 and it is an incredibly chilling experience. It's somewhere I feel everyone should visit once in the life as a reminder of the atrocities human kind is capable of and why it must never happen again. Actually walking around that place, seeing the glasses, shoes, suit-cases, even hair of the people who died, seeing the conditions they lived in, walking into the gas chambers and unlike so many, walking out again. It gives you something history books never can. [/quote
Hi there. Yeah I know, I think it can be done cheaper but at the moment we have a lot going on and also nobody I know wants to do a road trip (my mates aren't that exciting!!) but you mentioned France,which just happens to be one of our most fave places so might look into that one. I did fancy doing a road trip through Switzerland. I know it is not historical but I have skiied there and just love the place so would love to see the whole lot. As for the death camps at Poland, we did that last year and it was amazing. I am fascinated by all things to do with the war and get weird vibes watching anything to do with the concentration camps (maybe I was there in a past life!!) but yeah I agree, it does give you something that history books can't. Funnily enough, I didn't get the vibes at Auswitz but I got them in Amsterdam at Anne Frank's house. It was so wierd. Germany is another favourite place of mine but have never been to Berlin even though it is a dream of mine. I do plan to do all those things once I get money together and get more interesting mates but in the meantime I plan to follow your tour and Stuart's. All my mates want to do is lie on beaches in Benedorm and the like. Nothing against that but I want to see interesting historical places. I went to China a few years ago and stayed with a college friend up in the poorest parts of China and got to meet a tribe called the Miaw People (I think that's how you spell it) and it was an amazing experience. I was like a God to the Chinese there as I was Scottish and they had never met a Scot before so I was practically worshipped everywhere I went. Amazing. I always keep a written diary of every place I visit and my experiences, place names of everywhere I went every day and my experiences and I love reading back through them. Do you plan (or have you ever) done this? I suppose everybody just blogs nowadays. Another place I really want to travel to is Peru. All pipe dreams just now though.
MadOne said:
Hi there. Yeah I know, I think it can be done cheaper but at the moment we have a lot going on and also nobody I know wants to do a road trip (my mates aren't that exciting!!) but you mentioned France,which just happens to be one of our most fave places so might look into that one. I did fancy doing a road trip through Switzerland. I know it is not historical but I have skiied there and just love the place so would love to see the whole lot. As for the death camps at Poland, we did that last year and it was amazing. I am fascinated by all things to do with the war and get weird vibes watching anything to do with the concentration camps (maybe I was there in a past life!!) but yeah I agree, it does give you something that history books can't. Funnily enough, I didn't get the vibes at Auswitz but I got them in Amsterdam at Anne Frank's house. It was so wierd. Germany is another favourite place of mine but have never been to Berlin even though it is a dream of mine. I do plan to do all those things once I get money together and get more interesting mates but in the meantime I plan to follow your tour and Stuart's. All my mates want to do is lie on beaches in Benedorm and the like. Nothing against that but I want to see interesting historical places. I went to China a few years ago and stayed with a college friend up in the poorest parts of China and got to meet a tribe called the Miaw People (I think that's how you spell it) and it was an amazing experience. I was like a God to the Chinese there as I was Scottish and they had never met a Scot before so I was practically worshipped everywhere I went. Amazing. I always keep a written diary of every place I visit and my experiences, place names of everywhere I went every day and my experiences and I love reading back through them. Do you plan (or have you ever) done this? I suppose everybody just blogs nowadays. Another place I really want to travel to is Peru. All pipe dreams just now though.
Well it sound like you've travelled a fair bit already and if you use websites like couchsurfing.com then it really can be done on the cheap. I think you would probably find Chernobyl an interesting place to visit. I hoped to go there when I passed through Ukraine on the Mongol rally but when we got to Kiev we discovered visits there have to be booked well in advance.I do keep a written diary as well as online blogs. I've even started writing a book but who knows when I'll get the time to finish that. I'm busy editing footage I took on this years Pistonheads Norway tour at the moment.
Highlights here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyBD4NyYQuQ
You'll find loads of my rally stuff on my youtube channel too.
Gassing Station | Events & Meetings | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff