Drive shaft received and mounted, transmission box back to where it belongs and any other bolts we had left are now in the boot.
We are gooooooooiiiiiiinnnnnnng.
Russia here we come!
Russie nous voila!
Wednesday 30 July 2008
Word from the Street
A drive shaft is apparently in Helsinki... Little UPS man in your brownish van: will you find the Holiday Inn West City?
Tuesday 29 July 2008
Hope: The Vengeance
Back to the Lego section then for some more childhood therapy as the parcel will not arrive today but tomorrow thanks to UPS. Great website guys, you can pay for something that doesn't exist... One more day in Helsinki, it could be worse but the time pressure is on and we're starting to feel a little bit worried and broke.
Paul recomputed all possible routes accross Russia this morning, as a wake up exercise. It took him 5 mins 34 sec which is faster than Big Blue. We're going to have to give Saint Petersburg a miss, but it is not so bad as it can be visited rather easily during a weekend break.
Another BIG BIG thanks to Paul & Steve at Polden Autos, Ferndown, who stayed up late yesterday to wait for the little UPS man. He will turn up... today.
Activities for today: beach and modern art museum.
Stay tuned, I've got the feeling this is not going to stop here.
Paul recomputed all possible routes accross Russia this morning, as a wake up exercise. It took him 5 mins 34 sec which is faster than Big Blue. We're going to have to give Saint Petersburg a miss, but it is not so bad as it can be visited rather easily during a weekend break.
Another BIG BIG thanks to Paul & Steve at Polden Autos, Ferndown, who stayed up late yesterday to wait for the little UPS man. He will turn up... today.
Activities for today: beach and modern art museum.
Stay tuned, I've got the feeling this is not going to stop here.
Monday 28 July 2008
Hope Returns
Our fate is now firmly in the hands of a brown and gold clad delivery service called UPS. Today we removed the troublesome drive shaft that seems to have disintegrated over the previous 2,500 miles and have made arrangement to get a new shiny one delivered out to us here in Helsinki. Many thanks to Paul and colleagues at Polden Autos, Ferndown, Dorset once again for coming to our rescue and locating a new shaft for us, without this the rally for us would be completely over.
All we now need is UPS to get the thing out here to us, which hopefully will be by tomorrow noon, collect the bits scattered around the hotel's car park and put the underside of E'wn back together... what's the bet we will have a single nut and washer left over!
Right, time for some sightseeing!
All we now need is UPS to get the thing out here to us, which hopefully will be by tomorrow noon, collect the bits scattered around the hotel's car park and put the underside of E'wn back together... what's the bet we will have a single nut and washer left over!
Right, time for some sightseeing!
Sunday 27 July 2008
Helsinki Again
Today, Paul and I went shopping! Not for food, no no, we've got 6 weeks worth of dried food in the back of the car awaiting 127 gallons of water to transform itself into a gigantic porridge. No, we were in the tool section obviously, looking like two mad men in search of an Allen key of size 7. This is because this morning, as we were preparing ourselves to drive to the Russian border, we discovered that the UJ joint of the drive shaft was destroyed (for my Mom: car dead). 7 being a non-standard size, we didn't find any. However there was a wide range of axes available. Being in Finland and all, buying an axe is part of your monthly shopping list. Paul must have seen the look in my eyes as he quickly dragged me to the Lego section trying to evoke happy chlidhood memories of when I was building crap rather than trying to destroy it.
That said Helsinki is a good place to be stuck in. Interesting city to have a look around and there is a very good nightlife. We went to the "Cuba!" club yesterday. It's a bit like watching a fashion show, only without the photographers and the designer clothes. Absolutely amazing. And I thought London was the place to go party... No, no, no, it is right here, in between 2 pine forests and a transfer box.
Genie mecanique: les croisillons de l'axe de transmission entre la boite de transfer et la boite de vitesse sont morts. On se fait envoyer la piece d'Angleterre. Cela necessite d'enlever la boite de transfer donc on va encore bien se marrer :-)
That said Helsinki is a good place to be stuck in. Interesting city to have a look around and there is a very good nightlife. We went to the "Cuba!" club yesterday. It's a bit like watching a fashion show, only without the photographers and the designer clothes. Absolutely amazing. And I thought London was the place to go party... No, no, no, it is right here, in between 2 pine forests and a transfer box.
Genie mecanique: les croisillons de l'axe de transmission entre la boite de transfer et la boite de vitesse sont morts. On se fait envoyer la piece d'Angleterre. Cela necessite d'enlever la boite de transfer donc on va encore bien se marrer :-)
Saturday 26 July 2008
The Challenge Ahead
After one week on the road, having gathered new skills as mechanics, camped in somptuous locations and had a sauna like only Finnish do (with the cold lake nearby) we are preparing to enter another dimension of our journey. Russia awaits, ready to add new "social" challenges to an already surprisingly long list of mainly mechanical difficulties.
The tough times are ahead. We're not scared but the possibilities of, for instance, having to abandon the car, or be robbed (stories from a Finnish friend at the campsite yesterday: NO driving at night) are becoming real. If only that bloody car could do more than 300 miles without needing maintenance...
It is a good thing that we met 2 teams on our way. Both had SJs and both packed up after 23 miles. So we're doing good. In fact I quite enjoy working on the car on abandonned car parks or on dump sites. The petrol fumes makes it a very relaxing experience. I might have developed an addiction to it. Instead of being the Matching Engine Man, I'll just be the Engine Man.
Anyway, tonight is Helsinki, and we shall enjoy what the town as to offer.
The tough times are ahead. We're not scared but the possibilities of, for instance, having to abandon the car, or be robbed (stories from a Finnish friend at the campsite yesterday: NO driving at night) are becoming real. If only that bloody car could do more than 300 miles without needing maintenance...
It is a good thing that we met 2 teams on our way. Both had SJs and both packed up after 23 miles. So we're doing good. In fact I quite enjoy working on the car on abandonned car parks or on dump sites. The petrol fumes makes it a very relaxing experience. I might have developed an addiction to it. Instead of being the Matching Engine Man, I'll just be the Engine Man.
Anyway, tonight is Helsinki, and we shall enjoy what the town as to offer.
Un petit pour la France
Salut tout le monde. Desole de ne pas trop ecrire en Francais. Mais bon comme ca c'est un bon exercice pour apprendre l'anglais. Bon alors etat des lieux:
- On est a Helsinki, demain on devrait rentrer en Russie i.e. fin de la partie facile et debut d'une autre dimension du voyage.
- Apres le non-demarrage (eau / huile dans boite a air), la fuite d'essence (necessite le demontage complet du reservoir), la voiture a developpe un nouveau probleme: drole de bruit et vibrations a 70 K/H. Nous pensons que la boite a vitesses manque d'huile.
- Super paysages, on a retrouve deux autres equipages hier soir sur un site de camping incroyable, dispose sur les bords d'un lac. Sauna et plongeon dans l'eau froide a minuit. Genial.
Voili voilou. Vu que demain on commence la Russie je ne sais pas si on aura trop acces a Internet donc ne vous faites pas de soucis. Merci pour les messages, ca fait super plaisir.
Les parents: je vous texte de temps en temps alors regardez votre portable.
- On est a Helsinki, demain on devrait rentrer en Russie i.e. fin de la partie facile et debut d'une autre dimension du voyage.
- Apres le non-demarrage (eau / huile dans boite a air), la fuite d'essence (necessite le demontage complet du reservoir), la voiture a developpe un nouveau probleme: drole de bruit et vibrations a 70 K/H. Nous pensons que la boite a vitesses manque d'huile.
- Super paysages, on a retrouve deux autres equipages hier soir sur un site de camping incroyable, dispose sur les bords d'un lac. Sauna et plongeon dans l'eau froide a minuit. Genial.
Voili voilou. Vu que demain on commence la Russie je ne sais pas si on aura trop acces a Internet donc ne vous faites pas de soucis. Merci pour les messages, ca fait super plaisir.
Les parents: je vous texte de temps en temps alors regardez votre portable.
The Arctic Circle and Rudolph
Our visit to Stockholm ended with a gentle stroll around the city before heading back to the car ready to head north, en route to the Arctic Circle. For once, thankfully, the drive was uneventful and we arrived at a peaceful campsite with very friendly owners. A quick meal on the stove and Cedric managed to locate and hopefully fix the potential problem with the failure of E'wn to start the previous day - water in the carburetor.
A long day behind the wheel on Wednesday (Day 5) moved us into the Arctic Circle, suitably marked by a huge sign which Ew'n posed nicely in front of (pictures to be posted asap). We were soon to be presented by another sign welcoming us to Lapland - I hadn't realised that a visit to Santa was on cards. Even more appropriately we got our first encounter with Reindeer strolling along the road on a supposed suicide mission. At first the odd one or two, followed by more and more until we were brought to a complete halt by the crazy animals who didn't seem to notice cars hurtling (or trundling in our case) towards them! With the problems with the car so far the last thing we wanted was to spend an evening pulling Rudolph out of the front grill. Eventually we arrived at a huge campsite late in the evening, had a tasty bbq and did some more work on the car until almost midnight. It wasn't darkness that brought us to a halt as it didn’t get dark at all - we could see perfectly well to try to connect up the two spot lamps which half worked - we only managed to get one to function. Sleeping proved difficult as it was almost complete daylight outside, the sun was only just below the horizon even at its lowest. We camped next to a lake once again and when the morning came around, the temptation was too great to resist and we dived into the pretty cold water for an Arctic Dip!
Thursday (Day 6) saw us move east inside the Arctic Circle heading into Finland. The day started badly with an increasing smell of fuel, one we had noticed previously but now it became to strong to ignore and at one stop late in the day a glance under the car showed us the problem - fuel was dripping from the tank. We drove around a town in North Finland called Rovaniemi looking for a new fuel filling tube which we felt was the possible problem, a place more famous for being the traditional home of Santa! Unfortunately Finnish helpfulness was not of the same standard as Swedish and so at 8pm in the evening in a dusty car park with no tube to hand we embarked upon the large task of removing the petrol tank to try to locate the problem. Inhaling half BP's worth of Petrol fumes in the process we got the tank off the car and found what we suspected to be the source of the leak, a rusted Fuel Gauge fitting. A full tube of Araldite around the fitting was our only solution and we still have fingers crossed it will work. We finally got the tank refitted at close to midnight, started Ew'n up and he fired into action, free of the smell of fuel - unlike us! We found a campsite that was still open nearby and bumped into another 2 rally teams as we were putting the tent up at 1am in complete daylight.
Friday saw us put our fix to the test as we headed south into Finland and luckily the majority of it seemed to have worked... all apart from a few drips now and then which we may have to live with. We had a great evening last night (Day 7) camping with two other teams in perfect surroundings, rowing and swimming in a lake and taking a midnight Sauna - a very Finnish day!
A long day behind the wheel on Wednesday (Day 5) moved us into the Arctic Circle, suitably marked by a huge sign which Ew'n posed nicely in front of (pictures to be posted asap). We were soon to be presented by another sign welcoming us to Lapland - I hadn't realised that a visit to Santa was on cards. Even more appropriately we got our first encounter with Reindeer strolling along the road on a supposed suicide mission. At first the odd one or two, followed by more and more until we were brought to a complete halt by the crazy animals who didn't seem to notice cars hurtling (or trundling in our case) towards them! With the problems with the car so far the last thing we wanted was to spend an evening pulling Rudolph out of the front grill. Eventually we arrived at a huge campsite late in the evening, had a tasty bbq and did some more work on the car until almost midnight. It wasn't darkness that brought us to a halt as it didn’t get dark at all - we could see perfectly well to try to connect up the two spot lamps which half worked - we only managed to get one to function. Sleeping proved difficult as it was almost complete daylight outside, the sun was only just below the horizon even at its lowest. We camped next to a lake once again and when the morning came around, the temptation was too great to resist and we dived into the pretty cold water for an Arctic Dip!
Thursday (Day 6) saw us move east inside the Arctic Circle heading into Finland. The day started badly with an increasing smell of fuel, one we had noticed previously but now it became to strong to ignore and at one stop late in the day a glance under the car showed us the problem - fuel was dripping from the tank. We drove around a town in North Finland called Rovaniemi looking for a new fuel filling tube which we felt was the possible problem, a place more famous for being the traditional home of Santa! Unfortunately Finnish helpfulness was not of the same standard as Swedish and so at 8pm in the evening in a dusty car park with no tube to hand we embarked upon the large task of removing the petrol tank to try to locate the problem. Inhaling half BP's worth of Petrol fumes in the process we got the tank off the car and found what we suspected to be the source of the leak, a rusted Fuel Gauge fitting. A full tube of Araldite around the fitting was our only solution and we still have fingers crossed it will work. We finally got the tank refitted at close to midnight, started Ew'n up and he fired into action, free of the smell of fuel - unlike us! We found a campsite that was still open nearby and bumped into another 2 rally teams as we were putting the tent up at 1am in complete daylight.
Friday saw us put our fix to the test as we headed south into Finland and luckily the majority of it seemed to have worked... all apart from a few drips now and then which we may have to live with. We had a great evening last night (Day 7) camping with two other teams in perfect surroundings, rowing and swimming in a lake and taking a midnight Sauna - a very Finnish day!
Wednesday 23 July 2008
Arctic Swim
Day 5 Indal - 1812 miles
It's cold.
To celebrate we cooked half of a very fresh salmon on the barbecue. Never a salmon has been so tasty. We then set off to sleep but the sun is always up and you're body just doesn't know what to make of it. So we ended up half awake and half asleep all the time.
It's cold.
To celebrate we cooked half of a very fresh salmon on the barbecue. Never a salmon has been so tasty. We then set off to sleep but the sun is always up and you're body just doesn't know what to make of it. So we ended up half awake and half asleep all the time.
Tuesday 22 July 2008
Hunting for Dummies
Day 4 Indal - 1379 miles
Always fancied hunting but never got around buying a gun / do not like walking in the woods? The reindeer is for you. With a survival instinct clause to suicidal and a great enthousiasm for open roads, the reindeer makes an easy target. All you need is a bull bar or a fully comp insurance policy with guaranteed no claim bonus and you are all set. Their meat is ok if not excellent. Enjoy!
Always fancied hunting but never got around buying a gun / do not like walking in the woods? The reindeer is for you. With a survival instinct clause to suicidal and a great enthousiasm for open roads, the reindeer makes an easy target. All you need is a bull bar or a fully comp insurance policy with guaranteed no claim bonus and you are all set. Their meat is ok if not excellent. Enjoy!
Cultural Learnings of the Great Republic of Sweden
Parental Advisory: you must be 18 or over to read this.
Yeah, so, about my friend from the boat, let's call him Manuel. So Manuel and I started chatting nicely, being from the same part of the world and all. And obviously I got to ask him what he was doing around here. So Manuel explained he was on a Fish & F**k trip. The principle is simple... At this stage half the boat was already in shock and little kids started crying. But we went on merely for another half hour, him spilling the details out, me nodding obviously in complete understanding of the reasonable ethics behind his trip. Thank God we weren't crossing the Atlantic.
Partying in Sweden: as many of my male friends have already asked themselves the question many times: does Sweden live up to its reputation? Well, if you can move your arms and feet at a rate faster than, let's say, 100 times per second, in complete random directions, then you should do great here. However, for the mere mortals like the rest of us, more practice will be necessary. Having said that I can confirm two very important points:
- very friendly (and helpful) people
- beautiful girls
Yeah, so, about my friend from the boat, let's call him Manuel. So Manuel and I started chatting nicely, being from the same part of the world and all. And obviously I got to ask him what he was doing around here. So Manuel explained he was on a Fish & F**k trip. The principle is simple... At this stage half the boat was already in shock and little kids started crying. But we went on merely for another half hour, him spilling the details out, me nodding obviously in complete understanding of the reasonable ethics behind his trip. Thank God we weren't crossing the Atlantic.
Partying in Sweden: as many of my male friends have already asked themselves the question many times: does Sweden live up to its reputation? Well, if you can move your arms and feet at a rate faster than, let's say, 100 times per second, in complete random directions, then you should do great here. However, for the mere mortals like the rest of us, more practice will be necessary. Having said that I can confirm two very important points:
- very friendly (and helpful) people
- beautiful girls
First 1000 miles completed
Two long days in the car have put one thousand miles under our belts and got us to Stockholm in one piece and feeling pretty pleased with our progress. E'wn hasn't completely behaved himself and is trying his best to confuse and baffle us at every opportunity. His biggest tantrum to date was yesterday morning when we awoke after our first night under canvas feeling very happy with ourselves to find that he refused to get out of bed and start. We pretty much tried everything to cajole him into action, dismantling carburettor, Spark Plugs, repeated attempts at starting but no matter what we did he refused to wake. After two hours of attempts we ran out of ideas and accepted a friendly Danes offer to tow us to a local garage for them to have a look. However E'wn obviously didn't like moving under someone elses steam and fired into action almost immediately. Very confusing indeed - our only guess being that he doesn't like sleeping when parked on a slight angle, he prefers a stable bed like all of us!
The previous day we departed the Ferry from Harwich and discovered the fault with the radio was only that it didn't work when we had full headlights on, half beam & radio works perfectly, full beam.. nothing! No radio at night for us then! We travelled through Holland, Germany and boarded a second ferry of the day into Denmark. Cedric had a very interesting chat with some crazy Swiss guys heading on a fishÃng trip where they explained the true reason for their trip was fishing for something other than fish! We found a great campsite and proved that we can put the tents up in under 2 seconds and made our first alfresco dinner which was nicely accompanied by a bottle of red, very satsifying!
After Monday mornings problems with waking E'wn up we drove North from Denmark over the 9 mile bridge into Sweden - a truly impressive sight and we made use of E'wns lack of speed to fully appreciate the structure. We flew through South Sweden only being halted briefly by a suspected Radiator leak which turned out after half an hours to be some water falling from the bonnet onto the hot radiator producing some suspicious steam and drips under the car - yes we are paranoid! Arrived in Stockholm at 10pm to find what looked like a rather nice hotel on a boat but the worst hotel room ever, we could barely both stand in the room at the same time. Dashed our for some food and randomly found a packed pub with some crazy ABBA wannabe cover band playing, a appropriate welcome to Sweden!
Summary to date:
1117 miles completed
3 car scares (radio, failure to start, water leak)
1 night under canvas
1 bottle of wine consumed
The previous day we departed the Ferry from Harwich and discovered the fault with the radio was only that it didn't work when we had full headlights on, half beam & radio works perfectly, full beam.. nothing! No radio at night for us then! We travelled through Holland, Germany and boarded a second ferry of the day into Denmark. Cedric had a very interesting chat with some crazy Swiss guys heading on a fishÃng trip where they explained the true reason for their trip was fishing for something other than fish! We found a great campsite and proved that we can put the tents up in under 2 seconds and made our first alfresco dinner which was nicely accompanied by a bottle of red, very satsifying!
After Monday mornings problems with waking E'wn up we drove North from Denmark over the 9 mile bridge into Sweden - a truly impressive sight and we made use of E'wns lack of speed to fully appreciate the structure. We flew through South Sweden only being halted briefly by a suspected Radiator leak which turned out after half an hours to be some water falling from the bonnet onto the hot radiator producing some suspicious steam and drips under the car - yes we are paranoid! Arrived in Stockholm at 10pm to find what looked like a rather nice hotel on a boat but the worst hotel room ever, we could barely both stand in the room at the same time. Dashed our for some food and randomly found a packed pub with some crazy ABBA wannabe cover band playing, a appropriate welcome to Sweden!
Summary to date:
1117 miles completed
3 car scares (radio, failure to start, water leak)
1 night under canvas
1 bottle of wine consumed
Stockholm
Crazy swedes, excellent partying. Car refused to start this morning, required a tow. Send your suggestions for potential bug fix. Thanks!
Monday 21 July 2008
Stockholm
Day 3 Stockholm - 1104 miles
We woke up this morning only to find that the car wouldn't start. After 2 hours of trying every trick we knew and sucking energy from the battery of a fellow camper we threw the towel. We took an offer for a tow to the nearest garage. 30 meters later the car started... All it needed was a good old bump start. We later found out that the air box was full of water hence the difficulties.
We pushed to Stockholm in what ended up being a long day (524 miles). Stockholm is a nice city if not extremely lively. But then again it was Monday. We did see some fit bodies and crazy dancing though... see cultural learnings of the great republic of Sweden.
We woke up this morning only to find that the car wouldn't start. After 2 hours of trying every trick we knew and sucking energy from the battery of a fellow camper we threw the towel. We took an offer for a tow to the nearest garage. 30 meters later the car started... All it needed was a good old bump start. We later found out that the air box was full of water hence the difficulties.
We pushed to Stockholm in what ended up being a long day (524 miles). Stockholm is a nice city if not extremely lively. But then again it was Monday. We did see some fit bodies and crazy dancing though... see cultural learnings of the great republic of Sweden.
Sunday 20 July 2008
Camping gear first test
Day 2 Nysted - 575 miles
Mainly motorways today. We took heavy rain as we arrived to the camping site but it cleared off quickly. This is our first night of camping so all the gear gets tested:
- 2 seconds tents check: it really works and was one of our most appreciated piece of equipment of our journey. While other teams took up to 30 minutes to get ready (not good under rain or in a sand storm) we are done in 4 minutes. Merci Jean-Luc & Francoise!
- Trangia stove check: another great piece of equipment. Boils 1L of water in 3 minutes at sea level (we found out that it takes much longer at 2500m). We used it nearly every day. It is also very economical in terms of fuel as we didn't use much more than one liter of paraffin for the entire trip.
- Dried food check: good but you need to get the amount of water right. Some bits didn't get re-hydrated too well either. All in all we preferred the "food in a bag" type which only needs heating. Having said that the dried food is light and propose a greater variety of meals so not a bad buy all in all. We also tried the NASA frozen ice cream. I do not want to be an astronaut anymore.
- Thermarest mattresses check: smaller and more comfy than a carrymat, the Thermarest also isolate you from the ground which means warmer nights. This got very useful in Mongolia where the nights were really cold (i.e. forced to sleep with full on thermal underwears and polar vests).
We also had a bottle of french wine which made us both experts in any socio-econo-political subjects for the night.
Mainly motorways today. We took heavy rain as we arrived to the camping site but it cleared off quickly. This is our first night of camping so all the gear gets tested:
- 2 seconds tents check: it really works and was one of our most appreciated piece of equipment of our journey. While other teams took up to 30 minutes to get ready (not good under rain or in a sand storm) we are done in 4 minutes. Merci Jean-Luc & Francoise!
- Trangia stove check: another great piece of equipment. Boils 1L of water in 3 minutes at sea level (we found out that it takes much longer at 2500m). We used it nearly every day. It is also very economical in terms of fuel as we didn't use much more than one liter of paraffin for the entire trip.
- Dried food check: good but you need to get the amount of water right. Some bits didn't get re-hydrated too well either. All in all we preferred the "food in a bag" type which only needs heating. Having said that the dried food is light and propose a greater variety of meals so not a bad buy all in all. We also tried the NASA frozen ice cream. I do not want to be an astronaut anymore.
- Thermarest mattresses check: smaller and more comfy than a carrymat, the Thermarest also isolate you from the ground which means warmer nights. This got very useful in Mongolia where the nights were really cold (i.e. forced to sleep with full on thermal underwears and polar vests).
We also had a bottle of french wine which made us both experts in any socio-econo-political subjects for the night.
The journey in pictures
Day 1 Harwich - 108 miles
Over the coming days I'm going to try to retrace our journey with some pictures. We took a lot so there will also be a separate web album.
First, obviously, is the departure. Lots of emotions went through our minds as we were heading for the unknown:
"6 weeks off, a complete break from the life I know. Why don't I just go to the beach like everyone else?"
"Do they sell Nutella in Mongolia?"
"Will my mankini look good on pictures?"
etc
You get the idea.
Day 1 was all about getting to the ferry in Harwich (not far from Ipswich!). And obviously I forgot to turn the lights off on the car park in front of my flat... So the battery went flat. As we were pushing the car to bump start it people asked us where we were going. You should have seen the look on their face when we said "Mongolia". With hindsight they were right too...
Jacqui: this first picture is for you. Paul heart was clearly sad to go away for 6 weeks.
Happy like 2 hippos as the radiator of a BMW in the queue blew up in a big bang. It feels good to have a clean reliable car...
Over the coming days I'm going to try to retrace our journey with some pictures. We took a lot so there will also be a separate web album.
First, obviously, is the departure. Lots of emotions went through our minds as we were heading for the unknown:
"6 weeks off, a complete break from the life I know. Why don't I just go to the beach like everyone else?"
"Do they sell Nutella in Mongolia?"
"Will my mankini look good on pictures?"
etc
You get the idea.
Day 1 was all about getting to the ferry in Harwich (not far from Ipswich!). And obviously I forgot to turn the lights off on the car park in front of my flat... So the battery went flat. As we were pushing the car to bump start it people asked us where we were going. You should have seen the look on their face when we said "Mongolia". With hindsight they were right too...
Jacqui: this first picture is for you. Paul heart was clearly sad to go away for 6 weeks.
Happy like 2 hippos as the radiator of a BMW in the queue blew up in a big bang. It feels good to have a clean reliable car...
Saturday 19 July 2008
And They Are Off
Start day finally arrived with Hyde Park filled with the sights and sounds of over 200 cars and several motorbikes ridden by some very crazy guys - it really was a spectacle. The last minute preparations and panic failed to occur and we had time to chat fora couple of hours to those who came to see us off. A real thanks to everyone who did come down - it really was great to have such fantastic support. Those present had the chance to sign the car and chose some very appropriate words of advice to add, one of my favourite being "Hope is not a management tool!"
Even in all his new attire E'wn was undoubtedly outshone by some amazingly decorated cars, although I'm not sure how a telephone box or a bath on your roof is really going to help the effort to get to Mongolia, maybe I'm missing something here.
The start got underway at 1pm and we headed out of Hyde Park through the impressive start gate onwards to Mongolia...well actually it was straight into a series of traffic jams tying to weave our way out East towards Docklands where we stopped to pick up Cedric's luggage. The atmosphere of the departure carried on through central London and we had some good chats with curious drivers and fellow adventures through open windows as we drove around Parliament Square. The main topic seemed to be "Which way is Dover? which was fine - but we were heading to Harwich!
Irritatingly our radio stopped working after only 8 miles, very annoying but somehow I suspect we are going to encounter much more serious problems than just that!
Some pictures will appear on the site soon.
Even in all his new attire E'wn was undoubtedly outshone by some amazingly decorated cars, although I'm not sure how a telephone box or a bath on your roof is really going to help the effort to get to Mongolia, maybe I'm missing something here.
The start got underway at 1pm and we headed out of Hyde Park through the impressive start gate onwards to Mongolia...well actually it was straight into a series of traffic jams tying to weave our way out East towards Docklands where we stopped to pick up Cedric's luggage. The atmosphere of the departure carried on through central London and we had some good chats with curious drivers and fellow adventures through open windows as we drove around Parliament Square. The main topic seemed to be "Which way is Dover? which was fine - but we were heading to Harwich!
Irritatingly our radio stopped working after only 8 miles, very annoying but somehow I suspect we are going to encounter much more serious problems than just that!
Some pictures will appear on the site soon.
Wednesday 16 July 2008
Disaster Averted!
Phew! What we thought might be a broken front differential, knackered Transfer Box and screwed prop shafts has turned out to be nothing of the sort and E'wn is now fully functional and vibrationless ...well almost!
After a visit to a garage and many calls to two very friendly guys in Ferndown, Dorset (Paul and Steve from Polden Autos - thanks for all your help and advice) we found the problem to be a leaking radiator hose (not an oil leak), a mis-aligned prop shaft and a loose bolt on the Transfer Box. All these combined to give us the scare on Sunday but a test drive this morning after fixing all the mentioned items filled us with renewed confidence in E'wns ability to get through the miles ahead and provided us with futher familiarity of his underbelly.
Therefore mechanically at least we think E'wn is ready for the trip, he might not be the best looking jeep in the car park - but that is to be solved tomorrow when he is booked in for a full makeover - photos will be added in due course!
After a visit to a garage and many calls to two very friendly guys in Ferndown, Dorset (Paul and Steve from Polden Autos - thanks for all your help and advice) we found the problem to be a leaking radiator hose (not an oil leak), a mis-aligned prop shaft and a loose bolt on the Transfer Box. All these combined to give us the scare on Sunday but a test drive this morning after fixing all the mentioned items filled us with renewed confidence in E'wns ability to get through the miles ahead and provided us with futher familiarity of his underbelly.
Therefore mechanically at least we think E'wn is ready for the trip, he might not be the best looking jeep in the car park - but that is to be solved tomorrow when he is booked in for a full makeover - photos will be added in due course!
Sunday 13 July 2008
Mechanical Disaster
Disaster struck this morning as I was handing over the Suzuki to Paul for our last 5 days of preparations. I had noticed during the past few weeks that good old Ew'n developed vibrations in the 10 MPH zone. But today these were too strong and noisy to be ignored. Paul opened the bonnet and all I heard was "oh my god". Oil everywhere. Further analysis led us to the conclusion that our front differential is not oil tight anymore... This didn't explained the vibrations tough so we removed the front drive shaft to see if we could isolate the problem, only to find that it is coming from the linkage between the gear box and the transmission box. We think the CV joint is dead but will confirm that tomorrow with a proper mechanic. Another surprise found this morning is that our front right wheel bearings seem to be on their way out too. Oh joy... The realisation that we did indeed buy a true piece of crap is sinking in... 10,000 miles to go... If only there was no desert to cross.
Friday 11 July 2008
Mongolia
As depature date approaches I'm coming across more and more information about our destination that both intruiges and scares the life out of me. Here are some interesting facts about Mongolia that I certainly didn't know:
- Half the 2.6m population live in tents.
- It is the 4th most sparsely popualted country in the world with 3.9 people per square mile this compares to London at 12,335 people per square mile.
- Livestock outnumber humans 8:1
- Literacy is at 98%, UK literacy rate is 99%.
- In 2005 Donald Rumsfeld was given a horse as a present on a visit, he apparently left it behind ...what a shame it wasn't the other way round.
- The capital city is Ulan Batar, or Ulan Bator, or Ulan Baatar or Ulaan Baatar, or Ulaanbaatar??
- There is 1,581km of paved road in the entire country. We will be covering nearly 2000km within Mongolia.
- Gerbils are considered wild animals and infact the common pet Gerbil originated in Mongolia. They became so numerous there that the Mongolian people could no longer sleep at night because the gerbils were constantly running on their squeaky little exercise wheels (http://my.athenet.net/~hoffmann/biog4.html)
- The most popualar local drink is "Airag" or fermented Horse Milk.
- Half the 2.6m population live in tents.
- It is the 4th most sparsely popualted country in the world with 3.9 people per square mile this compares to London at 12,335 people per square mile.
- Livestock outnumber humans 8:1
- Literacy is at 98%, UK literacy rate is 99%.
- In 2005 Donald Rumsfeld was given a horse as a present on a visit, he apparently left it behind ...what a shame it wasn't the other way round.
- The capital city is Ulan Batar, or Ulan Bator, or Ulan Baatar or Ulaan Baatar, or Ulaanbaatar??
- There is 1,581km of paved road in the entire country. We will be covering nearly 2000km within Mongolia.
- Gerbils are considered wild animals and infact the common pet Gerbil originated in Mongolia. They became so numerous there that the Mongolian people could no longer sleep at night because the gerbils were constantly running on their squeaky little exercise wheels (http://my.athenet.net/~hoffmann/biog4.html)
- The most popualar local drink is "Airag" or fermented Horse Milk.
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